▪ I. ferret, n.1
(ˈfɛrɪt)
Forms: 4 fyrette, 5 for-, feret(te, 5–7 firret(te, 7 ferrit, 6– ferret.
[a. OF. (? *firet), fuiret, furet (mod.F. furet) = It. furetto, dim. of the Com. Rom. word which appears in OF. as firon, fuiron (:—L. type *fūriōn-em), furon = Pr. furon, Cat. furó, Sp. huron (earlier furon), Pg. furão:—late L. fūrōn-em, recorded in 7th c. by Isidore Etym. xii. ii. §39; usually identified with late L. fūrōn-em robber (f. L. fūr thief; common in the Langobardic laws), whence It. furone robber.
The F. dim. was adopted as MDu. foret, furet, fret, mod.Du. fret, mod.G. frett, frettchen; the OF. furon appears in early mod.Du. veure, Westphal. vürn, denoting the same or a similar animal.]
1. a. A half-tamed variety of the common polecat (Putorius fœtidus), kept for the purpose of driving rabbits from their burrows, destroying rats, etc.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxv. (1495) 829 A fyrette hyghte Migale and is a lytyll beest as it were a wesel. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 171/2 Forette, or ferette, lytyll beste. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) I. 51 Heare are beares..squirelles, and firrette. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. iv. (1588) 444 If any..Labourer have used firrets..to take or destroy Deere. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 647 Good hunters will neuer put their ferret into any earth, whose mouth they see stopt. 1647 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. lxxxv, Strait Graculo with eyes as fierce as Ferrit Reply'd. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) I. 78 Warreners assert that the Polecat will mix with the ferret. 1844 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 167/1 Ferrets should not be fed before they are taken to the warren. 1879 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) IX. 109/1 The ferret is peculiarly intolerant of cold. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1626 L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 66 These Ferrets (or if you will Iesuites). 1641 Milton Reform. i. (1851) 31 Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies..have bin but the Ferrets and Moushunts of an Index. 1856 G. H. Boker Poems (1857) II. 25 A cunning ferret after doubtful phrases. 1891 Daily News 19 June 7/3 He engaged him as a kind of ferret or detective. 1946 Brickhill & Norton Escape to Danger xv. 140 Night and day..German security guards patrolled and snooped... These guards were known by us as ‘ferrets’. 1960 Times 2 Dec. 17/2 A more recent approach starts from a device known as a ‘ferret’ which operates in the mains themselves. Its ordinary use is in cleaning out mains and it consists of an arrangement of water-propelled cleaning brushes. |
2. slang. a. A dunning tradesman (see quot. 1700). ? Obs. b. (See quot. 1889.) † c. A pawnbroker (Bailey 1736). Obs.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ferret, a Tradesman that sells Goods to young Unthrifts, upon Trust at excessive Rates, and then continually duns them for the debt. 1725 in New Cant. Dict. 1889 Barrère & Leland Slang Dict., Ferret, a young thief who gets into a coal barge and throws coal over the side to his confederates. |
3. attrib. and Comb.: simple attrib., as ferret-eye; parasynthetic and similative, as ferret-eyed, ferret-faced, ferret-like adjs. Also † ferret-claw v., fig. to scratch, claw like a ferret; to strip bare; ferret-eye, ‘the spur-winged goose, so called from the red circle around the eyes’ (Webster 1890).
| 1591 Greene Disc. Coosnage, So *ferret-claw him at cards that they leave him as bare of money, as an ape of a taile. c 1620 Fletcher Wom. Pleased iii. iv, H'as light legs else I had so ferret-claw'd him. |
| a 1586 Sidney (J.), Having threatning..in her *ferret eyes. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 186 Cicero Lookes with..Ferret..eyes. 1781 Bentham Wks. (1838–43) X. 104 A hook nose and ferret eyes. 1837 Marryat Snarleyyow (ed. 2) III. iii. 36 Vanslyperken, whose..small ferret-eyes, and downcast look, were certainly not in his favour. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Ferret⁓eyed: or Eyes as red as a Ferret. 1850 E. Elliott More Verse & Prose I. 18 Cried To prayerless Want, his plunderer ferret-eyed. 1870 L'Estrange Miss Mitford I. v. 156 They are really ferret-eyed this morning. |
| 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Spectre of Tapp., A little *ferret-faced woman. |
| 1801 Monthly Mirror June 421 The contour of the face is what is called *ferret-like. 1843 James Forest Days ii, A shrewd merry, ferret-like face. |
▪ II. ferret, n.2
(ˈfɛrɪt)
Forms: 6 foret, 7 ferrit, 7– ferret. See also floret.
[Usually believed to be ad. It. fioretti floss-silk (rendered ‘ferret silk’ by Florio: see quot. 1598), pl. of fioretto, dim. of fiore flower; the corresponding F. fleuret has senses answering to both those explained below.]
