cougar
(ˈkuːgə(r))
Also couguar (ˈkuːgwɑː(r)).
[a. F. couguar, an adaptation by Buffon (1749–67) of Marcgraf's name cuguacu ara, reproduced by Pison 1648, and adopted by Ray 1693, repr. Guarani gua{cced}u ara or guazu ara.]
A large feline quadruped (Felis concolor), found wild in most parts of America; also called puma, catamount, red tiger, American lion, etc.
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. iv. i. 375 There is an animal of America, which is usually called the red tiger, but Mr. Buffon calls it the Cougar. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xviii. 50 The couguar, called in Surinam the red tyger. 1809 Campbell Gertr. Wyom. iii. xiv, Nor foeman then, nor cougar's crouch I feared. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. (1880) 36 The couguar is..not as large as the jaguar. 1865 Parkman Champlain xi. (1875) 329 The whoop of the horned owl, the scream of the cougar. |