any mammal of the order Pholidota, of Africa and tropical Asia, having a covering of broad, overlapping, horny scales and feeding on ants and termites.
Origin: 1765–75; < Malay pengguling (dial. or bazaar Malay name for the animal) one who rolls up, equivalent to peng- agentive prefix + guling roll up or around; so called from its habit of curling into a ball when threatened
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
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 screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
Also called: scaly anteater any mammal of the order Pholidota found in tropical Africa, S Asia, and Indonesia, having a body covered with overlapping horny scales and a long snout specialized for feeding on ants and termites
[C18: from Malay peng-gōling, from gōling to roll over; from its ability to roll into a ball]
1774, "scaly toothless mammal of Java," from Malay peng-goling "roller," from its habit of curling into a ball; from peng- (denominative prefix) + goling "to roll." Later extended to related species in Asia and Africa.