/kar"euh booh'/ , n. , pl. caribous , ( esp. collectively ) caribou .
any of several large, North American deer of the genus Rangifer, related to the reindeer of the Old World.
[ 1665-75, Amer.; caribou, r. earlier E caribo, both galipu deriv. (agent n.) of galipi- shovel snow
maka·lipi-; called the snow-shoveler from its habit of scraping aside snow with its front hoofs in search of food ]