Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several large, chiefly nocturnal, odd-toed ungulates of the genus Tapirus of tropical America and Southeast Asia, having a stocky body, short legs, and a fleshy, trunklike proboscis.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A hoofed mammal of the family Tapiridæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of large odd-toed ungulates belonging to Tapirus, Elasmognathus, and allied genera. They have a long prehensile upper lip, short ears, short and stout legs, a short, thick tail, and short, close hair. They have three toes on the hind feet, and four toes on the fore feet, but the outermost toe is of little use.
- noun (Zoöl.) the wallah.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any one the species of large odd-toed
ungulates of thetaxonomic family Tapiridae with a longprehensile upper lip, of which all four surviving species are in genus Tapirus.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large inoffensive chiefly nocturnal ungulate of tropical America and southeast Asia having a heavy body and fleshy snout
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Guapo was busy plucking his macaws, but at the word tapir he sprang to his feet, making the feathers fly in all directions.
Popular Adventure Tales Mayne Reid 1850
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Guapo was busy plucking his macaws, but at the word tapir he sprang to his feet, making the feathers fly in all directions.
The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon Mayne Reid 1850
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The latter weigh up to a hundred pounds, but, unlike the tapir, which is as good as beef, their meat is unpalatable.
Head Hunters of the Amazon: Seven Years of Exploration and Adventure 1923
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The tapir is a very archaic type of ungulate, not unlike the non-specialized beasts of the oligocene.
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The tapir is a very archaic type of ungulate, not unlike the non - specialized beasts of the Oligocene.
Through the Brazilian Wilderness Theodore Roosevelt 1888
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My curiosity was raised; for this ghost was an animal called a tapir, which the Indians believe possessed of supernatural powers; and, as I had never met with one, I was anxious that we should come across it.
Aventures d'un jeune naturaliste. English Lucien Biart 1863
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One book I consulted calls the tapir a kind of tiger, to which he bears hardly any resemblance.
Four Young Explorers or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics Oliver Optic 1859
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The tapir is a very large animal, -- about five or six feet long and three or four feet high.
Martin Rattler 1859
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The tapir is a harmless creature, and although it has a good set of teeth, it never uses them for the purpose of defending itself.
Popular Adventure Tales Mayne Reid 1850
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The tapir is a harmless creature, and although it has a good set of teeth, it never uses them for the purpose of defending itself.
The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon Mayne Reid 1850
oroboros commented on the word tapir
"rip at" in reverse
January 26, 2007
alguien commented on the word tapir
Or swine-like animals. Same thing.
March 27, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word tapir
Who is to say it is "inoffensive"?
December 1, 2007
uselessness commented on the word tapir
WeirdNet is the new Miss Manners!
December 1, 2007
reesetee commented on the word tapir
And it does seem to have a curious affinity for fleshiness.
December 1, 2007
vanishedone commented on the word tapir
Maybe it's inoffensive in the sense that it won't attack you.
December 3, 2007
uselessness commented on the word tapir
I'm offended by its smell.
December 5, 2007
pomegranate commented on the word tapir
The first time I saw one of these, it was leashed on a porch in Bangkok, Thailand. Weirdest thing I'd ever seen up until then.
December 5, 2007
bilby commented on the word tapir
If some prat called me an ungulate I'd probably be offended. Then I'd go home and leaf through the dictionary with my fleshy snout. And, um ...
December 5, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word tapir
@pomegranate: What weirder things have you seen since?
@bilby: I've been called much worse than an ungulate!
December 5, 2007
pomegranate commented on the word tapir
@SonofGroucho: (1) A baby cobra, probably two inches long, trying to strike my very threatening work boot;
(2) A dog lying on a sidewalk and being run over by a bicycle without moving a muscle; (3) The city of Monroe, LA.
December 5, 2007
sionnach commented on the word tapir
I think my level of offence would depend on whether I was called an even-toed or odd-toed ungulate.
December 5, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
I'd love it if someone called me an ungulate. (Unless I really hated that person, of course.) I'd probably laugh my rear off (and my rear could use some laughing off) just to hear the word in daily conversation.
December 5, 2007
mollusque commented on the word tapir
Baby tapirs look like ambulatory watermelons. And is there anything cuter than a charging baby tapir?
December 5, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
Mollusque, that image is truly adorable! The second link you posted, though, gave me a 404 File Not Found. Wah!
December 5, 2007
reesetee commented on the word tapir
'Bout halfway down on this page, c_b. Right, mollusque?
December 5, 2007
mollusque commented on the word tapir
Yup, that's him, reesetee. Sorry, c_b, I omitted the closing quote on the href. Now fixed in the earlier comment and repeated here.
December 6, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
BLAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HA HA HA HA!!! That's my new avatar. HA HA HA!!
December 6, 2007
bilby commented on the word tapir
Is there some way we can change WeirdNET's definition to: jolly, inoffensive pygmy elephant who just walked through Jackson Pollock's studio?
December 6, 2007
mollusque commented on the word tapir
Um, c_b, who or what was your previous avatar?
December 6, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
Why, a chained bear, of course. :)
December 6, 2007
mollusque commented on the word tapir
How silly of me. Somehow I'd thought of the chained bear as your totem. Does this mean that you've become chained_tapir?
December 6, 2007
reesetee commented on the word tapir
Wait. Chained_bear, I thought it was a bewigged chihuahua? (Chained_chihuahua, though, just doesn't have the appropriate oomph.)
December 7, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
No, no. I would never chain a tapir, and would prefer not to be one. I would much prefer, if I were a tapir, to be an ambulatory watermelon.
reesetee, I shamelessly stole that avatar off some person on MySpace, so I can't really say it's mine. Though I think both ambulatory watermelon and bewigged chihuahua are going on my Attack Butterfly list.
Edit: Oops, I mean vicious sheep list. I get them confused.
December 8, 2007
sionnach commented on the word tapir
Where do the nuzzling ungulates fit into the scheme of things?
March 4, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tapir
And do watermelons nuzzle?
March 4, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
I sometimes enjoy nuzzling watermelons. What bear doesn't? O cool, smooth, melony watermelon... how I love you...
July 13, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tapir
*trying to picture a bewigged chihuahua nuzzling a watermelon*
July 21, 2008
mollusque commented on the word tapir
Giving the charging baby tapir a run for its money is the chunky baby chow chow.
August 4, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
Adorable as the chunky baby chow chow is, mollusque, the charging baby tapir really has it beat.
August 4, 2008
bilby commented on the word tapir
I'm voting TAPIR.
August 4, 2008
sionnach commented on the word tapir
"William Randolph Hearst, in more recent times, stocked San Simeon with marvelous acquisitions, which included works of art, his mistress Marion Davies, and a menagerie dominated by a resilient tapir named Squeaky."
Peaceable Kingdom: the power of nature and the nature of our power over it.
By: Rowland, Ingrid D.
Publication: American Scholar
Date: Friday, September 22 2006
January 11, 2009
sionnach commented on the word tapir
cute adult tapir
April 8, 2009
yarb commented on the word tapir
Shame the photopgrapher saw fit to emboss his handle on the poor thing's snout.
April 8, 2009
reesetee commented on the word tapir
I was just about to say the same, yarb.
April 8, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word tapir
LOL Tapirs. I kid you not. (Note: Not surprisingly, they are unfunny.)
October 27, 2010
bilby commented on the word tapir
Also bush-cow.
August 26, 2022