Wiktionary

oestrus

See also: Oestrus, and œstrus

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin oestrus (“gadfly, sting, frenzy”), from Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oîstros), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eys-, used to form words denoting passion; see also Latin īra (“anger”), Lithuanian aistra (“violent passion”), Avestan 𐬀𐬈𐬯𐬨𐬀 (aesma, “anger”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈiːstɹəs/, /ˈɛstɹəs/
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Noun

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oestrus (countable and uncountable, plural oestruses or oestri)

  1. (countable) A biting fly of the genus Oestrus; a botfly.
    • 1915, American Veterinary Review, page 407:
      […] and which is produced by the larvae of oestri and particularly of Oestrus hemorrhoidalis.
    • 1963, Bacteriological Reviews, page 92, column 1:
      If this is inseparable from the oeconomy of nature, it necessarily follows that man must be subject to the depredations of oestri, ichneumons, . . . and perhaps, thousands of others, which the senses, aided by the directions of a correct understanding, may be able to trace in a way that will fall very little short of absolute demonstration.
  2. (countable) A bite or sting.
  3. (countable, archaic) A passion or frenzy.
  4. (countable and uncountable, biology) A female animal's readiness to mate; heat, rut.
    • 1910, Cleveland Medical Journal, page 517:
      In those monoestrous species in which the male is capable all the year round, it is found that the oestri of individual females come at different seasons.
    • 1939, The Philippine Agriculturist, page 289:
      A vasectomized Philippine carabao bull was used as a teaser to determine the occurrence and recurrence of oestri.
    • 1962, Neoplasma, page 152:
      An evaluation was carried out so that the mean number of oestri per one animal was calculated for 14 days in the three periods: […]
    • 1980, The Zimbabwe Journal of Agricultural Research, page 73:
      Intervals between oestri and between ovulations in dairy cows within 100 days post partum
    • 2001, David Lodge, Thinks...:
      It’s the supremely human act, freely to fuck, not because you are on heat, or in oestrus, like an animal, but to give and receive pleasure.
    • 2011, Jacques Pepin, “The Source”, in The Origins of AIDS, 1st edition, →ISBN, page 29:
      The substantial genital swelling of [female chimpanzees] during oestrus may facilitate transmission of viruses by making the mucosa more fragile.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oîstros).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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oestrus m (genitive oestrī); second declension

  1. gadfly

Declension

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Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative oestrus oestrī
genitive oestrī oestrōrum
dative oestrō oestrīs
accusative oestrum oestrōs
ablative oestrō oestrīs
vocative oestre oestrī

Synonyms

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Descendants

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References

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  • “oestrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “oestrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • oestrus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “oestrus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
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