bison

[bahy-suh n, -zuh n] /ˈbaɪ sən, -zən/
noun, plural bison.
1.
Also called American bison, American buffalo. a North American, oxlike ruminant, Bison bison, having a large head and high, humped shoulders: formerly common in North America, its small remaining population in isolated western areas of the U.S. and Canada is now protected.
2.
Also called wisent. a related animal, Bison bonasus, of Europe, less shaggy and slightly larger than the American bison: now greatly reduced in number.
Compare buffalo.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English bisontes (plural) < Latin (nominative singular bisōn) < Germanic; compare Old High German wisunt, Old English wesend, Old Norse visundr
Related forms
bisontine
[bahy-suh n-tahyn, -zuh n-] /ˈbaɪ sənˌtaɪn, -zən-/ (Show IPA), adjective
Examples from the web for bison
  • One aim of the research is to develop effective culling strategies for the island's bison population.
  • Reindeer receded northward and eastward, and bison and horse followed.
  • The skin of a bison dressed without removing the hair, and used as a travelling rug.
  • The koala makes a sound that should require a bison-size body.
  • Horses and bison disappeared from the region, although populations of those animals survived in other parts of the world.
  • Other projects have reintroduced tortoises, bison and falcons into their old haunts.
  • You'll see elk, deer and cranes, and get so close to a herd of bison that you can practically smell their wooly fur.
  • The painting contrasts the vast number of bison swimming across the river with the handful of explorers in a rowboat.
  • Spelunkers exploring the cave found about half a dozen images of animals, including two rhinos, a bison and a horse.
  • For a day and a half, she eats and dozes in the same spot, ignoring the huge herd of bison that graze nearby.
British Dictionary definitions for bison

bison

/ˈbaɪsən/
noun (pl) -son
1.
Also called American bison, buffalo. a member of the cattle tribe, Bison bison, formerly widely distributed over the prairies of W North America but now confined to reserves and parks, with a massive head, shaggy forequarters, and a humped back
2.
Also called wisent, European bison. a closely related and similar animal, Bison bonasus, formerly widespread in Europe
Word Origin
C14: from Latin bisōn, of Germanic origin; related to Old English wesand, Old Norse vīsundr
Word Origin and History for bison
n.

c.1600, from French bison (15c.), from Latin bison "wild ox," borrowed from Proto-Germanic *wisand- "aurochs" (cf. Old Norse visundr, Old High German wisunt "bison," Old English/Middle English wesend, which is not attested after c.1400). Possibly ultimately of Baltic or Slavic origin, and meaning "the stinking animal," in reference to its scent while rutting (see weasel). A European wild ox formerly widespread on the continent, including the British Isles, now surviving on forest reserves in Lithuania. Applied 1690s to the North American species commonly mis-called a buffalo.

bison in Technology
tool
GNU's replacement for the yacc parser generator. Bison runs under Unix and on Atari computers. It was written by Robert Corbett.
Latest version: 1.28, as of 2000-05-22.
As of version 1.24, Bison will no longer apply the GNU General Public License to your code. You can use the output files without restriction.
FTP GNU.org (ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/) or your nearest GNU archive site.
E-mail: .
Bison++ is a version which produces C++ output.
(2000-07-05)