Definitions

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

  • noun A carnivorous mammal (Mellivora capensis) of Africa and Asia, having short legs and a thick coat that is dark below and whitish above.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A carnivorous quadruped of the family Mustelidæ and subfamily Mellivorinæ as Mellivora capensis or M. ratellus. the honey-ratel of the Cape of Good Hope, and M. indica, that of India; a honey-badger. See Mellivora, and cut in next column.
  • noun See rotl.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any carnivore of the genus Mellivora, allied to the weasels and the skunks; -- called also honey badger.

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

  • noun A carnivorous mammal, Mellivora capensis, found in Africa and some parts of Asia; the honey badger

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

  • noun nocturnal badger-like carnivore of wooded regions of Africa and southern Asia

Etymologies

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

[Afrikaans, from Dutch ratel, rattle (so called because of the animal's cry) (from Middle Dutch rātel, rātele; akin to Middle High German razela, rasela and Old English hrate, hratele, a kind of plant with rattling seed capsules), or from dialectal Dutch ratel, honeycomb (so called because of the animal's taste for honey) (akin to standard Dutch raat, honeycomb; akin to Old High German rāza).]

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Examples

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  • Also known as honey badger.

    June 8, 2007

  • Usage/citation on genet.

    August 25, 2008