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
[Obsolete German, variant of German Auerochs, from Middle High German ūrohse, from Old High German ūrohso : ūro, aurochs + ohso, ox; see uks-en- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From German Aurochs, an early variant of Auerochse, from Middle High German ūrochse "aurochs" from Old High German ūrohso "aurochs", a compound consisting of ūro "aurochs" (from Proto-Germanic *ūraz, *ūrô (“aurochs”)) + ohso "ox". Akin to Old English ūr "aurochs", Old Norse ūrr "aurochs", Middle Low German ūrosse "aurochs", Old English oxa "ox". More at ox.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word aurochs.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
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