camelopard

American  

[kuh-mel-uh-pahrd] / kəˈmɛl əˌpɑrd /

noun

Archaic.

1. a giraffe.

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camelopard British  

/ kəˈmɛl-, ˈkæmɪləˌpɑːd /

noun

1. an obsolete word for giraffe

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Etymology

Origin of camelopard

1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin camēlopardus, for Latin camēlopardālis < Greek kamēlopárdalis giraffe, equivalent to kámēlo ( s ) camel + pardalis pard ¹

Example Sentences

Not until the seventeenth century did the English, who fixated on the giraffe’s camel-ish shape and leopard-ish coloring, stop calling it a camelopard.

From The New Yorker • May 17, 2016

The camelopard can only defend itself by kicking; and it uses its heels in this way more effectively than any other creature,—the horse not excepted.

From The Giraffe Hunters by Reid, Mayne

The eighth book, which is devoted to land-animals, contains notices respecting the elephant, dragons, serpents, lions, panthers, tigers, the camel, the camelopard, the rhinoceros, and a multitude of other mammalia, and reptiles.

From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by MacGillivray, William

The camelopard was to get his long neck by stretching for his food; and the duck her web-foot by paddling in the water.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845 by Various

Call on Professor Owen and ask if he wants anything in the four jars I still possess, of either rhinoceros, camelopard, etc., etc.

From The Personal Life of David Livingstone by Blaikie, William Garden