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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
polecat
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And then by the time they get their first crack at deducing who the polecat is, they will be in custody.
▪ Both the red squirrel and the polecat can be found here.
▪ Hunting stoats, polecats and weasels are a particular threat to them.
▪ It is a well-known fact that ferrets have mated with polecats in the wild.
▪ Long bodies and short legs are reminders of their close relationship to weasels and polecats.
▪ The white ferret, for example, is more visible, while the polecat is less so.
▪ There will be no polecat with young at post number seven on the nature trail.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Polecat

Polecat \Pole"cat`\, n. [Probably fr. F. poule hen, and originally, a poultry cat, because it feeds on poultry. See Poultry.] (Zo["o]l.)

  1. A small European carnivore of the Weasel family ( Putorius f[oe]tidus). Its scent glands secrete a substance of an exceedingly disagreeable odor. Called also fitchet, foulmart, and European ferret.

  2. The zorilla. The name is also applied to other allied species.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
polecat

early 14c., from cat (n.); the first element is perhaps Anglo-French pol, from Old French poule "fowl, hen" (see pullet (n.)); so called because it preys on poultry [Klein]. The other alternative is that the first element is from Old French pulent "stinking," for obvious reasons. Originally the European Putorius foetidus; also applied to related U.S. skunks since 1680s.

Wiktionary
polecat

n. 1 A weasel-like animal of the genus ''Mustela'', notably the (vern: European polecat), ''Mustela putorius''. 2 (context US dialect English) A skunk.

WordNet
polecat
  1. n. American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put in a separate subfamily Mephitinae [syn: skunk, wood pussy]

  2. dark brown mustelid of woodlands of Eurasia that gives off an unpleasant odor when threatened [syn: fitch, foulmart, foumart, Mustela putorius]

Wikipedia
Polecat

Polecat is the common name for mammals in the order Carnivora and subfamily Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank; the name is applied to several species broadly similar to European polecats, the only species native to the British Isles.

In the United States, the term polecat is sometimes applied to the black-footed ferret, a native member of the Mustelinae, and loosely to skunks, which are only distantly related.

Despite the name, polecats are more closely related to dogs than cats, which is why they belong to the suborder of Caniformiae.

Polecat (band)

Polecat was an early band of singer-guitarist Ted Stevens of Omaha, Nebraska. He later went on to form Lullaby For The Working Class who recorded for Bar/None Records and Saddle Creek Records. He is currently a guitarist in Saddle Creek's Cursive and Mayday. Polecat's first Ghostmeat release was the song "1979" on the Apollo's Salvage compilation released in 1995. Later that year, Ghostmeat and Lumberjack Records (which later became Saddle Creek) collaborated to release a Sunbrain & Polecat split 7".

Polecat (disambiguation)

Polecat (Mustelinae) is a carnivorous mammal related to the weasel. Its domesticated variety is referred to as ferret.

Polecat may also refer to:

Usage examples of "polecat".

Chance waved the Polecat back on a line parallel to its first crossing, then waved the bulldozers forward to pile in more snow.

Ended up in this old cabin, outside a place called Polecat Springs, just south of Beauford.

I drove slowly through the tiny village of modest wood-frame homes, looking for the post office, which turned out to be a counter in the corner of the Polecat Springs General Store and Tattoo Emporium.

It flowed from a steamy, bubbling pond that I knew also was Polecat Springs.

Tranter, who was now steaming like a geyser and smelling like a polecat, choked and blinked his eyes.

They saw stoats hunting again - though not in packs - and an animal they took to be a polecat, making off through reeds with a mallard in its jaws.

Watson was a well-known polecat, he had knew him personal, but Edgar J.

Finally, a young polecat terrier was thrown into a state of great excitement the first time he ever saw one of these animals, while a spaniel remained perfectly calm.

Dirty tricks, faked terrorist attacks, lies, threats, and fear tactics of every polecat stripe.

And thus it came to pass that in the dusk of a November evening the Russian boy, murmuring a few of the prayers of his Church for luck, gave hasty but decent burial to a large polecat under the lilac trees at Hoopington.

He watched the sleeping wanagan being dragged across and coupled to the massive ice-orange tractor, glanced round at the little, fast-throbbing Polecats, then climbed into the cab of the bulldozer nearest the doors.

I dunno what the idee is, but these Tomahawk polecats has double-crossed somebody!

It looked jest about like a cabin ought to look where they has jest been a fight between seventeen polecats and a mountain lion.

By now, the three women had probably turned on one another like polecats, each one slowly going out of her mind with terror.

They would fall desperately in love with polecats and skunks if endowed with small talk.