onager

[ on-uh-jer ]

noun,plural on·a·gers, on·a·gri

[on-uh-grahy]. /ˈɒn əˌgraɪ/.

Also called A·si·at·ic wild ass . a near threatened wild ass, Equus hemionus, inhabiting southwestern Asia and formerly distributed also through the Middle East and eastern Asia: the onager is one of the fastest mammals, able to run, and sometimes exceed, 40 miles (64 km) per hour, and, unlike most donkeys and horses, it has never been domesticated.
an ancient and medieval military catapult for throwing stones.

Origin of onager

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Latin onager, onagrus “wild ass,” Late Latin also “catapult, siege machine for throwing projectiles,” from Greek ónagros “wild ass,” Late Greek also “catapult, siege engine,” alteration of ónos ágrios “ass of the fields, wild ass”; see acre

Words Nearby onager

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use onager in a sentence

We then loaded the onager with the acorns, and moved homeward.
The Swiss Family Robinson | Johann David Wyss
The onager, or wild ass, is not striped like the zebra, and is not near so elegant in figure.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume V (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
The vinea and testudo, the catapult onager and balista, were as well known in the tenth century as in the first.
The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515 | C. W. C. Oman
This is supposed to be of the same pattern which is called an "onager" in the Latin books.
Stories of Invention | Edward E. Hale
The wild ass and onager roamed in small herds between the Balikh and the Tigris.
History Of Egypt, Chalda, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 3 (of 12) | G. Maspero

British Dictionary definitions for onager

onager

/ (ˈɒnədʒə) /

nounplural -gri (-ˌɡraɪ) or -gers

a Persian variety of the wild ass, Equus hemionus: Compare kiang
an ancient war engine for hurling stones

Origin of onager

C14: from Late Latin: military engine for stone throwing, from Latin: wild ass, from Greek onagros, from onos ass + agros field

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

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