Wanderoo

Definitions

  • Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • n Wanderoo (Zoöl) A large monkey (Macacus silenus) native of Malabar. It is black, or nearly so, but has a long white or gray beard encircling the face. Called also maha silenus neelbhunder lion-tailed baboon, and great wanderoo.☞ The name is sometimes applied also to other allied species.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n wanderoo A large catarrhine monkey of Malabar, India, Macaem sitenus. It is about 3 feet long to the tip of the tail (which is tufted), of a black ish color with pink buttocks, and has an extravagant mane of long hair surrounding the face, of a light or whitish color. Notwithstanding the name, the wanderoo is not found in Ceylon, where that native name applies more properly to species of Semnopithecus, as the great wan deroo or maha, S. ursinus. The misapplication origi nated with Buffon. Also called Malabar monkey, lion-tailed monkey, baboon, or macaque, neel-chunder, silenus, and by other names.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Wanderoo won-de-rōō′ a catarrhine monkey, a native of the Malabar coast of India.
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Cingalese wanderu, a monkey
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Cingalese.

Usage

In literature:

Wanderoo, mode of flight among trees, 9. monkeys never found dead, 11.
"Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon" by J. Emerson Tennent
Like the common wanderoo, this one was partial to fresh vegetables, plantains, and fruit; but he ate freely boiled rice, beans, and gram.
"Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, Volume 1 (of 2)" by James Emerson Tennent
The black wanderoo of Ceylon with white whiskers comes nearest in its resemblance to the human face.
"The Pearl of India" by Maturin M. Ballou
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