fitchew

/ ˈfɪtʃuː /

noun

1. an archaic name for polecat

Word History and Origins

Origin of fitchew¹

C14 ficheux , from Old French ficheau , from Middle Dutch vitsau , of obscure origin

Example Sentences

“The fitchew nor the soiled horse goes to’t with a more riotous appetite. Down from the waist they are Centaurs, though women all above. But to the girdle do the gods inherit. Beneath is all the fiend’s. There’s hell, there’s darkness, there is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie, fie, fie, pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination.”

From Literature

I might here intreat largely of other vermin, as the polecat, the miniver, the weasel, stote, fulmart, squirrel, fitchew, and such like, which Cardan includeth under the word Mustela: also of the otter, and likewise of the beaver, whose hinder feet and tail only are supposed to be fish.

From Project Gutenberg

The fitchew nor the soiled horse goes to't With a more riotous appetite.

From Project Gutenberg

The polecat survives as Fitch, Fitchett, and Fitchew— "Fissau, a filch, or fulmart."

From Project Gutenberg

Behold yon simpering dame, Whose face between her forks presageth snow; That minceth virtue, and does shake the head To hear of pleasure's name; The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to it With more riotous appetite.

From Project Gutenberg