The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Animal \An"i*mal\, n. [L., fr. anima breath, soul: cf. F.
   animal. See Animate.]
   1. An organized living being endowed with sensation and the
      power of voluntary motion, and also characterized by
      taking its food into an internal cavity or stomach for
      digestion; by giving carbonic acid to the air and taking
      oxygen in the process of respiration; and by increasing in
      motive power or active aggressive force with progress to
      maturity.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One of the lower animals; a brute or beast, as
      distinguished from man; as, men and animals.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Animal \An"i*mal\, a. [Cf. F. animal.]
   1. Of or relating to animals; as, animal functions.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Pertaining to the merely sentient part of a creature, as
      distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or
      spiritual part; as, the animal passions or appetites.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Consisting of the flesh of animals; as, animal food.
      [1913 Webster]

   Animal magnetism. See Magnetism and Mesmerism.

   Animal electricity, the electricity developed in some
      animals, as the electric eel, torpedo, etc.

   Animal flower (Zool.), a name given to certain marine
      animals resembling a flower, as any species of actinia or
      sea anemone, and other Anthozoa, hydroids, starfishes,
      etc.

   Animal heat (Physiol.), the heat generated in the body of a
      living animal, by means of which the animal is kept at
      nearly a uniform temperature.

   Animal spirits. See under Spirit.

   Animal kingdom, the whole class of beings endowed with
      animal life. It embraces several subkingdoms, and under
      these there are Classes, Orders, Families, Genera,
      Species, and sometimes intermediate groupings, all in
      regular subordination, but variously arranged by different
      writers.

   Note: The following are the grand divisions, or subkingdoms,
         and the principal classes under them, generally
         recognized at the present time:
         Vertebrata, including Mammalia or Mammals, Aves or
         Birds, Reptilia, Amphibia, Pisces or Fishes,
         Marsipobranchiata (Craniota); and Leptocardia
         (Acrania). Tunicata, including the Thaliacea, and
         Ascidioidea or Ascidians. Articulata or Annulosa,
         including Insecta, Myriapoda, Malacapoda, Arachnida,
         Pycnogonida, Merostomata, Crustacea (Arthropoda); and
         Annelida, Gehyrea (Anarthropoda).
         Helminthes or Vermes, including Rotifera,
         Ch[ae]tognatha, Nematoidea, Acanthocephala, Nemertina,
         Turbellaria, Trematoda, Cestoidea, Mesozea.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

animal
    adj 1: marked by the appetites and passions of the body; "animal
           instincts"; "carnal knowledge"; "fleshly desire"; "a
           sensual delight in eating"; "music is the only sensual
           pleasure without vice" [syn: animal(a), carnal,
           fleshly, sensual]
    n 1: a living organism characterized by voluntary movement [syn:
         animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature,
         fauna]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

