springhaasn.
/ˈsprɪŋhɑːs/, U.S. /ˈsprɪŋˌhɑs/, South African English /ˈsprɪŋhɑːs/ South African.
The South African springhare, Pedetes capensis (more fully South African springhaas); (also) the similar East African springhare, P. surdaster (more fully East African springhaas); = springhare n.Quot. 1785 cites the South African Dutch word.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [noun] > family Pedetidae (jumping-hare)
mountain hare1785
springhare1822
springhaas1831
jumping-hare1839
leaping hare1849
1785 G. Forster tr. A. Sparrman Voy. Cape Good Hope II. 195 By the colonists it [sc. the jerbua Capensis] is called berg-haas, or spring-haas (the mountain or bounding hare).]
1831 Proc. Comm. Sci. & Corr. Zool. Soc. London 1830–1 1 vii. 86 (table) Pedetes, or Spring-Haas.
1837 J. E. Alexander Narr. Voy. Observ. W. Afr. I. 347 One of the party shot a spring-haas, or jumping hare, formed like the kangaroo, with very short fore-legs and long hind ones.
1890 A. Martin Home Life Ostrich Farm xi. 225 Most uncanny of all the hares is the spring-haas. This creature..is never seen in the daytime, and can only be shot on moonlight nights.
1904 Knowledge Aug. 171/1 The Spring-haas is very rarely met with in captivity.
1942 S. Cloete Hill of Doves (U.K. ed.) 145 His pulse..is fast and jumping like a springhaas.
1979 Jrnl. Zool. 189 222 The Family Pedetidae was thought to consist of two species, the South African Springhaas..and the East African Springhaas.
2010 Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) (Nexis) 1 Apr. Silvery springhaas pirouetted across the plains.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1831