ˈant-ˌbear
[from its remote likeness to a bear.]
1. The popular name in Guyana of the Great Ant-eater, Myrmecophaga jubata.
| 1555 Eden tr. P. Martyr of Angleria's Hystorie of West Indies in Decades fol. 189 There is also on the firme lande an other beaste cauled Orso Formigaro, that is, the Ante beare. 1691 Ray Creation (L.) Two sorts of tamanduas [live] upon ants, which therefore are called in English ant-bears. 1863 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 122 A huge ant-bear..his bushy tail curled over his back..and his long snout held close to the ground, as if in search of his insect prey. |
2. The English name for the S. African aardvark. Also attrib.
| 1894 Daily News 8 Nov. 6/1 A poor little boy, who had tried to hide himself in an ant-bear hole. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 3/1 The typical form, Orycteropus capensis, or Cape ant-bear from South Africa. 1951 A. Roberts Mammals S. Afr. (1954) 239 Order Tubulidentata. Family Orycteropodidæ: Antbears. The family comprises the Antbears of the Old World, or Aardvarks (in Afrikaans now spelt Erdvarks), which are survivors of an ancient type of animal. |