ferine
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ferine
1530–40; < Latin ferīnus, equivalent to fer ( a ) a wild animal (noun use of feminine of ferus wild) + -īnus -ine 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Old longings nomadic leap, Chafing at custom's chain; Again from its brumal sleep Wakens the ferine strain."
From The Call of the Wild by Jack London
There was a silence of some seconds, and his yellow ferine gaze met hers strangely.
From Wylder's Hand by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The sort of ferine reputation which he had acquired for himself abroad prevented numbers, of course, of his countrymen, whom he would have most cordially welcomed, from seeking his acquaintance.
From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 With His Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore
Who, within his inner consciousness, does not feel that same ferine, savage man struggling against the stern, adamantine bonds of morality and decorum?
From Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates; fiction, fact & fancy concerning the buccaneers & marooners of the Spanish main by Howard Pyle
In that moment, she was a throw-back of a million years, and through her veins fumed the ferine blood of her paleolithic forebears.
From The Gun-Brand by James B. (James Beardsley) Hendryx
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
