saddle-backed

[ sad-l-bakt ]

adjective

1. having the back or upper surface curved like a saddle.
2. having a saddlelike marking on the back, as certain birds.

saddle-backed

adjective

1. having the back curved in shape or concave like a saddle
2. having a saddleback

Word History and Origins

Origin of saddle-backed¹

First recorded in 1535–45

Example Sentences

"The photos from the team clearly show a moderately saddle-backed, old female about half to two-thirds the size of the known male. Pending genetic confirmation, this is almost undoubtedly the lost Fernandina Giant Tortoise."

From Fox News

Sensing potential clients, a stallholder pulls a tiny pygmy marmoset and a saddle-backed tamarin from her bun as they emit high-pitched shrieks.

From The Guardian

In a Dec. 4 , Eric Michael Johnson wrote that saddle-backed tamarins are socially monogamous.

From Slate

It has a singular appearance: it might be likened in its form to a hippopotamus standing on the flat margin of an African lake, its breast and mouth touching the water, and all its body belly-deep in the mud; it is, in fact, a hill or a promontory united to the mainland by a strip of low flat land—a huge, oblong, saddle-backed hill projected into the sea towards Wales.

From Project Gutenberg

"There are bandicoots and bandicoots," pursued Mr. Pottle; "the Peragale, or rabbit bandicoot; the Nasuta, or long-nosed bandicoot; the Mysouros, or saddle-backed bandicoot; the Chœropus, or pig-footed bandicoot; and——" "Speaking of antelopes——" Mr. Deeley interrupted loudly.

From Project Gutenberg