oestrus

Alternative forms

• œstrus, estrus (U.S.)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin oestrus (“gadfly, sting, frenzy”), from Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oîstros), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eys-, used to form words denoting passion; see also Latin īra (“anger”), Lithuanian aistra (“violent passion”), Avestan 𐬀𐬈𐬯𐬨𐬀‎ (aesma, “anger”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːstɹəs/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

oestrus (plural oestruses)

1. A biting fly of the genus Oestrus; a botfly.
2. A bite or sting.
3. (archaic) A passion or frenzy.
4. A female animal's readiness to mate; heat, rut.
   • 2001, David Lodge, Thinks...

     ‘It’s the supremely human act, freely to fuck, not because you are on heat, or in oestrus, like an animal, but to give and receive pleasure.’

Anagrams

• Souters, Strouse, estrous, ousters, rousest, sestuor, sourest, souters, toruses, tousers, trouses, trousse, tussore

Etymology

From Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oîstros).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈoe̯s.trus/, [ˈoe̯s.trʊs]

Noun

oestrus m (genitive oestrī); second declension

1. gadfly

References

• oestrus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• oestrus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• oestrus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• oestrus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers