springbok

[ spring-bok ]

noun,plural spring·boks, (especially collectively) spring·bok.
  1. a gazelle, Antidorcas marsupialis, of southern Africa, noted for its habit of springing into the air when alarmed.

Origin of springbok

1
1765–75; <Afrikaans. See spring, buck1

Words Nearby springbok

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use springbok in a sentence

  • The springbok ordinarily makes its home in the arid, sandy plains called karroos.

  • The general color of the springbok is a tawny brown on the upper parts of the body.

  • Once I dashed into a herd of trekking game so suddenly, that a springbok, unable to stop itself, leapt right over me.

    Marie | H. Rider Haggard
  • It was in these circumstances that we set out shortly before midnight in the pitch darkness from springbok Valley.

  • I am fairly good with a knife, and I carved very presentable likenesses of a monkey, a springbok, and a rhinoceros.

    Greenmantle | John Buchan

British Dictionary definitions for springbok (1 of 2)

springbok

less commonly springbuck

/ (ˈsprɪŋˌbʌk) /


nounplural -bok, -boks, -buck or -bucks
  1. an antelope, Antidorcas marsupialis, of semidesert regions of southern Africa, which moves in leaps exposing a patch of white erectile hairs on the rump that are usually covered by a fold of skin

Origin of springbok

1
C18: from Afrikaans, from Dutch springen to spring + bok goat, buck 1

British Dictionary definitions for Springbok (2 of 2)

Springbok

/ (ˈsprɪŋˌbʌk, -ˌbɒk) /


noun
  1. a person who has represented South Africa at rugby union

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