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
After climbing out of the pool, Shi buried her face in her yellow chamois, hiding her tears.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 1, 2021
His self-deprecation is only a kind of chamois, polishing his brass.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2021
The cars induce considerable pawing, requiring a legion of cleaners with feather dusters, spray bottles and chamois cloths to denude these special guys of hand prints.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2015
The scythe wiped her blade on a chamois cloth the same pale lavender as her robe, and that’s when Citra lost control.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
