The AI-powered English dictionary
plural zebra or zebras
Any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: E. grevyi, E. quagga, or E. zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa. examples
(sports, slang) A referee.
(medicine, slang) An unlikely diagnosis, especially for symptoms probably caused by a common ailment. (Originates in the advice often given to medical students: "when you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras".)
(medicine, by extension) Someone who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorder quotations examples
EDS charities around the world use a zebra logo to promote the idea that sometimes it really is that ‘rare’ condition.
2020, Pharmaceutical Technology
“I was told in medical school, ‘when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras,’” she says. Many trainee doctors receive the same advice – when a patient presents with symptoms, “look for the common thing.” That’s why EDS patients commonly refer to themselves as zebras – and also use the fabulous collective noun “dazzle.” The name represents rarity and evokes the stripy stretch marks that are a common feature on EDS skin.
2022 December 24, CNN
(vulgar, derogatory, slang, ethnic slur) A biracial person, specifically one born to a member of the Sub-Saharan African race and a Caucasian. quotations
“People change countries for all kinds of reasons,” Ross tells me. “But at least one of them was that she had this light-skinned, mixed-race child who had already been called a zebra at school.”
2021 April 10, Alex Clark, “‘I’m 51, I can say what I want’: Leone Ross has overcome her fears”, in The Guardian
(informal) A fish, the zebra cichlid. examples
Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings. examples
A zebra crossing. quotations examples
On his way home he'd picked up two economy-sized bags of tortilla chips, and had dropped both when a twat in a Lexus honked him on a zebra . .
2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 247