hircine
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or resembling a goat.
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having a goatish odor.
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lustful; libidinous.
adjective
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archaic of or like a goat, esp in smell
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literary lustful; lascivious
Etymology
Origin of hircine
1650–60; < Latin hircīnus of a goat, equivalent to hirc ( us ) goat + -īnus -ine 1
Explanation
If something reminds you of a goat, it's hircine. When your dog scrambles up a rocky hillside like a mountain goat, you can exclaim over her hircine antics. This old-fashioned literary term is great for describing goats and also goat-like people. Historically, it's most often been used for people who smell bad, so feel free to use it when you're overcome by the smell of sweaty socks in your brother's room: "There's an unbearably hircine odor in here!" The Latin source of hircine is hircinus, "like a goat," and it shares a root with hirsute, "hairy."
Vocabulary lists containing hircine
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Animal Adjectives
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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.
Said very tame, very trained hircine carries the food and drink, and guides you gently but firmly back to the barn.
From Golf Digest • Nov. 14, 2017
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.
