a. and sb. [ad. L. fēlīn-us, f. fēles cat.]
A. adj. a. Of or pertaining to cats or their species, cat-like in form or structure. b. Resembling a cat in any respect, cat-like in character or quality.
a. 1681. Grew, Musæum Reg. Soc., 16. From which [the Bevir] he [the Otter] differs principally in his Teetch, which are canine; in his Tail, which is feline, or a long Taper.
1833. Sir C. Bell, Hand (1834), 149. The feline quadrupeds.
1850. Lyell, 2nd Visit U. S., II. 335. Not merely the feline tribe and the foxes, the weasels and bats, shun the daylight, but many others feed partly by night, most of the squirrels and bears for example.
1876. C. M. Davies, Unorth. Lond., 159. Fanaticism has within it a more than feline tenacity of life.
b. 1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. i. The feline care with which he stepped aside from any patches of mire.
1851. H. Melville, Whale, xli. 204. Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing.
B. sb. An animal of the cat tribe.
1861. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., I. 196. The large savage feline that ranges the waste lands.
1889. Pall Mall G., 14 Oct., 3/3. The eyes are … as bright as a feline’s in the dark.
Hence Felinely adv., in a feline manner; Felineness, the state of being feline.
1848. Lytton, Harold, VII. iv. The rings through which scratched so felinely the paw of … Griffin.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., V. XIV. v. 202. Noailles has us in a perfect mousetrap, souricière as he felinely calls it.
1893. National Observer, 25 March, 467/2. His gait was felinely nimble.
