ermine
[ur-min]
- an Old World weasel, Mustela erminea, having in its winter color phase a white coat with black at the tip of the tail.Compare stoat.
- any of various weasels having a white winter coat.
- the lustrous, white, winter fur of the ermine, often having fur from the animal's black tail tip inserted at intervals for contrast.
- the rank, position, or status of a king, peer, or judge, especially one in certain European countries who wears, or formerly wore, a robe trimmed with ermine, as on official or state occasions.
- Heraldry. a fur, consisting of a conventional representation of tails, often with a pattern of dots, sable on argent.
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- made of, covered, or adorned with ermine.
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Origin of ermine
1150–1200; Middle English < Old French (h)ermine, noun use of feminine of (h)ermin (masculine adj.) < Latin Armenius, short for Armenius (mūs) Armenian (rat)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ermine
Contemporary Examples
The Countess deftly steered the lifeboat, a resolute and unlikely vision in her ermine and pearls.
The ermine was also written about by Leonardo as a symbol of her purity.
It may be a visual pun on her surname, since the Greek for ermine or stoat is galay.
Historical Examples
Yet prouder was I of this sober apparel than ever king of his ermine.
The Shame of MotleyRaphael Sabatini
Oh, yes, and then the robins like cockatoos and squirrels like a princess's ermine!
The Moon is GreenFritz Reuter Leiber
And, over all, there hung in graceful folds an ermine robe of spotless white.
The Fiery TotemArgyll Saxby
Papa's models are all in horse-hair wigs,—fat mummies in ermine!
Roland CashelCharles James Lever
I am a Judge, but they shall see that the ermine embarrasses me just as little.
Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume II.Charles James Lever
ermine
- the stoat in northern regions, where it has a white winter coat with a black-tipped tail
- the fur of this animal
- one of the two principal furs used on heraldic shields, conventionally represented by a white field flecked with black ermine tailsCompare vair
- the dignity or office of a judge, noble, or king
- short for ermine moth
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Word Origin
C12: from Old French hermine, from Medieval Latin Armenius (mūs) Armenian (mouse)
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 ermine
n.
late 12c., from Old French ermine (12c., Modern French hermine), both the animal and the fur, apparently from a convergence of Latin (mus) Armenius "Armenian (mouse)," ermines being abundant in Asia Minor; and an unrelated Germanic word for "weasel" (cf. Old High German harmo "ermine, stoat, weasel," adj. harmin; Old Saxon harmo, Old English hearma "shrew," etc.) that happened to sound like it.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper