[Of unknown origin: cf. Ir., Gael. mart, heifer.] A hermaphrodite or imperfect female of the ox kind: see quot. 1790.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1651/4. The Heifer … is supposed to be Spaied, or else a Free-Martin.
1779. J. Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXIX. 279. Account of the Free-martin.
1790. Bewick, Hist. Quadrupeds (1807), 28. When a Cow happens to bring forth two calves,—one of them a male, the other a female,—the former is a perfect animal, but the latter is incapable of propagation, and is well known to farmers under the denomination of a Free Martin.
1856. Farmer’s Mag., IX. Jan., 56/1. Freemartins and Spayed Heifers are not qualified.
b. transf. Said of a sheep.
a. 1722. Lisle, Observ. Husb. (1757), 361. An ewe-sheep that is a free-martin, besides the pissed stinking tail she carries, has a lesser and lanker bearing than other sheep.
