mastiff

• Mastiff

From Middle English mastif, mastyf, an aberrant derivation (with influence from Old French mestif) from Old French mastin (modern French mâtin), from Vulgar Latin *mansuetinus (“tamed (animal)”), from Latin mansuetus (“tamed”).

• (General American, UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæstɪf/

mastiff (plural mastiffs)

1. One of an old breed of powerful, deep-chested, and smooth-coated dogs, used chiefly as watchdogs and guard dogs.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene vi]:

     Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or him.

   • 1896, Theodore Roosevelt, Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail, The Century Co., chapter 11

     The Mastiff is a good fighter, and can kill a wildcat, taking the necessary punishment well, as we found out when we once trapped one of these small lynxes.

• molosser

mastiff m (plural mastiffs)

1. mastiff

• “mastiff”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.