camelopard
\ kuh-MEL-uh-pahrd \, noun;
1.Archaic . a giraffe.
Quotes:
Edmund thought Mr. Necessary would die of joy the day they stood together in a lot behind a Philadelphia tavern, gazing up at the camelopard on display there, the creature's deeply feminine face looking down at them from atop its towering neck…
-- Stephen Harrigan, The Gates of the Alamo , 2000
A crier explained that this was the camelopard , so-called because in some respects it resembled the camel, having long, spindly legs and a camel-like face, while its spotted skin resembled that of a leopard.
-- Steven Saylor, The Triumph of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome , 2008
Origin:
Camelopard is a portmanteau of the words camel and pard , an archaic term for a leopard or panther. It entered English in the late 1300s.
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