sea-cown.
1. The manatee n.; also applied to other sirenians, as the dugong. Often applied to the now extinct sirenian, Rhytina stelleri, called Arctic, northern, or Steller's sea-cow.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Placentalia > [noun] > order Sirenia
sea-bulla1400
mermaida1544
sea-cow1613
sea-ape1755
sirenian1883
trichechodont1887
1613 R. Harcourt Relation Voy. Guiana 30 There is also a Sea-fish..the Indians name it Coiumero, and the Spaniards Manati, but we call it the Sea-cow.
1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 186 This is the Manatee, or Sea-Cow, called by the French Lamentin.
1859–62 J. Richardson et al. Museum Nat. Hist. (1868) I. 206 The Mexican Sea-cow (Manatus latirostris), a very large species, upwards of fifteen feet in length.
1883 W. H. Flower in Encycl. Brit. XV. 374/1 The Rhytina or Northern Sea-Cow was..limited to a single island in the extreme north of the Pacific Ocean.
2. The Morse or Walrus. Also attributive ? Obsolete.
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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
1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 169 Walrus..the Mors, or Sea-Cow.
1782 Capt. Coffin in J. Adams' Wks. (1851) III. 330 The sea-cow fishery was..carried on to great advantage.
1819 Act 59 Geo. III c. 52 Tab. A. Sea Cow, Sea Horse, or Sea Morse Teeth, the cwt. 3. 4. 0.
1837 T. Bell Hist. Brit. Quadrupeds 285 Walrus. Morse, Sea-cow, Sea-horse.
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the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Hypotremata > [noun] > family Rajidae > member of family Rajidae (ray)
reighOE
roughlOE
rayc1350
flathec1440
rayfisha1500
Raja1633
centrine1661
flair1668
sea-cow1722
ox-ray1862
sea-devil1881
rajoid1890
1722 J. Jones tr. Oppian Halieuticks 227 βοῦς..the Sea-Cow or Broad-Ray.
4.
a. [South African Dutch zeekoe.] The hippopotamus.
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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
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope II. 129 There is seen in the large rivers about the Cape a very large animal call'd the Sea-Cow.
1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting i. 15 Nine or ten crocodiles..gorged with sea-cow, and fast asleep.
b. attributive or adj., as sea-cow sjambok, sea-cow-whip, etc.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [adjective] > made from hide of hippo
sea-cow1850
1850 R. Gordon-Cumming Five Years Hunter's Life S. Afr. I. xvi. 384 An equally persuasive sea-cow jambok.
1908 H. R. Haggard Ghost Kings viii. 102 We have sea-cow whips here.
5. A fisherman's name in the west of England for Holothuria nigra.
ΚΠ
1884 Proc. Zool. Soc. 563.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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