anthropoid meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

anthropoid

adj

/ˈænθɹəpɔɪd/

Etymology From Ancient Greek ἀνθρωποειδής (anthrōpoeidḗs). By surface analysis, anthrop- + -oid.

Having characteristics of a human, usually in terms of shape or appearance.

“And I am sorry for the man she loves,” said the girl, “for he loves her. I never met him, but from what Jane tells me he must be a very wonderful person. It seems that he was born in an African jungle, and brought up by fierce, anthropoid apes.”1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 102:
The origin and development of language led to the differentiation of man from all other forms of animal life. Without this form of thought-communication and preservation man would never have achieved any higher degree of cerebration than the anthropoid ape.1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 4:

Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences In pelvimetry Of the pelvis, having an anteroposterior diameter equal or exceeding the transverse diameter.

Having characteristics of an ape.

noun

Etymology From Ancient Greek ἀνθρωποειδής (anthrōpoeidḗs). By surface analysis, anthrop- + -oid.

An anthropoid animal.

The tribe of anthropoids over which Kerchak ruled with an iron hand and bared fangs, numbered some six or eight families, each family consisting of an adult male with his females and their young, numbering in all some sixty or seventy apes.1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 1, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
Here and there a little group of shattered Indians marked where one of the anthropoids had turned to bay, and sold his life dearly.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

1 more example

Imagine for a moment that mankind, together with the printed and artistic lore of all the ages, were suddenly destroyed. Any new race of anthropoids which might arise would be in precisely the same position as the primitive races of mankind were in the days of Adam and Eve, and little better than the animals of to-day.1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 6: