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

He finds the giraffe or camelopard the most interesting animal at the Jardin des Plantes, and he dislikes a ceiling painted by Gros: "It is allegorical, which is a class of painting I detest."

From Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals In Two Volumes, Volume I. by Morse, Samuel F. B. (Samuel Finley Breese)

They are called “Camel-thorns,” for the reason that the camelopard was fond of browsing upon their foliage.

From Between Sun and Sand A Tale of an African Desert by Scully, W. C. (William Charles)

A little before the sun went down my driver remarked to me, "I was just going to say, sir, that that old tree was a camelopard."

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. by Various