ichneumon
Americannoun
-
Also called African mongoose. Also called Egyptian mongoose. a slender, long-tailed mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, inhabiting Africa and southern Europe, and believed by the ancient Egyptians to devour crocodile eggs.
noun
Etymology
Origin of ichneumon
1565–75; < Latin < Greek ichneúmōn tracker, equivalent to ichneú ( ein ) to track ( see ichno-) + -mōn agent suffix
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.
The ichneumon wasp was a challenge to Darwin’s already diminishing faith.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 12, 2016
And though it isn’t a beetle, the elegant pipe cleaner, an ichneumon wasp, looks as if it’s preening for its first portrait as a principal ballet dancer.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2013
The girls recovered on cerumen, chaffinch and ichneumon.
From Time Magazine Archive
The showmen were packing their monkeys, ostrich, and ichneumon, temporarily hobbling their elephant, and counting up the proceeds of the day, and making ready for a fresh swindle upon some adjacent town.
From The Puddleford Papers, Or Humors of the West by H. H. Riley
The Kimberly diamond mines are said to have been disclosed by the burrowings of an ichneumon, which fetched a brilliant stone to the sunlight.
From The Business of Mining A brief non-technical exposition of the principles involved in the profitable operation of mines by Arthur J. Hoskin
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.
