Definitions

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

  • noun An omnivorous mustelid mammal (Eira barbara) of Central and South America, having a broad head, a long slender body, and short dense fur.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See taira.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A South American carnivore (Galera barbara) allied to the grison. The tail is long and thick. The length, including the tail, is about three feet.

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

  • noun A South American carnivore, Eira barbara, allied to the grison, with a long thick tail.

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

  • noun long-tailed arboreal mustelid of Central America and South America

Etymologies

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

[Portuguese or Spanish taira.]

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Examples

  • They've recorded a clever form of weasel called a tayra and lots of crazy rodents like the agouti and the mountain paca.

    NYT > Home Page By ANTHONY DOERR 2011

  • Other mammals include Central American tapir Tapirus bardii (V), Caribbean manatee Trichechus manatus (V), spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi (V), howler monkey Alouatta villosa, kinkajou Potos flavus, white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, red brocket Mazama americana, peccaries Tayassu pecari and T. tajacu, paca Agouti paca, tayra Eira barbara and collared anteater Tamandua tetradactyla.

    Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Mexico 2008

  • Among them was a tayra weasel, whitish above and black below, as big and blood-thirsty as a fisher-martin; and a tiny opossum no bigger than a mouse.

    IV. The Headwaters of the Paraguay 1914

  • Among them was a tayra weasel, whitish above and black below, as big and blood-thirsty as a fisher-martin; and a tiny opossum no bigger than a mouse.

    Through the Brazilian Wilderness Theodore Roosevelt 1888

  • I shoe store online plaguey decreed for the corruptible tayra to cotoneaster the freudian dacryon and, in iceboat, win pilotfish and marylander.

    Rational Review 2009

  • Although according to CONABIO black-handed spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), tayra (Eira barbara), greater grisón (Galictis vittata), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), nutria (Lutra longicaudis), jaguar (Panthera onca), puma (Puma concolor) and Baird's Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) do live in this ecoregion.

    Tehuantepec-El Manchon mangroves 2007

  • Among some of the endangered mammals found in this ecoregion are the jaguar (Panthera onca), puma (Felis concolor), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), tapir (Tapirus bairdii), greater grison (Galictis vittata), tayra (Eira barbara), Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), and mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata).

    Central American pine-oak forests 2007

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  • A small South American carnivore closely related to the marten.

    June 8, 2007