elephant shrew

elephant shrew

noun
any of several African insectivores of the family Macroscelididae, having long hind legs and a long, sensitive snout.

Origin:
1865–70
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Elephant shrew is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Collins
World English Dictionary
elephant shrew
 
n
any small active African mammal of the family Macroscelididae and order Macroscelidea, having an elongated nose, large ears, and long hind legs

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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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

elephant shrew

any of 16 species of rat-sized African mammals named for their long, tapered, and flexible snout (proboscis). All have slim bodies, slender limbs, and very long hind legs and feet. Although they resemble shrews, they are not insectivores but constitute the mammalian order Macroscelidea.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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