bighorn

noun

less common variant of bighorn sheep

: a usually grayish-brown wild sheep (Ovis canadensis) of mountainous and desert regions of western North America

Note: The bighorn sheep has a white patch on the rump and, in the males, massive horns that curve up and back over the ears and then up and forward toward the cheeks.

Examples of bighorn in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

My dream of driving a broadhead into a bighorn began about 1960. —Ray Alt, Outdoor Life, 27 Mar. 2025

The status of the bighorn in Canada is better than in the United States but not much better. —Jack O’Connor, Outdoor Life, 4 Sep. 2024

In 1971, there were approximately 3,500 applicants for 27 permits to hunt Washington bighorn. —Jack O’Connor, Outdoor Life, 4 Sep. 2024

After his death, this man’s best friend told me that the man had never shot a desert bighorn. —Jack O’Connor, Outdoor Life, 4 Sep. 2024

Herd numbers are expanding in some areas, which increases the chances that a satellite ram looking for love will encounter a domestic sheep or sick bighorn from another herd and bring illness back home. —Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 11 Apr. 2024

The businessman from Plaistow, N.H., was an avid bighorn hunter and purchased several ranches in the Riggins area. —Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024

Boggan was present when Carrey agreed to sell both his ranch and the bighorn collection to Robert Senter. —Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024

The curving, winding lines in the desert sand were a dead give away — a pack of coyotes had feasted on the body of this Peninsular bighorn ram. —Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Dec. 2023

Rhymes for bighorn

• adorn
• airborne
• blackthorn
• broomcorn
• buckhorn
• buckthorn
• careworn
• firstborn
• foodborne
• forborne
• forewarn
• forlorn

Geographical Definition

Bighorn

geographical name

Big·​horn ˈbig-ˌhȯrn 

river 336 miles (541 kilometers) long in northern Wyoming and southeastern Montana flowing north into the Yellowstone River see wind