Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various small to medium-sized carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, usually having long slender bodies, short legs, and anal scent glands, and including the badgers, mink, otters, skunks, and weasels.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A member of the Mustelidae, fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A carnivorous mammal of the weasel family Mustelidae.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Mūstēlidae, family name, from mūstēla, weasel, probably from mūs, mouse; see mūs- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • The Kentish otters herald a remarkable – if slow – renaissance for the sleek, fish-devouring member of the mustelid family, which declined by 95% of its range in western Europe during the 20th century.

    Otters are back – in every county in England 2011

  • Conservation officers attempting to track the spread of the rarely-seen fisher (a good-sized mustelid) are using fingerprints to distinguish individual animals.

    Archive 2007-05-01 2007

  • Maybe mink, the slow cousin of the mustelid family.

    Memento Mori à Trois | clusterflock 2009

  • Rodent and mustelid eradication programs are planned for some of the island reserves.

    Richmond temperate forests 2008

  • But my dog needs to work off lead, and there are as many skunks mink, too in my hawking fields as in the park: A mustelid meet-up is inevitable.

    Archive 2006-07-01 2006

  • But my dog needs to work off lead, and there are as many skunks mink, too in my hawking fields as in the park: A mustelid meet-up is inevitable.

    Rina and The Skunk 2006

  • The deceased mustelid up by the golf course has pretty much dried up to a mummy, no apparent smell.

    We hates airlineses... jhetley 2005

  • Dear Steve, yes, I also think it is likely that most of this dirty work is done by someone else, for example and most likely by William M. Connolley – see mustelid.blogspot.com.

    Is Gavin Schmidt Honest? « Climate Audit 2005

  • He shot up the last of a roll of film on this little mustelid, and then it disappeared under the front of the truck.

    grouse Diary Entry grouse 2003

  • Much too kind for the likes of this poor mustelid!

    Writer Ferrets: Chasing the Muse Richard Bach 2002

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