bovine
[boh-vahyn, -vin, -veen]
- of or relating to the subfamily Bovinae, which includes cattle, buffalo, and kudus.
- oxlike; cowlike.
- stolid; dull.
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- a bovine animal.
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Origin of bovine
1810–20; < Late Latin bovīnus of, pertaining to oxen or cows, equivalent to Latin bov- (stem of bōs) ox + -īnus -ine1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bovine
Contemporary Examples
He sat before a wall full of badges, in a big swivel chair, his bovine features set in mistrustful concentration.
This miniaturized gym routine enabled the scientists to grow usable quantities of bovine muscle—otherwise known as beef.
Host Joe Rogan gleefully watches the contestants gag and struggle through the bovine brains until one young man quits altogether.
A star is born, another goes down courtesy of a synonym for bovine rabies, and the judges try but fail to steal the show.
Historical Examples
The bovine humanity fitted to the machinery as the ox to the treadmill.
City of Endless NightMilo Hastings
Plenty of desert hogs, as fat and as round as a ball of bovine butter.
The Martian CabalRoman Frederick Starzl
To leave them was the bovine manner of saying, "Well, then, take them."
The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the IslandRoger Thompson Finlay
The limbs of the Gaur have more of the form of the deer than any other of the bovine genus.
Delineations of the Ox TribeGeorge Vasey
Picquet, unastonished, gave him a heavy, bovine look of inquiry.
The Flaming JewelRobert W. Chambers
bovine
- of, relating to, or belonging to the Bovini (cattle), a bovid tribe including domestic cattle
- (of people) dull; sluggish; stolid
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- any animal belonging to the Bovini
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Word Origin
C19: from Late Latin bovīnus concerning oxen or cows, from Latin bōs ox, cow
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for bovine
adj.
1817, from French bovin (14c.), from Late Latin bovinus, from Latin bos (genitive bovis) "ox, cow," from PIE *gwous- (see cow (n.)). Figurative sense of "inert and stupid" is from 1855.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bovine
[bō′vīn′]
- Characteristic of or resembling cows or cattle.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.