coyote
Americannoun
plural
coyotes,plural
coyote-
Also called prairie wolf. a buffy-gray, wolflike canid, Canis latrans, of North America, distinguished from the wolf by its relatively small size and its slender build, large ears, and narrow muzzle.
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Slang. a contemptible person, especially an avaricious or dishonest one.
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American Indian Legend. the coyote regarded as a culture hero and trickster by American Indian tribes of the West.
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Slang. a person who smuggles immigrants, especially Latin Americans, into the U.S. for a fee.
noun
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Also called: prairie wolf. a predatory canine mammal, Canis latrans, related to but smaller than the wolf, roaming the deserts and prairies of North America
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(in Native American legends of the West) a trickster and culture hero represented as a man or as an animal
Etymology
Origin of coyote
1825–35; earlier cuiota, cayota < Mexican Spanish coyote < Nahuatl coyōtl
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A lonely coyote stalks the barren ground around oil pump jacks; a dead deer, its eye milky white, lies on a fern-like blanket of boughs.
Klopping added that although there had been no reports of mountain lion attacks in the immediate area, the Verdugo Mountains are an “island of robust wildlife habitat” for bears, coyotes and mountain lions.
From Los Angeles Times
My friend was shamed for reporting a coyote sighting in her desert neighborhood on Nextdoor and took the post down.
Mama!’ and when I looked at him there was a massive coyote right behind him,” his mother, Aida Svelto, told The Times in an interview Tuesday.
From Los Angeles Times
It was one of the last major undeveloped wetlands in Southern California and a breeding and feeding site for 370 bird species, along with fish, reptiles, rabbits, foxes, coyotes and other animals.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
