zebra

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of several swift, wild, horselike African mammals of the genus Equus, having distinctive overall markings of alternating white and black or brown stripes.
2. n. Any of various striped organisms, such as the zebra butterfly.
3. n. A referee in football.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A name used by fish-culturists in England for hybrids between Salmo fario, the European trout, and Salmo fontinalis, the American brook-trout.
2. n. An American heliconiid butterfly, Apostraphia charithonia, with black, yellow-banded wings. It occurs in Central America, the West Indies, and the southern United States. Its larvæ feed on the passion-flower vine.
3. n. An African solidungulate mammal, related to the horse and ass, of the genus Equus and subgenus Hippotigris, having the body more or less completely striped. There are at least 3 well-marked species. One of these is the quagga. The second is the bonte-quagga, or Burchell's zebra. (See cut under dauw.) The third is the true zebra, E. (H.) zebra, of southern Africa, of a whitish color, very fully and regularly striped with black: it is specifically called the mountain zebra. This zebra stands about 4½ feet high at the shoulder; the head is light, the ears are moderately large, the limbs slender; the mane is short, and the tail tufted. The general form is light and symmetrical, like that of most wild asses, and seems to indicate speed rather than bottom. The zebra is one of the most beautiful of animals, as it is also one of the wildest and least tractable. It has often been kept in confinement, and occasionally tamed, but generally retains its indomitable temper. It inhabits in herds the hilly and mountainous countries of South Africa, seeking the most secluded places; so that from the nature of its haunts, as well as its watchfulness, swiftness, and the acuteness of its senses, it is difficult to capture. It is, however, much hunted, and seems destined to extermination.
4. Resembling the stripes of a zebra; having stripes running along the sides: as, the zebra markings on certain spiders.

Wiktionary

1. n. An African animal, closely related to a horse, with black and white stripes.
2. n. sports, slang A referee.
3. n. medicine, slang An unlikely diagnosis, especially for symptoms probably caused by a common ailment. (Originates in the advice often given to medical students: "When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras.")
4. n. vulgar, pejorative, slang A bi-racial person, specifically one born to a member of the Sub-Saharan African race and a Caucasian.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) Any member of three species of African wild horses remarkable for having the body white or yellowish white, and conspicuously marked with dark brown or brackish bands.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of several fleet black-and-white striped African equines