Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A civet-cat; figuratively, a scented, effeminate person; a fop.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Sent to Portsmouth with letters for Mr. de Vaudreuil, in command of our fleet, Closen becomes acquainted “with a very curious animal which the people of the region call a musk-cat, but which I believe to be the puant” (the stinking one), and a careful description shows that, in any case, the name well fitted the animal.

    Rochambeau and the French in America. I. From Unpublished Documents. VIII 1916

  • Plants, seeds, dried birds, insects, and drawings were scattered about in great confusion, and some of the sailors were in the act of killing a beautiful musk-cat, which they afterwards ate.

    Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay Volume 1 George Otto Trevelyan 1883

  • He also had the claws of a tiger, extracted from the paws of the living animal; he had the horns of a colt; and he likewise owned even a musk-cat (jako-neko) (1).

    Kokoro Japanese Inner Life Hints Lafcadio Hearn 1877

  • The latter is more frequently the production of the musk-deer, although the scent is possessed by many animals, and also insects, as the musk-ox, the musk-deer, the civet or musk-cat, the musk-rat, the musk-beetle, etc.

    Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon Samuel White Baker 1857

  • Why, thou essence-bottle, thou musk-cat! dost thou then think thou hast any advantage over me but what Fortune has given thee?

    Scarborough and the Critic Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1783

  • During the first voyage of our people to that country, on departing from the place where they had first traded, one of them either stole a musk-cat or took her away by force, not suspecting that this could have any effect to prevent trading at the next station: But although they went there in full sail, the news had got there before them, and the people refused to deal with them until the cat were either restored or paid for at a fixed price.

    A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07 Robert Kerr 1784

  • I'll learn her to come to me stinking of the musk-cat. "

    The Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade 1849

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