finching

English

Noun

finching (uncountable)

1. A dorsal line or stripe in cattle markings
   • 1967, Robert Trow-Smith, Life from the Land: The Growth of Farming in Western Europe, page 20:

     Its characteristic finching—the white streak that runs along the spine from neck to tail—that is so noticeable in cave paintings at Lascaux, is also still to be found occasionally, notably in the last surviving handful of Gloucestershire cattle on some farms on[...].

   • 1983, Ralph Whitlock, English Farm, page 167:

     The white face and finching which are the visual hallmarks of the modern Hereford were becoming established by the end of the eighteenth[...].

2. The sport of hunting of finches
   • 2004, The Dutch Historical-Geographical Journal, magazine issue 22 [1]:

     The finching yards of the country estates were important meeting points of the elite.

3. the sport of competitive finch display