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Synonyms for lemurs

Grammar : Noun
Spell : lee-mer
Phonetic Transcription : ˈli mər

Top 10 synonyms for lemurs
Other synonyms for the word lemurs

Définition of lemurs

Origin :
  • nocturnal Madagascar mammal, 1795, coined by Linnaeus, from Latin lemures (plural) "spirits of the dead" in Roman mythology.
  • The oldest usage of "lemur" for a primate that we are aware of is in Linnaeus's catalog of the Museum of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (Tattersall, 1982); .... In this work, he explained his use of the name "lemur" thus: "Lemures dixi hos, quod noctu imprimis obambulant, hominibus quodanmodo similes, & lento passu vagantur [I call them lemurs, because they go around mainly by night, in a certain way similar to humans, and roam with a slow pace]" [Dunkel, Alexander R., et al., "Giant rabbits, marmosets, and British comedies: etymology of lemur names, part 1," in "Lemur News," vol. 16, 2011-2012, p.65]
  • Lemuria (1864) was the name given by English zoologist P.L. Sclater (1829-1913) to a hypothetical ancient continent connecting Africa and Southeastern Asia (and including Madagascar), which was hypothesized to explain phenomena now accounted for by continental drift. Earlier it was the name of the Roman feast of the Lemures.
  • As in monkey : noun primate
  • As in primate : noun anthropoid
Example sentences :
  • From the marsupials to the lemurs the box-shaped pelvis remains.
  • Extract from : « Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884 » by Various
  • The lemurs are the lower kinds of the order, and differ much from the apes.
  • Extract from : « On the Genesis of Species » by St. George Mivart
  • The relation of the lemurs to the apes is not clearly defined.
  • Extract from : « Man And His Ancestor » by Charles Morris
  • The same may be said of almost all tree-dwellers except the lemurs and apes.
  • Extract from : « Man And His Ancestor » by Charles Morris
  • Several genera of lemurs are found in both America and Europe.
  • Extract from : « The Prehistoric World » by E. A. Allen
  • In most of the Cebidae and Lemurs an ent-epicondylar foramen occurs.
  • Extract from : « The Vertebrate Skeleton » by Sidney H. Reynolds
  • Besides the Lemurs the group includes the aberrant Tarsius and Chiromys.
  • Extract from : « The Vertebrate Skeleton » by Sidney H. Reynolds
  • The brain is much less developed in the lemurs than in any of the other monkeys.
  • Extract from : « Elementary Zoology, Second Edition » by Vernon L. Kellogg
  • All the lemurs proper, and their relatives, the endrinas, belong to Madagascar.
  • Extract from : « Zoology: The Science of Animal Life » by Ernest Ingersoll
  • The Lemurs have at the present time a most remarkable distribution.
  • Extract from : « The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia » by Frank Evers Beddard
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019