Definitions

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

  • noun A carnivorous mustelid mammal (Ictonyx striatus) of Africa, resembling a skunk in appearance and in its method of defense.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of African skunk-like quadrupeds, representing the subfamily Zorillinæ.
  • noun [lowercase] A zoril.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) Either one of two species of small African carnivores of the genus Ictonyx allied to the weasels and skunks.

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of zorille.

Etymologies

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

[From New Latin (Mūstēla) zorilla, former species name, from French zorille, zorilla, from American Spanish zorrillo, skunk, from diminutive of Spanish zorro, fox, from Old Spanish, idler, vagabond, fox.]

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Examples

  • From aardvark to zorilla, Noah\'s Ark project team plans to catalogue all life on earth

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: From aardvark to zorilla, Noah\'s Ark project team plans to catalogue all life on earth 2007

  • OpEdNews - Quicklink: From aardvark to zorilla, Noah\'s Ark project team plans to catalogue all life on earth

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: From aardvark to zorilla, Noah\'s Ark project team plans to catalogue all life on earth 2007

  • Although financing these ventures was always trouble-some, Louis was omnivorously curious; he wanted to launch studies of the pygmy chimpanzee as well as such little-known African mammals as the aardvark, zorilla a creature resembling the skunk, and warthog—animals he had watched as a child, but whose behaviors remained little-known.

    Ancestral Passions Virginia Morell 1995

  • Although financing these ventures was always trouble-some, Louis was omnivorously curious; he wanted to launch studies of the pygmy chimpanzee as well as such little-known African mammals as the aardvark, zorilla a creature resembling the skunk, and warthog—animals he had watched as a child, but whose behaviors remained little-known.

    Ancestral Passions Virginia Morell 1995

  • The critter's black-and-white fur has led to some biologists to suggest it deters predators by resembling the smelly, skunk-like striped polecat, or zorilla, but it is "probably too poor a copy," says the study, to truly fool them.

    USATODAY.com News 2011

  • - Jason Bartlett spent time on the DL (two different stints, I think). sometimes players are good. sometimes they're bad. last year tatis was awesome. last year murphy was awesome. this year, they aren't. i'm sure friedman knew zorilla was going to have a massive breakout and show skills he had never before shown.

    Comments for FanGraphs Baseball Havoc 2009

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