polecat

«polecat» in Mova's school dictionary: a wild animal of the weasel family, with dark brown fur… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a polecat, polecats)

meaning for a pupil

1) A polecat is a wild animal of the weasel family, with dark brown fur and a pale face mask, that gives off a strong smell when frightened. tree →

2) (USA) In the USA, «polecat» is an old country word for a skunk. tree →

3) (old, insult) Calling someone a polecat once meant they were nasty. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons it is a carnivore of Europe; the pet ferret comes from it. In US stories, a «polecat» may be a skunk. Phrases: European polecat.

examples

• The polecat hunted rabbits at night. tree →
• Pet ferrets are related to polecats. tree →
• Polecats live in Britain and Europe. tree →
• The polecat has a dark mask on its face. tree →
• (USA) Grandpa called the skunk a polecat. tree →
• A frightened polecat gives off a nasty smell. tree →
• She had a mane like a horse, horns like a deer, a face like a bear, eyes like a polecat; while her body had something of each. tree →

note

Countable: polecats. It is not a cat and has nothing to do with poles; the name may come from old French for chicken, because it ate hens.

In the corpora

• Little sousliks do the same, and eagles and polecats hunt them.
• Sousliks are a main food for steppe eagles, imperial eagles and steppe polecats, so when souslik colonies disappear these hunters disappear too.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «polecat» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.