Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or characteristic of a goat, especially in strong odor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to or having the 179 characteristics of a goat; like a goat; goatish; especially, having a rank smell like that of a goat.
- n. A fossil amorphous resin, the composition of which has not been determined.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Goatlike; of or pertaining to a goat or the goats.
- adj. Of a strong goatish smell.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or pertaining to or suggestive of a goat (especially in strong odor)
Etymologies
- First attested in its present form in 1650–1660: From Middle English hircyne, from Latin hircīnus ("of a goat”, “goat-scented"); equivalent to hircus ("a male goat") + -īnus ("-ine"). Cognates: French hircin. Compare caprine, haedine. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English hircyne, from Latin hircīnus, from hircus, goat. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“These tribades are mostly known by peculiarities of form and features, hairy cheeks and upper lips, gruff voices, hircine odour and the large projecting clitoris with erectile powers known to the Arabs as “bazar” hence Tabzír = circumcision or amputation of such clitoris.”
“This odor may be entirely different from that normally emanating from the woman, of an acid or hircine character, and sufficiently strong to remain in a room for a considerable period.”
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 Sexual Selection In Man
“It occurs to me to suggest, as a topic of inquiry in this connection, whether, on that momentous occasion when the goats and the sheep shall be parted, the Constitution and the Honorable Mr. Bagowind, M.C., will be expected to take their places on the left as our hircine vicars.”
“These tribades are mostly known by peculiarities of form and features, hairy cheeks and upper lips, gruff voices, hircine odour and the large projecting clitoris with erectile powers known to the Arabs as”
“It occurs to me to suggest, as a topic of inquiry in this connexion, whether, on that momentous occasion when the goats and the sheep shall be parted, the Constitution and the Honourable Mr. Bagowind, M.C., will be expected to take their places on the left as our hircine vicars.”
“That pale Judas face, with scanty, hircine beard, and an expression changing often from spiteful to cunning, could belong only to a Yankee paymaster or commissary, detected in his frauds before he had made up a pile high enough to defy justice; for swindler is not _quite_ safe till he is nearly a "milliner.”
“The landlady saw, calmly put down her work, and coming up, pulled a hircine man or two hither, and pushed a hircine man or two thither, with the impassive countenance of a housewife moving her furniture.”
“If Miss Jewell includes both caprine and hircine, ought we to add, then, masculine and feminine?”
“dullness" which many modern readers inevitably feel, and some modern blockheads think it creditable to allege, in Scott, consists not a little in his absolute purity from every loathsome element or excitement of the lower passions; so that people who live habitually in Satyric or hircine conditions of thought find him as insipid as they would a picture of Angelico's.”
“Herr Urian to give you a hircine metamorphosis, Clarian? ”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hircine’.
-
phrontistery - h
from phrontistery.info
hysteresis, hyrax, hyoid, hymnody, hymnal, hylicism, hydric, hyalopterous, hyaloid, hyalography, hyaline, hyacinthine and 568 more...
-
Aromata Aromatica
Fragrant things and terms that describe them. Generic names of botanical binomials aren't capitalized if the unconventional lower case form has a useful Wordnik definition. I'm primarily seeking te...
hircine, ajwain, alliin, anisaldehyde, sotolon, spicebush, sweetbox, wintergreen, valencene, citrusy, citronellal, full-bodied and 162 more...
-
Stink Different™
What-the-smell is that?
hircine, jumentous, hyena butter, cadaverine, new car smell, teen spirit, parosmia, hircismus, ylang-ylang, burnt hair, hydrogen sulfide, gay bomb and 115 more...
-
sheep and goats
sheep and more sheep and some
slang for sheep,films that feature sheep ,have you heard of sheeple?
and goatsammon, ancon, argali, bharal, burrel, burrell, burhel, burrhel, bighorn, billy, blackface, broadtail and 144 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
Animal Descriptors
Do any of your friends eat like a pig? Sly like a fox? Fast as a cheetah? Maybe these words describe them better
erinaceous, alaudine, phocine, porcine, accipritine, acarine, alopecoid, anatine, anguine, anopheline, apian, arietine and 80 more...
-
Goats
goat, goats, goatee, goatsbeard, The Goat, or Who ..., scapegoat, Goats Head Soup, billy goat, nanny goat, he-goat, she-goat, Goat Island and 58 more...
-
February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
-
carolinacc's list
jettisoned, yearn, chrestomathy, catachresis, elation, gesundheit, ohne, tertium quid, iota, oscillation, argillous, flagrate and 67 more...
-
difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 256 more...
-
....the prison library
// god mandated attempt to realign with the timeless forces of the universe via remastered locution //
desultory, dénouement, demesne, dalliance, chatoyant, antechamber, akimbo, cacography, germane, cuboid, miasma, mordant and 89 more...
-
Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
-
ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
-
Insults that the insulted must look u...
fustilugs, harridan, hircismus, caprylic, hircine, capric, fussock, feist, cacafuego
-
Beastly adjectives
How would you describe your brother-in-law? Is he a tad bovine? Maybe there is something lacertilian about him? Or his business practices seem a little percesocine to you.
dasyproctine, tolypeutine, asinine, feline, canine, eusuchian, simian, musteline, cervine, caprine, percesocine, hirudine and 227 more...
-
Noah's Park
Hello, and Welcome™! Come and visit our most diverse land of our Animalesque™ adventures. Here at Noah's Park™ we have Virtually All You'd Ever Want To See™. An experience that is related to ani...
sheep's eyes, doe-eyed, cat-eyed, bug-eyed, cat's paw, black swan, leapfrog, menagerie, cold turkey, card shark, snail's pace, bull's eye and 362 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hircine.
ruzuzu There's a pronunciation now--should we ask for chelster's opinion? Apr 19, 2011
duckbill "The landlady saw, calmly put down her work, and coining up, pulled a hircine man or two hither, and pushed a hircine man or two thither, with the impassive countenance of a housewife moving her furniture." Cloister and Hearth, ch. xxiv. Apr 19, 2011
chained_bear I'm gonna guess it's "hear-sine" or "hir-sine," since it's in the family of words like ursine and bovine.
P.S. I love the "fossil resin" tag. Ahh, Wordie... Aug 3, 2009
rolig I'm sure one of the dictionaries linked to the icons above could help you out, PU. This is not a word I know. But this is the kind of question that makes me wonder if the social-networking generation (generally speaking) knows how to use reference tools or merely relies on twittered opinion. Aug 3, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Does anyone know if it's 'hir-kine' or 'hir-sine' or 'hir-seen'? Aug 3, 2009