Word.ws English Dictionary

velvet hippo

velvet hippo noun: a pit bull terrier.

Noun

velvet hippo (plural velvet hippos)

  1. (figuratively, slang) A pit bull terrier.
    • My real life angel is my very own velvet hippo named Angel, and she is magical.2014, Rebecca Corry, "Dog Moms Making A Difference: Rebecca Corry", American Dog, Winter 2014, page 22
    • Velvet Hippo, Silver Shark—those are only a couple of the names that June's fans call her.2017 August 4, “Pet of the week: June”, in Signal Tribune, page 13

Synonyms of velvet hippo

Forms of velvet hippo

pluralvelvet hippos

Origin of velvet hippo

Presumably an allusion to the large size and short coat of pit bull-type dogs or their reputation for aggression and unpredictability.

Questions about velvet hippo

What does velvet hippo mean?
Velvet hippo means a pit bull terrier.
What part of speech is velvet hippo?
Velvet hippo is a noun.
What is the plural of velvet hippo?
The plural of velvet hippo is velvet hippos.

Words near velvet hippo in the dictionary

  1. velvet ducks
  2. velvet flower
  3. velvet flowers
  4. velvet glove
  5. velvet handcuffs
  6. velvet hippo
  7. velvet hippos
  8. velvet leatherjacket
  9. velvet leatherjackets
  10. velvet noise
  11. velvet paper

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: velvet hippo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “velvet hippo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/velvet_hippo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.