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  1. vulpine love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Of, resembling, or characteristic of a fox.
  2. adj. Cunning; clever.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Of or pertaining to a fox; technically, resembling the fox as a member of tho Vulpinæ; related to the foxes; alopecoid: distinguished from lupine or thoöid.
  2. Resembling a fox in traits or disposition; also, characteristic of the fox; foxy; cunning; crafty.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Pertaining to a fox.
  2. adj. Having the characteristics of a fox, foxlike; cunning.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Of or pertaining to the fox; resembling the fox; foxy; cunning; crafty; artful.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. resembling or characteristic of a fox

Etymologies

  1. From Latin vulpinus ("foxy, fox-like"), from vulpēs, earlier volpēs ("fox"), from Proto-Indo-European *wl(o)p- (“fox”). Cognate with Welsh llywarn ("fox"), Ancient Greek ἀλώπηξ (alōpēks), Armenian աղուէս (aluēs), Albanian dhelpër, Lithuanian vilpišỹs ("wildcat"), Sanskrit lopāśa ("jackal, fox"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin vulpīnus, from vulpēs, fox. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “I remember that as we said good-by there was that in her smile that recalled the vulpine complacency of Mona Lisa, the Wise.”

    “It was the Golden Fleece ready for the shearing.”

  • “I remember that as we said good-bye, there was that in her smile that recalled the vulpine complacency of Mona Lisa, the”

    The Hussy

  • “And when he later threatens the recalcitrant Goneril that her sister will "with her nails flay thy wolfish visage", he brandishes his own vulpine claw in her face.”

    The Guardian: King Lear – review

  • “All traces of courtly refinement and laconic humour had vanished; he was now callous and vulpine, the renegade spirit of the hoodlum streets returning to his lost playground.”

    Ballardian » Simon O’Carrigan’s The Drowned World

  • “Shane Warne's return to the Sky box has allowed British viewers a first sighting of his vulpine new look, sparking more rumours of a face lift.”

    The Guardian: The Nursery End

  • “The vulpine Evtushenko, although an accomplished technician and a past mistress of Lock's supercharged style, is never an autonomous being, but is always manipulated, shaped and turned by men.”

    The Guardian: La La La Human Steps – review

  • “Lyons père was a young lawyer writing a weekly column for the Sunday English-language page of the Yiddish Forward when he won a Post contest to find a challenger to Walter Winchell, the vulpine king of newspaper gossip.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Before Gossip Was Gawkerfied

  • “I nodded at recollection of the vulpine-face superintendent of the Sierra Mills.”

    Chapter 19: Transformation

  • “Korea she had made into a granary and a colony; treaty privileges and vulpine diplomacy gave her the monopoly of Manchuria.”

    THE UNPARALLELED INVASION

  • “Henry Dallas, the superintendent, was a vulpine-faced creature who regarded me insolently and refused to talk.”

    Chapter 3: Jackson's Arm

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Lists

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

Comments

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  • bilby A slow snark crept across bilby's face when he read prose that was asinine, asinine, asinine. Cold Vomit Repository. Feb 23, 2013

  • Louises A slow secret smile swept into Harkaway,s face. It was wolfish, ursine, vulpine. Cold Comfort Farm. Feb 22, 2013

  • mechanolatry Also: Cunning; clever.
    (n. vulpinism) Jan 29, 2009

  • jaime_d from Ruskin. Sep 30, 2007

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‘vulpine’ has been looked up 3328 times, loved by 14 people, added to 97 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.