‖ urus Zool.
(ˈjʊərəs)
Pl. ‖ uri (uruses).
[a. L. ūrus, = Gr. οὖρος, OTeut. *ūrus: see aurochs. Cf. ure n.3, ure-ox.]
1. = aurochs, ure-ox.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 323 Those Neat or Buffles called Vri and Bisontes. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 130/2 Such as have Horns, and chew the Cud, as..Goat, Elk, Urus, Bison, etc. 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 583 The bull, in it's wild state;..Authors have called it..Urus, as if of a different species. 1766– [see aurochs]. 1791 Smellie tr. Buffon VI. 171 The urus, or aurochs, is the same animal with the common bull in its natural and wild state. 1829 Scott Anne of G. ii, One of those huge horns made out of the spoils of the urus, or wild bull. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 237/1 The forest of Bialoviza..is the only place where the urus is still found. 1888 E. D. Gerard Land beyond Forest II. 176 The ibex and urus have completely died out, the last urus known of in Transylvania having been killed..in 1775. |
2. Applied to species of fossil or prehistoric oxen.
| 1823 Buckland Reliq. Diluvianæ 63 The horn of a very large urus..found at a considerable depth in digging away the diluvium. 1869 Lubbock Preh. Times (ed. 2) vi. 198 The urus, or great fossil ox, is now altogether extinct. 1874 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age 405 Associated with this ancient peat-moss are found the bones of the Asiatic elephant,..the urus or great ox. |