zibet
(ˈzɪbɪt)
Forms: 6– zibeth, 7 zibith, (sebat), 8– zibet.
[ad. med.L. zibethum (cf. It. zibetto, F. zibet, G. zibeth): see civet n.1]
A variant of civet n.1, the animal and the perfume; used distinctively (after Buffon) for the Asiatic species of Viverra, V. zibetha, and the secretion it yields (called also zibethum).
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc., Plancius' Map (1597) 265 Next to her genitories, shee hath a little bagge into the which doth fall the precious greace or humour, which they call Ciuet and Zibeth. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 585 The Zibeth or Sivet-cat. 1669 Addr. to hopeful yng. Gentry Eng. 44 You would conceive..that some Chymist had dearly purchas'd their more terrene excrements, out of them to exalt his occidental zibith. 1781 Smellie Buffon's Nat. Hist. (1791) V. 242 The zibet is probably the civet of Asia, of the East Indies, and of Arabia. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 406 The marks on the lateral and anterior parts of the neck are very dark in the Zibet. |
b. Comb. † zibet-muff, a muff made of civet fur.
| 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2078/4 A Sebat Muff. |