cynegetic

en-adj

cynegetic (comparative more cynegetic, superlative most cynegetic)

more cynegetic (comparative)
most cynegetic (superlative)

/ˌsɪniːˈd͡ʒɛtɪk/

PIE word
 *ḱwṓ
Borrowed from Greek κυνηγετικός (kynigetikós, “of or relating to hunting”). Κυνηγετικός (Kynigetikós) is inherited from Ancient Greek κῠνηγετῐκός (kŭnēgetĭkós), from κυνηγέτης (kunēgétēs, “hunter”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives); and κυνηγέτης (kunēgétēs) from κύων (kúōn, “dog”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”)) + ἡγέτης (hēgétēs, “leader”) (ultimately from ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to lead”), possibly from ᾰ̓́γω (ắgō, “to guide; to lead”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”) or *seh₂g- (“to seek out”)).

ref

From the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

bor

Hail Oppian, prime of cynegetic race, / From Maro [i.e., Virgil] dovvn to him vvho ſounds the Chace: […]

1763, James Elphinston, “Book the Third”, in Education, in Four Books, London: […] P[aul] Vaillant, […]; W[illiam] Owen, […]; and J. Richardson, […], →OCLC, page 88, lines 430–431:

Give me the hippic—the philippic taste, / All else a wilderness, and man a waste; / Give me the turf, and cynegetic sport, / The zeal, the jealousy, and zest of court; […]

1836, The Tribunal of Manners, a Satyricon, London: J[ames] Ridgway and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 58:

The Roman authors, especially the cynegetic poets, have given descriptions of the different British dogs; the Scotch terrier is accurately described by Oppian; and Irish wolf dogs were brought to Rome about the fourth century.

1836 November 9, John Scouler, “Remarks on the Natural History of the Fossil Elk”, in Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin, volume I, number [III], Dublin: […] P[hilip] Dixon Hardy [for the Geological Society of Dublin], […], published 1838, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 200:

But as there are no lions, wolves, nor wild boars in Great Britain, he [the poet James Thomson] admonishes the British youth to indulge their cynegetic propensities in the fox-chase, which he describes con amore [with love].

1838, William H[amilton] Drummond, “Man’s Right to Hunting and Fishing”, in The Rights of Animals, and Man’s Obligation to Treat Them with Humanity, London: John Mardon, […]; Smallfield and Son, and Green, […]; Dublin: Hodges and Smith, →OCLC, page 36:

"Come, Diana [a dog]," said he; "come, my girl! thou whose destiny will be marked in the cynegetic annals; […] thou who art rushing into interplanetary space, and wilt perhaps be the Eve of all Selenite dogs! come, Diana, come here."

1873, Jules Verne, “Round the Moon: A Sequel to From the Earth to the Moon. Chapter III. Their Place of Shelter.”, in Louis Mercier [i.e., Lewis Page Mercier], Eleanor E[lizabeth] King, transl., From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: And a Trip Round It. […], New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, published 1874, →OCLC, page 170:

The cynegetic life is authentic because it is close to the philosophical center of human life. It constantly contrasts two central mysteries: the nature of the animal and of death. These are brought together in hunting.

1973, Paul Shepard, “Hunting as a Way of Life”, in The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →ISBN, page 259:

In the Sophist, Plato emphasizes the fact that hunting cannot be reduced to tracking wild animals. Among the different branches of the cynegetic art there is also an art of manhunting, which is in turn subdivided into several categories: "Let us define piracy, manstealing, tyranny, the whole military art, by one name, as hunting with violence."

2012, Grégoire Chamayou, “The Hunt for Bipedal Cattle”, in Steven Rendall, transl., Manhunts: A Philosophical History, Princeton, N.J.; Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 5:

(hunting, rare) Of or relating to hunting (especially with dogs).


cynegetics

PIE word
 *ḱwṓ
From cynegetic + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).

affix

(hunting, obsolete) Hunting (especially with dogs).


dead set

dead sets (plural)
dead-set (alternative)

The judge at the dog show took points off the Irish setter's dead set because its right ear twitched a few times.

