Category:Ape

The ape is the largest of the primates.

Ape, n. Etym: [AS. apa; akin to D. aap, OHG. affo, G. affe, Icel. api, Sw. apa, Dan. abe, W. epa.]

1. (Zoöl.)

Defn: A quadrumanous mammal, esp. of the family Simiadæ, having teeth of the same number and form as in man, having teeth of the same number and form as in man, and possessing neither a tail nor cheek pouches. The name is applied esp. to species of the genus Hylobates, and is sometimes used as a general term for all Quadrumana. The higher forms, the gorilla, chimpanzee, and ourang, are often called anthropoid apes or man apes.

Note: The ape of the Old Testament was prqobably the rhesus monkey of India, and allied forms.

2. One who imitates servilely (in allusion to the manners of the ape); a mimic. Byron.

3. A dupe. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Ape, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Aped; p. pr. & vb. n. Aping.]

Defn: To mimic, as an ape imitates human actions; to imitate or follow servilely or irrationally. "How he apes his sire." Addison. The people of England will not ape the fashions they have never tried. Burke.

--- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Ape - An animal of the monkey tribe (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 9:21). It was brought from India by the fleets of Solomon and Hiram, and was called by the Hebrews -, and by the Greeks - , both words being just the Indian Tamil name of the monkey, kapi, i.e., swift, nimble, active. No species of ape has ever been found in Palestine or the adjacent regions.