zoo
- Also called zoological garden. a parklike area in which live animals are kept in cages or large enclosures for public exhibition.
- Informal. a place, activity, or group marked by chaos or unrestrained behavior.
Origin of zoo
zoo-
- a combining form meaning “living being,” “animal,” used in the formation of compound words: zoometry; zooplankton.
Origin of zoo-
Examples from the Web for zoo
Contemporary Examples of zoo
Triplet panda cubs born this past July were reunited with their mother, Juxiao, in a Chinese zoo this week.
‘Sexual’ Barbershop Quartet, a Panda Family Reunion, and More Viral VideosThe Daily Beast Video
December 14, 2014
She worked with wildlife as a volunteer in Peru and the Galapagos; she worked with elephants in Thailand, at a zoo in Australia.
Let’s Free Stacey Addison, The Oregon Woman Jailed at the Ends of the EarthChristopher Dickey
October 30, 2014
The zoo is blessed with multiple wallabies and was happy to oblige.
Ebola's Roots Are 50 Times Older Than Mankind. And That Could Be the Key to Stopping It.Michael Daly
October 20, 2014
In Atlanta, though, you can spend the night in a zoo with real live animals.
Even before it was unveiled, critics were attacking the 21st-century version of the offensive original “zoo.”
Historical Examples of zoo
I knew there was a big menagerie there, Cross's Zoo, and that I should find some lions for sale.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
The zoo attendants might talk and entirely spoil their scheme.
The Mind MasterArthur J. Burks
"I've been to the zoo lots of times," she said to the girl next to her.
The HuntersWilliam Morrison
They say there is a country where the elephants are wild,And never even heard of our Zoo.
Golden MomentsAnonymous
Has the reader ever visited that famous resort of youth, the Zoo?
Follow My leaderTalbot Baines Reed
zoo
- a place where live animals are kept, studied, bred, and exhibited to the publicFormal term: zoological garden
Word Origin for zoo
zoo-
before a vowel zo-
- indicating animalszooplankton
Word Origin for zoo-
Word Origin and History for zoo
c.1847, short for Zoological Gardens of the London Zoological Society, established 1828 in Regent's Park to house the society's collection of wild animals. From comb. form of Greek zoion "an animal," literally "a living being," from PIE root *gwei- "to live, life" (cf. Greek bios "life," Old English cwicu "living;" see bio-). Slang meaning "crowded and chaotic place" first recorded 1935.
zoo-
- Animal; animal kingdom:zoonosis.
Idioms and Phrases with zoo
zoo
see it's a zoo.