a. [ad. L. ursīn-us (whence Sp. and Pg. ursino, It. orsino, Pr. orsin, Fr. oursin), f. ūrsus bear.]
1. Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, due to, a bear or bears.
c. 1550. Clariodus, IV. 1063. Full corpolent he was with breist ursyne,… and sperit leonine.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Ursine,… of or belonging to a Bear.
1841. Hor. Smith, Moneyed Man, I. x. 290. Quotations from Scripture as to the ursine fate of prophet-mockers.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, xiii. The ursine howls of the new-comer.
1880. Harting, Brit. Anim. Extinct, I. 14. Portions of ursine skeletons.
2. Of the nature of, resembling or having the essential characteristics of, a bear; consisting of bears.
1833–4. J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VI. 695/2. Bones of ursine … animals … are rare.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock, 132. Any fierce or ancient member of the ursine tribe.
1870. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (ed. 2), I. App. 768. The bear … had also, it would seem, known ursine descendants.
b. In specific names of animals: (see quots.).
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1805), I. 64. The *Ursine Baboon. These animals … are found in great numbers among the mountains at the Cape.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., viii. 274. The ursine or dog-faced baboon … is covered with shaggy hair, of a greenish brown colour.
c. 1793. Shaw, Naturalist’s Misc., III. C c. pl. 58. The *Ursine Bradypus, or Ursiform Sloth.
c. 1842. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., III. 259/1. Dasyurus [ursinus]…. The *Ursine Dasyure or Devil of the Tasmanian Colonists.
1884. Imp. Dict., IV. 530. *Ursine howler, the Mycetes ursinus.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. II. 504. *Ursine Opossum. Didelphis Ursina.… The largest of all the Opossums:… Native of New Holland.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIV. 454/2. The Ursine Opossum utters a kind of hollow barking.
c. 1842. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., III. 262/2. The *Ursine and other Phalangers.
1778. Cook, Voy. Pac. Ocean, IV. v. (1784), II. 377. From the colour and shagginess of the hair,… we judged it might probably be … the large male *ursine seal, or sea-bear.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1805), I. 193. The Ursine Seals live in families. Every male is surrounded by a seraglio of from eight to fifty mistresses.
1849. Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia, III. 195. The skin of the ursine seal is very thick.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. I. 159. *Ursine Sloth. Bradypus Ursinus.… Black Sloth, with very long shaggy hair.
1867. Brande & Cox, Dict. Sci., etc., III. 910/1. The labiated bear, commonly called the ursine sloth.
3. Suggestive of that or those of a bear; bear-like. Also transf. (cf. BEARISH a. 2).
1837. Southey, Lett. (1856), IV. 522. Whatever remarkable persons have been noted for ursine manners.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., IV. v. (1872), I. 307. An ursine man-of-genius.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 13 Dec., 11/1. To the joy of all, from the Governor of the Bank of England down to the gambler in mining shares—always excepting the ursine fraternity.
Hence † Ursinal a. Obs.–1
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xlii. 344. His Dam … put his Members into that … shape which Nature had provided for those of an … Ursinal kind.
