tapir

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The expedition that turned up the new amphibians also recorded the presence of large mammals like Baird's tapir, which is considered endangered in Colombia, four species of monkeys and a population of white-lipped peccary, a pig-like creature.

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Definitions (5)

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  1. noun Any of several large, chiefly nocturnal, odd-toed ungulates of the genus Tapirus of tropical America, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra, related to the horse and the rhinoceros, and having a heavy body, short legs, and a long, fleshy, flexible upper lip.

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Examples (50)

  • Out of the blackness I began to have visions of animals--tapir, monkey, wild boar--that I saw more clearly than my limited experience with them should have allowed. —  Omni: July 1993
  • Seeing that I didn't understand, Pablo added that when he sent out his animas masquerading as a tapir, the provoked spirits would warn the prey that what they saw was not a real tapir but a Matses' animas in disguise. —  Omni: July 1993
  • The expedition that turned up the new amphibians also recorded the presence of large mammals like Baird's tapir, which is considered endangered in Colombia, four species of monkeys and a population of white-lipped peccary, a pig-like creature. —  Scientific American
  • "By the way," she added, confidentially, "do you happen to know what a tapir is I believe it's something to light, like a candle," said Dorothy Does it ever go out of its own accord?" —  The Admiral's Caravan
  • One book I consulted calls the tapir a kind of tiger, to which he bears hardly any resemblance The other animals are small Malay bears, wild swine, horned cattle, and puny deer. —  Four Young Explorers or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps French, ultimately from Tupi tapiira, tapir.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French tapir = Italian tapiro, from Spanish tapiro (New Latin Tapirus), from Brazilian (Tupi) tapyra, a tapir. When European cattle were introduced into Brazil, the Indians called them also tapyra, and the tapir was then called distinctively tapyra-ete (‘true tapir’), the name now used by the Tupi-speaking tribes (later Portuguese tapirete, Spanish (obsolete) tapyrete, tapir). In Brazil the tapir is usually called anta.
 

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/ˈteɪpər/
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