[S. African Du., f. wild WILD a. + beest BEAST sb.] The gnu.
1838. W. C. Harris, Narr. Exped. S. Africa, 380. Catoblepas Gnoo. The Gnoo. Wilde Beest of the Cape Colonists.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunters Life S. Afr., iv. 84. Having inspected the wildebeest bull, which was a noble specimen.
1889. Rider Haggard, Allans Wife, iii. Here to the right might be a herd of vilderbeeste that could not number less than two thousand.
1895. J. G. Millais, Breath from Veldt, x. 218. The white-tailed gnu or black wildebeest.