Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Musca and Pavo.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the southern constellations formed in the sixteenth century, probably by Petrus Theodori; the Bird of Paradise.
  • noun A genus of branchiopodous or phyllopodous entomostracous crustaceans, typical of the family Apdidœ or Apusidœ: named (in the form Apous) by Frisch in 1732.
  • noun In ornithology: A genus of birds, of the family Cypselidœ, established by Scopoli in 1777: equivalent to Cypselus of Illiger, 1811.
  • noun [lowercase] The specific name of the common swift of Europe, Cypselus apus.
  • noun [lowercase; pl. api (ā'pī).] In teratology, a monster destitute of posterior limbs, while the anterior are well formed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A genus of fresh-water phyllopod crustaceans. See phyllopod.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Apodidae — the swifts. They resemble swallows but have shorter tails.
  • proper noun astronomy : A constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble a bird of paradise.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a constellation in the polar region of the southern hemisphere near Octans
  • noun type genus

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin apūs, a kind of swallow, from Greek apous, without feet, sand martin : a-, without; see a– + pous, foot; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin apūs, from Ancient Greek ἄπους (apous, "sand martin"), from ἀ- (a-, "not") + πούς (pous, "foot") (the birds rarely show their feet).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named by Dutch explorers Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597. From Latin apūs, from Ancient Greek ἄπους (apous, "sand martin"), from ἀ- (a-, "not") + πούς (pous, "foot") (the birds rarely show their feet).

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Examples

  • Their Latin name, Apus, comes from the Greek, meaning ‘without feet’.

    A Taster « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • As it turns out, "Apus" is a constellation, first depicted by Johann Bayer in 1603.

    TrekMovie.com 2009

  • The alpine swift Apus melba africanus and alpine meadow lizard Algyroides alleni are near endemic.

    Mount Kenya National Park and National Forest, Kenya 2009

  • In addition to the excellent points made by others to this entry that included the long history of this kind of depiction in political cartoons for racist objectives including the endless supply of Apus Lincolnus cartoons during and after the Civil War and his assassination and the content of Delonas's previous cartoons -- people who live in NYC bring to this particular cartoon a long history of white cops shooting unarmed black men.

    "The Reader" (2008) Steven Barnes 2009

  • Some 35 raptors are found in the Batoka gorge below the falls: Taita falcon Falco fasciinucha breeds there as do black eagle Aquilla verreauxi, peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus, augur buzzard Buteo rufofuscatus augur also black stork Ciconia nigra and African swift Apus barbatus.

    Mosi-oa-Tunya Victoria Falls, Zambia 2009

  • Berthelot's pipit (Anthus berthelotii), plain swift (Apus unicolor), and common canary (Serinus canaria) are near-endemic to the Canary Islands Dry Woodlands and Forests.

    Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests 2008

  • Other birds include rock and cliff haunting species, such as alpine swift Apus melba, crag martin Hirundo rupestris and red-rumped swallow Hirundo daurica.

    Meteora Group of Monasteries, Greece 2008

  • Two of the endemic bird species - the Cape Verde sparrow (Passer iagoensis) and Cape Verde swift (Apus alexandri) - are widely distributed in these islands and occur on at least nine of the ten major islands.

    Cape Verde Islands dry forests 2008

  • Other species with an Afromontane distribution include bar-tailed trogon (Apaloderma vittatum), scarce swift (Schoutedenapus myioptilus), orange thrush (Zoothera gurneyi) and African black swift (Apus barbatus sladeniae).

    Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic 2008

  • The rare Fernando Po swift (Apus sladeniae) has been collected on Mt. Môco, and is considered data deficient.

    Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic 2008

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