(hunting) The rigid pose a hunting dog assumes when pointing out game to a hunter.


bal-chatri

bal-chaltri (canonical)
bal-chatris (plural)

From Hindi बाल छतरी (bāl chatrī), from बाल (bāl, “child”) + छतरी (chatrī, “umbrella”) meaning "small umbrella", because of its shape.

com

(falconry) A trap for catching hunting birds, consisting of a cage with bait and a slip noose.


creance

From Middle English creaunce, from Old French creance. See credence.

Even as horses led by hand doe sometimes bound and start out of the way, but no further then their halters length, and neverthelesse follow ever his steps that leadeth them; And as a Hawke takes his flight but under the limits of hir cranes or twyne.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, III.12:

(falconry) A long leash, or lightweight cord used to prevent escape of a hawk during training flights.


beartrap

beartraps (plural)
bear trap (alternative)

(hunting) A large trap used to catch a bear or other mammal, usually as a foot trap.


knobber

From knob + -er; the deer sense derives from the fact that a young buck's antlers begin diminutively as mere knobs; the fool sense derives indirectly from a reference to the penis; the two senses are ultimately cognate.

Near-synonyms: brocket, pricket, spitter

As soon as the knobber started galloping, all the other stags, who. till now, had taken but a languid interest, if any, in his movements, jumped on to their feet.

1906, Country life, volume 20, page 619:

But even she was forced to confess that nothing was astir in the mossy wilderness. She climbed to the top of Craig Dhu and had a long spy, but, except for more hinds and one small knobber, living thing there was none.

1925, John Buchan, John Macnab, page 100:

While I watched the young hind approached the knobber and, after standing by him for a moment, began to lick him

A mature stag chases a young male (a knobber) from the harem

1978 November 16, New Scientist, volume 80, number 1129, page 540:

(hunting, animal husbandry) A hart in its second year; a young male deer.


knobbler

They had begun by running a knobbler in the Shabbington coverts, but in the afternoon the sport had been better, for they had found a stag of ten in the oak wood by Stanton

1931, John Buchan, Blanket Of The Dark, page 51:

This was explained when we got up to the beasts, for they were all dead, six of them: five hinds and calves and a small knobbler. They had been struck by lightning.

(hunting, animal husbandry) Synonym of knobber (young male deer).


crocket

(obsolete, hunting, dialect, British) The tips of the antlers of an adult stag.


snap shot

Oh, i thought, a mistake, a bad one, a dumb one. i shouldn't have made the snap shot. i took a few more steps, looking for possible new blood from my hasty shot—fearing the worst—and found some.

2010, Jay Cassell, Thomas McIntyre, The Best Hunting Stories Ever Told, →ISBN, page 474:

(hunting) A shot taken quickly, without time for careful aiming.


field dress

en-verb

field dress (third-person singular simple present field dresses, present participle field dressing, simple past and past participle field dressed)

field dresses (present singular third-person)
field dressing (participle present)
field dressed (participle past)
field dressed (past)

(hunting) To perform a basic gutting of a game animal, without more detailed procedures such as skinning.

потрошить

to perform a basic gutting of a game animal, without more detailed procedures such as skinning


rocketer

To see a real workman knocking down rocketer after rocketer at a height which would be considered impossible by half the men who go but shooting is to witness an exhibition of skill and correct timing which can only be attained by the most assiduous practice and the quickest of eyes.

1918, J. Arthur Gibbs, A Cotswold Village:

(hunting) A bird, especially a pheasant, which, being flushed, rises straight in the air like a rocket.


make-hawk

make-hawks (plural)
makehawk (alternative)

(falconry) A trained and seasoned hawk flown with young birds to teach them to take the quarry.


open season

en-noun

open season (countable and uncountable, plural open seasons)

"But there weren't many crabs in those days," the old man wandered on. "They were fished out, and they were great delicacies. The open season was only a month long, too."

