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Feral - What does it mean?

feral | |

feral

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Wild, untamed, especially of domesticated animals having returned to the wild.
  • (of a person) Contemptible, unruly, misbehaved.

    • Derived terms

    * feral child * feral cat

    Hyponyms

    * feral child * feral cat * razorback

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
  • * 1960 May 19, , Notes and Comments: No homes for the pigeons , page 1261,
    • Although it is not difficult to induce domestic pigeons to nest in boxes fixed to trees, London?s ferals are not yet acclimatized to arboreal holes.
  • * 2005 , Alexandra Powe Allred, Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities , unnumbered page,
    • Traffic, abuse, inhumane traps, and accidental poisoning are other hazards ferals' must face.In England one gamekeeper claimed to have killed over three hundred ' ferals , while another brought home pelts to his wife so that she could design rugs from cat skins as a source of secondary income.
  • * 2007 , Clea Simon, Cries and Whiskers , page 26,
    • You trap ferals , neuter them, and give them their rabies shot. Maybe distemper.
  • * 2011 , Gina Spadafori, Paul D. Pion, Cats for Dummies , unnumbered page,
    • If you?ve ever put a saucer of milk out for a hard-luck kitty, or if you?re spending your lunch hour sharing sandwiches with the ferals near your office, this is the chapter for you.
  • (Australia, colloquial) A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.
  • (Australia, colloquial) A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.
  • * 1995 , Bill Metcalf, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative Lifestyles in Australia , page 82,
    • The intolerance which was directed towards us during the early years has now shifted to ‘the ferals'’ who embrace a new version of nonconformist behaviour that even some of us in their parent?s generation — the Aquarian settlers — don?t like. The ' ferals are the scapegoats for the drug problems here, and are highly visible since many of them have nowhere to live.
  • * 2002 , , Something Fishy , 2003, page 208,
    • A pod of ferals was moving towards the exit, a half-dozen soap-shy, low-tech, bush-dwelling hippies.
  • * 2010 , Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle For Tasmania's Forests , page 102,
    • It?s the rootlessness of the ferals that people don?t seem to trust; their claims of connectedness to all wild places touches a nerve. Even residents of Maydena who want to see the Florentine protected dislike the ratbags? itinerancy.

    Usage notes

    * The term should not be confused with feral child, a child raised with little or no human assistance.

    Anagrams

    *

    Not English

    has no English definition. It may be misspelled.