See also: Hippo, hippo-, and HiPPO Pronunciation (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhɪpəʊ/ Audio (Southern England):(file) (US) IPA(key): /ˈhɪpoʊ/ Rhymes: -ɪpəʊ Noun hippo (plural hippos) Clipping of hippopotamus. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 218:There was an old hippo that had the bad habit of getting out on the bank and roaming at night over the station grounds. 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:"I've seen them buryin' a chief up the Aruwimi River, and they ate a hippo that must have weighed as much as a tribe." 2006 June 24, The Weekend Argus:The Eastern Cape village whose dam has been taken over by a hippo will decide next week what happens to the animal. (historical, slang, South Africa) An armored personnel carrier used by the South African Defence Force. Coordinate term: mellow yellow (informal, derogatory) An overweight or obese person. Synonyms: fatass, fatso, fatty, whale Derived terms hippo birdie two ewehippo flyhippo grasspygmy hippovelvet hippo