Tapir
/ˈteɪpiːə(ɹ)/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An odd-toed ungulate of the genus Tapirus with a long prehensile upper lip.
"Once a dark, clumsy tapir stared at us from a gap in the bushes, and then lumbered away through the forest; once, too, the yellow, sinuous form of a great puma whisked amid the brushwood, and its green, baleful eyes glared hatred at us over its tawny shoulder."
- 2 large inoffensive chiefly nocturnal ungulate of tropical America and southeast Asia having a heavy body and fleshy snout wordnet
Example
More examples"A tapir is a mammal with prehensile lips for eating tree foliage."
Etymology
Borrowed from French tapir, from Old Tupi tapi'ira.