Edit page | Page history | Printable version

polecat

(Science: zoology) A small European carnivore of the weasel family (Putorius foetidus). Its scent glands secrete a substance of an exceedingly disagreeable odour. Called also fitchet, foulmart, and European ferret.

The zorilla. The name is also applied to other allied species.

Origin: Probably fr. F. Poule hen, and originally, a poultry cat, because it feeds on poultry. See Poultry.