ridgeback, noun

Origin:
See quotations 1971 and 1991.
In full Rhodesian ridgeback: (one of) a breed of large, muscular, smooth-coated dogs, brindled to pale brown in colour, with a ridge along the spine, formed by hair growing in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat; lion dog. Also attributive.
1937 Our Dogs 10 Dec. 886The belief that the Rhodesian Ridgeback is the direct result of crossing the old Cuban Bloodhound with the Hottentot Hunting Dog arose a considerable time ago...The ridge in the breed..is present in practically every Ridgeback puppy.
1945 L.G. Green Where Men Still Dream 167The finest type of Bushman hunting dog, a light brown ridgeback mongrel with dark stripes and a trace of the greyhound in his appearance, is now verging on extinction.
1956 L.G. Green There’s Secret Hid Away 43Ridgeback owners regard their dogs as true South Africans, the only pure-bred dogs that really belong to the country.
1965 J. Bennett Hawk Alone 13One morning the dogs — they had a cross-bred ridgeback and a boerboel — had put up a rooikat...The ridgeback..had been killed..when it unwisely cornered a big yellow Cape Cobra in the feed store behind the house.
1971 D. Marais in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. IV. 53The Rhodesian ridgeback, or ‘lion-dog’, is a rather large dog weighing from 70 to 80 lb (32 to 36 kg). Ridgebacks differ from all other breeds in having the hair of the back pointing forward to form a characteristic ridge. Dogs with this ridging were first seen by the European settlers when they made contact with the Hottentot tribes. By cross-breeding between these Hottentot dogs and dogs imported from Europe the new breed was evolved...Formerly these dogs were quite famous as hunting-dogs, but today they are mainly used as watchdogs and companions.
1977 P.C. Venter Soweto 51A ridgeback yawned and got up from the polished door step.
1980 E. Prov. Herald 29 Aug. 15Dog lovers..have steadfastly refused to consider changing the name of the Rhodesian Ridgeback since the birth of Zimbabwe...A Johannesburg Ridgeback breeder..said that the breed would remain Rhodesian Ridgebacks.
1991 Philatelic Bulletin (No. 8075)Ridgeback Dog...It is thought that the Khoi brought the dogs with them during their migration southwards. The recent history of the breed begins with two dogs sold by the Reverend Charles Helm of Swellendam to the famous hunter Cornelius van Rooyen in 1874. This type of dog was first known as the Van Rooyen or lion dog (because of its hunting ability). In 1924 the Kennel Union of Southern Africa acknowledged the breed at the request of a group of Ridgeback enthusiasts from Bulawayo in the former Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) — hence the name Rhodesian Ridgeback.
In full Rhodesian ridgeback:(one of) a breed of large, muscular, smooth-coated dogs, brindled to pale brown in colour, with a ridge along the spine, formed by hair growing in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat; lion dog. Also attributive.
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Ride Safe, noun phrasen. phr.riem, nounn.
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