Wiktionary

oestrus

See also: Oestrus and œstrus

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

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

Noun edit

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 edit

Translations edit

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oîstros).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

oestrus m (genitive oestrī); second declension

  1. gadfly

Declension edit

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative oestrus oestrī
Genitive oestrī oestrōrum
Dative oestrō oestrīs
Accusative oestrum oestrōs
Ablative oestrō oestrīs
Vocative oestre oestrī

Synonyms edit

Descendants edit

  • → Catalan: estre
  • → English: oestrus, estrus
  • → French: œstre
  • → Italian: estro
  • → Middle French: oestrus
  • → Piedmontese: estro
  • → Portuguese: estro
  • → Spanish: estro
  • → Translingual: Oestrus

References edit

  • “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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