chamois
Americannoun
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an agile, goatlike antelope, Rupicapra rupicapra, of high mountains of Europe: now rare in some areas.
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a soft, pliable leather from any of various skins dressed with oil, especially fish oil, originally prepared from the skin of the chamois.
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a piece of this leather.
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a cotton cloth finished to simulate this leather.
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a medium to grayish yellow color.
verb (used with object)
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to dress (a pelt) with oil in order to produce a chamois.
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to rub or buff with a chamois.
noun
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a sure-footed goat antelope, Rupicapra rupicapra, inhabiting mountains of Europe and SW Asia, having vertical horns with backward-pointing tips
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a soft suede leather formerly made from the hide of this animal, now obtained from the skins of sheep and goats
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Also called: chamois leather. shammy. shammy leather. chammy. chammy leather. a piece of such leather or similar material used for polishing, etc
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a yellow to greyish-yellow colour
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(as modifier)
a chamois stamp
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verb
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to dress (leather or skin) like chamois
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to polish with a chamois
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of chamois
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French, from Late Latin camox, presumably of pre-Latin origin; cf. gems
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To have a basis for comparing the neanderthal's results, the study also examined other animals from the region, including carnivores like wolves and lynxes and herbivores like rabbits and chamois.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2022
From Olive & Cocoa, a handcrafted crate holds a fuzzy friend, Lulu the Lamb, and an ivory chamois blanket.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2021
His self-deprecation is only a kind of chamois, polishing his brass.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2021
I give up, but then, as I’m descending, I meet a Haitian boy, maybe 14, who’s loping skyward in a chamois shirt, a scarf and a ski cap, a machete dangling from his belt.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2019
The driver is going over it with a chamois, lovingly.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
