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/ˈmæstɪf/ · noun
One of an old breed of powerful, deep-chested, and smooth-coated dogs, used chiefly as watchdogs and guard dogs..
At which time, they wryte that Demoſthenes told the people of Athens, the fable of the ſheepe and woulues, how that the woulues came on a time, and willed the ſheepe, if they woulde haue peace with them, to deliuer them their maſtiues that kept them.
As ſaluage Bull, whom two fierce maſtiues bayt, / When rancour doth with rage him once engore, / Forgets with wary warde them to awayt, / But with his dreadfull hornes them driues afore, / Or flings aloft or treades downe in the flore, / Breathing out wrath, and bellowing diſdaine, / That all the foreſt quakes to heare him rore: […]
They fill’d the Capitoll, and Pompei’s Circke: / Where, like ſo many Maſtiues, biting ſtones, / As if his Statues novv vvere ſenſitiue / Of their vvild fury, firſt they teare them dovvne: / Then faſtning ropes, drag them along the ſtreetes, […]
Avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or him.
The conquering foe they soon assail’d; / First Trulla stav’d, and Cerdon tail’d, / Until their Mastives loos’d their hold: / And yet alas! do what they could, / The worsted Bear came off with store / Of bloudy wounds, but all before.
Soon as Ulyſſes near th’encloſure drew, / With open mouths the furious maſtives flew: […]
Her, who did erst the lengthened fight maintain, / And heaped the death-pile red with Prankish gore, / The Vert fangs now to vassalage constrain: / The mastives old and young, Verrucchio bore, / Who in their lawless rule Montagna slew, / Make their teeth augres where they wont of yore: […]
The Mastiff is a good fighter, and can kill a wildcat, taking the necessary punishment well, as we found out when we once trapped one of these small lynxes.
Use mastiff when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Mastiff means One of an old breed of powerful, deep-chested, and smooth-coated dogs, used chiefly as watchdogs and guard dogs..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
At which time, they wryte that Demoſthenes told the people of Athens, the fable of the ſheepe and woulues, how that the woulues came on a time, and willed the ſheepe, if they woulde haue peace with them, to deliuer them their maſtiues that kept them.
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