civet

noun

Etymology: From French civette, from Italian zibetto, from Medieval Latin zibethum, from Arabic زَبَاد (zabād).

1. Any of the small carnivorous catlike mammals encompassing certain species from the families Viverridae, Eupleridae, and Nandiniidae, native to tropical Africa and Asia.
2. The musky perfume produced by the animal; civetone.

   “LEONATO. Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard. DON PEDRO. Nay, a' rubs himself with civet: can you smell him out by that? CLAUDIO. That's as much as to say the sweet youth's in love.”

   “Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into what form you pleaſe; this, if your breath bee not to valiant, will make you ſmell as ſweete as my Ladies dogge.”

3. A spotted skunk.

   “I believe other animals are the same; but skunk and civet are not so particular what they eat; anything half decomposed or rotten will answer.”

   “When inquiring of people, ask about "civets", for spotted skunks are often mistakenly known as civets.”

4. A ringtail (Bassariscus astutus).

   “The civet, Bassariscus astutus flavus, a new host for Uncinaria lotoris.— Several specimens of this hookworm, described by Schwartz (1925) from Procyon lotor, were found in the small intestine of the civet or ring-tailed cat at College Station, Texas, by the writer December 15, 1925.”

   “Raccoon, ringtail (civet), coyotes, badgers, bobcat, fox, and skunk were all hunted or trapped for furs throughout the settled portions of the Aravaipa area.”