Definitions

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

  • noun Any of several subspecies of a medium-sized African antelope (Damaliscus lunatus) having a dark reddish-brown coat with black patches and curved ridged horns, especially D. lunatus subsp. lunatus of southern Africa.

Etymologies

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

[Tswana tshêsêbê.]

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Examples

  • While only poor-quality browsing is available, this ecoregion hosts a rich assortment of large mammals, some bulk feeders like the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), some specialized feeders such as the sable antelope (Hippotragus niger), and some, such as the tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus), that utilize the wetlands scattered throughout this ecoregion.

    Angolan Miombo woodlands 2008

  • For example, black lechwe (Kobus leche smithermani), tsessebe, and sitatunga dominate the Bangweulu basin, while the Kafue lechwe and Burchell's zebra are amongst the most prominent herbivores in Kafue Flats.

    Zambezian flooded grasslands 2008

  • Three lakes are also found in this park, providing habitat for a variety of waterbirds as well as antelope species with a preference for marshy or open, grassy habitat such as sitatunga, oribi (Ourebia ourebi), waterbuck, tsessebe, and lechwe (Kobus leche).

    Angolan Miombo woodlands 2008

  • Mokala National Park boasts more than 19 600 hectares and is home to endangered species such as black and white rhino, tsessebe, roan antelope and black wildebeest.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2007

  • ‘Home, old man, as if you were running down a tsessebe.’

    Prester John 2005

  • He took to big-game hunting, which was what God intended him for, for he could track a tsessebe in thick bush, and was far the finest shot I have seen in my life.

    Greenmantle 2005

  • When the nervous force is entire, terrible wounds may be inflicted without killing; a tsessebe having been shot through the neck while quietly feeding, we went to him, and one of the men cut his throat deep enough to bleed him largely.

    Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa 2004

  • We were informed by the Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that when the annual inundation begins, not only trees of great size, but antelopes, as the springbuck and tsessebe (‘Acronotus lunata’), are swept down by its rushing waters; the trees are gradually driven by the winds to the opposite side, and become imbedded in mud.

    Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa 2004

  • I have seen the kokong or gnu, kama or hartebeest, the tsessebe, kukama, and the giraffe, so mangy as to be uneatable even by the natives.

    Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa 2004

  • Sabe, roan and tsessebe antelope from Zeerust in North-West would be released in the Sandveld nature reserve in the Free State on Wednesday, provincial senior nature conservation officer Ruben

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1995

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