tree hyrax

noun

variants or less commonly tree dassie

: any of various chiefly arboreal African hyraxes (genus Dendrohyrax) that are usually solitary and nocturnal

And though your sleep will be sounder than any you have ever had, you will be wakened in the night by the tree hyrax, which sounds like a door banging shut and then creaking open …

—Roxana Robinson, New York Times, 4 Dec. 1988

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1867, in the meaning defined above

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