† 1. attrib. ferret-silk = floss silk. Obs.
| 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 80 When perchmentiers [i.e. makers of trimmings, F. passementiers] put in no ferret Silke. 1598 Florio, Fioretti..a kind of course silke called foret or ferret silke. 1612 Sc. Bk. Customs in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 326 Filosell or ferrett silk the pound viii li. |
2. A stout tape most commonly made of cotton, but also of silk; then known as Italian ferret. green-ferret, fig. of officialism (cf. red-tape). Also attrib., as ferret-ribbon, ferret-ribboning.
| 1649 Gild Law in Mackenzie Newcastle II. 666 note, They shall wear no show strings better than ferret..ribbin. 1668 Dryden Evening's Love iv. iii, There's your ferret-ribboning for garters. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3331/4 Leather Breeches, tied at the Knees with green Ferrit. 1715 Ibid. No. 5327/2 The working of Galloons, Ribbons, Ferret, &c. by Mills. 1783 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. II. 268 The inhabitants [of Amiens] carry on a manufacture of ferrets. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. (1839) 54 Red wax and green ferret Are fixed at the foot of the deeds. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 426 The bobbin, the ferret, shirt-buttons, shoe⁓strings? 1836 in Mrs. Papendiek Crt. Q. Charlotte (1887) II. 257 The venetian blinds I had new strung at home with silk ferret. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. x, Mr. Snagsby has dealt in..red tape and green ferret. |
▪ III. † ˈferret, n.3 rare—1. Glass-making.
[a. Fr. ferret, féret, dim. of fer iron.]
See quot.
| 1662 Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass 364 Ferrets are the Irons wherewith they try whether the Metall be fit to work, as also those Irons which make the Ring at the mouth of Glass Bottles. 1753 in Chambers Suppl. Hence in mod. Dicts. 1874 in Knight. |
▪ IV. ferret, v.
(ˈfɛrɪt)
[f. ferret n.1; cf. F. fureter (16th c. in Littré), which may be the source.]
1. intr. To hunt with ferrets.
| c 1450 Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 26 With hem that fyrretyth robbe conyngherthys. 1576, 1673, 1879 [see ferreting vbl. n.1]. |
b. trans. To hunt over (ground) with a ferret; to clear out by means of a ferret.
| a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. 66 To geve any servaunts occasion to furett..any mannys warreynes. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 214 Even if the burrows be ferreted, in a few weeks this great hole shows signs of fresh inhabitants. Ibid. 248 In ferreting this place. |
2. trans. To take (rabbits, etc.) with ferrets. Also, to drive forth by means of a ferret.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 893/2 Some fell to drinking, some to feretting of other mens conies. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 35 These prettie Rabbets very cunningly ferretted from their borrowes. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ferreted, hunted as Conies. 1724 Swift Wood's Execution Wks. 1738 IV. 234 Rabbet-catcher, I'll ferret him. 1884 York Herald 26 Aug. 6/2 The tenants..have permission to ferret and dig rabbits. |
3. Of actions resembling a ferret's. a. To hunt after; to worry. Also with about.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. iv. 30 Ile fer him, and firke him, and ferret him. 1605 Old King Leir in Nichols Six Old Plays (1779) 461 I'll ferret you ere night for that word. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 236 And..vow'd He'd ferret him, lurk where he wou'd. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 132 ¶4 She does so ferrit them about..that they..give her immediate warning. 1810 Lamb Let. to Manning (1888) I. 115 He ferrets me day and night to do something. |
b. To drive from, off, out of (a place). Also, to ferret about, ferret away, ferret forth, ferret out.
| 1601 Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 287 You are almost quite ferreted foorth from all your starting holes. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 177 With Terriar Dogs they ferret him out of his den again. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. iv. (1669) 193/2 Speak..did the Lord ever ferret thee out of this burrow? a 1679 Earl of Orrery Guzman 111 I'll ferret him away. 1683 Wycherley Country Wife iv. iii, I'll ferret her out to you presently. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 124 Dr. Laud..sifted and ferreted him about from one hole to another. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. viii. 86 They..took Counsel to ferret them off their Island. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 241 Measures were accordingly taken..to ferret this vermin brood out of the colonies. |
c. intr. To rummage, search about; † to be restless, worry; also, to ferret up and down.
| 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 963 Souldiers, who went ferriting up and down in his House. 1624 Gee Foot out of Snare 52 Making him [a diuell] ferret vp and downe, from tongue to toe. 1693 Southerne Maid's last Prayer ii. ii, You must be..ferreting in my Borough. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 201 Ferret among the booksellers and find more tracts..upon agriculture than I expected. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xx. (1826) 276 How would these conjurors ferret and sweat, To see us pair off. 1891 E. Gosse Gossip in Library xii. 150 He has to ferret among the pawnbrokers for scraps of finery. |
d. trans. To search (a place); also, to question (a person) searchingly. rare.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 27 æneas..vpgot, too ferret al vncooth Nouks of strang country. 1607 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Magnificence 198 Ferret all Corners of this neather Ball. 1647 Wharton Wks. (1683) 277, I have proposed..to ferret the poor Quack in point of Art. |
e. To burrow (a passage). rare.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 93 Alpheus.. this passadge ferreted. |
4. to ferret out, ferret up: To search out, discover, bring to light.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 36/2 That he were able to ferret out such..brats. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 122 b, Let us now fyrritte out the other, and see what vermine it is. a 1643 W. Cartwright Ordinary v. iv, Let's in, and ferret out these cheating rake-hells. 1775 Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 324 Rather ferret them out, and drag them into open day. 1847 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xxxix. (1879) 330 She had been out in the village, and ferretted up all the guides. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. ix, I have ferreted out evidence, got up cases. |
5. slang. To cheat.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ferreted, cheated. |