three-toed sloth
1
6.0
- noun
- /θriː-toʊd slɔθ/
- US
:
perezoso de tres dedos
- After the arrest of Gabriel Esteban, other recently recovered animal include a very happy border collie named Jasper who was stolen over two years ago, - a pygmy three-toed sloth... - Good idea.
Examples
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In the dense jungles of Costa Rica, a three-toed sloth hangs from a branch, moving slowly in search of leaves to eat.
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Come along, faithful viewers, on our journey through the drainforest as we search for that rare and unusable creature, the three-toed sloth.
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Didn't you feds somehow blow a sting operation involving a pygmy three-toed sloth in Panama?
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Seems to me that the right would vote for a three-toed sloth if it had an R next to its name. Personally, I think a sloth would make a better candidate than either Willard or Ryan. LOL
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Nice use of "castigate" by the way... 'cept these wussies are not being castigated; they are being described as one might describe the behavior of the three-toed sloth.
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Animals included on the list (view the whole list here) include Tarzan's chameleon, the spoon-billed sandpiper, and the pygmy three-toed sloth.
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The three-toed sloth moves so slowly that algae can grow on its fur, helping it blend into the treetops.
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At the wildlife sanctuary, we watched a three-toed sloth effortlessly navigate the high branches of the trees.
Synonyms
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2.3
A slow animal that lives in trees and hangs upside down while eating leaves
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4.2
A slow-moving animal that lives in trees in Central and South America and hangs upside down to eat leaves
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9.9
A three-toed sloth from South America with long claws that moves slowly
A sloth from South America that has three long claws on each foot
A group of slow three-toed sloths that live in trees in Central and South America
Surface Forms
Morphology
three-toed + sloth
The phrase is fully compositional: 'three-toed' straightforwardly means having three toes (a regular numeral + noun-derived adjective) and 'sloth' names the slow, tree-dwelling mammal, so together they denote a sloth with three toes. This follows standard English compounding patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Three-toed sloth gets its name from the animal's three long claws on each foot that look like 'toes' and help it hang from branches. The part three-toed points to those claws, and the part sloth points to the animal's slow movement and tree life.