flying fox

flying fox

noun
1.
any large fruit bat of the genus Pteropus, of Old World tropical regions, having a foxlike head.
2.
Australian. an aerial conveyor belt or suspended carrier operating on cables, often used to convey ore, dirt, or the like, over rivers and gorges in mining or construction operations.

Origin:
1750–60
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Flying fox is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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.
Collins
World English Dictionary
flying fox
 
n
1.  any large fruit bat, esp any of the genus Pteropus of tropical Africa and Asia: family Pteropodidae
2.  (Austral), (NZ) a cable mechanism used for transportation across a river, gorge, etc
3.  a cable mechanism ridden for fun at an adventure playground, etc

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

flying fox

any of about 65 bat species found on tropical islands from Madagascar to Australia and Indonesia and mainland Asia. They are the largest bats; some attain a wingspan of 1.5 m (5 feet), with a head and body length of about 40 cm (16 inches)

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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