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Definition: GOAT from A Dictionary of Entomology

Noun. (Old English, gat = she-goat. PL, Goats.) Any of numerous hollow-horned, bearded ruminant mammals assigned to Genus Capra. Goats originated in montane Old World. Best known for domesticated forms of C. hircus. Goats raised for wool, milk, and meat. agile ruminants related to sheep but having a beard and straight horns. Serve as hosts for several ectoparasitic insects (lice) and mites.


goat

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ruminant mammal with hollow horns and coarse hair belonging to the genus Capra of the cattle family and closely related to the sheep . True wild goats, all of Old World origin, include the Persian bezoar goat, or pasan, possibly the ancestor of the domestic varieties; the several species of ibex (including the tur), and the markhor of Asia, with spirally twisted horns. The Rocky Mountain goat and the chamois are not true goats but are closely related. Goats are hardy cliff dwellers, preferring an arid climate. They live in herds and feed on grass, weeds, shrubs, and other vegetation. Goats were domesticated early; they are pictured in ancient Egyptian art and mentioned in the Bible. Domestic goats, varieties of Capra hircus , are found throughout the world, most abundantly in Asia. They are raised for milk, flesh, hair and wool, skins, and, in certain areas, to control scrub growth. Goat's milk is easily digested and has greater protein and fat content than that of cows, and goats have…
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Full text Article goat

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Bred mainly in countries where the pasture is too...
Horned ruminant raised for milk, meat, leather and hair. They are brown or grey in colour. The male is a ram or billy, the female a doe or nanny, and the young a kid. Wild species are nomadic, living in rugged mountain areas. The five species include the ibex ( Capra ibex ), markhor ( Capra…
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Full text Article goat

From Word Origins
Old English had no all-purpose word for ‘goat'; the male goat was a bucca (‘buck’) and the female goat was a gāt . In early Middle English, goat began to encroach on the semantic territory of buck , and by the 14th century it had come to be the dominant form for both sexes, as is shown by the…
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Full text Article goat

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ruminant mammal with hollow horns and coarse hair belonging to the genus Capra of the cattle family and closely related to the sheep . True wild goats, all of Old World origin, include the Persian bezoar goat, or pasan, possibly the ancestor of the domestic varieties; the several species of ibex…
| 294 words
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Full text Article goat

From The Chambers Dictionary
a horned ruminant animal (genus Capra ) of Europe, Asia and N Africa, related to the sheep; (with cap and the ) Capricorn; a lecher ( fig ); a foolish person ( inf ); (in pl ) the wicked ( Bible ). [OE gāt ; Ger Geiss , Du geit ] adj resembling a goat, esp in smell; lustful; foolish. adv. n. n a…
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Full text Article Goat

From A Dictionary of Literary Symbols
The pastoral economies of the ancient Mediterranean depended on goats as well as sheep, especially for milk. It was a goat, or goat-nymph, Amaltheia, that nursed the infant Zeus, and one of Zeus’s epithets in Homer, aigioxos , usually translated “aegis-bearing,” may instead be derived directly from…
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From The Macquarie Dictionary
a common domesticated ruminant, Capra hircus, bred into many varieties for milk and meat. Plural: goats any bovid animal of the tribe Caprini, comprising various agile hollow-horned ruminants closely related to the sheep, found native in rocky and mountainous regions of Africa, Asia and Europe. …
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Full text Article Goats

From Black's Veterinary Dictionary
Goats are the worlds fifth most common farmed species after poultry, sheep, pigs and cattle. It is estimated that there are about 800 million goats in the world of which 85 per cent are in Africa and Asia. World-wide, goat meat production has doubled in the past 20 years and milk production…
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Full text Article Goat

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
From early times the goat has been associated with the idea of sin and associated with Devil worship. The legend that the Devil created the goat may well be due to its destructiveness, and the Devil is frequently depicted as a goat. It is also a symbol of lust and lechery. See also scapegoat . The…
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Full text Article GOATS

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
Giraldus Cambrensis wrote in the late 12th century that the wooded crags of Snowdonia were full of goats and sheep . Domesticated earlier than either cattle or sheep, and introduced to Britain by Neolithic farmers, goats may have been more numerous in Wales than sheep until the 16th century, but…
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Full text Article goat

From The Oxford Companion to Food
meat is taken from the adults of the species Capra hircus , closely related to sheep. Adapted to mountain habitats, goats are sure-footed and able to climb steep cliffs to find food, their browsing habits often destroying shrubs and trees. They complement sheep , which prefer grass, and the two…
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