zoophagoushttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoophagous_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezoophagous, adj.
Revised 2017

zoophagousadjective

  1. 1788–
    Feeding on animals or animal matter; carnivorous; insectivorous; (formerly) spec. †belonging to either of two taxonomic groups called Zoophaga (see zoophagan n.) (obsolete).
    1. 1788
      Zoophagous animals [French des animaux zoophages], whose humours are more attenuated than most quadrupeds;..must possess stronger and more numerous virtues.
      W. Nicholson, translation of A.-F. de Fourcroy, Elements of Natural History & Chemistry vol. IV. 418
    2. 1822
      The divisions and subdivisions of the Trachelipoda, or third order of Mollusca, are necessarily more complex; but the subordinate titles are ranged under one of two sections, the first of which comprizes the Phytophagous, and the second the Zoophagous sorts.
      Monthly Review December 485
    3. 1835
      Zoophagous animals, or those which attack and devour living animals.
      W. Kirby, On Power of God in Creation of Animals vol. II. xvi. 70
    4. 1841
      The false molars are simply conical, but more compressed than in the Zoophagous Marsupials.
      Transactions Zool. Society vol. 2 321
    5. 1881
      The countless host of animals that inhabit the depths of the ocean, all of which are necessarily zoophagous.
      Nature 3 February 324/1
    6. 1897
      I shall have to invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoophagous (life-eating) maniac.
      B. Stoker, Dracula vi. 72
    7. 1954
      He described differences between those larvae which fed on dung and those larvae which were zoophagous.
      Journal Animal Ecology vol. 23 234
    8. 1994
      During the migration period.., transient birds are essentially zoophagous.
      Hydrobiologia vol. 279 153/1
    9. 2006
      There were significantly more zoophagous bug species in wildflower areas than in pastures.
      Biodiversity & Conservation vol. 15 289

zoophagous, adj. was revised in June 2017.

zoophagous, adj. was last modified in July 2023.