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rhinoceros - 4 dictionary results

rhi⋅noc⋅er⋅os

[rahy-nos-er-uhs]
–noun, plural -os⋅es, (especially collectively) -os.
1. any of several large, thick-skinned, perissodactyl mammals of the family Rhinocerotidae, of Africa and India, having one or two upright horns on the snout: all rhinoceroses are endangered.
2. Douay Bible. unicorn (def. 4).

Origin:
1300–50; ME rinoceros < LL rhīnoceros < Gk rhīnókerōs, equiv. to rhīno- rhino- + -kerōs -horned, adj. deriv. of kéras horn (of an animal)
rhi·noc·er·os   (rī-nŏs'ər-əs)   
n.   pl. rhinoceros or rhi·noc·er·os·es
Any of several large, thick-skinned, herbivorous mammals of the family Rhinocerotidae, of Africa and Asia, having one or two upright horns on the snout.

[Middle English rinoceros, from Latin rhīnocerōs, from Greek rhīnokerōs : rhīno-, rhino- + keras, horn; see ker-1 in Indo-European roots.]

Rhinoceros

Rhi*noc"e*ros\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ???, ???; ???. ???, the nose + ??? a horn: cf. F. rhinoc['e]ros. See Horn.] (Zo["o]l.) Any pachyderm belonging to the genera Rhinoceros, Atelodus, and several allied genera of the family Rhinocerotid[ae], of which several living, and many extinct, species are known. They are large and powerful, and usually have either one or two stout conical median horns on the snout.

Note: The Indian, or white, and the Javan rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros Indicus and R. Sondaicus) have incisor and canine teeth, but only one horn, and the very thick skin forms shieldlike folds. The two or three African species belong to Atelodus, and have two horns, but lack the dermal folds, and the incisor and canine teeth. The two Malay, or East Indian, two-horned species belong to Ceratohinus, in which incisor and canine teeth are present. See Borele, and Keitloa.

Rhinoceros auk (Zo["o]l.), an auk of the North Pacific (Cerorhina monocrata) which has a deciduous horn on top of the bill.

Rhinoceros beetle (Zo["o]l.), a very large beetle of the genus Dynastes, having a horn on the head.

Rhinoceros bird. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A large hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), native of the East Indies. It has a large hollow hornlike process on the bill. Called also rhinoceros hornbill. See Hornbill. (b) An African beefeater (Buphaga Africana). It alights on the back of the rhinoceros in search of parasitic insects.
Language Translation for : rhinoceros
Spanish: rinoceronte,
German: das Nashorn,
Japanese: さい

rhinoceros 
c.1300, from L. rhinoceros, from Gk. rhinokeros, from rhinos "nose" (a word of unknown origin) + keras "horn." Shortened form rhino is first attested 1884.
"What is the plural of rhinoceros? ... Well, Liddell and Scott seem to authorize 'rhinocerotes,' which is pedantic, but 'rhinoceroses' is not euphonious." [Sir Charles Eliot, "The East Africa Protectorate," 1905]
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