Definitions

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

  • noun A wild Asian dog (Cuon alpinus) having reddish fur and large ears.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A kind of East Indian dog, the wild dog of the Deccan, Canis dukkunensis.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A fierce, wild dog (Canis Dukhunensis), found in the mountains of India. It is remarkable for its propensity to hunt the tiger and other wild animals in packs.

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

  • noun An Asian wild dog, Cuon alpinus.

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

  • noun fierce wild dog of the forests of central and southeast Asia that hunts in packs

Etymologies

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

[Perhaps from Kannada tōḷa, wolf.]

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Examples

  • I am inclined to believe that the 'dhole' is not particularly ceremonious, but will, when opportunity offers, and a meal is wanting, obtain it at the expense of the neighbouring village.

    The Dog William Youatt 1811

  • It is probable that the 'dhole' is the principal check on the multiplication of the tiger; and, although incapable individually, or perhaps in small numbers, to effect the destruction of so large and ferocious an animal, may, from their custom of hunting in packs, easily overcome any smaller beast found in the wilds of India.

    The Dog William Youatt 1811

  • The speed of the 'dhole' is so strongly marked in his form as to render it probable no animal in the catalogue of game could escape him for any distance.

    The Dog William Youatt 1811

  • "The peasants likewise state that the 'dhole' is eager in proportion to the size and powers of the animal he hunts, preferring the elk to every other kind of deer, and particularly seeking the royal tiger.

    The Dog William Youatt 1811

  • I have had opportunity to notice, in the last several months, that grief comes in different layers, sort of strata if you will, and that as dhole can tell you from a different perspective, the layers don't really settle into flat, perfectly even planes that can be lifted out neat and whole.

    Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway dhole 2009

  • A dhole pack with delusions of grandeur fails to take Mowgli and his wolves into account.

    Archive 2007-04-01 Blue Tyson 2007

  • A dhole pack with delusions of grandeur fails to take Mowgli and his wolves into account.

    Superhero Prose Fiction: Mowgli - Second Jungle Book 4 Red Dog Blue Tyson 2007

  • Other notable mammals include carnivores, such as leopard Panthera pardus, wild dog or dhole Cuon alpinus (VU), leopard cat Felis bengalensis, fishing cat F. viverrina (LR), Javan mongoose Herpestes javanicus and several civets, including binturong Arctictis binturong.

    Ujung Kulon National Park and Krakatau Nature Reserve, Indonesia 2009

  • A dhole pack with delusions of grandeur fails to take Mowgli and his wolves into account.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Blue Tyson 2007

  • The man hastily gave the hard-to-please expert four dhole legs and a fur pelt taken from the dog’s red abdomen.

    Archive 2006-12-01 2006

Comments

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  • The wild dog 'cuon alpinus', OR, a Lovecraftian creature from 'The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath' and 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key'.

    October 21, 2007

  • “They would be on us like a pack of dholes, Madame”

    —Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun

    September 23, 2008