sea-cow
Sea-cow is used in South African English as an old-fashioned name for a hippopotamus — a bulky, semi-aquatic mammal that spends most of its day submerged.
Definitions
Sea-cow is used in South African English as an old-fashioned name for a hippopotamus — a bulky, semi-aquatic mammal that spends most of its day submerged. The name makes intuitive sense: hippos are enormous, lumbering, and spend their lives in and around water, just like a barnyard cow that refuses to leave the pond. While dated, the term reflects the early Dutch and Afrikaans naming traditions in southern Africa, where settlers described new animals in terms of familiar European ones.
The old safari guide pointed at the river and said the sea-cow had been watching them from the shallows for twenty minutes.
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(South Africa, dated) Hippopotamus.
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- cowal56%
(AU) A billabong, or stagnant pool.
- cowal55%
Cowal is an Australian term of Aboriginal origin for a billabong or stagnant pool — a body of still water separated from a flowing river, typically oxbow-shaped and often seasonal. The word is used in parts of inland Australia, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, where billabongs and water-filled depressions are important landmarks in the landscape. The term reflects the deep integration of Aboriginal Australian language into the vocabulary of inland Australia.