An impala is a large African antelope — a graceful, deer-like animal of the grasslands. It stands about as high as a person’s chest, with a reddish-brown coat, a white belly, and a dark line on the rump. Males grow long, curved horns; females usually have none. Impalas live in herds and eat grass and leaves. They are famous for jumping: when they are frightened, a whole group may leap high and bound away through the grass. In English this is almost only a nature-and-travel word. You meet it in wildlife films, zoos, and safari writing, not in ordinary city talk. It names that one animal, not antelopes in general.