nilgai

American  

[nil-gahy] / ˈnɪl gaɪ /

Or nylghai,

noun

plural

nilgais,

plural

nilgai

1. a large, Indian antelope, Boselaphus tragocamelus, the male of which is bluish gray with small horns, the female tawny and hornless.

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nilgai British  

/ ˈnɪlɡɔː, ˈnɪlɡaɪ /

noun

1. a large Indian antelope, Boselaphus tragocamelus. The male is blue-grey with white markings and has small horns; the female is brownish and has no horns

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Etymology

Origin of nilgai

First recorded in 1880–85, nilgai is from the Hindi word nīlgāy literally, blue cow

Example Sentences

Scarier still was the walk to a market where she had to sort the family’s paperwork for a ration card, through a wooded area populated by nilgai deer, monkeys and python.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2016

An antelope, known in Hindi as nilgai, ambled ahead of us on the path; it had lost one of its horns, presumably in a neelgai version of a barroom brawl.

From New York Times • Jan. 14, 2011

The Army first introduced camels to the area in 1856, and starting in the 1940s the locals began importing other exotic animals--ibex and zebras, nilgai antelope from Pakistan and barasingh deer from India.

From Time Magazine Archive

So they separated and the next day at noon the raibar went to the tree and found a fine nilgai waiting for him, which he and his friends took home and ate with joy.

From Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Bompas, Cecil Henry

He changed himself into a pard, killed one of the nilgai, and came bounding back for the root; but the terrified woman lost her nerve, flung away the charm, and rushed from the place.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage