ferret

ferret

English

ferrets (Mustela putorius furo)

Pronunciation

• enPR: fĕr'ət, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛɹɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪt

Etymology 1

From Middle English furet, ferret, from Old French furet, from Vulgar Latin *furittum (“weasel, ferret”), diminutive of Latin fūr (“thief”).

Noun

ferret (plural ferrets)

1. An often domesticated mammal (Mustela putorius furo) rather like a weasel, descended from the polecat and often trained to hunt burrowing animals.
2. The black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes.
3. (figurative) A diligent searcher.
   • 1998 July 2, Charles Nicholl, "Screaming in the Castle" in the London Review of Books, Vol. XX, No. 13:

     The most challenging documentary discoveries were made by a tenacious archival ferret, Dr Antonio Bertoletti. In 1879 he published his findings in a slim, refreshingly dry volume, Francesco Cenci e la sua Famiglia.

Derived terms

• chutney ferret
• ferret-badger
• ferret-legging
• reverse ferret

 

Related terms

• furtive

Translations

the mammal Mustela putorius furo

Albanian: qelbës (sq) m Arabic: اِبْنُ مِقْرَض‎ m (ibnu miqraḍ) Armenian: ժանտաքիս (hy) (žantakʿis) Basque: hudo Belarusian: тхор m (txor) Breton: fured (br) Bulgarian: пор (bg) m (por), фре́тка f (frétka), дома́шен пор m (domášen por) Catalan: furó (ca), fura (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 雪貂 (zh) (xuědiāo) Czech: fretka (cs) f Danish: fritte c Dutch: fret (nl) m Erzya: пача (pača) Esperanto: furo (eo) Estonian: tuhkur Finnish: fretti (fi) French: furet (fr) m Friulian: pudîs blanc Galician: furón (gl), tourón (gl) Georgian: ქრცვინი (krcvini) German: Frettchen (de) n Greek: κουνάβι (el) n (kounávi), νυφίτσα (el) f (nyfítsa) Ancient: γαλέη f (galéē), γαλῆ f (galê) Hebrew: חָמוֹס‎ m (khamós) Hungarian: vadászgörény (hu) Ido: fureto (io) Irish: firéad m Italian: furetto (it) m Japanese: フェレット (ja) (feretto), 白鼬 (ja) (しろいたち, shiroitachi) Kazakh: күзен (küzen) Korean: 페럿 (pereot) Kyrgyz: күзөн (küzön) Latgalian: saskys Latin: viverra f Latvian: sesks m Lithuanian: šeškas (lt) m Macedonian: ласица f (lasica) Malay: feret Maltese: nemes Maori: tori hura Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii Norman: futhet m Norwegian: Bokmål: ilder m, frett, (domesticated) Nynorsk: ilder m Occitan: fura (oc) Persian: راسو‎ (fa) (râsu), (please verify) قاقم‎ (fa) (qâqom) Plautdietsch: Elkj f Polish: fretka (pl) f Portuguese: furão (pt) m Quechua: manqu Romagnol: furèt m Romanian: nevăstuică (ro) f Romansch: furet Russian: хорёк (ru) m (xorjók), хорь (ru) m (xorʹ) Sami: albinočáhppesbuoidda, ferrehtta Sardinian: furittu, fughittu Scots: futret (Doric dilect) Scottish Gaelic: neas f, fearaid f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: твор m, вретна f Roman: tvor (sh) m, vretna (sh) f Slovak: fretka f Slovene: dihur (sl) m Spanish: hurón (es) m Swahili: fereti Swedish: tamiller, iller (sv) c Tajik: хаз (tg) (xaz) Tamil: மரநாய் வகை (maranāy vakai) Thai: เฟร์ริต (fee-rìt) Turkish: yaban (tr), dağ gelinciği Ukrainian: тхір (uk) m (txir), фре́тка f (frétka), дома́шній тхір m (domášnij txir) Upper Sorbian: łasyčka (hsb) Uzbek: sassiqkuzan (uz) Welsh: ffured West Frisian: fret

Verb

ferret (third-person singular simple present ferrets, present participle ferreting, simple past and past participle ferreted)

1. To hunt game with ferrets.
2. (by extension, transitive, intransitive) To uncover and bring to light by searching; usually to ferret out.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk him, and ferret him.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:

     I confess that we were so unpopular with the outrageous mob, that I only got away from England at the risk of being ducked to death, and that Cly was so ferreted up and down, that he never would have got away at all but for that sham.

   • 1842, Edgar Alan Poe, The Mistery of Marie Roget:

     He had been piqued by the failure of all his endeavors to ferret out the assassins.

   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob's Room:

     She ferreted in her bag; then held it up mouth downwards; then fumbled in her lap, all so vigorously that Charles Steele in the Panama hat suspended his paint-brush.

Derived terms

• ferret about
• ferret around
• ferret out

 

Translations

to bring to light by searching

Bulgarian: тършувам (bg) (tǎršuvam) French: fureter (fr), fouiner (fr), débusquer (fr), découvrir (fr), dénicher (fr) Maori: paraketu Spanish: buscar (es), rebuscar (es), fisgonear (es)

Etymology 2

Italian fioretto

Noun

ferret

1. (dated) A tape of silk, cotton, or ribbon, used to tie documents, clothing, etc. or along the edge of fabric.
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, OCLC 999756093:

     red tape and green ferret

Further reading

• ferret on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• refret

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French

Etymology

From fer +‎ -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛ.ʁɛ/, /fe.ʁɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ferret m (plural ferrets)

1. (metal) tag; aglet, aiguillette

Further reading

• “ferret”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Verb

ferret

1. third-person singular imperfect active subjunctive of ferō