bison
Use Bison in a sentence
sən, -zən noun, plural bi·son.
1.
Also called American bison, American buffalo. a North American, oxlike ruminant, Bison bison, having a large head and high, humped shoulders: formerly common in North America, its small remaining population in isolated western areas of the U.S. and Canada is now protected.
2.
Also called wisent. a related animal, Bison bonasus, of Europe, less shaggy and slightly larger than the American bison: now greatly reduced in number.
Compare buffalo.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English bisontes (plural) < Latin (nominative singular bisōn) < Germanic; compare Old High German wisunt, Old English wesend, Old Norse visundr
1350–1400; Middle English bisontes (plural) < Latin (nominative singular bisōn) < Germanic; compare Old High German wisunt, Old English wesend, Old Norse visundr
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To bison
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Bison
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
bison (ˈbaɪsən) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n , pl -son | |
| 1. | American bison, Also called: buffalo a member of the cattle tribe, Bison bison, formerly widely distributed over the prairies of W North America but now confined to reserves and parks, with a massive head, shaggy forequarters, and a humped back |
| 2. | wisent, Also called: European bison a closely related and similar animal, Bison bonasus, formerly widespread in Europe |
| [C14: from Latin bisōn, of Germanic origin; related to Old English wesand, Old Norse vīsundr] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
bison
c.1600, from Fr. bison, from L. bison "wild ox," borrowed from P.Gmc. *wisand- "aurochs" (cf. O.N. visundr, O.H.G. wisunt "bison," O.E./M.E. wesend, which is not attested after c.1400). Possibly ultimately of Baltic or Slavic origin, and meaning "the stinking animal," in reference to its scent while
rutting (see weasel). A European wild ox formerly widespread on the continent, including the British Isles, now surviving on forest reserves in Lithuania. Applied 1690s to the N.Amer. species commonly mis-called a buffalo.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
bison definition
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Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary
Bison definition
toolGNU's replacement for the yacc parser generator. Bison runs under Unix and on Atari computers. It was written by Robert Corbett.
Latest version: 1.28, as of 2000-05-22.
As of version 1.24, Bison will no longer apply the GNU General Public License to your code. You can use the output files without restriction.
FTP GNU.org (ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/) or your nearest GNU archive site.
E-mail:
Bison++ is a version which produces C++ output.
(2000-07-05)
Example sentences
For a day and a half, she eats and dozes in the same spot, ignoring the huge herd of bison that graze nearby.
Reindeer receded northward and eastward, and bison and horse followed.
While bison may seem as harmless as cows, they can be much more dangerous.
The park is home to thousands of large and small animals, including bison and grizzly bears.
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