hippo

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪpəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪpoʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɪpəʊ

hippo (plural hippos)

1. Clipping of hippopotamus.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 218:

     There was an old hippo that had the bad habit of getting out on the bank and roaming at night over the station grounds.

   • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "I've seen them buryin' a chief up the Aruwimi River, and they ate a hippo that must have weighed as much as a tribe."

   • 2006 June 24, The Weekend Argus:

     The Eastern Cape village whose dam has been taken over by a hippo will decide next week what happens to the animal.

2. (historical, slang, South Africa) An armored personnel carrier used by the South African Defence Force.

   Coordinate term: mellow yellow

3. (informal, derogatory) An overweight or obese person.

   Synonyms: fatass, fatso, fatty, whale

4. (informal, Chess) Hippopotamus Defence.