Also couguar. [a. F. couguar, an adaptation by Buffon (1749–67) of Marcgraf’s name cuguacu ara, reproduced by Pison 1648, and adopted by Ray 1693, repr. Guarani guaçu ara or guazu ara.]
A large feline quadruped (Felis concolor), found wild in most parts of America; also called puma, catamount, red tiger, American lion, etc.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. IV. i. 374. There is an animal of America, which is usually called the red tiger, but Mr. Buffon calls it the cougar.
1790. Penn. Packet, 16 Jan., 1/1. To be seen at Mr. Geisse’s…. A most Curious Animal, from South America, The Cougar.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. xviii. 50. The couguar, called in Surinam the red tyger.
1809. Campbell, Gertr. Wyom., III. xiv. Nor foeman then, nor cougar’s crouch I feared.
1825. Waterton, Wand. S. Amer. (1880), 36. The couguar is … not as large as the jaguar.
1865. Parkman, Champlain, xi. (1875), 329. The whoop of the horned owl, the scream of the cougar.
