See Also: rhinoceros(medicine)
rhinoceros(dictionary)
rhinoceros(encyclopedia)
rhinoceros(dictionary)

rhinoceros (iou)



rhinoceros noun. Pl. same, -es. ME.
[Latin (pl. -otes) from Greek rhinokeros, from rhin-, rhis nose + keras horn.]
A large heavy ungulate mammal of the perissodactyl family Rhinocerotidae, now restricted to Africa and SE Asia, having one or two horns on the nose and a thick folded hide. ME.
black rhinoceros a two-horned rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis, of savannahs in sub-Saharan Africa. Indian rhinoceros a large one-horned rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, with prominent skin folds and a prehensile upper lip, found in NE India and Nepal. square-lipped rhinoceros, white rhinoceros a large two-horned rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum, of eastern and southern Africa. woolly rhinoceros: see WOOLLY adjective.
b. transf. A large cumbersome person. E17.
ellipt. A rhinoceros beetle; a rhinoceros bird. Now rare or obsolete. E17.
Comb.: rhinoceros auklet a mainly blackish-brown auk, Cerorhinca monocerata, of N. Pacific coasts, with a yellowish horn at the base of the bill; rhinoceros beetle any of various very large horned scarab beetles of the subfamily Dynastinae; rhinoceros bird (a) = rhinoceros hornbill below; (b) an ox-pecker; rhinoceros bush the renosterbos, Elytropappus rhinocerotis; rhinoceros horn the keratinous horn of a rhinoceros, used ornamentally or for its supposed aphrodisiac properties; rhinoceros hornbill a hornbill, Buceros rhinoceros, of SE Asia.
? Pl. forms in Latin pl. form -otes have been regarded as belonging to next.