du·gong

(do͞o′gŏng′, -gông′)

A herbivorous marine mammal (Dugong dugon), native to tropical coastal waters of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and southwest Pacific Ocean and having flipperlike forelimbs and a notched tail.

[New Latin Dugong, genus name, ultimately (partly via French dugon) from dugung, recorded as a local word for the dugong on the Moluccan island of Leti by Ernst Christoph Barchewitz (1687-1758), German travel writer and administrator for the Dutch East Indies Company, perhaps a misreading (with g for y) of *duyung, representing a local pronunciation of standard Malay duyong; akin to Tagalog duyong, dugong, and Malagasy trozona, whale, all from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *duyuŋ, dugong.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dugong

(ˈduːɡɒŋ)

(Animals) a whalelike sirenian mammal, Dugong dugon, occurring in shallow tropical waters from E Africa to Australia: family Dugongidae

[C19: from Malay duyong]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

du•gong

(ˈdu gɒŋ, -gɔŋ)

n.

a plant-eating aquatic mammal, Dugong dugon, of Indian Ocean shores, having front flippers and a tail fin.

[1790–1800; < New Latin < German]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

dugong - sirenian tusked mammal found from eastern Africa to Australia; the flat tail is bilobate

Dugong dugon

sea cow, sirenian, sirenian mammal - any of two families of large herbivorous aquatic mammals with paddle-shaped tails and flipper-like forelimbs and no hind limbs

genus Dugong - type genus of the Dugongidae comprising only the dugongs

Translations

DugongMeerkuh

dugongo

dugondugongvache marine

dugongo

듀공

doejongIndische zeekoe

dugongo

dugong

дюгонь

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He saw the dugong, understood the Canadian's attitude, and, addressing him, said:

"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?" I asked, in spite of the Canadian's shrug of the shoulders.

The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards the dugong, which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.

But here the cord was not more than ten fathoms long, and the extremity was attached to a small barrel which, by floating, was to show the course the dugong took under the water.

This dugong, which also bears the name of the halicore, closely resembles the manatee; its oblong body terminated in a lengthened tail, and its lateral fins in perfect fingers.

This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal dimensions; it was more than seven yards long.

Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared.

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No one regards the external similarity of a mouse to a shrew, of a dugong to a whale, of a whale to a fish, as of any importance.

The resemblance, in the shape of the body and in the fin-like anterior limbs, between the dugong, which is a pachydermatous animal, and the whale, and between both these mammals and fishes, is analogical.

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He stole upon the dugong and joyed to stampede that silly timid creature by sudden ferocious onslaughts which he knew himself to be all sound and fury, but which tickled him and made him laugh with the consciousness of playing a successful joke.

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Owen states, proves indisputably that it was intimately related to the Gnawers, the order which, at the present day, includes most of the smallest quadrupeds: in many details it is allied to the Pachydermata: judging from the position of its eyes, ears, and nostrils, it was probably aquatic, like the Dugong and Manatee, to which it is also allied.

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I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included by many naturalists among the whales.

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