▪ I. genet1
(ˈdʒɛnɪt)
Forms: 5 jonet, genete, 6 jennet, jenette, 7 ginnet, jenit, 6, 9 genette, 7– gennet, 8– genet.
[a. OF. gen(n)ete, -ette, jen(n)ette (F. genette) = Sp. and Pg. gineta, med.L. geneta (mod.L. genetta), a. Arab. jarnait.]
1. A kind of civet-cat, a native of southern Europe, western Asia, and Africa. The common species (Genetta vulgaris or Viverra Genetta) is found in the south of France.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 79 Tho cam forth many a beest anon, as the squyrel, the musehout, the fychews..the genete. 1572 in Whitaker Hist. Craven (1812) 325 A black velvet gown..furred with squyrels, and faced with jenet's furr. 1619 Middleton Love & Antiq. Wks. (Bullen) VII. 331 Those beasts bearing fur..The ounce, rowsgray, ginnet, etc. 1653 A. Ross Πανσεβεια (1658) 345 Gennets, which are beasts like Spanish Cats in bigness, with long and slender snowts, their furres..do smell like those of Civit Cats. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xiv. 234 The Dog Kind..the Dog, the Wolf..the Genet. 1859 Tennent Ceylon II. ix. vi. 523 The palmyra becomes the resort of the palm-cat and the glossy and graceful genet. |
† 2. pl. The skins of the animal employed as fur for garments. Obs.
| 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 36 Also a gowne of gray russet furred wit Ionetis and wylde Catis. 1538 Fitzherb. Just. Peas 121 b, The lorde Chaunceller..may weare..any maner furres, except blacke genettes. 1551 Edw. VI in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) II. ii. ix. 319 No man..under an earl, not to wear sables, or black jennets, or cloth of silver. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 260/2 Sables, Jenits, Minks, and Filches [sic.] are reckoned by the Timber, which is 4 Skins. 1694 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. iii. ii. 385 Of Furrs, Filches [sic], Grayes, Jennets, [etc.] 40 Skins is a Timber. |
b. The fur obtained from the genet; also an imitation of this, usually made from cat's fur.
| 1882 in Ogilvie. 1890 Daily News 27 Dec. 2/2 The cheapest fur for lining coats is gennet, black in colour and low in price. 1891 Ibid. 24 Oct. 6/1 Lined with a less expensive fur, such as genet, musquash or squirrel. |
3. attrib., as genet-cat, genet-skin.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 179 Of the Gennet⁓cat, called Genetha. 1677 Charleton Exercit. de Diff. Anim. (ed. 2) 20 Genetta..the Genet, aut Genet-Cat. 1812–15 Anne Plumtre tr. Lichtenstein's S. Afr. II. 15 The hyenas..eat up the carrion and diminish very much the thieving, mischievous apes, and the crafty genet-cats. 1890 Daily News 25 Jan. 7/2, 244 sable skins, nine genet skins, and a skunk skin. |
▪ II. genet2
(ˈdʒɛnɪt)
Also 8 gennit.
[Perh. an abbreviation of jenneting; cf. genet-moil.]
A kind of apple.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Gennit, or Genniting, a kind of Apple which is ripe before any others. 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., Jenneting..2. [U.S.] A winter apple, Rawle's Genet. |
▪ III. genet, n.3 Biol.
(ˈdʒɛnɪt)
[f. genetic a., after *ortet n., ramet n.]
Any genetically distinct entity, such as may be produced by asexual reproduction from a single zygote. Cf. ramet n.
| 1973 Sarukhán & Harper in Jrnl. Ecol. LXI. 677 The term ‘genet’ is used for the genetic individual (the product of a seed which may be a large clone) distinguished from the ramet, the functional unit in a vegetatively reproducing species. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. of Plants xviii. 521 Plants enter the winter with 2–5 tillers and the greater the number of tillers the greater the chance that the genet will survive the winter. 1985 New Scientist 20 June 43/1 The possibility that a single tree, normally thought of as a genet, contains within its overall structure distinct genetic individuals adds new layers of complexity. 1988 Biol. Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XXXV. 16 Its life history depends on the level of organization under consideration; genets are perennial, ramets annual. |
▪ IV. genet
obs. form of jennet.