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A baboon

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English babewin, baboin, from Old French babouin, from baboue (grimace; muzzle), of West Germanic origin, related to dialectal German Bäppe (lips; muzzle), Middle High German beffen (to bark), Middle English baffen (to bark). See also baff, baffle.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

baboon (plural baboons)

  1. An Old World monkey of the genus Papio, having dog-like muzzles and large canine teeth, cheek pouches, a short tail, and naked callosities on the buttocks. [from 13th c.]
    • 1971, Philip José Farmer, Down in the Black Gang: and others; a story collection, Nelson Doubleday, page 79:
      Mix swallowed the comment he wanted to make, that the council hall stank like a congress of baboons. But he was in no position to insult his host, nor should he. The man was only expressing the attitude of his time.
    • 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 21 June 2017, page 162:
      He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.
  2. (colloquial, derogatory) A foolish or boorish person.

Usage notes edit

The collective noun for baboons is troop.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. 1.0 1.1 baboon” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)