mastiff

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See also: Mastiff

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English mastif, mastyf, an aberrant derivation (with influence from Old French mestif) from Old French mastin (modern French mâtin), from Vulgar Latin *mansuetinus (“tamed (animal)”), from Latin mansuetus (“tamed”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mastiff (plural mastiffs or (archaic) mastives)

  1. One of an old breed of powerful, deep-chested, and smooth-coated dogs, used chiefly as watchdogs and guard dogs.
    • 1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “The Life of Demosthenes”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 908:
      At which time, they wryte that Demoſthenes told the people of Athens, the fable of the ſheepe and woulues, how that the woulues came on a time, and willed the ſheepe, if they woulde haue peace with them, to deliuer them their maſtiues that kept them.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 302:
      As ſaluage Bull, whom two fierce maſtiues bayt, / When rancour doth with rage him once engore, / Forgets with wary warde them to awayt, / But with his dreadfull hornes them driues afore, / Or flings aloft or treades downe in the flore, / Breathing out wrath, and bellowing diſdaine, / That all the foreſt quakes to heare him rore: […]
    • 1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act V, signature [M4], verso:
      They fill’d the Capitoll, and Pompei’s Circke: / Where, like ſo many Maſtiues, biting ſtones, / As if his Statues novv vvere ſenſitiue / Of their vvild fury, firſt they teare them dovvne: / Then faſtning ropes, drag them along the ſtreetes, […]
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:
      Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or him.
    • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto III.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 63:
      The conquering foe they soon assail’d; / First Trulla stav’d, and Cerdon tail’d, / Until their Mastives loos’d their hold: / And yet alas! do what they could, / The worsted Bear came off with store / Of bloudy wounds, but all before.
    • 1725, Homer, “Book XIV”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 233:
      Soon as Ulyſſes near th’encloſure drew, / With open mouths the furious maſtives flew: […]
    • 1843, Dante Alighieri, translated by John Dayman, The Inferno of Dante Alighieri, Translated in the Terza Rima of the Original, with Notes and Appendix, London: William Edward Painter, […], page 173:
      Her, who did erst the lengthened fight maintain, / And heaped the death-pile red with Prankish gore, / The Vert fangs now to vassalage constrain: / The mastives old and young, Verrucchio bore, / Who in their lawless rule Montagna slew, / Make their teeth augres where they wont of yore: […]
    • 1896, Theodore Roosevelt, chapter 11, in Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail, The Century Co.:
      The Mastiff is a good fighter, and can kill a wildcat, taking the necessary punishment well, as we found out when we once trapped one of these small lynxes.
    • 1989, Bob Shacochis, “Les Femmes Creoles: A Fairy Tale”, in The Next New World, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 22:
      Neither of them could say how many years it had been since the week-long poisoning epidemic, which first took their father’s bulls, then his mastives, then the man himself; […]
    • 2023 November 19, Tom Phillips, “Argentina holds breath as far-right Milei seizes narrow runoff advantage”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
      Milei’s allies reject his portrayal as an unbalanced powder keg, although they do not refute claims their leader takes counsel from his cloned mastiffs.

Hypernyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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French

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Noun

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mastiff m (plural mastiffs)

  1. mastiff

Further reading

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Polish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English mastiff, from Middle English mastif, mastyf, from Old French mastin, from Vulgar Latin *mansuetinus, from Latin mānsuētus.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈmas.tif/
  • Rhymes: -astif
  • Syllabification: mas‧tiff

Noun

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mastiff m animal

  1. Alternative spelling of mastif

Declension

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Declension of mastiff
singular plural
nominative mastiff mastiffy
genitive mastiffa mastiffów
dative mastiffowi mastiffom
accusative mastiffa mastiffy
instrumental mastiffem mastiffami
locative mastiffie mastiffach
vocative mastiffie mastiffy

Derived terms

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adjective

Further reading

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  • mastiff in Polish dictionaries at PWN
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