485 Moby Thesaurus words for "animal":
   Adamic, Angora goat, Arctic fox, Belgian hare, Caffre cat, Circean,
   Draconian, Goth, Gothic, Indian buffalo, Kodiak bear, Neanderthal,
   Tartarean, Virginia deer, aardvark, aardwolf, alpaca, ammonite,
   animalian, animalic, animalistic, ankylosaur, anteater, antelope,
   antelope chipmunk, anthropophagite, anthropophagous, aoudad, apar,
   aphrodisiomaniacal, archaeohippus, archaeotherium, archelon,
   armadillo, arthrodiran, ass, atrocious, aurochs, badger, bandicoot,
   barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, bassarisk, bat, bawdy, bear, beast,
   beastlike, beastly, beaver, being, bestial, bettong, binturong,
   bison, black bear, black buck, black cat, black fox, black sheep,
   bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, blue fox, bobcat, bodily,
   bothriolepis, brachiosaur, brontops, brontothere, brown bear,
   brush deer, brush wolf, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutelike,
   brutish, buffalo, buffalo wolf, burro, burro deer, cachalot, camel,
   camelopard, cannibal, cannibalistic, capybara, carabao, caribou,
   carnal, carpincho, cat, cat-a-mountain, catamount, cattalo, cavy,
   chamois, cheetah, chevrotain, chinchilla, chipmunk, cinnamon bear,
   clitoromaniacal, coarse, coccostean, coelodont, compsognathus,
   concupiscent, coon, coon cat, coryphodon, cotton mouse, cotton rat,
   cotylosaur, cougar, cow, coyote, coypu, creature, creeping thing,
   creodont, critter, crossopterygian, crude, cruel, cruel-hearted,
   cur, cynodictis, deer, deer tiger, demoniac, demoniacal, destroyer,
   devilish, diabolic, diatryma, dimetrodon, dingo, dinichthyid,
   dinothere, diplodocus, dirty, dog, donkey, dormouse, dromedary,
   duck-billed dinosaur, dumb, dumb animal, dumb friend, earthy,
   echidna, edaphosaurid, eland, elasmosaur, elephant, elk, ermine,
   erotic, eroticomaniacal, erotomaniacal, eryopsid, eurypterid, eyra,
   fallen, fallow deer, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious, ferret,
   field mouse, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, fisher, fitch, fleshly,
   flying phalanger, foumart, fox, fox squirrel, gazelle, gemsbok,
   genet, giant sloth, giraffe, glutton, glyptodont, gnu, gnu goat,
   goat, goat antelope, goatish, gopher, grizzly bear, gross,
   ground squirrel, groundhog, guanaco, guinea pig, gynecomaniacal,
   hadrosaur, hamster, hare, harnessed antelope, hartebeest, hedgehog,
   hellish, hippopotamus, hog, horny, horse, hot, hound, hyena, hyrax,
   hysteromaniacal, ibex, ill-bred, impolite, infernal, inhuman,
   inhumane, insect, instinctive, instinctual, ithyphallic, jackal,
   jackass, jackrabbit, jaguar, jaguarundi, jerboa, jerboa kangaroo,
   kaama, kangaroo, kangaroo mouse, kangaroo rat, karakul, kinkajou,
   kit fox, koala, lapin, lapsed, lascivious, lecherous, lemming,
   leopard, leopard cat, lewd, libidinous, lickerish, lion,
   living being, living thing, llama, lubricious, lustful, lynx,
   mammal, mammoth, man-eater, mara, marmot, marten, mastodon,
   material, materialistic, meerkat, mindless, mink, mole, mongoose,
   mongrel, monster, moose, mouflon, mountain goat, mountain lion,
   mountain sheep, mouse, mule, mule deer, muntjac, murderous,
   musk deer, musk hog, musk-ox, muskrat, musquash, nihilist, nilgai,
   noncivilized, nonrational, nonspiritual, nutria, nymphomaniacal,
   obscene, ocelot, okapi, onager, oont, opossum, organism, orgiastic,
   otter, ounce, outlandish, ox, pack rat, painter,
   palaeodictyopteron, palaeoniscid, palaeophis, palaeosaur,
   palaeospondylus, panda, pangolin, panther, peccary, peludo,
   pelycosaur, phalanger, physical, phytosaur, pig, pine mouse,
   platypus, plesiosaur, pocket gopher, pocket mouse, pocket rat,
   polar bear, polar fox, polecat, porcupine, possum, postlapsarian,
   pouched rat, poyou, prairie dog, prairie wolf, priapic, primitive,
   pronghorn, protoceratops, protylopus, prurient, pteranodon,
   pteraspid, pterichthys, pterodactyl, pterosaur, puma, rabbit,
   raccoon, randy, rat, red deer, red squirrel, reindeer, reptile,
   rhinoceros, roe, roe deer, roebuck, rough-and-ready, rude,
   ruthless, sable, sadistic, salacious, sanguinary, sanguineous,
   satanic, satyric, sauropod, savage, scelidosaur, sensual, serpent,
   serval, sexual, sexy, shark, sharkish, sheep, shrew, shrew mole,
   sika, silver fox, skunk, slavering, sloth, smilodon, snake,
   snowshoe rabbit, springbok, squirrel, stoat, subhuman, suslik,
   swamp rabbit, swine, swinish, takin, tamandua, tamarin, tapir,
   tarpan, tatou, tatou peba, tatouay, tiger, tiger cat, timber wolf,
   titanosaur, trachodon, tree shrew, triceratops, trilobite,
   troglodyte, troglodytic, truculent, tyrannosaur, uintathere,
   unchristian, uncivil, uncivilized, uncombed, uncouth, uncultivated,
   uncultured, unhuman, unkempt, unlicked, unpolished, unrefined,
   unspiritual, untamed, urus, vandal, varmint, vermin, vicious,
   viper, vole, wallaby, warthog, water buffalo, waterbuck, weasel,
   wharf rat, whelp, whistler, white fox, wild, wild ass, wild boar,
   wild goat, wild man, wild ox, wildcat, wildebeest, wolf, wolfish,
   wolverine, wombat, wood rat, woodchuck, woolly mammoth, worm,
   wrecker, yak, zebra, zebu, zoic, zooid, zooidal, zoologic,
   zoological, zoril



