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Definition of "bighorn" [big•horn]

  • A wild sheep (Ovis canadensis) of the mountains of western North America, the male of which has massive curved horns. Also called mountain sheep, Rocky Mountain sheep. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "bighorn" in a sentence
  • "Eventually, the population diverged into three distinct species: the snow sheep of Siberia; the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (including the desert bighorn subspecies) of the western United States and southern Canadian Rockies; and the Dall sheep (including the stone sheep subspecies) of Alaska, northern British Columbia, and southern Yukon."
  • "This brings up several questions and observations, not the least of which is this: What do you call a bighorn sheep young'n?"
  • ""bighorn" -- a wild sheep that inhabits these mountains, so closely resembling the _Ovis ammon_ of the Himalayas, as to be regarded by some naturalists as belonging to the same species."