ziphioidhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/ziphioid_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useziphioid, adj. & n.
Revised 2021

ziphioidadjective & noun

Zoology.
  1. adjective
    1. 1861–
      Of or relating to the genus Ziphius or family Ziphiidae of beaked and bottlenose whales; belonging to or having the characteristics of this genus or family.
      The group is also ranked as a superfamily Ziphioidea.
      1. 1861
        M. Paul Gervais has addressed a communication to the Academy of Sciences on the subject of an extinct species of ziphoid cetaceous fish.
        Times 27 September 10/3
      2. 1870
        A Ziphioid Whale, probably Berardius Arnuxii.
        Annals & Magazine of Natural History vol. 6 348
      3. 1889
        By Purchase, the Museum acquired..the teeth of the rare Xiphioid Whale, Mesoplodon Layardii.
        Rep. Trustees S.-Afr. Museum 1888 3
      4. 1949
        So rare are observations on the ziphoid (beaked) whales at sea that readers of whaling journals and similar yarns should be sharp for the word ‘algerine’.
        Journal Mammalogy vol. 30 321
      5. 2014
        Van Beneden..proposed that Mesoplodon bidens was cosmopolitan in its distribution, a feature he considered to apply to most of the ziphioid whales.
        Arch. Natural History vol. 41 340
  2. noun
    1. 1862–
      A ziphioid whale.
      1. 1862
        The Balænodon of Lintz is rather a ziphioid.
        Geologist vol. 5 107
      2. 1876
        The Cetaceans classed together as Ziphoids have no teeth in the upper jaw.
        C. S. Tomes, Manual of Dental Anatomy ix. 288
      3. 1912
        The Bottle-nosed whales go about in small herds, and, like the other Ziphioids, the male and female are recognizably different.
        D. W. Thompson in G. H. Fowler, Sci. Sea xii. 398
      4. 2005
        Pitman et al. have tried to differentiate it from other ziphioids, especially Hyperoodon, by comparing observations at sea, including behaviour.
        Latin American Journal Aquatic Mammals vol. 4 93/2

ziphioid, adj. & n. was revised in March 2021.

ziphioid, adj. & n. was last modified in July 2023.