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  1. onager love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A fast-running wild ass (Equus hemionus subsp. onager) of central Asia, having an erect mane and a broad black stripe along its back.
  2. n. An ancient and medieval stone-propelling siege engine.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A wild ass, Equus hemippus or E. onager, inhabiting the steppes of central Asia. See dziggetai.
  2. n. A war-engine for throwing stones, used in Europe in the middle ages.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A wild ass, Equus hemionus, especially the koulan.
  2. n. A military engine acting like a sling, which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket, and was operated by machinery.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Rom. Antiq.) A military engine acting like a sling, which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket, and was operated by machinery.
  2. n. (Zoöl.) A wild ass of central Asia, especially the koulan (Equus hemionus syn. Equus hemippus syn. Equus onager, formely Asinus onager).

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an engine that provided medieval artillery used during sieges; a heavy war engine for hurling large stones and other missiles
  2. n. Asiatic wild ass

Etymologies

  1. From Anglo-Norman onager, Old French onager ("wild ass; siege engine"), from Latin onager ("wild ass"), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος ("wild ass"), from ὄνος ("ass") + ἄγριος ("wild"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin, wild ass, from Greek onagros : onos, ass + agrios, wild. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The onager is a wild ass that brays 12 times to signal the spring equinox.”

    Archive 2008-05-01

  • “The wild ass is called onager because "ass" in Greek is onus and "wild" is agrion.”

    Archive 2008-05-01

  • “The Kulan, or onager (Equus hemionus onager), is an endangered subspecies of Asian wild ass which has been recently introduced in this ecoregion (Kapchagai preserve) from Turkmenistan, where the only remaining wild population lives in the Badghyz Reserve.”

    Tian Shan foothill arid steppe

  • “The critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus ssp. venaticus), the endangered onager (Equus hemionus ssp. onager), and the Persian ibex (Capra aegagrus – classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List) were once more common in this region but now are found only in small numbers.”

    Central Persian desert basins

  • “Characteristic fauna includes onager, gazelles, cheetah, leopard, the desert fox, and many species of birds.”

    Central Persian desert basins

  • “Within this ecoregion, the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve protects vegetation, Gazelle spp., and the re-introduced onager (Equus hemionus).”

    Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands

  • “Today, only a few hundred individuals of the Persian wild ass subpsecies (E.h. onager) persist in Bahram-e-Goor in the Iranian portion of the hotspot, while another subspecies of wild ass, known as the kulan or Turkmenian wild ass (E.h. kulan, CR), survives only in a single population in and around the Badkhyz Nature Reserve in south Turkmenistan, just marginally outside the hotspot.”

    Biological diversity in the Irano-Anatolian

  • “Kulan, or onager (Equus hemionus onager) is the subspecies of Asian wild ass currently found only in this ecoregion.”

    Badkhiz-Karabil semi-desert

  • “The great civilizations of Sumer and Eqypt knew only the onager or wild ass.”

    Archive 2008-03-01

  • “Equus hemionus onager, the Onager or Asian Ass, but it would have been a bit too confusing.”

    The Law Is A Ass

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hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. engine

reverse dictionary (5)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. koulan
  1. onager
  1. Onagra
  1. asinus
  1. ass

tags (2)

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  1. animal
  1. weapon

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Comments

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  • reesetee American Heritage Dictionary defines this as a "fast-running wild ass."

    I think I know some of these guys. Jan 19, 2011

  • super-logos Milo, this is good stuff ! Aug 15, 2008

  • milosrdenstvi Cited by Ogden Nash:

    Have ever you harked to the jackass wild,
    Which scientists call the onager?
    It sounds like the laugh of an idiot child,
    Or a hepcat on a harmoniger.
    But do not sneer at the jackass wild,
    There is a method in his heehaw.
    For with maidenly blush and accent mild
    The jenny-ass answers shee-haw.
    Aug 15, 2008

  • chained_bear Ohhhhh, my gosh. Coolest word *ever*. Aug 15, 2008

  • milosrdenstvi A wild or feral donkey, originally; it was adopted as a Roman name for a catapult. Apparently it kicks about as hard. Aug 15, 2008

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‘onager’ has been looked up 2799 times, loved by 1 person, added to 27 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 7.