Link Centre Dictionary

fur

UK/fəː/ US/fɜː/ fairly common informal slang

noun

1.

the dressed hairy coat of a mammal

Synonyms
2.

dense coat of fine silky hairs on mammals (e.g., cat or seal or weasel)

3.

Origin

From Middle English furre, forre, from Anglo-Norman forre, fuerre (“case; sheath”), from Frankish *fōdar, from Proto-West Germanic *fōdr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (“sheath”) (compare Old English fōdor (“sheaf”), Dutch voering (“lining”), German Futter (“lining”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐍂 (fōdr, “sheath”)), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-, *poh₂- (“to protect”) (compare Lithuanian piemuō (“protection”), Ancient Greek πῶῠ̈ (pôŭ̈, “flock”), πῶμα (pôma, “lid”), ποιμήν (poimḗn, “shepherd”), Old Armenian հաւրան (hawran, “herd, flock”), Northern Kurdish pawan (“to watch over”), Sanskrit पाति (pāti, “he watches, protects”).

Phrases

  • all fur and no knickers
  • all fur coat and no knickers
  • cat fur
  • dog fur
  • fish fur
  • fox fur
  • fun fur
  • fur baby

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.