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  1. tapir love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. 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.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A hoofed mammal of the family Tapiridæ. They somewhat resemble swine, but belong to a different suborder, and are more nearly allied to the rhinoceroses. The body is stout and clumsy, with thick legs, ending in four small hoofs on the fore feet and three on the hind. The head is peculiarly shaped, with a long and very flexible snout or a short proboscis, and a high crest or poll. The body is scantily clothed or nearly naked; the hide is used for leather, and the flesh for food. The common American tapir, to which the name specially applies, is Tapirus americanus, about 4 feet long, entirely of a blackish color when adult. Other species of America belong to the genus Elasmognathus; they are E. bairdi and E. dowi of Central America. The Malay tapir, Tapirus (or Rhinochærus) malayanus, is larger, with a longer proboscis, no mane or crest, and the body with a great white area. See also cuts under Perissodactyla and Tapiridæ.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Any one the species of large odd-toed ungulates of the taxonomic family Tapiridae with a long prehensile upper lip, of which all four surviving species are in genus Tapirus.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of large odd-toed ungulates belonging to Tapirus, Elasmognathus, and allied genera. They have a long prehensile upper lip, short ears, short and stout legs, a short, thick tail, and short, close hair. They have three toes on the hind feet, and four toes on the fore feet, but the outermost toe is of little use.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. large inoffensive chiefly nocturnal ungulate of tropical America and southeast Asia having a heavy body and fleshy snout

Etymologies

  1. French tapir, from Tupian tapira. (Wiktionary)
  2. Perhaps French, ultimately from Tupi tapiira, tapir. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. perissodactyl
  1. perissodactyl mammal
  1. odd-toed ungulate

hyponyms (5)

Words that are more specific

  1. tapirus terrestris
  1. indian tapir
  1. tapirus indicus
  1. new world tapir
  1. malayan tapir

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. agouti
  2. capybara
  3. cougar
  4. hippopotamus
  1. vicuña
  2. ant-eater
  3. bison
  4. impalla
  1. white-lipped
  2. gemsbok
  3. peccary
  4. camelopard
  1. bosk
  2. giraffe
  3. rhinoceros
  4. cayman
  1. paca
  2. well-beaten
  3. alligator
  4. mastodon
  1. bullfrog
  2. carabao
  3. onca

reverse dictionary (26)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. tapirus indicus
  2. tapirus terrestris
  3. indian tapir
  4. malayan tapir
  5. new world tapir
  1. kuda
  2. tapirus
  3. tapiroid
  4. imparidigitate
  5. coryphodon
  1. maipuri
  2. multungula
  3. bush-cow
  4. anta
  5. pachydermata
  1. paleotherium
  2. Perissodactyla
  3. tennu
  4. wallah
  5. artiodactyla
  1. chœrodia
  2. proboscis
  3. mœritherium
  4. protoloph
  5. valley
  1. water-hog

tags (5)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. animal
  1. weirdnet
  1. ungulate
  1. flesh
  1. mammal

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tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘tapir’

  1. bilophodont

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Lists

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Comments

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  • chained_bear LOL Tapirs. I kid you not. (Note: Not surprisingly, they are unfunny.) Oct 27, 2010

  • reesetee I was just about to say the same, yarb. Apr 8, 2009

  • yarb Shame the photopgrapher saw fit to emboss his handle on the poor thing's snout. Apr 8, 2009

  • sionnach cute adult tapir Apr 8, 2009

  • sionnach "William Randolph Hearst, in more recent times, stocked San Simeon with marvelous acquisitions, which included works of art, his mistress Marion Davies, and a menagerie dominated by a resilient tapir named Squeaky."