1912, Jack London, chapter 1, in The Scarlet Plague (fiction):

(hunting, sometimes followed by on or for to designate the kind of animal hunted) A period of time during the calendar year when authorities within a jurisdiction permit the unrestricted hunting of one or more kinds of animal wildlife.


crinet

Probably from Middle French crin (“hair”) + -et.

She has a blue beak, but the seer thereof, and legs, are yellow; the crinets or little feathers under the eye are very black; […]

1792, William Augustus Osbaldiston, The British Sportsman, page 379:

(obsolete, falconry) Each of the small hair-like feathers growing around a hawk's cere.


cross-shot

(hunting) A shot fired at an animal that is moving across one's field of vision.


fiants

Borrowed from French fientes, plural of fiente (“dung”).

[If] they aske him how hee calleth the ordure of an Hart, Raindeare, Gote, or fallow Deare, he shall answere that they are to be called the fewmet or fewmishings[…]Of other vermine or stinking chases, as Foxes, Badgers and such like, they are called the feance[…]

1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, translated by George Gascoigne, The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, pages 97-98:

[Badgers] cast their fiants longer somewhat like a Fox[…]

1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Of the nature and properties of a Foxe and a Badgerd. Chap. 66”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, page 184:

A man may know a dogge-wolfe from a bitch[…]the Bitche casteth hyr fiants commonly in the middest of an high way, whereas the dog casteth them on the one or other side of the path.

1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “How to hunt them [wolves]. Chap. 76”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, pages 215-6:

[…]a Deeres Fewmets, a Bore, or Beares Leasses, a Hare or Conneys Crottores, a Foxe or a Badgers Feance, and an Otters aintes[…]

1630, John Taylor, “The Huntsmans-SHIP; or Woodman-SHIP, with her Squadron or Regiment”, in All the vvorkes of Iohn Taylor the water-poet […] , page 93:

And these sort of Badgers where they have their Earths, use to cast their Fiants or Dung in a small hole, and cover it, whereas the Dog-Badgers make their Fiants at a good distance from their Burrows, which are deep, with variety of Chambers, Holes and Angles.

1686, Richard Blome, “Hunting, part III, chapter XI, Hunting the BADGER.”, in The gentlemans recreation, page 89:

He seldom travels above a mile or two from home, and generally to open pastures, and feeding grounds, in which the dung of the Cattle being turned over, is a sign the Badger has been there; or when heaps of moss appear collected in Cover, the fiants of the Animal being also observed.

1818, John Lawrence, British Field Sports: Embracing Practical Instructions in Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Racing, Cocking, Fishing, &c., page 448:

(obsolete, hunting) The dung of the wolf, fox or badger.


filanders

French filandres, from Latin filum (“thread”).

(falconry, obsolete) A disease in hawks, characterized by the presence of small thread-like worms and of filaments of coagulated blood, from the rupture of a vein.


shotproof

en-adj

shotproof (comparative more shotproof, superlative most shotproof)

more shotproof (comparative)
most shotproof (superlative)

Well, I didn't know it was that fellow, else I would have had a shot at him at once, before he had time to make himself shot-proof, but I thought it was great fun to watch him.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 73:

(hunting) Of quarry, reputedly unable to be shot.


Texas heart shot

en-noun

Texas heart shot (plural Texas heart shots)

(hunting, firearms) A bullet fired through the anal area of an animal.


tinchel

tinchels (plural)
tinchill (alternative)

From Goidelic/Scottish Gaelic timchioll (“a circuit, compass”).

der

We'll quell the savage mountaineer, / As their tinchel cows the game!

