Also capibara. [A native name in Brazil.] The largest extant rodent quadruped (Hydrochœrus Capybara), nearly allied to the Guinea-pig; it lives about the rivers of tropical S. America. Cf. CABIAI.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. III. iii. 350–1. The capibara resembles a hog of about two years old…. Some naturalists have called it the water-hog.
1849. Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia, IV. 155. The food of the capybara consists exclusively of grass and vegetables, as water-melons, gourds, &c.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., II. xviii. 168. A herd of capybaras which was crossing the river.
