bovineadj.
/ˈbəʊvʌɪn/, U.S. /ˈboʊˌvaɪn/ 1. Belonging to, or characteristic of, the ox tribe. Also elliptical = bovine animal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > subfamily Bovinae (bovine) > [noun]
oxeOE
bullock1535
beef1583
bovine1845
Murray grey1963
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > subfamily Bovinae (bovine) > [adjective]
tauric1816
bovine1845
cowy1893
Taurian1909
1845 G. S. Faber Eight Diss. I. v. vii. 405 The worship of the bovine Apis.
1865 Athenæum No. 1969. 103/3 No wild bovine is now known in Syria.
1877 J. A. Allen Amer. Bisons 468 Particularly bovine, also, is the satisfaction they take in rubbing themselves against trees.
2. figurative. Inert, sluggish; dull, stupid; cf. bucolic adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [adjective]
sloweOE
stuntc960
dullOE
hardOE
stuntlyc1000
sotc1050
dillc1175
dulta1225
simplea1325
heavy1340
astonedc1374
sheepishc1380
dull-witteda1387
lourd1390
steerishc1411
ass-likea1425
brainless?a1439
deafc1440
sluggishc1450
short-witted1477
obtuse1509
peakish1519
wearish1519
deaf, or dumb as a beetle1520
doileda1522
gross1526
headlessa1530
stulty1532
ass-headed1533
pot-headed1533
stupid?1541
sheep's head1542
doltish1543
dumpish1545
assish1548
blockish1548
slow-witted1548
blockheaded1549
surd1551
dull-headed1552
hammer-headed1552
skit-brained?1553
buzzardly1561
witless1562
log-headeda1566
assy1566
sottish1566
dastardly1567
stupidious1567
beetle-headed1570
calvish1570
bluntish1578
cod's-headed1578
grout-headed1578
bedaft1579
dull-pated1580
blate1581
buzzard-like1581
long-eared1582
dullard1583
woodena1586
duncical1588
leaden-headed1589
buzzard1592
dorbellical1592
dunstical1592
heavy-headeda1593
shallow-brained1592
blunt-witted1594
mossy1597
Bœotian1598
clay-brained1598
fat1598
fat-witted1598
knotty-pated1598
stupidous1598
wit-lost1599
barren1600
duncifiedc1600
lourdish1600
stockish1600
thick1600
booby1603
leaden-pated1603
partless1603
thin-headed1603
leaden-skulledc1604
blockhead1606
frost-brained1606
ram-headed1608
beef-witted1609
insulse1609
leaden-spirited1609
asininec1610
clumse1611
blockheadly1612
wattle-headed1613
flata1616
logger-headeda1616
puppy-headeda1616
shallow-patedc1616
thick-brained1619
half-headed1621
buzzard-blinda1625
beef-brained1628
toom-headed1629
thick-witted1634
woollen-witted1635
squirrel-headed1637
clod-pated1639
lean-souled1639
muddy-headed1642
leaden-witteda1645
as sad as any mallet1645
under-headed1646
fat-headed1647
half-witted1647
insipid1651
insulsate1652
soft-headed1653
thick-skulleda1657
muddish1658
non-intelligent1659
whey-brained1660
sap-headed1665
timber-headed1666
leather-headeda1668
out of (one's) tree1669
boobily1673
thoughtless1673
lourdly1674
logger1675
unintelligenta1676
Bœotic1678
chicken-brained1678
under-witted1683
loggerhead1684
dunderheaded1692
unintelligible1694
buffle-headed1697
crassicc1700
numbskulled1707
crassous1708
doddy-polled1708
haggis-headed1715
niddy-noddy1722
muzzy1723
pudding-headed1726
sumphish1728
pitcher-souleda1739
duncey1743
hebete1743
chuckheaded1756
dumb1756
duncely1757
imbecile1766
mutton-headed1768
chuckle-headed1770
jobbernowl1770
dowfarta1774
boobyish1778
wittol1780
staumrel1787
opaquec1789
stoopid1791
mud-headed1793
borné1795
muzzy-headed1798
nog-headed1800
thick-headed1801
gypit1804
duncish1805
lightweight1809
numbskull1814
tup-headed1816
chuckle-pate1820
unintellectuala1821
dense1822
ninnyish1822
dunch1825
fozy1825
potato-headed1826
beef-headed1828
donkeyish1831
blockheadish1833
pinheaded1837
squirrel-minded1837
pumpkin-headed1838
tomfoolish1838
dundering1840
chicken-headed1842
like a bump on a log1842
ninny-minded1849
numbheadeda1852
nincompoopish1852
suet-brained1852
dolly1853
mullet-headed1853
sodden1853
fiddle-headed1854
numb1854
bovine1855
logy1859
crass1861
unsmart1861
off his chump1864
wooden-headed1865
stupe1866
lean-minded1867
duffing1869
cretinous1871
doddering1871
thick-head1873
doddling1874
stupido1879
boneheaded1883
woolly-headed1883
leaden-natured1889
suet-headed1890
sam-sodden1891
dopey1896
turnip-headed1898
bonehead1903
wool-witted1905
peanut-headed1906
peanut-brained1907
dilly1909
torpid-minded1909
retardate1912
nitwitted1917
meat-headed1918
mug1922
cloth-headed1925
loopy1925
nitwit1928
lame-brained1929
dead from the neck up1930
simpy1932
nail-headed1936
square-headed1936
dingbats1937
pinhead1939
dim-witted1940
pea-brained1942
clueless1943
lobotomized1943
retarded1949
pointy-headed1950
clottish1952
like a stunned mullet1953
silly (or crazy) as a two-bob watch1954
out to lunch1955
pin-brained1958
dozy1959
eejity1964
out of one's tiny mind1965
doofus1967
twitty1967
twittish1969
twatty1975
twattish1976
blur1977
dof1979
goofus1981
dickheaded1991
dickish1991
numpty1992
cockish1996
1855 O. W. Holmes Poems 235 Where bovine rustics used to doze and dream.
