bighorn

Related to bighorn: Little Bighorn, Bighorn National Forest

bighorn

(ˈbɪɡˌhɔːn)

n, pl -horns or -horn

(Animals) a large wild sheep, Ovis canadensis, inhabiting mountainous regions in North America and NE Asia: family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla. The male has massive curved horns, and the species is well adapted for climbing and leaping

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

big•horn

(ˈbɪgˌhɔrn)

n., pl. -horns, (esp. collectively) -horn.

a wild sheep, Ovis canadensis, of the Rocky Mountains, with large, curving horns.

Also called Rocky Mountain sheep.

[1775–85, Amer.]

Big•horn

(ˈbɪgˌhɔrn)

n.

a river flowing from central Wyoming to the Yellowstone River in S Montana. 336 mi. (540 km) long.

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Noun	1.	Bighorn - a river that flows from central Wyoming to the Yellowstone River in southern Montana Bighorn River Montana, Treasure State, MT - a state in northwestern United States on the Canadian border Equality State, WY, Wyoming - a state in the western United States; mountainous in the west and north with the Great Plains in the east
	2.	bighorn - wild sheep of mountainous regions of western North America having massive curled horns bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis, Rocky Mountain bighorn, Rocky Mountain sheep, cimarron genus Ovis, Ovis - sheep mountain sheep - any wild sheep inhabiting mountainous regions

References in classic literature ?

- Scientific Explanation.- Impassable Defiles.- Black-Tailed Deer.-The Bighorn or Ahsahta.- Prospect From a Lofty Height.- Plain With Herds of Buffalo.- Distant Peaks of the Rocky Mountains.- Alarms in the Camp.- Tracks of Grizzly Bears.- Dangerous Nature of This Animal.- Adventures of William Cannon and John Day With Grizzly Bears.

The black-tailed deer would bound up the ravines on their approach, and the bighorn would gaze fearlessly down upon them from some impending precipice, or skip playfully from rock to rock.

The bighorn is so named from its horns; which are of a great size, and twisted like those of a ram.

These they supposed to be the Bighorn Mountains, so called from the animal of that name, with which they abound.

View in context

Wide prairies Vegetable productions Tabular hills Slabs of sandstone Nebraska or Platte River Scanty fare Buffalo skulls Wagons turned into boats Herds of buffalo Cliffs resembling castles The chimney Scott's Bluffs Story connected with them The bighorn or ahsahta Its nature and habits Difference between that and the "woolly sheep," or goat of the mountains

Amidst this wild and striking scenery, Captain Bonneville, for the first time, beheld flocks of the ahsahta or bighorn, an animal which frequents these cliffs in great numbers.

This animal is by no means so active as the bighorn; it does not bound much, but sits a good deal upon its haunches.

The ahsahta, argali, or bighorn, on the contrary, has short hair like a deer, and resembles it in shape, but has the head and horns of a sheep, and its flesh is said to be delicious mutton.

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Declines of Bighorn Sheep, Ovis canadensis, on deteriorating winter range in Jasper National Park, Alberta, 1981-2010.

SURVIVAL OF TRANSLOCATED BIGHORN SHEEP IN THE DEADWOOD REGION OF THE BLACK HILLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

Since then, it has most frequently been identified in healthy and diseased domestic sheep, domestic goats (Capra aegagrus hircus), and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis).

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Wildlife Species beyond Subfamily Caprinae

Children ages 2 - 4 can climb into the high mountains and bask in the sun of the dry desert with "Bighorn Sheep Babies".

Bighorn Sheep Babies

On the mountains and plains of North America, massive herds of ungulates-hoofed creatures, like caribou, elk, moose, and bighorn sheep-migrate from high altitude breeding grounds to warmer, lower altitudes during the harsh winter, following the growth of new greenery.