Adjacent Words

Bison definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BIS'ON, n. [L. A quadruped of the bovine genus, usually but improperly called the buffalo. The proper buffalo is a distinct species, peculiar to the warmer climates of the Eastern Continent. The bison is a wild animal, with short, black, rounded horns, with a great interval between their bases. On the shoulders is a large hunch, consisting of a fleshy substance. The head and hunch are covered with a long undulated fleece, of a rust-color, divided into locks. In winter, the whole body is covered in this manner; but in summer, the hind part of the body is naked,and wrinkled. The tail is about a foot long, naked, except a tuft of hairs at the end. The fore parts of the body are very thick and strong; the hind parts are slender and weak. These animals inhabit the interior parts of North America, and some of the mountainous parts of Europe and Asia.
Pennant alleges that the bison of America is the same species of animal as the bison and aurochs of Europe, the bonasus of Aristotle, the urus of Caesar, the bos ferus or wild ox of Strabo,the bison of Pliny, and the biston of Oppian.
Cuvier has not separated the bison of America from that of Europe, He considers their identity as doubtful. The former has the legs and tail shorter, and the hairs of its head and neck longer than in the latter.
Cuvier has not separated the bison of America from that of Europe. He considers their identity as doubtful. The former has the legs and tail shorter, and the hairs of its head and neck longer than in the latter.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any of several large humped bovids having shaggy manes and large heads and short horns

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural bison) Etymology: Latin bisont-, bison, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German wisant aurochs; akin to Old Prussian wissambrs aurochs Date: circa 1611 any of several large shaggy-maned usually gregarious recent or extinct bovine mammals (genus Bison) having a large head with short horns and heavy forequarters surmounted by a large fleshy hump: as a. wisent b. buffalo 1c(1) • bisontine adjective

Britannica Concise

Species (Bison bison) of oxlike bovid that has a convex forehead and a pronounced shoulder hump. Its dark-brown, coarse hair is especially long on the head, which is held low, and on the neck and shoulders. Both sexes bear heavy, curved horns. A mature bull stands about 6.5 ft (2 m) at the shoulder and weighs more than 1,980 lbs (900 kg). Bison live in herds. The Amer. bison, commonly called buffalo, was abundant over most of N. America when Europeans arrived. Hunting drove it nearly to extinction by 1900; today managed herds seem to be ensuring its survival. The European bison survives only in a few managed herds.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. same) either of two wild hump-backed shaggy-haired oxen of the genus Bison, native to N. America (B. bison) or Europe (B. bonasus). Etymology: ME f. L f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bison Bi"son (b[imac]"s[o^]n; 277), n. [L. bison, Gr. bi`swn, a wild ox; akin to OHG. wisunt, wisant, G. wisent, AS. wesend, Icel. v[=i]sundr: cf. F. bison.] (Zo["o]l.) (a) The aurochs or European bison. (b) The American bison buffalo (Bison Americanus), a large, gregarious bovine quadruped with shaggy mane and short black horns, which formerly roamed in herds over most of the temperate portion of North America, but is now restricted to very limited districts in the region of the Rocky Mountains, and is rapidly decreasing in numbers.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bison) A bison is a large hairy animal with a large head that is a member of the cattle family. They used to be very common in North America and Europe. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use buffalo) = buffalo N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Aurochs, buffalo (U.S.).

Moby Thesaurus

Brahman, Indian buffalo, aurochs, beef, beef cattle, beeves, bossy, bovine, bovine animal, buffalo, bull, bullock, calf, carabao, cattle, cow, critter, dairy cattle, dairy cow, dogie, heifer, hornless cow, kine, leppy, maverick, milch cow, milcher, milk cow, milker, muley cow, muley head, musk-ox, neat, ox, oxen, steer, stirk, stot, wisent, yak, yearling, zebu