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onager

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
7
Words With Friends
9
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈɒnəd͡ʒə/
See all 4 pronunciations
/ˈɒnəd͡ʒə/ · /-ɡə/ · /ˈɑnəd͡ʒɚ/ · /ˈɔː-/

Definition of onager

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. The Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
    “The onager, or wild aſs, is ſeen in ſtill greater abundance than the wild horſe; and the peculiarities of its kind are more diſtinctly marked than in thoſe of the tame one.”
    “One of the onagers, however, having hurt its leg, could not be harnessed at present, and a few days' rest was necessary.”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. The Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
    “The onager, or wild aſs, is ſeen in ſtill greater abundance than the wild horſe; and the peculiarities of its kind are more diſtinctly marked than in thoſe of the tame one.”
    “One of the onagers, however, having hurt its leg, could not be harnessed at present, and a few days' rest was necessary.”
  2. (historical)A military engine acting like a sling which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket powered by the torsion from a bundle of ropes or sinews operated by machinery; a torsion catapult.
    “The onager, meaning "wild ass," derived its name from its powerful recoil, or kick, upon discharge; […] In addition, although Josephus described an onager in action hurling a 100-pound stone over 400 yards, most onagri achieved a shorter range than the ballista, thus exposing their crews to enemy archers.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English onager, onagir (“wild ass; military catapult”), from Anglo-Norman onager, Middle French onager, onagre, Old French onager, onagre (“wild ass; military catapult”) (modern French onagre), from Late Latin…

See full etymology

From Middle English onager, onagir (“wild ass; military catapult”), from Anglo-Norman onager, Middle French onager, onagre, Old French onager, onagre (“wild ass; military catapult”) (modern French onagre), from Late Latin onager (“large siege engine”), Latin onager (“wild ass”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “wild ass”), Byzantine Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “large siege engine”), from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + ἄγριος (ágrios, “wild”) (from ᾰ̓γρός (ăgrós, “countryside; field”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives)). The “military engine” sense alludes to the strong recoil of the engine, likened to an onager’s kick; see the 2007 quotation.

Anagrams of onager

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

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Words you can make from onager

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5-letter words

11 words

4-letter words

24 words

3-letter words

32 words

2-letter words

14 words

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