any of various extinct apelike primates thought to have been the forerunners, or closely related to the forerunners, of modern humans
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
ape-man
(āp′man′),USA pronunciation n., pl. -men.
- Physical Anthropologya hypothetical primate representing a transitional form between true humans and the anthropoid apes, considered by some as constituting the genus Australopithecus.
- a human assumed to have been reared by apes.
- 1875–80