Word Study
gibbon
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun gibbon has 2 senses
- gibbon(n = noun.person) edward gibbon - English historian best known for his history of the Roman Empire (1737-1794); Array is a kind of historian, historiographer
- gibbon(n = noun.animal) hylobates lar - smallest and most perfectly anthropoid arboreal ape having long arms and no tail; of southern Asia and East Indies; Array is a kind of lesser ape
is a member of genus hylobates, hylobates
CIDE DICTIONARY
gibbon, n. [Cf. F. gibbon.].
Any arboreal ape of the genus Hylobates , of which many species and varieties inhabit the East Indies and Southern Asia. They are tailless and without cheek pouches, and have very long arms, adapted for climbing.
" The white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar ), the crowned (H. pilatus ), the wou-wou or singing gibbon (H. agilis ), the siamang, and the hoolock. are the most common species."
[1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
gibbon, n. any small ape of the genus Hylobates, native to SE Asia, having a slender body and long arms.
Etymology
F f. a native name
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