vulpine

comparative more vulpine · superlative most vulpine

1. Pertaining to a fox.

   She dared not raise her eyes above the level of the tea-table, and she almost expected to see a spot of accusing vulpine blood drip down and stain the whiteness of the cloth.

   1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Bag”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 80

   1 more example

   The wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine prodigal son.

   1897, Bram Stoker, chapter XI, in Dracula

2. Having the characteristics of a fox; foxlike; cunning.

   Yet such is the vulpine slyness of Dame Nature, that, till now, Tess had been hoodwinked by her love for Clare into forgetting it might result in vitalizations that would inflict upon others what she had bewailed as misfortune to herself.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXXVI, in Tess of the D’Urbervilles

plural vulpines

1. Any of certain canids called foxes (including true foxes, arctic foxes and grey foxes), distinguished from canines, which are regarded as similar to dogs and wolves.

   The family Canidae^([sic]) consists of two main subgroups, the vulpines (foxes) and the canines (wolves, coyotes, jackals, and dogs), and some intermediate “fox-dog” forms from South America.

   1980, Michael Wilson Fox, The Soul of the Wolf, page 127

2. A person considered cunning.