mountain goatn.
/ˌmaʊntᵻn ˈɡəʊt/, U.S. /ˈmaʊnt(ə)n ˌɡoʊt/ 1.
a. A wild or feral goat (or a goat-antelope) living in mountainous country, noted for agility.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > subfamily Caprinae (goat) > [noun] > wild type of
goateOE
wild goata1398
mountain goat1604
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. xlii. 324 The mountaine goates [Sp. cabras monteses], which are nourished and fed vpon poison.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. iv. 17 Thou damned and luxurious Mountaine Goat . View more context for this quotation
1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. iii. 37 So joys a Lion if the branching Deer Or Mountain Goat, his bulky Prize, appear.
1840 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports §1876 The animals which were coursed by the ancients were of very different kinds, such as the wild ass, the stag, the mountain goat, the wolf, jackal, boar, fox, hare, etc.
1940 Life 30 Sept. 92 (advt.) Feet become sure-footed as a mountain goat's.
1979 J. Hunt Unseen Yeti in O. Davies Omni Bk. of Paranormal & Mind iv. xvi. 175 The artifact was..a skullcap made from the skin of a serow, a mountain goat commonly found in Khumbu.
1992 Gramophone Jan. 66/2 He surmounts the high harmonics in the cadenza of the last movement of the Glazunov with the surefootedness of a mountain goat.
b. An American goat-antelope, Oreamnos americanus, with shaggy white hair and backward curving horns, that lives in the Rocky Mountains. Also called Rocky Mountain goat.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > subfamily Caprinae (goat) > [noun] > genus Oreamus (Rocky Mountain goat)
mazama1817
Rocky Mountain goat1826
mountain goat1841
white goat1845
mazame1852
1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians II. lv. 196 His leggings and shirt were of the mountain-goat skin.
1859 S. F. Baird Mammals N. Amer. 671 Aplocerus montanus..Mountain Goat, Mountain Sheep, White Goat, &c.
1901 G. W. James Indian Basketry v. 50 They also made a practice of weaving the long hair of the mountain goat into cloaks and blankets.
1936 D. McCowan Animals Canad. Rockies xiv. 119 A herd of mountain goats on an immense buttress of rock.
1966 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 7 May 41/2 Mountain goat also abound in the mountainous region..in..south-eastern British Columbia.
1980 Hunting Ann. 1981 38/4 A recent survey shows Oregon's mountain goat herd, in the northeastern part of the state, has increased to 32 animals.
2. In extended use: a type of vehicle suitable for use on mountain roads or off-road in mountainous country.
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1965 M. E. Gillham Naturalist in N.Z. 188 The last few miles to the ski huts would be in a ‘mountain goat’—a navy blue Landrover which drove gamely up.
1996 Motoring & Leisure Feb. 60/1 Excursions arranged over two full days by ‘Mountain Goat’—mini coaches that explore where larger coaches cannot reach.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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