ichneumon

[ ik-noo-muhn, -nyoo- ]

noun
  1. Also called African mongoose, Egyptian mongoose . a slender, long-tailed mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, inhabiting Africa and southern Europe, and believed by the ancient Egyptians to devour crocodile eggs.

Origin of ichneumon

1
1565–75; <Latin <Greek ichneúmōn tracker, equivalent to ichneú(ein) to track (see ichno-) + -mōn agent suffix

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How to use ichneumon in a sentence

  • I also saw several battles between large serpents and ichneumons.

  • Bow traps are placed along the tracks of civets, ichneumons, and rodents, which snap and strangle them.

    Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
  • Some of the ichneumons even bore into trees in order to deposit their eggs in the larv of wood-boring insects.

    A Civic Biology | George William Hunter
  • We find others, the ichneumons for example, which are perfectly at liberty in their old age, but require protection while young.

    Animal Parasites and Messmates | P. J. Van Beneden
  • In this case, the embryos themselves go to seek for their host, and unlike the ichneumons, they use them with moderation.

    Animal Parasites and Messmates | P. J. Van Beneden

British Dictionary definitions for ichneumon

ichneumon

/ (ɪkˈnjuːmən) /


noun
  1. a mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, of Africa and S Europe, having greyish-brown speckled fur

Origin of ichneumon

1
C16: via Latin from Greek, literally: tracker, hunter, from ikhneuein to track, from ikhnos a footprint; so named from the animal's alleged ability to locate the eggs of crocodiles

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012