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duiker

[dahy-ker]
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noun, plural dui·kers, (especially collectively) dui·ker.
  1. any of several small African antelopes of the Cephalophus, Sylvicapra, and related genera, the males and often the females having short, spikelike horns: some are endangered.
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Origin of duiker

1770–80; < Afrikaans, Dutch duiker diver, equivalent to duiken to dive (see duck2) + -er -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for duiker

Historical Examples

  • When the duiker was asleep, the inkalimeva ate up all the fat.

    South-African Folk-Tales

    James A. Honey

  • The animals, when they heard the cry, ran to the kraal and killed the duiker.

  • It proposed to the duiker that they should play hide and look for.

  • Further converse was interrupted by the sudden bursting of a duiker, or large antelope, from a thicket close beside them.

  • My first great sporting achievement was in killing a duiker, a small antelope that was found in bushy or stony country.

British Dictionary definitions for duiker

duiker

duyker

noun plural -kers or -ker
  1. Also called: duikerbok (ˈdaɪkəbɒk) any small antelope of the genera Cephalophus and Sylvicapra, occurring throughout Africa south of the Sahara, having short straight backward-pointing horns, pointed hooves, and an arched back
  2. Southern African any of several cormorants, esp the long-tailed shag (Phalacrocorax africanus)
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Word Origin

C18: via Afrikaans from Dutch duiker diver, from duiken to dive; see duck ²
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