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• rhesus
  rhesus

  noun

  a macaque, Macaca mulatta, of India, used in experimental medicine.
• Rhesus
  Rhesus

  noun

  Greek myth a king of Thrace, who arrived in the tenth year of the Trojan War to aid Troy. Odysseus and Diomedes stole his horses because an oracle had said that if these horses drank from the River Xanthus, Troy would not fall

rhesus

American  

[ree-suhs] / ˈri səs /

noun

1. a macaque, Macaca mulatta, of India, used in experimental medicine.

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Rhesus British  

/ ˈriːsəs /

noun

1. Greek myth a king of Thrace, who arrived in the tenth year of the Trojan War to aid Troy. Odysseus and Diomedes stole his horses because an oracle had said that if these horses drank from the River Xanthus, Troy would not fall

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Other Word Forms

• rhesian
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of rhesus

1830–40; < New Latin, arbitrary use of Latin Rhēsus name of a Thracian king allied with Troy < Greek Rhêsos

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rhesus Rhesus

Reducing calorie intake has extended lifespan in animals including mice, rhesus monkeys, and fruit flies.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

On a tiny island called Cayo Santiago off the coast of Puerto Rico exists a colony of about 1,800 rhesus macaques.

From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2025

The rhesus macaque fugitives busted out of Alpha Genesis, a company that breeds primates for medical testing and research, and are on the loose in a part of the state known as the Lowcountry.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2024

They discovered that in failed rhesus attempts, the placentas, which provide oxygen and nutrients to the growing foetus, were not reprogrammed properly by the cloning process and so did not develop normally.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2024

He drew off a little bit of fluid from the flasks and injected it into three rhesus monkeys, to infect them with the Cardinal agent.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Zika, a mosquito-borne virus first identified in 1947 in a Rhesus macaque monkey, continues to perplex scientists in many ways nearly 80 years later.

From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2025

Other frequently identified species included Japanese macaques, Rhesus macaques, Crab-eating macaques and Olive baboons.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024

The Rh blood group was first discovered in Rhesus monkeys.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

Ms Reid told BBC Scotland that Gary had been born a Rhesus baby.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2022

The best way is simply, with our antecedent prejudices removed, to read and re-read some of the best epiphany scenes; those, for instance, which close the Electra, the Hippolytus, the Rhesus or the Andromache.

From Euripedes and His Age by Gilbert Murray

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