bluebuckn.
/ˈbluːbʌk/, U.S. /ˈbluˌbək/ 1. South African. The blue duiker, Cephalophus (or Philantomba) monticola. Now rare.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > antelope > [noun] > subfamily Cephalophinae (duiker) > Cephalophus monticola (blue duiker)
bluebuck1804
kleenebok1834
ipiti1836
1804 J. T. van der Kemp in Trans. London Missionary Soc. (ed. 2) 1 447 (Gloss.) Ipouthi, the blue buck.
1835 J. W. D. Moodie Ten Years S. Afr. II. 139 The woods also abound with..an elegant little antelope,..called the ‘blaawe bock’ or blue buck.
1893 J. Noble Illustr. Official Handbk. Cape & S. Afr. 62 The diminutive bluebuck, not bigger than a rabbit.
1931 Jrnl. Ecol. 19 13 Man..has made severe inroads upon the population of bush-buck.., blue-buck (Cephalophus monticola), and grijsbok.
1949 L. Hunter Afr. Dawn 160 Dainty blue buck picked their way along the game paths that meandered through the thick undergrowth.
1981 J. B. Peires House of Phalo 6 The main purpose of the hunt was to obtain rare skins (bluebuck, for instance) and ivory for armlets.
2. historical. A large extinct antelope, Hippotragus leucophaeus, with a dark bluish coat and long curved horns, found in south-western South Africa until about 1800. Cf. blauwbok n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > antelope > [noun] > subfamily Hippotraginae > genus Hippotragus > Hippotragus peucophaeus (blue buck)
blue goat1731
blauwbok1786
bluebuck1834
1834 Penny Cycl. II. 88/2 The hide of this animal [sc. Antilope leucophæa] is perfectly black, and it is this colour reflected through the ashy-grey hair that communicates the dark blue shade which has given rise to the name of Blauwbok, or Bluebuck, by which it has long been known among the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope.
c1902 F. C. Selous in C. J. Cornish Living Animals of World I. 250 The bluebuck..appears to have been entirely confined to the mountainous districts of the Cape Peninsula.
1987 T. F. J. Van Rensburg Introd. to Fynbos 51 The bluebuck, quagga and Cape Lion have long been extinct.
2004 R. Ellis No Turning Back 144 The early travelers found the bluebuck only in relatively well watered grassy country.
3. The nilgai, Boselaphus tragocamelus, a large Indian antelope. Cf. blue bull n. at blue adj. and n. Compounds 1b(a).
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > antelope > [noun] > genus Boselaphus (nilgai)
biggel1662
nilghau1672
nilgai1871
bluebuck1968
1968 M. S. Randhawa et al. Farmers of India IV. i. 8 The nilgai or blue-buck abounds, as also the Indian black-buck.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VII. 346/3 The nilgai is also known as bluebuck after the bluish-gray coat of the male; the female is reddish brown.
2002 N. Eldredge Life on Earth 191/2 Bluebuck. The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is the sole species contained in the genus Boselaphus.
2010 R. C. Buckley Conservation Tourism ii. vi. 67/2 There is also a wide variety of other wildlife within these parks, including leopard.., the bluebuck known as nilghai, and a wide variety of bird life.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1804