GIBBON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Gibbon mean? 

• GIBBON (noun)
  The noun GIBBON has 2 senses:

1. English historian best known for his history of the Roman Empire (1737-1794)

2. smallest and most perfectly anthropoid arboreal ape having long arms and no tail; of southern Asia and East Indies

  Familiarity information: GIBBON used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GIBBON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

English historian best known for his history of the Roman Empire (1737-1794)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Edward Gibbon; Gibbon

Instance hypernyms:

historian; historiographer (a person who is an authority on history and who studies it and writes about it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Smallest and most perfectly anthropoid arboreal ape having long arms and no tail; of southern Asia and East Indies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

gibbon; Hylobates lar

Hypernyms ("gibbon" is a kind of...):

lesser ape (gibbons and siamangs)

Holonyms ("gibbon" is a member of...):

genus Hylobates; Hylobates (gibbons)

 Context examples 

But if you open up the fruit, each seed is covered by this juicy, soft pulp, and it's that that the monkeys and gibbons like.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

While the Sambar deer weren't quite as effective seed dispersers as gibbons (21 percent), they still produced a respectable 17 percent.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

McConkey tracked how often animals visited the trees and ate the fruit, including elephants, bears, monkeys, gibbons and Sambar deer.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)