ursine

[ ur-sahyn, -sin ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to a bear or bears.

Origin of ursine

1
1540–50; <Latin ursīnus, equivalent to urs(us) bear + -īnus-ine1

Other words from ursine

  • sub·ur·sine, adjective

Words Nearby ursine

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ursine in a sentence

  • Paul Jespersen practiced ursine behavior before the looking-glass for about half an hour.

    Boyhood in Norway | Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
  • A bear-skin mantles him; and you would think him of ursine consanguinity.

  • A reminiscence of his ursine antecedents appears in the last scene.

    The Heroic Age | H. Munro Chadwick
  • After her confession, ursine rises, and bounding again like a doe, runs to rejoin her friends.

    The Iron Pincers | Eugne Sue
  • All the voices, the voice of the merciful canoness excepted, demand with Countess ursine, "Justice and vengeance!"

    The Iron Pincers | Eugne Sue

British Dictionary definitions for ursine

ursine

/ (ˈɜːsaɪn) /


adjective
  1. of, relating to, or resembling a bear or bears

Origin of ursine

1
C16: from Latin ursus a bear

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for ursine

ursine

[ ûrsīn′ ]


  1. Resembling or characteristic of bears.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.