Zool. [Native name in S. America.] A South American aquatic rodent (Myopotamus Coypus), nearly equal to the beaver in size; called also Coypu Rat.
1793. Pennant, Hist. Quadr. (ed. 3), II. 177. Le Coypu, Coypou … This animal lives equally well in the water as on land.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Species, xii. (1878), 318. We do not find the beaver or musk-rat, but the coypu and capybara, rodents of the S. American type.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4), 124. Crab-eating Racoon … Coypu Rat.
