armadillo
Definitions
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Armadillos -
WordNet 3.6
- n armadillo burrowing chiefly nocturnal mammal with body covered with strong horny plates
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Interesting fact: Armadillos can be housebroken
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- n Armadillo (Zoöl) Any edentate animal if the family Dasypidæ, peculiar to America. The body and head are incased in an armor composed of small bony plates. The armadillos burrow in the earth, seldom going abroad except at night. When attacked, they curl up into a ball, presenting the armor on all sides. Their flesh is good food. There are several species, one of which (the peba) is found as far north as Texas. See Peba Poyou Tatouay.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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Interesting fact: While digging, an Armadillo can hold its breath for up to six minutes
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- n armadillo An American edentate quadruped, of the order Bruta (or Edentata) and suborder Loricata, and of the extant families Tatusiidœ, Dasypodidœ, and Chlamydophoridœ, or of the extinct family Glyptodontidœ, having a hard shell or carapace like a coat of mail, resulting from a peculiar ossification of the integument and the confluence of numerous small scutes. In the glyptodons the carapace was entire and fixed, and even in some cases covered the belly as well as the back; but in all the living armadillos the shell is divided into an anterior, a posterior, and an entire or variously divided middle part. When the division of the middle part is complete, the animal can roll itself into a ball. The teeth are numerous, but vary in number and other characteristics with the several genera; in the genus Prionodoutes they are a hundred in number. The peba is an armadillo of the family Tatusiidœ, the Tatusia novemeineta, the only one of the group found as far north as the United States. There are other species. The encouberts are the typical armadillos of the family Dasypodidœ. The peludo is Dasypus villosus. The kabassous constitute the genus Xenurus. The kabalasson is Priodontes gigas. The apars are the three-banded armadillos, of the genns Tolypeutes. The pichiciagos constitute the family Chlamydophoridœ; they are the smallest and most peculiar forms, being less than a foot long, while the kabalassou is three feet long without the tail. All these animals are mild, timid, and inoffensive, subsisting on roots, leaves, and fruits, sometimes on insects or flesh. They are able to dig into the ground with great rapidity, and escape from their enemies in this way as well as by rolling up in a ball. The flesh is considered good for food.
- n armadillo In Crustacea: A genus of isopods, of the family Oniscidœ, including the pillbugs, which can roll themselves into a ball like the mammals called armadillos.
- n armadillo A species of this genus; a pill-bug or sow-bug; a kind of wood-louse.
- n armadillo A name given to an electric battery composed of copper and zinc elements riveted together, and designed to be worn as a remedy in certain diseases.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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Interesting fact: The official state mammal of Texas is the armadillo
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- n Armadillo ärm-a-dil′o a small American edentate quadruped, having its body armed with bands of bony plates
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Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Sp. armadillo, dim. of armado, armed, p. p. of armar, to arm. So called from being armed with a bony shell
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Sp., dim. of armado, armed.
Usage
In literature:
Lucien examined with curiosity the scales which crossed the back of the armadillo, and its pink transparent skin.
"Adventures of a Young Naturalist" by Lucien Biart
A few armadillo shells and limpets crawl on the bottom, but a frequent troubling of the water baffles me.
"The Log of the Sun" by William Beebe
Better defended is the scale-covered armadillo, with his coat of mail.
"Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests" by J. J. von Tschudi
I was born on its edge; when a boy bird-nested and trapped armadilloes all over it.
"The Free Lances" by Mayne Reid
Once we encountered a puma, and once we saw an armadillo.
"Our Home in the Silver West" by Gordon Stables
Describe the methods of defense in the following mammals: Armadillo, Porcupine, Skunk.
"Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts" by Girl Scouts
What with wild fowl and armadillos, I think that, at a pinch, we could live for some time upon the produce of the estate.
"Out on the Pampas" by G. A. Henty
Crocodiles, pumas, armadillos, monkeys, crabs, lizards, scorpions, frogs, and fish appear very frequently.
"Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia" by William Henry Holmes
I should call it "Armadillo" till I found out the real one.
"Just So Stories" by Rudyard Kipling
Sloths and cuirassed animals, like giant armadillos, lived in America.
"Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know" by Julia Ellen Rogers
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In poetry:
There once was an arch Armadillo
Who built him a hut 'neath a willow;
He hadn't a bed
So he rested his head
On a young Porcupine for a pillow.
Who built him a hut 'neath a willow;
He hadn't a bed
So he rested his head
On a young Porcupine for a pillow.
"The Arch Armadillo" by Carolyn Wells
In news:
Researchers from the National Hansen's Disease Clinical Center in Baton Rouge have been studying the armadillo for years in connection to leprosy .
Young Danish soldiers combat the Taliban in the name of peacekeeping and humanitarianism in Armadillo.
San Saba remains only Armadillos in the state.
Shaun won in dramatic fashion knocking PLG out with his "armadillo".
Aaron Lewis at The Dusty Armadillo.
Q92 welcomes Aaron Lewis to The Dusty Armadillo in Rootstown on Saturday, December 8th.
The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is so named because of the nine moveable rings of armor between the animal's shoulder and the hip shields.
Three-toe prints and sharp claw marks are typical of armadillo tracks.
Camel , armadillo burgers at Dave's Pizza & Burgers in Colonie.
Now, he’s hosting his own, at a slightly smaller venue: the Dusty Armadillo in Rootstown.
Dusty Armadillo, 3147 Ohio 44, Rootstown  Tickets: Sold out.
) a monstrous 10-foot long, 4-foot tall armadillo was spotted on Halloween night at the Armadillo Palace and attracted swarms of onlookers.
On Sunday, March 4th, the Bryan/College Station area will host the Sixth Annual Armadillo Dash .
Armadillo is a journey into the soldier's mind and a unique investigation into the mythological story of man and war, staged in its contemporary version in Afghanistan.
Dusty Armadillo, 3147 Ohio 44, Rootstown  Tickets: Sold out.
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In science:
Using novel phylogenetic methods to evaluate mammalian mtDNA, including AA invariant sites-LogDet plus site stripping, to detect internal conflicts in the data, with special reference to the position of hedgehog, armadillo, and elephant.
Measuring Fit of Sequence Data to Phylogenetic Model: Gain of Power using Marginal Tests
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