venary

English

Etymology

From Latin venarius, from Latin venari, past participle venatus (“to hunt”).

Adjective

venary (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to hunting.
   • 1923, William Henry Koebel, All Aboard: A Frivolous Book, page 17:

     there are oil-experts guaranteed to place their hands on petroleum with that unfailing energy with which the venary pig dives his nose above where the shy and shuddering truffle lurks in terror.

Noun

venary (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The sport of hunting.
   • 1797, Richard Burn, The Justice of the Peace, and Parish Officer, page 362:

     Beasts of forest are properly hart, hind, buck, hare, boar, and wolf; but legally all wild beasts of venary.

   • 1878 March, Laurence William Maxwell Lockhart, “Mine is Thine”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 123, number 749, page 265:

     Cosmo, thus sadly musing, was little affected by the din of the beaters, the rush and crashing of the invisible deer, the crack of rifles, the silences, so full of mystery and suspense, and all the other incidents and phases of sylvan venary.

   • 1979, Henry John Stephen, New Commentaries on the Laws of England - Volume 2, page 17:

     A forest (in the legal sense) is the right of keeping for the purpose of venary and hunting, the wild beasts and fowls of forest, chase, park, and warren, (which means in effect all animals pursued in field sports), in a certain territory or precinct of woody ground and pasture set apart for the purpose, with laws and officers of its own, established for protection of the game(i).

Anagrams

• Varney