Definitions

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

  • noun Any of several nocturnal marsupials of the family Phalangeridae of New Guinea, Australia, and adjacent islands, having large eyes, small ears, a pointed snout, and a long prehensile tail.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of marsupial quadrupeds of the Australian and Papuan islands, including opossum-like prehensile-tailed phalangers, covered with dense woolly fur, having a small head and large eyes, living in trees, and characterized by slow movements.
  • noun The commercial name for the long fibrous aromatic root of cuscus-grass, which is used for making tatties or screens, ornamental baskets, etc.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A soft grass (Pennisetum typhoideum) found in all tropical regions, used as food for men and cattle in Central Africa.

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

  • noun zoology A type of marsupial from New Guinea; the tree kangaroo.

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

  • noun woolly-haired monkey-like arboreal marsupial of New Guinea and northern Australia

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Cuscus, former genus name, ultimately (probably via Dutch koeskoes) from a local word for the marsupials in a language of the Moluccas.]

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