1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

(hunting, Scotland) A circle of hunters, who, by surrounding an extensive space and gradually closing in, bring a number of deer and game within closer range.


whipper-in

en-noun

whipper-in (plural whipper-ins or whippers-in)

whipper-ins (plural)
whippers-in (plural)

“[…] I shall take to hunting a pack of hounds myself after this.”
“Do, my dear, and I'll be your whipper-in. I wonder whether Mrs. Proudie would join us.”

1860 January – 1861 April, Anthony Trollope, chapter IV, in Framley Parsonage. […] (Collection of British Authors; 551), copyright edition, volume I, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published April 1861, →OCLC:

The other servant was an old man, who had been whipper-in to a baronet in the next county, and knew as much of the ways of wild animals as Burton did of those of his horses; […]

1871, George MacDonald, chapter X, in The Vicar's Daughter:

Now the clerk […] saw the hunting man pass, and presently saw lots more of ’em, noblemen and gentry, and then he saw the hounds, the huntsman, Jim Treadhedge, the whipper-in, and I don’t know who besides.

1894, Thomas Hardy, “Andrey Satchel and the Parson and Clerk”, in Life’s Little Ironies […], London: Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

He heard the chaunting voices of huntsman and whippers-in; the noises of motor-cars moving slowly along the hard-rutted trackway, the old canal-bed, above the right bank of the river;

1927, Henry William Williamson, Tarka the Otter, Chapter 19:

(hunting) A huntsman who keeps the hounds from wandering, and whips them in, if necessary, to the chase.


man down

en-verb

man down (third-person singular simple present mans down, present participle manning down, simple past and past participle manned down)

mans down (present singular third-person)
manning down (participle present)
manned down (participle past)
manned down (past)

man (“to brace (oneself), to fortify or steel (oneself) in a manly way; to supply (something) with staff or crew; to accustom (a hawk or other bird) to the presence of men”) + down

Eyasses begin a transition period in the late summer as their falconry training begins. This critical period involves manning down the raptor, slowly lowering the body weight, and controlled flight training.

1995, Main Conference Proceedings: Annual Conference & Expo, August 28 – September 2, 1995, Orlando, Fla.: Association of Avian Veterinarians, →OCLC, page 176:

When taken directly from the chamber, initially Mrs Woods [a sparrowhawk] showed a high level of fear but when manned down, she went on to show no aggression whatsoever.

2014, Ben Crane, Sparrowhawks: A Falconer's Guide, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: The Crowood Press, →ISBN:

(transitive, chiefly falconry) To train (a raptor or other type of bird) to become accustomed to the presence of people; to man.


close season

en-noun

close season (countable and uncountable, plural close seasons)

close seasons (plural)
closed season (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-close season.wav

(hunting, fishing) The time of year when hunting or fishing is not permitted.


rake out

en-verb

rake out (third-person singular simple present rakes out, present participle raking out, simple past and past participle raked out)

rakes out (present singular third-person)
raking out (participle present)
raked out (participle past)
raked out (past)

When you intend a Flight for a Haggard, for the firſt, ſecond and third time make choice of ſuch a place where there are no Cows, Rooks, or the like, to take away all occasion of her raking out ſuch check.

1674, “Of Hawks and Hawking”, in The Gentleman's Recreation:

(intransitive, falconry) To fly too far and wide from its master while hovering above waiting till the game is sprung.


earth-stopping

(hunting) the act of blocking a fox's earth (burrow) while it is absent, so it is forced to stay above ground.


pannel

Old spelling of panel which became standard in falconry.

Glut is the slimy substance that lies in the hawk's pannel.

1860, John Potter Hamilton, Reminiscences of an Old Sportsman:

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909


duck call

(hunting) A hunter's technique of luring waterfowl by imitating its cry.

(hunting) A tool used to produce a whistling sound for this purpose.


bowess

(obsolete, falconry) A bower, or young hawk.


WIT

(hunting, Australia) Initialism of waterfowl identification test.


