colobus

[ kol-uh-buhs, kuh-loh- ]

/ ˈkɒl ə bəs, kəˈloʊ- /

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noun, plural col·o·bus·es, col·o·bi

[kol-uh-bahy, kuh-loh-bahy]. /ˈkɒl əˌbaɪ, kəˈloʊ baɪ/.

any of several large, slender African monkeys of the genus Colobus, lacking thumbs and having long silky fur of black and white (C. polykomos), black and reddish-brown (C. badius), or olive (C. verus): now dwindling.

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Origin of colobus

1811; <New Latin, the genus name <Greek kolobós docked, maimed; so named from the mutilated appearance of the thumbless hands

Words nearby colobus

collywobbles, Colmar, Cöln, colo-, coloboma, colobus, colocate, colocentesis, colocholecystostomy, colocolostomy, colocynth

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use colobus in a sentence

There are some seven species of monkeys, including two baboons and one colobus.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various
There are almost always five well-developed digits, but in the genera Colobus and Ateles the pollex is vestigial.
The Vertebrate Skeleton|Sidney H. Reynolds
In Semnopithecus and Colobus there are generally seven, but sometimes eight pairs of true ribs.
Darwinism (1889)|Alfred Russel Wallace
In Africa, the representatives of this last-mentioned tribe are found in the Colobus monkeys.
Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found|Mayne Reid

But his hair contradicts this—being straight as needles, and black as the skin of a Colobus monkey.
The Flag of Distress|Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for colobus

colobus

/ (ˈkɒləbəs) /

noun

any leaf-eating arboreal Old World monkey of the genus Colobus, of W and central Africa, having a slender body, long silky fur, long tail, and reduced or absent thumbs

Word Origin for colobus

C19: New Latin, from Greek kolobos cut short; referring to its thumb

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