Crossword clues for dromedary
dromedary
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dromedary \Drom"e*da*ry\ (dr[u^]m"[-e]*d[asl]*r[y^]), n.; pl. Dromedaries (-r[i^]z). [F. dromadaire, LL. dromedarius, fr. L. dromas (sc. camelus), fr. Gr. droma`s running, from dramei^n, used as aor. of tre`chein to run; cf. Skr. dram to run.] (Zo["o]l.) The Arabian camel ( Camelus dromedarius), having one hump or protuberance on the back, in distinction from the Bactrian camel, which has two humps.
Note: In Arabia and Egypt the name is restricted to the better breeds of this species of camel. See Deloul.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 13c., from Old French dromedaire, from Late Latin dromedarius "kind of camel," from Latin dromas (genitive dromados), from Greek dromas kamelos "running camel," from dromos "a race course," from PIE *drem-, from possible base *der- "to run, walk, step" (cognates: Sanskrit dramati "runs, goes," Greek dromas "running," Middle High German tremen "to rock, shake, sway"). One-humped Arabian camels were bred and trained for riding. An early variant was drumbledairy (1560s).
Wiktionary
n. 1 ''Camelus dromedarius'', the single-humped camel. 2 Any swift riding camel.
WordNet
n. one-humped camel of the hot deserts of northern Africa and southwestern Asia [syn: Arabian camel, Camelus dromedarius]
Wikipedia
The dromedary ( or ), also called the Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius), is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back. It is one of the three species of camel that was given its current binomial name by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The dromedary is the largest camel after the Bactrian camel; adult males stand at the shoulder, while females are tall. Males typically weigh between , and females weigh between . The species' distinctive features include its long,curved neck, narrow chest, a single hump (compared with two on the Bactrian camel), and long hairs on the throat, shoulders and hump. The coat is generally a shade of brown. The hump, tall or more, is made of fat bound together by fibrous tissue.
Dromedaries are mainly active during daylight hours. They form herds of about 20 individuals, which are led by a dominant male. This camel feeds on foliage and desert vegetation; several adaptations, such as the ability to tolerate greater than 30% of the water content of the body, allow it to thrive in its desert habitat. Mating occurs annually and peaks in the rainy season; females bear a single calf after a gestation of 15 months.
The dromedary has not occurred naturally in the wild for nearly 2,000 years. It was probably first domesticated in Somalia or the Arabian Peninsula about 4,000 years ago. In the wild, the dromedary inhabited arid regions, including the Sahara Desert. The domesticated dromedary is generally found in the semi-arid to arid regions of the Old World, mainly in Africa, and a significant feral population occurs in Australia, and were also recently introduced to North America, more specifically, Nevada in the United States. Products of the dromedary, including its meat and milk, support several north Arabian tribes; it is also commonly used for riding and as a beast of burden.
Dromedary, also known as the Dromedary Quartet, is an American world music band originally based out of Athens, Georgia but now with members on both coasts. The group formed as a duo consisting of Andrew Reissiger and Rob McMaken playing a variety of instruments from cultures across the globe. The group's most recent album Sticks and Stones features New Orleans-to-Athens transplant Louis Romanos (percussion) and Chris Enghauser (bass).
Instruments utilized include the Bolivian charango, the Turkish cumbus, the Appalachian dulcimer, mandolin, and guitar.
The duo have also been frequent collaborators with North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Jonathan Byrd. Together they recorded The Sea and The Sky, an album of songs Byrd wrote inspired by a band.
Usage examples of "dromedary".
Arabian to the heftiest drafter, and also camels and their cousins, the sleek racing dromedaries.
In midstream Hadrios clung to Helane with one hand, used the other to flog a reluctant dromedary with a wand.
And then came the great prize, Tancred, mounted on a dromedary, his right arm bound up in a sling which Baroni had hastily made, and surrounded and followed by a large troop of horsemen, who treated him with the highest consideration, not only because he was a great prince, whose ransom could bring many camels to their tribe, but because he had shown those feats of valour which the wild desert honours.
It appeared from the account of Baroni, that his highness had departed at dawn, on his dromedary, and without an attendant.
Around us swirled traffic of every sort: machines, wheeled and wheelless vehicles pulled by animals and slaves, walkers, and riders on the backs of dromedaries, oxen, metamynodons, and hackneys.
Sent to the bullocks and the dromedaries, whatever the hell they were, and after that to the green-coated dregs of the army.
Here were a dozen cameloids or dromedaries, property of the Academy or its masters, peacefully grazing in a field fenced off from the grassy common where teachers and students, distinguished by their own varieties of white uniforms, strolled or gathered in fine weather to dispute in groups.
Crusaders of different nations, white turbans and long pikes, announcing the presence of armed Saracens, and the huge deformed heads of several camels or dromedaries, overlooking the multitude by aid of their long, disproportioned necks.
Rudolf, meet Saint Montague Hayward, chairman of the Royal Commission for Investigating the Incidence of Psittacosis among Dromedaries, and managing editor of The Blunt Instrument, canonized this very day for assassinating a reader who thought a blackleg was something to do with varicose veins.
Their working clothes were now in order, and they were moving on to the fine work: it was known that church was to be rigged on Sunday -Mr Martin was already leading some of the better voices through the Old Hundredth in the empty fore-hold and the deck vibrated like the soundbox of some vast instrument - and it was thought that the Dromedaries would attend dressed fancy.
During the hymns and psalms, which a certain rivalry between Surprises and Dromedaries rendered more vehement than musical, his attention wandered, returning to his anonymous letter and his thoughts of Diana of her particular sort of faithfulness - of her extremely spirited resentment of any slight and it occurred to him that she was not unlike a falcon he had known when he was a boy in his godfather's house in Spain, a haggard, a wild-caught peregrine of extraordinary dash and courage, death to herons, ducks and even geese, very gentle with those she liked but wholly irreconcilable and indeed dangerous if she was offended.
At the sound of firing the nearest boat made for the ship and for a moment it seemed that the Dromedaries might have taken fright, might have supposed that Turks and Egyptians were attacking them or one another so that it would be better to stand out to sea.
Nothing could more have endeared the Dromedaries to the Surprises than the cups of tea, the huge quantities of wine and water with lemon-juice, and the food they lavished on them.
Several of the dromedaries were thrown to earth at once, with the Ghorii gnawing their legs and haunches and chines, or hanging dog-wise at their throats.
But, terrified by the hideous tumult, by the odor of blood and the hyena-like scent of the Ghorii, their dromedaries balked and bolted, carrying them back along the route into Yoros.