troglodyte

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A member of a fabulous or prehistoric race of people that lived in caves, dens, or holes.
2. n. A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.
3. n. An anthropoid ape, such as a gorilla or chimpanzee.
4. n. An animal that lives underground, as an ant or a worm.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Inhabiting caverns; cavedwelling; cavernicolous; spelæan; troglodytic: specifically noting human beings, apes, and birds.
2. n. A cave-dweller; a caveman; one who lives in a naturally formed cavity in the rocks, or, by extension, one who has his abode in a dwelling-place of that kind, whether constructed by enlarging a natural cave or by making an entirely new excavation. The word troglodyte is rarely used except in translating from the classic authors, or in discussions with regard to the nature of the people so denominated by them, or as applied to members of some prehistoric tribes, as those of the Mediterranean caves near Mentone, in Italy. Caves were natural places of refuge and residence in the early stages of man's development, and were very frequently thus occupied by various prehistoric races, as has been proved by explorations made in different parts of the world. These explorations have in numerous instances revealed the existence of human remains mingled with implements and ornaments made by the hand of man, together with the bones of living and extinct species of animals, the whole occurring in such a way as to prove beyond a doubt that they were contemporaneous. Several classic authors—among whom are Herodotus, Aristotle, Strabo, and Pliny—speak of the troglodytes, and give this name to cave-dwellers in various rather vaguely designated regions. Cave-dwellers still live in a few places in the United States, as some of the Yavasupai Indians in caves in the side cañous is of the Colorado river.
3. n. Hence, one living in seclusion; one unacquainted with the affairs of the world.
4. n. In mammalogy, an anthropoid ape of the genus Troglodytes, as the chimpanzee or the gorilla, especially the former, which was earlier known to naturalists and was called Simia troglodytes. The name is actually a misnomer, arising from some confounding or comparing of these apes with peoples who in ancient times were called troglodytes. See Troglodytes, 2, and cuts under chimpanzee and gorilla.
5. n. In ornithology, a wren of the genus Troglodytes or family Troglodytldæ. The term is a misnomer, since no wrens live in caves.

Wiktionary

1. n. A member of a supposed prehistoric race that lived in caves or holes, a caveman.
2. n. by extension Anything that lives underground.
3. n. A reclusive, reactionary or out-of-date person, especially if brutish.
4. n. The wren, Troglodytes troglodytes.
5. n. computing A person who chooses not to keep up-to-date with the latest software and hardware.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Ethnol.) One of any savage race that dwells in caves, instead of constructing dwellings; a cave dweller, or cave man. Most of the primitive races of man were troglodytes.
2. n. (Zoöl.) An anthropoid ape, as the chimpanzee.
3. n. (Zoöl.) The wren.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. someone who lives in a cave
2. n. one who lives in solitude