vixen, n. and a.
(ˈvɪks(ə)n)
Forms: 5–8 fixen (5 fixene), 6– vixen (7 vixinge, 8 vixin), 7–8 vixon.
[repr. OE. *fyxen (= MHG. vühsinne, G. füchsin), fem. of fox fox. Cf. OE. fyxen adj. ‘of a fox’ (= OHG. fuhsîn, MHG. vühsîn). The word is one of the few in which the southern v for f has definitely established itself.]
1. The female of the fox; a she-fox.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) vii, Þe fixene [v.r. fixen] of þe foxe bereth as longe, as þe bicche of þe wolfe bereth hir whelpes. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. x. (1628) 334 Fixen..is the name of a she-fox otherwise and more anciently foxin. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Vixen or Fixen, a Fox's Cub. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) II. 270 The vixen's just now earthed, see here's the Hole. 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Vixen,.. a she fox, who, when she has cubs, is remarkably fierce. 1828 Sporting Mag. XXII. 23, I must confess, I felt rather spoony upon that vixen. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxxiii. 286 A vixen was trapped just across the field yonder. 1880 Times 2 Nov. 4/5 They are familiar as the craftiest old vixen with the country they have been born and bred in. |
| fig. 1705 Wycherley in Pope's Lett. (1735) I. 22 You may see a Pack of Spaniels, called Lovers, in hot Pursuit of a two-legg'd Vixen. |
2. An ill-tempered quarrelsome woman; a shrew, a termagant.
| 1575 Gamm. Gurton iii. ii, That false fixen..that counts her selfe so honest. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 324 O when she's angry, she is keene and shrewd, She was a vixen when she went to schoole. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. v. ii. 636 She is a foole, a nasty queane, a slut, a fixen, a scolde. a 1644 Quarles Virgin Widow v. i, She's a pestilent vixen when she's angry, and as proud as Lucifer. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Prov. x. 18 Wks. 1687 I. 247 Those fiery Vixons, who..really do themselves embroil things, and raise miserable combustions in the world. 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 8 (1726) 36 Since they [Oxford and Cambridge] have come to woman's estate they have been a couple of the arrantest vixons. 1787 Minor 68 Perverseness hurried him to marry a young vixin. 1801 M. Edgeworth Contrast (1832) 108 Mrs. Betterworth was a vain, foolish vixen. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 565 ‘That may be very honourable in you’, answered the pertinacious vixen, ‘but it will be very poor comfort to the Princess.’ 1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Works II. 160 His unhappy secret marriage with the foreign vixen. |
| transf. 1861–2 G. H. K. in Vac. Tour. (1864) 136 There are the sixteen of them [sc. hinds]..quarrelling and fighting, rising perfectly upright on their hind legs,.. and striking at each other with their sharp fore hoofs. What vixens! |
† b. In the phrase
to play the vixen.
Obs.| 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 164 A Gentlewoman; who, howsoeuer shee scolds and playes the vixen neuer so, wilbe borne with. 1597 Lyly Wom. in Moon i. i. (stage direction), She playes the vixen with euery thing about her. |
† c. Applied to a child or a man.
Obs. rare.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Fixen, a froward, peevish Child. 1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Finibus ii. 151 He's the veriest Vixin of a Stoick. 1731–8 Swift Pol. Conversat. i. 95 Well, if that Child was mine, I'd whip it till the Blood came; Peace, you little Vixen! |
3. attrib. (passing into adj.).
a. Appositive with
fox,
= sense 1.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) vii, The fixene fox whelpeth vnder þe erthe. 1845 Youatt Dog iv. 102 The mouth of the earth in which a vixen fox—a fox with her young ones—has taken up her abode. 1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 274 A little vixen fox jumping out among listless idlers of the pack. |
b. Appositive, of persons,
= vixenish a. 1.
| a 1660 Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) III. 80 O shame of soe greate a peere, imitatinge herin the vixinge calleaghs. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain i, The fury which the old vixen queen displayed. |
c. Of looks, actions, etc.,
= vixenish a. 2.
| 1700 Congreve Way of World iv. 54 Pshaw, what a Vixon trick is this? 1816 Scott Antiq. xxii, Disturbing us with his vixen brawls, and breaking God's peace and the king's. 1820 Keats Cap & Bells lxxix, She..Castled her King with such a vixen look, It bodes ill to his Majesty. 1850 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights x, Begone, for God's sake, and hide your vixen face! |
4. Comb., as
vixen-faced,
vixen-visaged.
| 1836 Boston Herald 20 Dec. 1/6 A Mrs. Vaughton was summoned by a vixen-visaged girl, named Susan Jones. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Black Mousquetaire, Nervous folks still, when they come in their way, shun Old vixen-faced tramps of the Hebrew persuasion. |