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bisontine

 - 3 dictionary results

bi⋅son

  [bahy-suhn, -zuhn]
Use bisontine in a Sentence
–noun, plural -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; ME bisontes (pl.) < L (nom. sing. bisōn) < Gmc; cf. OHG wisunt, OE wesend, ON visundr

Related forms:
bi⋅son⋅tine  [bahy-suhn-tahyn, -zuhn-] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
bison

  1. in.
    to vomit. (Probably a play on yak.) : He stepped aside to bison in the bushes.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

bison 
1601, 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 ult. of Baltic or Slavic origin, and meaning "the stinking animal," in ref. 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 1693 to the N.Amer. species commonly mis-called a buffalo.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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