Bell shot

After Walter "Karamojo" Bell, a Scottish big game hunter.

(hunting, firearms) A shot at an animal's head taken diagonally from behind.


crinel

(obsolete, falconry) Alternative form of crinet.


hit off the line

hit off the line (third-person singular simple present hits off the line, present participle hitting off the line, simple past and past participle hit off the line)

hits off the line (present singular third-person)
hitting off the line (participle present)
hit off the line (participle past)
hit off the line (past)

Peerless, on the other hand, was worthy of her appellation, and frequently hit off the line when the others were at a loss to know which way their fox had gone across a bit of cold ploughland.

1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 198:

(hunting) Of a hound, to pick up the scent of a quarry after a check.


in blood

If we be English deer, be then in blood:
Not rascal-like, to fall down with a pinch.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

(archaic, hunting) In a state of perfect health and vigour.


three-pointer

...one a three-pointer, the other a seven-pointer, and the one still lying down, a spike.

1918, John B. Griffin, “A Fight with the 'Bald Faced' Bear”, in Oregon Sportsman:

(hunting) A deer or other animal whose antlers feature three points or tines.


jacklight

jacklight (third-person singular simple present jacklights, present participle jacklighting, simple past and past participle jacklighted or jacklit)

jacklights (present singular third-person)
jacklighting (participle present)
jacklighted (participle past)
jacklighted (past)
jacklit (participle past)
jacklit (past)

* jack + light. Probably from jack (“a male servant of any rank”), later associated with a boy servant or any boy, and later still with a knave: a rogue, thief, or deceitful man.
* Possibly also related to Spanish jaque (“a bully”).

(hunting, US, Canada) To shine a jacklight or spotlight on an animal, usually a deer, to aid in hunting at night.


megahack

As for our current bald eagle restoration plan, hacking continued during 1986 with the release of 16 eagles at our megahack facility near Albany.

1987, The Eyas: A Newsletter from the National Wildlife Federation's Rapor Information Center:

(falconry) A large-scale hack, or facility for releasing juvenile raptors.


skirter

(hunting) A hound that runs wide rather than chasing the quarry.


wingshooting

(hunting) The shooting of birds in flight.


hart of grease

(hunting, obsolete) A hart of the season when fat.


enew

enew (third-person singular simple present enews, present participle enewing, simple past and past participle enewed)

enews (present singular third-person)
enewing (participle present)
enewed (participle past)
enewed (past)

From Old French enewer; see en- and compare modern French eau (“water”).

(falconry, transitive) To drive back to the water; to pursue.


funnel trap

(ornithology, hunting) A large funnel-shaped trap constructed of netting or wire mesh and intended to trap ducks, geese, etc.


camo up

camo up (third-person singular simple present camos up, present participle camoing up, simple past and past participle camoed up)

camos up (present singular third-person)
camoing up (participle present)
camoed up (participle past)
camoed up (past)

Ultimately from camouflage, of camo plus the aspect marker up.

The week prior to the Army-Navy game is anything goes at West Point. Cadets and hard-core instructors “camo up” and wear BDUs (battle dress uniforms) in preparation for the looming clash of the mighty Army black knights and the wimpy, undisciplined Navy midshipmen.

1998 December 5, “A Civil War”, in West Palm Beach Post, page 6E:

[…] No one told them anything about camo, and it takes them ten minutes to do it right.” ¶ “Well, we have five minutes and everyone has to camo-up,” the first sergeant explained patiently.

2010, Greg Hastings, “You must lead yourself first”, in Doug Crandall, editor, Leadership Lessons from West Point, page 38:

(informal, military, hunting) To put on clothing, make-up, etc. with a camouflage pattern, to wear camouflage.

The plan is to have the veterinarian “camo up,” maybe by using a hunting blind, he said, to get close enough to take a shot with a tranquilizer gun.

