silverback

Noun

1. A mature male gorilla leading a troop, so named from the silver streaking on its back.
   • To be clear, there’s no reason to hate the actual Harambe. After the silverback gorilla was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2016, people used “RIP Harambe” to… comment on the irony of why we mourn animals but...

   Coordinate Terms: blackback

2. A dominant or powerful older human male.
   • Courageously (given Ranger's status in Mugabe's Zimbabwe, and his status as a silverback in North Atlantic Academe), Kriger dissents from their arguments. - 2001, Peter Burke, New Perspectives on Historical Writing,...
   • "Have you met Professor Dolan, Bishop Blackie?" an Asian child with a beatifically innocent face asked me. "Is he that skinny silverback ape down on the first floor?" - 2003, Andrew W. Greeley, The Bishop goes to the...
   • "That's peanuts. I'm talking about real money," replied [Senator] Ted [Kennedy], who in fact had no idea how much the developer would pay, as that detail had yet to be worked out. / "What are your other main reasons?"...
3. Any of various ferns of the genus Pityrogramma.
4. Any of species Rhodamnia cinerea of plants of southeastern Asia.