urus

plural uri · plural uruses

1. The aurochs.

   He also brought forth two large drinking cups, made out of the horn of the urus, and hooped with silver.

   1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

   2 more examples

   Howbeit, that country bringeth forth certain kinds of goodly great wild bœufes: to wit, the Biſontes, mained with a collar, like Lions: and the Vri, a mightie ſtrong beaſt, and a ſwift: which the ignorant people call Buffles, whereas indeed the Buffle is bred in Affrica, and carieth ſome reſemblance of a calfe rather, or a ſtag.

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Of Scythian beasts, and those that are bred in the North parts.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, pages 199–200

   Eduard Hahn has postulated that the motive for capturing and maintaining the urus in the captive state was to have available a supply, for sacrificial purposes, of the animal sacred to the lunar mother goddess worshipped over an immense area of the ancient world.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 123

plural uruses

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of urs.

1. pluralplural of Uru

1. alternativeAlternative form of Urs (“death anniversary of a Sufi saint”).