Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In heraldry, a fur of a black ground with white spots (sable. spots argent): the reverse of ermine. Also called counter-ermine, contre-ermine.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Her.) See Note under
ermine , n., 4.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
ermine .
Etymologies
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Examples
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Stoats, also known as ermines or weasels, were first introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century to combat another introduced species, the rabbit, which has caused great environmental damage throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Scientific American 2009
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There ' s nothing funnier than a family of ermines in a diorama of a Victorian living room.
Visiting the Animal Afterlife Andy Battaglia 2010
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Their family includes ferrets, stoats and ermines.
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Yes, one can negotiate with American ermines, but you CAN NOT negotiate with evil!
Poll: Obama gaining support with key Clinton demographics 2008
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You know that we nobles of England, less jealous of our sixteen quarters than those on the continent, do not take scorn to line our decayed ermines with the little cloth of gold from the city; and my grandfather was lucky enough to get a wealthy wife, with a halting pedigree, — rather a singular circumstance, considering that her father was a countryman of yours.
Saint Ronan's Well 2008
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May 25, 2006, 1: 34 pm mbna gift cards says: mbna giftcards capitalism Vaticanizes. protections influenced ermines
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They have tended to portray a setting of suitable grandeur, with king and queen presiding over an assembly of everyone who was anyone in the kingdom: counts and dukes weighed down by jewels, ermines, and velvets; mitered bishops; courtiers stiff in their robes of state; serried ranks of pages sweating in livery.
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The foresaid merchants transport thither ermines and gray furres, with other rich and costly skinnes.
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Welsh — or a Scotch-woman, or in what manner he associated a shield emblazoned with three ermines with the idea of personal property, but he no sooner beheld this family emblem than he stoutly determined on vindicating his right to the splendid vehicle on which it was displayed.
Waverley 2004
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And I have the pleasure to tell you that whatever progress you can make in her good graces will be highly agreeable to Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel, who will never believe your views and prospects settled, and the three ermines passant in actual safety, until you present them with a Mrs. Edward Waverley.
Waverley 2004
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