dewlap
Americannoun
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a pendulous fold of skin under the throat of a bovine animal.
-
any similar part in other animals, as the wattle of fowl or the inflatable loose skin under the throat of some lizards.
noun
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a loose fold of skin hanging from beneath the throat in cattle, dogs, etc
-
loose skin on an elderly person's throat
Other Word Forms
- dewlapped adjective
Etymology
Origin of dewlap
1350–1400; Middle English dew ( e ) lappe, apparently dewe dew + lappe lap 1; compare Danish dog-læp, Dutch (dial.) dauw-zwengel; literal sense is unclear
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.
In Brazil, 80% of the cows are Zebus, a subspecies originating in India with a distinctive hump and dewlap, or folds of draping neck skin.
From Seattle Times
An imposing white cow with a distinctive hump on her back and flaps of "dewlap" skin flowing from her neck like a fashionable scarf set a record at auction last June in Arandú, Brazil.
From National Geographic
The zebu, easily recognized by its big shoulder hump and pronounced dewlap, is more tolerant of heat and drought, and more resistant to some diseases, although it produces less milk.
From Seattle Times
Instead, I find an Appalachian apple doll, withered and spotty, with dewlaps and bags and long floppy ears.
From Literature
What better way to wake up those tired eyes and add ballast to those sagging dewlaps than this curtain raiser to the Roaring Twenties?
From The Guardian
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.