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wildebeest

[wil-duh-beest, vil-]
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noun, plural wil·de·beests, (especially collectively) wil·de·beest.
  1. gnu.
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Origin of wildebeest

1830–40; < Afrikaans wildebees < Dutch wildebeest, equivalent to wild wild + beest beast
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for wildebeest

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • What could there be in my wiping my face to provoke the wildebeest anew?

    The Bush Boys

    Captain Mayne Reid

  • If I leaped down, the wildebeest would kill me to a certainty.

    The Bush Boys

    Captain Mayne Reid

  • My first shot in Africa was at a wildebeest at three hundred yards.

    In Africa

    John T. McCutcheon

  • The Kaffir had shot a wildebeest, he said, but he had come to assist them in disposing of theirs.

    Hendricks the Hunter

    W.H.G. Kingston

  • The springboks did not interest them; but the flesh of the wildebeest would have been a treat to all.

British Dictionary definitions for wildebeest

wildebeest

noun plural -beests or -beest
  1. another name for gnu
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Word Origin

C19: from Afrikaans, literally: wild beast
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

Word Origin and History for wildebeest

n.

1838, from S. African Dutch (in modern Afrikaans wildebees, plural wildebeeste), literally "wild beast," from Dutch wild "wild" (see wild (adj.)) + beest "beast, ox" (in S.African Dutch "steer, cattle"), from Middle Dutch beeste, from Old French beste "beast" (see beast).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper