hyrax

American  

[hahy-raks] / ˈhaɪ ræks /

noun

hyraxes, plural hyraces plural

1. any of several species of small mammals of the order Hyracoidea, of Africa and the Mediterranean region, having short legs, ears, and tail, and hooflike nails on the toes.

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hyrax British  

/ ˈhaɪræks /

noun

1. Also called: dassie.   rock rabbit.  any agile herbivorous mammal of the family Procaviidae and order Hyracoidea, of Africa and SW Asia, such as Procavia capensis ( rock hyrax ). They resemble rodents but have feet with hooflike toes

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• hyraces
  plural
• hyraxes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hyrax

1825–35; < New Latin < Greek hýrax (genitive hýrakos ) shrewmouse

Example Sentences

So is the Hyrax or "damian" of the Cape, and also the very ancient Plagiaulax from the præ-chalk Purbeck clay.

From More Science From an Easy Chair by Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir

This description applies to the Syrian Hyrax of our day as truly as it did to that of the Psalmists time.

From Natural History in Anecdote Illustrating the nature, habits, manners and customs of animals, birds, fishes, reptiles, etc., etc., etc. by Various

Or lastly, in what circumstance is the Phascolotherium more embryonic, or of a more generalised type, than the modern Opossum; or a Lophiodon, or a Paloeotherium, than a modern Tapirus or Hyrax?

From Discourses Biological and Geological Essays by Huxley, Thomas Henry

They are Hyrax Syriacus and Capensis, or the Syrian and Cape hyrax.

From The Young Yagers A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa by Reid, Mayne

Their supply of water is derived from a sequestered pool, occupying a deep narrow precipitous ravine, which abounds in the Hyrax, and boasts of a few trees not dissimilar from the Casuarina.

From The Highlands of Ethiopia by Harris, William Cornwallis