saddleback

American  

[sad-l-bak] / ˈsæd lˌbæk /

noun

1. any of various animals having markings on the back that resemble a saddle, as a male harp seal.

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saddleback British  

/ ˈsædəlˌbæk /

noun

1. a marking resembling a saddle on the backs of various animals

2. a breed of black pig with a white band across its back

3. a rare bird of New Zealand, Philesturnus carunculatus, having a chestnut-coloured saddle-shaped marking across its back and wings

4. another name for saddle roof

5. another name for col

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Etymology

Origin of saddleback

First recorded in 1535–45; saddle + back ¹

Example Sentences

If you’re splurging, you start at 4 p.m., which gives you a saddleback view of the city from near the top of Mount Hollywood during golden hour, just before sunset .

From Los Angeles Times • May 24, 2019

He shows the noise of motorboats distracting saddleback clownfishes from warning against a predator attack.

From The Guardian • Dec. 5, 2017

At its center was a particularly gorgeous tongkonan, the traditional ancestral home of the Torajans, with a massive saddleback roof that rose to two peaks like a stylized Viking ship.

From New York Times • Jul. 30, 2015

In another helicopter, the conservation department was going to deliver two or three dozen representatives of one of New Zealand’s rarest species, the South Island saddleback.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 15, 2014

In previous years, saddleback dolphins were not uncommonly encountered by collectors of Marineland of Florida working the northeast coast of Florida, but the species has been conspicuously absent since about 1960.

From Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the Western North Atlantic A Guide to Their Identification by Caldwell, David