Refine this word faster
Polecat
Definitions
- 1 A weasel-like animal of the genus Mustela.
- 2 dark brown mustelid of woodlands of Eurasia that gives off an unpleasant odor when threatened wordnet
- 3 A weasel-like animal of the genus Mustela.; notably, the European polecat, Mustela putorius.
"For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war in America, which was hailed as the awakening of the spirit of liberty and justice in the New World, ought to produce a revolution in France."
- 4 American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae wordnet
- 5 A skunk. Appalachia, Texas
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A tubular device used to support lights on a set.
"This is adjustable telescopic tubing, wedged securely between floor and ceiling (vertical pole) or wall-to-wall (horizontal pole), within corridors, arches, window openings, doorways, etc. It may be held in position by a strong internal spring or end-screws. Designs include polecat, varipole, barricuda, jack tube, Acrow."
Etymology
From Middle English polcat, pulkat, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle English *pole, *poule (“hen”), from Old French poule (“hen”) + Middle English cat. Compare English foulmart.
See also for "polecat"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: polecat