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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the canids.
  2. adj. Of, relating to, or being one of the pointed conical teeth located between the incisors and the first bicuspids.
  3. n. An animal of the family Canidae, especially a dog.
  4. n. One of the pointed, conical teeth located between the incisors and the first bicuspids. Also called cuspid.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Of or pertaining to a dog; having the character or qualities of dogs; characteristic of dogs; like or likened to a dog.
  2. Specifically, of or pertaining to the Canidæ.
  3. Affecting or derived from dogs: as, canine rabies; canine virus.
  4. Pertaining to a canine or dog-tooth.
  5. The conical processes on the inside of the mandible of an insect, toward its apex.
  6. n. A dog.
  7. n. Technically, in zoology, one of the Canidæ or Canina; a dog, wolf, fox, fennec, or jackal; a cynoid, thoöid, or alopecoid.
  8. n. One of the four sharp-pointed tearing-teeth of most mammals, situated one on each side of each jaw, opposite one another, between the incisors or cutting-teeth and the molars or grinders. They are long and especially efficient in the dog, whence the name. In the wild boar they are developed into two pairs of projecting tusks. The upper canines in the human jaw are called eye-teeth, and the lower ones stomach-teeth.
  9. n. One of the sharp teeth which project beyond the others in the jaw of a fish.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Of, or pertaining to, a dog or dogs.
  2. adj. Dog-like.
  3. adj. Of or pertaining to mammalian teeth which are cuspids or fangs.
  4. n. A dog or wolf, as distinct from a fox, which is a vulpine.
  5. n. In heterodont mammals, the pointy tooth between the incisors and the premolars; a cuspid.
  6. n. A king and a nine as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em due to phonetic similarity

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Of or pertaining to the family Canidæ, or dogs and wolves; having the nature or qualities of a dog; like that or those of a dog.
  2. adj. Of or pertaining to the pointed tooth on each side the incisors.
  3. n. A canine tooth.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. any of various fissiped mammals with nonretractile claws and typically long muzzles
  2. adj. of or relating to or characteristic of members of the family Canidae
  3. n. one of the four pointed conical teeth (two in each jaw) located between the incisors and the premolars
  4. adj. of or relating to a pointed conical tooth

Etymologies

  1. Latin canīnus, from canis, dog; see kwon- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘canine’.

Comments

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  • mollusque My body was reacting to the sight of home. Happy sparks were shooting off inside me. It was a canine feeling, full of eager love, and dumb to tragedy.
    —Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002, Middlesex, p. 519 Aug 16, 2008

  • fbharjo Should it be ca-ate(eight)? canine seems much more appropriate for cats Jun 22, 2007

‘canine’ has been looked up 1380 times, loved by 1 person, added to 28 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.