from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun A chiefly nocturnal mustelid mammal (Mustela putorius) of Europe that ejects a malodorous fluid to mark its territory and defend itself from predators.
noun Either of two similar mammals, Mustela eversmanii of the Central Asian steppes, having a light brown coat with a black mask, or Vormela peregusna of Eurasia, having a mottled yellow and brown coat.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun The fitchew or foulmart, Putorius fœtidus of Europe, of a dark-brown color, with a copious fine pelage much used in furriery and for making artists' brushes. See fitch.
noun One of several other quadrupeds, mostly of the family Mustelidæ, which have a strong offensive smell.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun A small European carnivore of the Weasel family (Putorius fœtidus). Its scent glands secrete a substance of an exceedingly disagreeable odor. Called also fitchet, foulmart, and European ferret.
noun The zorilla. The name is also applied to other allied species.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun A weasel-like animal of the genus Mustela, notably the European polecat, Mustela putorius.
noun US, dialect A skunk.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun dark brown mustelid of woodlands of Eurasia that gives off an unpleasant odor when threatened
noun American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English polcat : possibly Old French poll, poule, fowl, hen; see pullet + Middle English cat, cat; see cat.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle French pole ("hen") + cat. So named because of its fondness for poultry.
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Examples
He possessed all his teeth but one, and most of his hair as well, though his side-whiskers had lately broken out in polecat streaks of gray.
"The great peculiarity in one of these birds was that he, as the seasons succeeded each other, was not always a hen-cock, and not always of the colour called the polecat, which is black.
The hamsters are very fierce little creatures: constantly fighting with other quadrupeds, and even among themselves; but the polecat is their master and tyrant, and carries on a war of extermination against them -- following them through the intricate ways of their burrows, and destroying them even in their dens!
The name probably relates to a poor translation of the name for the European polecat, which is a relative of the fisher and is called the fitch ferret, fichet or fitche.
The name probably relates to a poor translation of the name for the European polecat, which is a relative of the fisher and is called the fitch ferret, fichet or fitche.
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