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Animal
   an organized living creature endowed with sensation. The
   Levitical law divided animals into clean and unclean, although
   the distinction seems to have existed before the Flood (Gen.
   7:2). The clean could be offered in sacrifice and eaten. All
   animals that had not cloven hoofs and did not chew the cud were
   unclean. The list of clean and unclean quadrupeds is set forth
   in the Levitical law (Deut. 14:3-20; Lev. 11).


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ANIMAL, property. A name given to every animated being endowed with the
power of voluntary motion. In law, it signifies all animals except those of
the him, in species.
     2. Animals are distinguished into such as are domitae, and such as are
ferae naturae.
     3. It is laid down, that in tame or domestic animals, such as horse,
swine, sheep, poultry, and the like, a man may have an absolute property,
because they continue perpetually in his possession and occupation, and will
not stray from his house and person unless by accident or fraudulent
enticement, in either of which cases the owner does not lose his property. 2
Bl. Com. 390; 2 Mod. 319. 1.
     4. But in animals ferae naturae, a man can have no absolute property;
they belong to him only while they continue in his keeping or actual
possession; for if at any they regain their natural liberty, his property
instantly ceases, unless they have animum revertendi, which is only to be
known by their usual habit of returning. 2 Bl. Com. 396; 3 Binn. 546; Bro.
Ab. Propertie, 37; Com. Dig. Biens, F; 7 Co. 17 b; 1 Ch. Pr. 87; Inst. 2, 1,
15. See also 3 Caines' Rep. 175; Coop. Justin. 457, 458; 7 Johns. Rep. 16;
Bro. Ab. Detinue, 44.
     5. The owner of a mischievous animal, known to him to be so, is
responsible, when he permits him to go at large, for the damages he may do.
2 Esp. Cas. 482; 4 Campb. 198; 1 Starkie's Cas. 285; 1 Holt, 617; 2
Str.1264; Lord Raym. 110; B. N. P. 77; 1 B. & A. 620; 2 C. M.& R. 496; 5 C.&
P. 1; S. C. 24 E. C. L. R. 187. This principle agrees with the civil law.
Domat, Lois Civ. liv. 2, t. 8, s. 2. And any person may justify the killing
of such ferocious animals. 9 Johns. 233; 10. Johns. 365; 13 Johns. 312. The
owner, of such an animal may be indicted for a common nuisance. 1 Russ. Ch.
Cr. Law, 643; Burn's Just., Nuisance, 1.
     6. In Louisiana, the owner of an animal is answerable for the damage he
may cause; but if the animal be lost, or has strayed more than a day, he may
discharge himself from this responsibility, by abandoning him to the person
who has sustained the injury; except where the master turns loose a
dangerous or noxious animal; for then he must pay all the harm done, without
being allowed to make the abandonment. Civ. Code, art. 2301. See Bouv. Inst.
Index, h.t.