Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
Mustela erminea, the ermine or short-tailed weasel, a mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: clubster, ermine, short-tailed weasel
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To stitch (edges of relatively thick cloth, fur, etc, for example on either side of a join or tear) together in a way that is invisible from the 'front', by sewing part of the way into and then back out of the thickness of the material from the 'back' side (without the thread going all the way through to the 'front' side of the material).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: business, manufacturing, sewing, textiles
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the ermine in its brown summer coat with black-tipped tail
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: ermine, shorttail weasel, Mustela erminea
History
From Middle English stote (“the ermine, especially in its brown summer coat”), of uncertain origin. The word bears some resemblance to Old Norse stutr (“bull”), Swedish stut (“bull, steer”) and Danish stud (“steer”) (see also English stot), but the semantic link is difficult unless a common origin is from “(brown?) male mammal”. First attested in the mid 1400s.
Unclear. Attested in the spellings stott, stot, stote and stoat, all said (in early texts) to be pronounced the same as stoat. Possibly related to the animal stoat whose fur is used in making garments, or to stot(t) (“bounce, rebound”) as the stitch 'rebounds' off and does not pass through to the other side of the material.