1879 Contemp. Rev. 291 Neither in the ranks of bovine Toryism nor of rabid Radicalism.
Draft additions 1997
bovine spongiform encephalopathy n. spongiform encephalopathy of cattle, a fatal neurological disease characterized by behavioural disorders including unsteady gait and nervousness; abbreviated BSE n. at B n. Additions. Cf. mad cow disease n. at mad adj. Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle > [noun] > other disorders of cattle
murrainc1450
gall1577
gargyse1577
sprenges1577
wisp1577
closh1587
milting1587
moltlong1587
hammer1600
mallet1600
scurvy1604
wither1648
speed1704
nostril dropping1708
bladdera1722
heartsick1725
throstling1726
striking1776
feather-cling1799
hollow-horn1805
weed1811
blood striking1815
the slows1822
toad-bit1825
coast-fever1840
horn-distemper1843
rat's tail1847
whethering1847
milk fever1860
milt-sickness1867
pearl tumour1872
actinomycosis1877
pearl disease1877
rat-tail1880
lumpy jaw1891
niatism1895
cripple1897
rumenitis1897
Rhodesian fever1903
reticulitis1905
barbone1907
contagious abortion1910
trichomoniasis1915
shipping fever1932
New Forest disease1954
bovine spongiform encephalopathy1987
BSE1987
mad cow disease1988
East Coast fever2009
1987 G. A. H. Wells et al. in Vet. Rec. 31 Oct. 420/2 Studies have been initiated but until further characterisation is achieved the authors suggest for this disorder the provisional appellation: bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
1987 New Scientist 5 Nov. 30/1 Like scrapie..bovine spongiform encephalopathy is insidious and progressive.
1991 Independent 1 Nov. 7/1 ‘Mad cat’ disease—the feline form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)—is likely to have been caused by contaminated cat food.
Draft additions June 2003
bovine growth hormone n. Physiology = bovine somatotropin n. at Additions; abbreviated BGH.
ΚΠ
1957 Acta Endocrinologica 26 299 This investigation was carried out in order to determine the electrophoretic behaviour of bovine growth hormone in human serum.
1964 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 239 1520 Gel filtration was able to remove serum protein contaminants from bovine growth hormone.
1986 Toronto Star (Nexis) 27 July b7 The outcry over a bovine growth hormone, produced by genetically tailored bacteria, foreshadows the controversy that might erupt.
1999 D. T. Avery in G. Tansey & J. D'Silva Meat Business ii. 20 For a country such as India, which has enormous unmet milk demand and a severe feed shortage, the bovine growth hormone should be a powerful conservation tool.
Draft additions June 2003
bovine somatotropin n. (also bovine somatotrophin) Physiology the somatotropin (growth hormone) of cattle; (also) (more fully recombinant bovine somatotropin) a pharmaceutical preparation of this, produced by recombinant DNA technology and used commercially to increase milk yields in dairy cattle; abbreviated BST.
ΚΠ
1975 Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis 23 541 Bovine somatotropin could have therapeutic applications similar to those of other drugs which exert nonspecific action in diseases of the liver in humans.
1987 Guardian (Nexis) 6 Feb. Some county branches..would like to see Bovine Somatotrophin, a new wonder drug which boosts milk output from treated cows, banned from the British pharmaceutical market.
1989 Canad. Jrnl. Fisheries & Aquatic Sci. 46 178 Recombinant bovine somatotropin and a recently engineered analog for bovine somatotropin were compared for their growth-promoting ability in underyearling coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).
1995 Canad. Forum May 48/1 In 1986, recognizing the marketing problems in selling a growth hormone, BGH manufacturers started using the scientific term bovine somatotropin or BST.
Draft additions June 2014
bovine tuberculosis n. [after French tuberculose bovine (1868 or earlier)] tuberculosis affecting cattle, which is typically caused by Mycobacterium bovis; (in later use also) disease in any species caused by this bacterium.
ΚΠ
1869 Chicago Med. Jrnl. 16 100 If bovine tuberculosis belongs to the same species as human tuberculosis, there exists in alimentation by butcher's meat taken from phthisical animals a permanent danger to public health.
1910 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1544/2 There is much need for a better education of the farmer as to the nature of bovine tuberculosis and the way to eliminate it.
1954 Jet 17 June 30 A five-year-old Chicago girl..is a victim of a rare disease, bovine tuberculosis, doctors at Michael Reese Hospital reported.
2012 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 26 Dec. 6 Ministers wanted to cull badgers in the South West this summer to stop the animals spreading the cattle disease bovine tuberculosis.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
adj.1845