Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A wild ox (Bos primigenius) of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia that became extinct in the 17th century and is believed to be the ancestor of domestic cattle.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A species of wild ox or buffalo, the bonasos of Aristotle, bison of Pliny, the European bison, Bos or Bison bonasus of modern naturalists.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) The European bison (
Bison bonasus , orBison Europæus ), once widely distributed, but now nearly extinct, except where protected in the Lithuanian forests, and perhaps in the Caucasus. It is distinct from the Urus of Cæsar, with which it has often been confused.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An extinct European mammal, Bos primigenius, the ancestor of domestic cattle.
- noun zoology The
European bison (Bison bonasus, or Europæus).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large recently extinct long-horned European wild ox; considered one of the ancestors of domestic cattle
- noun European bison having a smaller and higher head than the North American bison
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The aurochs is a species of buffalo greatly resembling those which used to roam our western prairies.
My Four Years in Germany Gerard, James W 1917
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Ordinarily the aurochs was a harmless beast, fighting only when forced to it in self-defense; but an occasional bull there was that developed bellicose tendencies that made discretion upon the side of an unarmed human the better part of valor.
The Eternal Savage 1914
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The aurochs is a species of buffalo greatly resembling those which used to roam our western prairies.
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After this he sent a skilled hunter to imitate the sound of an aurochs mother, to call the aurochs father to the edge of the woods.
Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks William Elliot Griffis 1885
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It appears that bison, "aurochs," were kept here, and it is recorded that the sole surviving specimen died in 1566, which fact
From a Terrace in Prague Lieut.-Col. B. Granville Baker
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Contradictory though the dates appear, when combined with recent archaeological evidence for early dogs dating from 33,000 to 16,000 years ago across Eurasia from Belgium through the Ukraine to the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, they raise the prospect that wherever early humans and wolves met on the trail of the migrating herds of grazing animals they hunted--horses, reindeer and aurochs, for example--they formed alliances.
Domesticating Man's Best Friend: How The Dog Became A Dog 2011
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I'd just like to know why we need aurochs running around, exactly?
2010: All the Future is Cracked Up to Be? - Pink Raygun.com 2010
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And, from what I've read, aurochs were considered to be untameable.
2010: All the Future is Cracked Up to Be? - Pink Raygun.com 2010
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He might as well argue that cows are proof of intelligent design because they're reasonably docile and produce lots of milk, but our modern cows are descended from the wild aurochs, a fearsome creature no drunken teenager would dare try to tip.
Archive 2008-03-01 2008
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Extinct since about 1627, aurochs, Bos primigenius, were huge bovine creatures.10 Julius Caesar described them in his Gallic Wars as:
Creationists on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin - The Panda's Thumb 2010
bilby commented on the word aurochs
"I fear this chorus of bullies, but I also sympathise. I lead a mostly peaceful life, but my dreams are haunted by giant aurochs. All those of us whose blood still races are forced to sublimate, to fantasise. In daydreams and video games we find the lives that ecological limits and other people’s interests forbid us to live."
- George Monbiot, This Is About Us, monbiot.com, 14 Dec 2009.
February 17, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word aurochs
found in Smilla's Sense of Snow, when she takes Isaiah to the zoo
January 4, 2011