civet

Noun

civet (countable and uncountable, plural civets)

1. Any of the small carnivorous catlike mammals encompassing certain species from the families Viverridae, Eupleridae, and Nandiniidae, native to tropical Africa and Asia.

   Synonyms:

   civet cat

2. (uncountable) The musky perfume produced by the animal; civetone.
   • LEONATO. Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard.
     DON PEDRO. Nay, a' rubs himself with civet: can you smell him out by that?
     CLAUDIO. That's as much as to say the sweet youth's in love.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into...1607, [attributed to Thomas Tomkis], Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue, and the Five Senses for Superiority. A Pleasant Comœdie., London: Printed by G[eorge] Eld, for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, act IV...
3. (US, regional) A spotted skunk.
   • I believe other animals are the same; but skunk and civet are not so particular what they eat; anything half decomposed or rotten will answer.1906, A. R. Harding, editor, A Book of Instruction Giving Many Methods of Trapping—A Valuable Book for Trappers, page 41
   • When inquiring of people, ask about "civets", for spotted skunks are often mistakenly known as civets.2008, Charles A. Long, The Wild Mammals of Wisconsin, Pensoft, page 410
4. (US, regional) A ringtail (Bassariscus astutus).
   • The civet, Bassariscus astutus flavus, a new host for Uncinaria lotoris.— Several specimens of this hookworm, described by Schwartz (1925) from Procyon lotor, were found in the small intestine of the civet or ring-tailed cat at College Station, Texas, by the writer December 15, 1925.1928, “Society Proceedings”, in The Journal of Parasitology, volume 14, number 3, page 197
   • Raccoon, ringtail (civet), coyotes, badgers, bobcat, fox, and skunk were all hunted or trapped for furs throughout the settled portions of the Aravaipa area.1991, Diana Hadley, Peter Warshall, Don Bufkin, Environmental Change in Aravaipa, 1870–1970: An Ethnoecological Survey, Arizona State Office of the Bureau of Land Management, page 273