coyote

plural coyotes · alternative obsolete cayeute · alternative obsolete cayota · alternative obsolete cayote · alternative obsolete coyoto

1. biologyCanis latrans, a species of canine native to North America.

   Near Rio Frio we shot several handsome birds, and saw a cayjotte, or wild dog, which in size nearly approached the wolf.

   1824, William Bullock, Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico, page 119

   1 more example

   The MWRC animal care specialists attempted to unimprint the coyotes first by limiting their human contact and putting them with other wild coyotes. The hand-raised coyotes, however, were ostracized by the wild coyotes […]

   1996, AnimaLife, volume 6, page 14

   Synonyms: prairie wolf

2. USinformalA smuggler of undocumented immigrants across the land border from Latin America into the United States of America.

   Jorge’s father had pawned his last four goats for $2,000 to help pay for their transit, another loan the family would have to repay at 100 percent interest. The coyote called at 10 p.m. — they would go that night.

   2020 July 23, Abrahm Lustgarten, “The Great Climate Migration”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 Feb 2021

present singular third person coyotes · participle present coyoteing · participle present coyoting · participle past coyoted · past coyoted · alternative obsolete cayeute · alternative obsolete cayota · alternative obsolete cayote · alternative obsolete coyoto

1. To prospect for gold by manually digging holes into overlying earth, as into a hillside.

1. An island of El Salvador.
2. A trickster figure found in many Native American folklores.