jaguar

«jaguar» in Mova's school dictionary: a big, powerful wild cat of Central and South America… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a jaguar, jaguars; Jaguar — a car make)

meaning for a pupil

1) A jaguar is a big, powerful wild cat of Central and South America, with golden fur covered in rosettes that have spots inside them. tree →

2) Jaguars are strong swimmers and hunt in rainforests and swamps, catching capybaras, fish, turtles and even caimans. tree →

3) Jaguar (with a capital J) is a British make of expensive car. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and geography lessons jaguars come up in Amazon rainforest food chains (top predator) and in comparing big cats: the jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and has the strongest bite for its size. In history lessons, the Maya and Aztecs honoured the jaguar as a symbol of power. Pupils learn to tell jaguars from leopards: jaguars are stockier and their rosettes have dots in the middle.

examples

• The jaguar crept silently through the rainforest. tree →
• Jaguars are the biggest cats in South America. tree →
• Unlike most cats, jaguars love water. tree →
• A jaguar's rosettes have little spots inside them. tree →
• The jaguar pounced on a caiman by the river. tree →
• The ancient Maya carved jaguars on their temples. tree →
• My uncle's new car is a Jaguar. tree →
• This is almost identical with a story quoted by Mr. Smith, where the jaguar is about to marry the deer's daughter. tree →

note

Plural «jaguars». Said «JAG-yoo-ar» (UK) or «JAG-wahr» (US). Jaguars live only in the Americas; leopards live in Africa and Asia — if you see a spotted big cat in Africa, it is not a jaguar.

In the corpora

• A black panther is a leopard or jaguar with extra dark pigment, and its spots can still be seen in bright light.
• Giant anteaters walk on their knuckles to protect long front claws, which rip open hard termite mounds and can fight off a jaguar.
• The jaguar has the strongest bite for its size of any big cat and can crack turtle shells and caiman skulls.
• One night Jaguar finds the two under a fallen tree.
• Hedgehog curls into a ball and Tortoise pulls in his head and feet, so Jaguar cannot tell which is which.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «jaguar» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.