Rocky Mountain bighorn
1
8.3
- noun
- /ˈrɑki ˈmaʊntən ˈbɪɡhɔrn/
- US
:
carnero de las Montañas Rocosas
- During our hike, we spotted a group of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep grazing on the rocky cliffs.
- Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep
Examples
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The Rocky Mountain bighorn is easily recognizable due to its impressive curled horns and robust physique.
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Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes, and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.
Blog text (29) -
All undergraduate teacher education students enrolled in a multiple-section introductory education course at a Rocky Mountain regional university (total undergraduate enrollment, approximately 10,000 students) were included in the sample (n=304).
Academic text (2008) -
Wildlife officials are working hard to protect the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from poaching and habitat loss.
Synonyms
4
7.6
A wild mountain sheep with large curved horns from western North America
3
6.5
A wild sheep with large curved horns that lives in the mountains of western North America
A wild sheep with large curved horns that lives in the mountains of western North America
A wild sheep with large curved horns that lives in western North American mountains
A wild sheep with large curved horns that lives on rocky mountain slopes in western North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward composition of a geographic modifier 'Rocky Mountain' and the noun 'bighorn' (a mountain sheep), so its meaning — a bighorn sheep from the Rocky Mountains — is directly derivable from the parts. Place-name + animal noun constructions are common cross-linguistically and follow standard English compounding, making this immediately understandable to learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
The name Rocky Mountain bighorn tells you where the animal lives and what it looks like. It comes from sheep living in the Rocky Mountains and from the word bighorn, because these sheep have very large, curled horns, so the name means 'a wild sheep with big curled horns that lives in rocky mountains'.