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Definition of "polecat" []

  • A chiefly nocturnal European carnivorous mammal (Mustela putorius) of the weasel family that ejects a malodorous fluid to mark its territory and ward off enemies. Also called fitch. (noun)
  • Any of various related mammals of Asia, especially Mustela eversmanni of central Asia. (noun)
  • See skunk. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "polecat" in a sentence
  • "He possessed all his teeth but one, and most of his hair as well, though his side-whiskers had lately broken out in polecat streaks of gray."
  • ""The great peculiarity in one of these birds was that he, as the seasons succeeded each other, was not always a hen-cock, and not always of the colour called the polecat, which is black."
  • "On one hunting expedition I caught an animal known as a polecat, and that betrayed me, because its scent got on the dogs."