† sea-oxn.
Obsolete.
1. The hippopotamus. Cf. sea-cow n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [noun] > group Suiformes (hippos and pigs) > family Hippopotamidae > hippopotamus, amphibiusi, or hippo
hippopotamusa1398
water horsea1398
river horse1583
seahorse1600
sea-ox1600
morse1703
sea-cow1731
hippo1850
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ix. 335 The creatures therein [in the Nile] contained are exceeding strange, as namely sea-horses, sea-oxen, crocodiles [etc.].
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ix. 344 The sea-oxe being couered with an exceeding hard skinne is shaped in all respects like vnto the land-oxe; saue that in bignes it exceedeth not a calfe of sixe moneths olde.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 328 Some Græcians call him somtimes a Sea-horsse, and sometimes a Sea-oxe.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 202 A hundred Elephants, caparison'd with the skins of Sea-oxen.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 202 This Besigu beares a bow and quiver, a short sword, and a coat of Sea-oxe.
1791 W. Smellie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Gen. & Particular (ed. 3) VI. 278.
2. The walrus or morse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Pinnipedia (seal, sea lion, or walrus) > [noun] > family Odobenidae (walrus)
morse1482
seahorse?a1500
rosmarine1590
horse-whale1598
sea-elephant1601
sea-ox1613
sea-morse1631
sea-cow1668
walrus1728
walrus calf1896
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 626 Neere to New-found-land in 47 deg. is great killing of the Morse or Sea-oxe.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.1600