onager

noun

on·​a·​ger ˈä-ni-jər 

1

: an Asian wild ass (Equus hemionus synonym E. h. onager) that usually has a broad dorsal stripe and is related to the kiang

2

[Late Latin, from Latin] : a heavy catapult used in ancient and medieval times

Illustration of onager

• onager 2

Examples of onager in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The sea was an intense blue as were the explosions from the fiery cannonballs lobbed by the Roman onagers. —Benny Har-Even, Forbes, 20 Nov. 2024

Now, analysis of DNA extracted from the bones buried at Umm el-Marra has revealed the animal was a cross between a donkey, which was domesticated at the time, and the now-extinct Syrian wild ass, sometimes called hemippe or an onager. —Katie Hunt, CNN, 14 Jan. 2022

Researchers have uncovered thousands of bone fragments at the site, including remains from horses, extinct wild oxen known as aurochs, and donkey relatives called onagers. —Maya Wei-Haas, National Geographic, 24 July 2019

The two of them once passed two very happy weekends of courtship in attempts to reconstruct an ancient catapult called an onager. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, WIRED, 18 June 2018

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, wild ass, from Latin, from Greek onagros, from onos ass + agros field — more at acre

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1