Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Zoology Of, relating to, or resembling seals.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Seal-like; of or pertaining to the Phocidæ at large.
- Belonging to the restricted subfamily Phocinæ: distinguished from otarine.
- n. Any member of the Phocinæ; a phocacean.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to the seal tribe; phocal.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to seals
Etymologies
- From Latin phōca, seal, from Greek phōkē.
Examples
“The enigma of the landlocked Baikal and Caspian seals addressed through phylogeny of phocine mitochondrial sequences.”
“Diverse phocine seals – some apparently resembling the extant Pusa** seals – are known to have inhabited Paratethys during the Miocene (Paratethys was a brackish inland sea that covered much of south-east Europe and south-west Asia during the Miocene) and, according to the Paratethyan hypothesis, it is phocines from this region that managed to invade the Caspian Sea, later getting as far east as Lake Baikal.”
“During the Pliocene, Paratethys was linked to the Arctic Ocean via a seaway just west of the Urals, apparently, and accordingly it has been proposed that the Ringed seal of the Arctic Ocean descends from a phocine that migrated north from the Paratethys (Ray 1976, Grigorescu 1977) [adjacent image shows a Ringed seal].”
“When the mutual inspection, friendly glances, and exchange of civilities between the phocine and human tribes began to pall I told Nuredien to go full speed ahead to our usual spot.”
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
“There's phocine distemper that in Europe has wiped out a huge number of harbour seals," he said.”
“MeV, AF266288; phocine distemper virus (PDV), NC_006383; rinderpest virus (RPV), NC_006296; peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), NC_006383; dolphin morbillivirus (DMV), NC_005283; other paramyxovirus: Atlantic salmon paramyxovirus (ASPV), EF646380; Beilong virus (BeV),”
“1921-1964 OsW Marine beasties supply ten animalines: cyprine carp 1828 O octopine octopus 1914 delphine dolphin 1828 OsW OW ostracine oyster 1890 delphinine dolphin O OW homarine lobster 1880 phocaenine porpoise OW 1890 OW manatine manatee OW phocine seal 1846 OW megapterine hump - back whale W Finally, beasts of the mind occupy the last three places in my extended corpus: basilicine basilisk 1855 sphinxine sphinx 1845”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘phocine’.
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7762 more...
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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...
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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...
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February 2011
mirepoix, rubylith, torogoz, cecum, icterus, leptospirosis, antigenic, syncytium, electrophoresis, perivascular, glial, parenchyma and 9 more...
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P words
Only the most awesome 'P' words
palinode, palinola, palzogony, pyrrhotism, pulchritude, phocine, pierine, pi, pit, pitty, proton, pyromania and 10 more...
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animals strike curious poses
the asethetic of an animal... animal adjectives
corvine, pavonine, equine, bovine, musteline, myrmecine, ursine, apic, ranine, vulpine, vespine, pteropine and 20 more...
emily_morine Seal-like. Dec 8, 2006