onager
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɒnəd͡ʒə/
ipa: /-ɡə/
ipa: /ˈɑnəd͡ʒɚ/
ipa: /ˈɔː-/
Forms: form: onagers
form: onagri
Etymology: From Middle English onager, onagir (“wild ass; military catapult”), from Anglo-Norman onager, Middle French onager, onagre, Old French onager, onagre (“wild ass; military catapult”) (modern French onagre), from Late Latin onager (“large siege engine”), Latin onager (“wild ass”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “wild ass”), Byzantine Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “large siege engine”), from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + ἄγριος (ágrios, “wild”) (from ᾰ̓γρός (ăgrós, “countryside; field”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives)).
The “military engine” sense alludes to the strong recoil of the engine, likened to an onager’s kick; see the 2007 quotation.
Senses: examples: text: [I]f the czigithai is not the ſame with the zebra, it may be the Aſiatic animal called onager or wild aſs. The onager ſhould not be confounded with the zebra; but I am uncertain whether the ſame remark is applicable to the onager and czigithai; for, from comparing the relations of travellers, it appears, that there are different kinds of wild aſſes, of which the onager is the moſt remarkable. […] The ſwiftneſs of the onager is mentioned by travellers, who remark, that he runs with ſuch rapidity as to eſcape the hunters, though mounted on horſes; […]
ref: 1785, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Zebra. [Supplement.]”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and Particular, … Translated into English. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: Printed for W[illiam] Strahan and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 275:
text: The onager, or wild aſs, is ſeen in ſtill greater abundance than the wild horſe; and the peculiarities of its kind are more diſtinctly marked than in thoſe of the tame one.
ref: 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Ass”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume II, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 345:
text: One of the onagers, however, having hurt its leg, could not be harnessed at present, and a few days' rest was necessary.
ref: 1875, Jules Verne, chapter VI, in W[illiam] H[enry] G[iles] Kingston [actually Agnes Kinloch Kingston], transl., The Mysterious Island: The Secret of the Island: Translated from the French, volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle […], →OCLC, pages 82–83:
synonyms: word: hemionus
glosses: The Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
examples: text: The onager, meaning "wild ass," derived its name from its powerful recoil, or kick, upon discharge; […] In addition, although Josephus described an onager in action hurling a 100-pound stone over 400 yards, most onagri achieved a shorter range than the ballista, thus exposing their crews to enemy archers.
ref: 2007, Jeff Kinard, “Ancient and Medieval Artillery”, in Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact (Weapons and Warfare Series), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 17:
topics: government
military
politics
war
hypernyms: catapult
coordinate_terms: mangonel
trebuchet
glosses: A military engine acting like a sling which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket powered by the torsion from a bundle of ropes or sinews operated by machinery; a torsion catapult.
Hyponyms: sense: wild ass
word: khulan
sense: wild ass
word: koulan
sense: wild ass
taxonomic: Equus hemionus kulan
word: kulan
sense: wild ass
word: khur
sense: wild ass
taxonomic: Equus hemionus khur
word: Indian wild ass
sense: wild ass
word: chigetai
sense: wild ass
word: dziggetai
sense: wild ass
taxonomic: Equus hemionus hemionus
word: Mongolian wild ass
sense: wild ass
word: hemippe
sense: wild ass
word: achdari
sense: wild ass
word: Syrian wild ass
sense: wild ass
word: Mesopotamian onager
sense: wild ass
alt: †Equus hemionus hemippus
word: Syrian onager
Related terms: english: dauw or striped quagga
translation: dauw or striped quagga
word: onagga