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Leopard
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 Panthera pardus, a large wild cat with a spotted coat native to Africa and Asia, especially the male of the species (in contrast to leopardess).
"During all such cases when we were present they responded by giving repeated alarm calls, even when the leopard was already feeding on a carcass. We wanted to determine whether vervets knew enough about the behavior of leopards to recognize that, even in the absence of a leopard, a carcass in a tree signaled the same potential danger as did a leopard itself."
- 2 large feline of African and Asian forests usually having a tawny coat with black spots wordnet
- 3 A similar-looking, large wild cat named after the leopard. broadly
"There are plenty of beautiful cats among the thirty-nine species in the Felidae family, but the three leopards—clouded, common, and snow—may be the most visually stunning. Cloaked in the most beautiful fur of any cat, the reclusive clouded leopard is the Greta Garbo of the lot; it lives a solitary life in the remote jungles of Asia, from Nepal to Borneo."
- 4 the pelt of a leopard wordnet
- 5 A similar-looking, large wild cat named after the leopard.; A clouded leopard (either Neofelis nebulosa or Neofelis diardi), a large wild cat native to Asia. broadly
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- 6 A similar-looking, large wild cat named after the leopard.; The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a large wild cat native to Asia. broadly
- 7 A lion passant guardant.
"Sometimes there is confusion over the heraldic leopard, the question being—When is a leopard not a leopard? There is a theory that the lion and leopard were the same thing, and that they were named entirely depending on their attitude—thus if the animal was passant guardant it was a leopard, but when rampant it was a lion. Nowadays a leopard is the genuine spotted article and quite unmistakeable. Some people still speak, wrongly, of the leopards of England, but it does no great harm as it is an ancient expression and everybody knows what it means."
- 8 Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Phalanta, having black markings on an orange base.
Etymology
From Middle English leopard, leopart, lepard, leperd, from Old French leopard (“leopard”), from Late Latin leopardus (“leopon, lipard”) from late Ancient Greek λεόπαρδος (leópardos, “leopon, lipard”), from λέων (léōn, “lion”) + πάρδος (párdos, “pard, male leopard”), from earlier πάρδαλις (párdalis, “leopard”), probably from an unattested Old Persian [Term?] term ancestral to Middle Persian palang, Khwarezmian plyk, Sogdian [script needed] (pwrδnk), Pashto پړانګ (pṛāng). Compare Persian پلنگ (palang) and Sanskrit पृदाकु (pṛdāku, “panther”).
See also for "leopard"
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