Ankus
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The hooked goad that is used in India to control elephants.
"At last he found something really fascinating laid on the front of a howdah half buried in the coins. It was a three-foot ankus, or elephant-goad—something like a small boathook. The top was one round, shining ruby, and eight inches of the handle below it were studded with rough turquoises close together, giving a most satisfactory grip."
- 2 an elephant goad with a sharp spike and a hook wordnet
Example
More examples"At last he found something really fascinating laid on the front of a howdah half buried in the coins. It was a three-foot ankus, or elephant-goad—something like a small boathook. The top was one round, shining ruby, and eight inches of the handle below it were studded with rough turquoises close together, giving a most satisfactory grip."
Etymology
From Hindi अंकुस (aṅkus)/अंकुश (aṅkuś), from Sanskrit अङ्कुश (aṅkuśa).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.