<zoo-comb. form + ‑phagouscomb. form,after (a) Frenchzoophage carnivorous (1786 in the passage translated in quot. 1788; 1700 as noun denoting a carnivore), designating a division of gastropod molluscs…
<zoo-comb. form + ‑phagouscomb. form,after (a) Frenchzoophage carnivorous (1786 in the passage translated in quot. 1788; 1700 as noun denoting a carnivore), designating a division of gastropod molluscs (J. B. Lamarck Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbresvol. VII. (1822) 60; also 1822 as plural noun: see zoophagann.),and also after (b) scientific LatinZoophaga, taxonomic name (see zoophagann.).Compare ancient Greekζῳοϕάγος carnivorous.
Meaning & use
1788–
Feeding on animals or animal matter; carnivorous; insectivorous; (formerly) spec. †belonging to either of two taxonomic groups called Zoophaga (see zoophagann.) (obsolete).
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 & Chemistryvol. IV. 418
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
1835
Zoophagous animals, or those which attack and devour living animals.
W. Kirby, On Power of God in Creation of Animalsvol. II. xvi. 70
1841
The false molars are simply conical, but more compressed than in the Zoophagous Marsupials.
Transactions Zool. Societyvol. 2 321
1881
The countless host of animals that inhabit the depths of the ocean, all of which are necessarily zoophagous.
Nature 3 February 324/1
1897
I shall have to invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoophagous (life-eating) maniac.
B. Stoker, Dracula vi. 72
1954
He described differences between those larvae which fed on dung and those larvae which were zoophagous.
Journal Animal Ecologyvol. 23 234
1994
During the migration period.., transient birds are essentially zoophagous.
Hydrobiologiavol. 279 153/1
2006
There were significantly more zoophagous bug species in wildflower areas than in pastures.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Variant forms
1700s–
zoophagous
1800s–1900s
zoöphagous
Frequency
zoophagous typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoophagous is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zoophagous, adj., 1780–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.