heifer

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“
He complains slyly of Miss Fuller's transcendental heifer which hooked the other cows (though Colonel Higginson once assured me that this heifer was only a symbol, and that Margaret never really owned a heifer or cow of any kind Mr. Lathrop proposed, as a rough formula for Hawthorne, Poe and Irving plus something of his own.

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Definitions (5)

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  1. noun A young cow, especially one that has not yet given birth to a calf.

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Examples (50)

  • He complains slyly of Miss Fuller's transcendental heifer which hooked the other cows (though Colonel Higginson once assured me that this heifer was only a symbol, and that Margaret never really owned a heifer or cow of any kind Mr. Lathrop proposed, as a rough formula for Hawthorne, Poe and Irving plus something of his own. —  Four Americans Roosevelt, Hawthorne, Emerson, Whitman
  • Drive fast, Humphrey A few minutes afterwards they perceived at about a quarter of a mile behind them, not the whole herd, but a single bull, who was coming up at a fast trot, with his tail in the air, and tossing his head, lowing deeply in answer to the heifer There's only one, after all," said Jacob; "I suppose the heifer is his favourite. —  The Children of the New Forest
  • The shock must have been tremendous, for the heifer was thrown heels over head. —  Lobo, Rag and Vixen Being The Personal Histories Of Lobo, Redruff, Raggylug ; Vixen
  • One was sent to fetch the heifer, another to summon the goldsmith, and a third to bring up the crew of Telemachus' ship, while the rest busied themselves in raising the altar and making all ready for the sacrifice Presently the heifer was driven lowing into the courtyard, and the goldsmith followed with the instruments of his art. —  Stories from the Odyssey
  • The Arabs call these birds Salwф, which is plainly the same with the Hebrew Salwim, and say they have no bones, but are eaten whole Footnote 28: The occasion of this sacrifice is thus related: A certain man at his death left his son, then a child, a cow-calf, which wandered in the desert till he came to age; at which time his mother told him the heifer was his, and bid him fetch her, and sell her for three pieces of gold. —  Sacred Books of the East
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hēahfore; see perə-1 in Indo-European roots.

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  1. Early modern English also haifer, and with orig. guttural heighfer, heckfer, heckfere, heckfar, heckfare, heckfor, heckford, heeforde, etc., corruptly hawgher (Caxton); English dial. also transposed heifker; from Middle English hayfare, hekfere, hekefere, from Anglo-Saxon heáhfore, also heáhfru (genitive heáhfore, accusative heáhfre), Old Northumbrian plural hēhfaro, a heifer; an isolated word, apparently a compound, from heáh, high, + -fore, -fare, a supposed feminine form (equivalent to D. vaars, also in comp. vaarkoe (Dutch koe = English cow) = Middle Low German verse = Middle High German verse, German färse, a heifer). from fearr, Old Northumbrian far = Middle Dutch varre, Dutch var = Old High German farro, far, Middle High German varre, var, German farre = Icelandic farri, a bullock (Teutonic stem *fars); prob. allied to Greek πόρις, πόρτις, a heifer: see farrow, a. The prefix heáh, ‘high,’ is taken to mean ‘full-grown’ (Skeat), but a heifer is not full-grown. The Anglo-Saxon form is generally glossed by L. altile, or Middle Latin altilium, a fatted calf (also applied to other fatted animals), from Latin altilis, adjective, fatted, from alere, nourish, feed, suggesting that Anglo-Saxon heáh in heáhfore is an awkward translation, meaning ‘high-fed,’ of Latin altilis, or simply of the related L. altus, high, literally ‘grown,’ from alere, nourish, feed: see alt, altitude, etc., and old. But this is uncertain. The peculiar Middle English forms would seem to favor a connection with D. hokkeling, German hockling, a yearling calf, apparently from Dutch hok, a stall, pen, + diminutive -ling; but the change of Anglo-Saxon heáh to heck- is supported by hock, in hockday, from the same Anglo-Saxon heáh.
 

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/ˈhɛfɛr/
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