    Peaceable Kingdom: the power of nature and the nature of our power over it.
    By: Rowland, Ingrid D.
    Publication: American Scholar
    Date: Friday, September 22 2006 Jan 11, 2009

  • bilby I'm voting TAPIR. Aug 4, 2008

  • chained_bear Adorable as the chunky baby chow chow is, mollusque, the charging baby tapir really has it beat. Aug 4, 2008

  • mollusque Giving the charging baby tapir a run for its money is the chunky baby chow chow. Aug 3, 2008

  • reesetee *trying to picture a bewigged chihuahua nuzzling a watermelon* Jul 21, 2008

  • chained_bear I sometimes enjoy nuzzling watermelons. What bear doesn't? O cool, smooth, melony watermelon... how I love you... Jul 12, 2008

  • reesetee And do watermelons nuzzle? Mar 4, 2008

  • sionnach Where do the nuzzling ungulates fit into the scheme of things? Mar 4, 2008

  • chained_bear No, no. I would never chain a tapir, and would prefer not to be one. I would much prefer, if I were a tapir, to be an ambulatory watermelon.

    reesetee, I shamelessly stole that avatar off some person on MySpace, so I can't really say it's mine. Though I think both ambulatory watermelon and bewigged chihuahua are going on my Attack Butterfly list.
    Edit: Oops, I mean vicious sheep list. I get them confused. Dec 8, 2007

  • reesetee Wait. Chained_bear, I thought it was a bewigged chihuahua? (Chained_chihuahua, though, just doesn't have the appropriate oomph.) Dec 6, 2007

  • mollusque How silly of me. Somehow I'd thought of the chained bear as your totem. Does this mean that you've become chained_tapir? Dec 6, 2007

  • chained_bear Why, a chained bear, of course. :) Dec 6, 2007

  • mollusque Um, c_b, who or what was your previous avatar? Dec 6, 2007

  • bilby Is there some way we can change WeirdNET's definition to: jolly, inoffensive pygmy elephant who just walked through Jackson Pollock's studio? Dec 6, 2007

  • chained_bear BLAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HA HA HA HA!!! That's my new avatar. HA HA HA!! Dec 6, 2007

  • mollusque Yup, that's him, reesetee. Sorry, c_b, I omitted the closing quote on the href. Now fixed in the earlier comment and repeated here. Dec 6, 2007

  • reesetee 'Bout halfway down on this page, c_b. Right, mollusque? Dec 5, 2007

  • chained_bear Mollusque, that image is truly adorable! The second link you posted, though, gave me a 404 File Not Found. Wah! Dec 5, 2007

  • mollusque Baby tapirs look like ambulatory watermelons. And is there anything cuter than a charging baby tapir? Dec 5, 2007

  • chained_bear I'd love it if someone called me an ungulate. (Unless I really hated that person, of course.) I'd probably laugh my rear off (and my rear could use some laughing off) just to hear the word in daily conversation. Dec 5, 2007

  • sionnach I think my level of offence would depend on whether I was called an even-toed or odd-toed ungulate. Dec 5, 2007

  • pomegranate @SonofGroucho: (1) A baby cobra, probably two inches long, trying to strike my very threatening work boot;
    (2) A dog lying on a sidewalk and being run over by a bicycle without moving a muscle; (3) The city of Monroe, LA. Dec 5, 2007

  • sonofgroucho @pomegranate: What weirder things have you seen since?

    @bilby: I've been called much worse than an ungulate! Dec 5, 2007

  • bilby If some prat called me an ungulate I'd probably be offended. Then I'd go home and leaf through the dictionary with my fleshy snout. And, um ... Dec 5, 2007

  • pomegranate The first time I saw one of these, it was leashed on a porch in Bangkok, Thailand. Weirdest thing I'd ever seen up until then. Dec 5, 2007

  • uselessness I'm offended by its smell. Dec 4, 2007

  • vanishedone Maybe it's inoffensive in the sense that it won't attack you. Dec 3, 2007

  • reesetee And it does seem to have a curious affinity for fleshiness. Nov 30, 2007

  • uselessness WeirdNet is the new Miss Manners! Nov 30, 2007

  • sonofgroucho Who is to say it is "inoffensive"? Nov 30, 2007

  • alguien Or swine-like animals. Same thing. Mar 27, 2007

  • oroboros "rip at" in reverse Jan 26, 2007

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‘tapir’ has been looked up 6444 times, loved by 3 people, added to 19 lists, commented on 36 times, and has a Scrabble score of 7.