2009 April 4, Nick Ferraro, “Fans, police, veterinarian hope to rescue Oreo the goat”, in St. Paul Pioneer Press, Dakota County local:

(informal, military, hunting) To camouflage one's person or equipment, to hide or obscure from view.


unstrike

unstrike (third-person singular simple present unstrikes, present participle unstriking, simple past and past participle unstruck)

unstrikes (present singular third-person)
unstriking (participle present)
unstruck (participle past)
unstruck (past)

Now I unstrike, and at my whistle heard, Upcircling skyward springs my gentle bird Condemned through many centuries to search For some true Christian whereupon to perch.

1859, Frederick William Wyon, Poems, page 92:

I wish I could as easily unstrike The strings that keep my memories in hood, And let them down the wind.

1870, James White, The King of the Commons:

Either sportsman, as they reached the marshy ground, attended to the falcon on his wrist, and began to unstrike her hood.

1876, Elizabeth Kerr Coulson, Dante and Beatrice, from 1282 to 1290, by Roxburghe Lothian:

He then stopped, turned about, and suddenly unstriking her hood, tossed her into the air with an encouraging shout.

1965, The North American Review - Volume 68, page 217:

(falconry) To loosen the strings that attach the hood on the bird's head.


hark-back

hark-backs (plural)
hark back (alternative)

(hunting) An act of hounds retracing a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.


perlin

(falconry) A cross breed of a peregrine falcon and a merlin.


jacklighting

A Pennsylvania man was charged with jacklighting, allegedly shining his truck headlights onto a police deer decoy.

2019 December 12, Maryland Department of Natural Resources press releasehttps://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2019/12/12/police-deer-decoy-struck-by-suspect/

(hunting, US, Canada) The action of the verb to jacklight; the act of illuminating an animal for the purpose of hunting.


between the pegs

(hunting) Designating the body length of a killed animal based on the distance between a peg placed near its nose and another near the end of its tail.


cut for sign

cut for sign (third-person singular simple present cuts for sign, present participle cutting for sign, simple past and past participle cut for sign)

cuts for sign (present singular third-person)
cutting for sign (participle present)
cut for sign (participle past)
cut for sign (past)

(US, hunting) To track animal quarry by searching for clues and disturbances in the environment left by the quarry.


hearst

Uncertain. Perhaps related to Middle English hert (“male or female deer”), whence English hart.

cog

(zoology, hunting) A hind in her second or third year.


Bambi effect

Named after the fictitious character Bambi.

(hunting) The tendency of people to object to the killing of those specific animals that are perceived as cute or adorable.


limit out

en-verb

limit out (third-person singular simple present limits out, present participle limiting out, simple past and past participle limited out)

limits out (present singular third-person)
limiting out (participle present)
limited out (participle past)
limited out (past)

(intransitive, hunting) To attempt to hunt a large, perhaps unreasonable, amount of game in a single season.


bougher

(falconry) A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest.


jucking time

/ˈdʒʌkɪŋ ˌtaɪm/

First attested in 1681 as juking-time. From juke, juck (“to crow”), of onomatopoeic origin, but probably also influenced by jug, jouk (“to perch, of partridges”). Compare chuck.

Another method of discovering them is, by going to their haunts very early in the morning, or at the close of the evening, which is called the jucking-time.

1795, Encyclopædia Britannica, page 792:

[…] some are so ingenious they can do it by the Eye, only distinguishing their colour from the Earth; others by a Call, imitating their Notes at their Juking-time, which is usually in the Morning and in the Evening.

1681, John Worlidge, Systema Agriculturae, page 249:

There is another way to discover them, and that is by going to their haunts early in the morning, or the close of the evening, which is called the juking time, and there listen for the call of the cock partridge […]

1821, Alexander Mackintosh, The Modern Fisher, or Driffield Angler, page 188:

Early morning or late evening, when partridges crow.

The season of imitating crows to lure partridges out at such a time.