oribi

American  

[awr-uh-bee, or‑] / ˈɔr ə bi, ˈɒr‑ /

noun

oribis plural

1. a small tan-colored antelope, Ourebia ourebi , of south and east Africa, with spikelike horns.

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oribi British  

/ ˈɒrɪbɪ /

noun

1. a small African antelope, Ourebia ourebi, of grasslands and bush south of the Sahara, with fawn-coloured coat and, in the male, ridged spikelike horns

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• oribis
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oribi

1785–95; < Afrikaans < Khoikhoi, perhaps to be identified with Nama !gore-b

Example Sentences

The tiny oribi, about the size of a greyhound, saw its population plummet by 50%.

From Science Daily • Nov. 17, 2023

That bush-clad hill was the favourite haunt of droves of buffaloes and elands, and on that plain swarmed thousands upon thousands of springbok and of quagga, of hartebeest and of oribi.

From Cetywayo and his White Neighbours Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal by Haggard, Henry Rider

I hurried back, and there lay a little oribi only a few hours old and with big, wondering eyes that looked gravely up at me as I bent over it.

From In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country by McCutcheon, John T.

I could almost hear the mother of the oribi tell the little one when it heard us coming to lay perfectly quiet and not to move the least bit until she came back.

From In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country by McCutcheon, John T.

A list of the different kinds of oribi would take up several lines of valuable space without conveying any illuminating intelligence to the lay mind.

From In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country by McCutcheon, John T.