ursine

Mid 16th century, from Latin ursīnus, adjectival form of ursus (“bear”) + -ine.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɜː.saɪn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɝsaɪn/, /ˈɝsɪn/

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ursine (comparative more ursine, superlative most ursine)

1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of bears.
   • 1832, Godfrey Mundy, chapter VI, in Pen and Pencil Sketches, Being the Journal of a Tour in India‎^[1], volume 1, London: John Murray, page 320:

     The British chief having undergone the ursine embrace of the Seikh monarch, the whole cavalcade proceeded towards the town.

   • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 8, in Billy Budd‎^[2], London: Constable & Co.:

     […] the old man's eccentricities, sometimes bordering on the ursine, repelled the juniors […]

   • 2004, in Donald G. Lindburg and Karen Baragona (eds.), Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation, Berkeley: University of California Press, Part Two, Introduction, p. 77, [3]

     […] we noted that a preponderance of the evidence supports an ursine origin for the giant panda.

2. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the bear subfamily Ursinae.
   • 2004, in Donald G. Lindburg and Karen Baragona (eds.), Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation, Berkeley: University of California Press, Part Two, Introduction, p. 37, [4]
3. (entomology, of caterpillars) Covered in stiff bristles.

• bearlike
• bearly

ursine (plural ursines)

1. (zoology) A bear.

• insure, inures, nursie, rusine, urines

ursīne

1. vocative masculine singular of ursīnus