guyascutus

plural guyascutuses · alternative guyascutis · alternative gyascutus · alternative guyanosa

1. USAn imaginary four-legged monster of varying descriptions, usually with two legs on one side of its body longer than the two on the other.

   One person says that there is more to it: "The guyascutus Ieadeth the wangdoodle wheresoever he willeth."

   1953, New York Folklore Quarterly - Volume 9, page 75

   5 more examples

   Agassis has raised, they say, over a million, for his great work on natural philosophy—but what catalogue of snakes, bugs, lame ducks, and guyascutuses, can be compared to a philosophy of female fascinations.

   1858, George R. Graham, Graham's Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Romance, Art, and Fashion

   The story of the guyanosa or guyascutus (see Knickerbocker Mag. XXVIII. 36-38 and Harper's Mag. VII. 708-709) tells of somesharpers who sold tickets to the public to see this strange and savage animal.

   1951, Mitford McLeod Mathews, A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles

   The sky was filled with steam; a horrible outcry arose, and the shape of the Guyascutus became dimly visible.

   1968, Albert Raymond Kitzhaber, Language/Rhetoric

   The guyascutus was a ferocious, man-eating beast which, after much fanfare and sensational publicity, was exhibited in small antebellum Southern towns.

   1979, American Humor - Volume 6, page 15

   No matter the appearance of the chimerical guyascutus what remained consistent was the legs on one side of its body were shorter than the others but had the ability to telescope to a desired length; by use of these unique legs and its prehensile tail the guyascutus was said to be able to maneuver about the steeply sloped mountains with ease.

   2016, Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, →ISBN, page 147