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Bovine comes from the Latin word for "cow", though the biological family called the Bovidae actually includes not only cows and oxen but also goats, sheep, bison, and buffalo. So bovine is often used technically, when discussing "bovine diseases", "bovine anatomy", and so on. It can also describe a human personality, though it can be a rather unkind way to describe someone. When Hera, the wife of Zeus, is called "cow-eyed", though, it's definitely a compliment, and Zeus fairly melts when she turns those big bovine eyes on him.

Examples of bovine in a Sentence

Adjective She stared at us with a stupid, bovine expression.

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective When not watching the equestrian or bovine sports, rodeo attendees can head to Agventure inside the NRG Center to pet all kinds of farm animals — or touch with your eyes only. — Emma Balter, Chron, 18 Mar. 2022 The animals are now working as bovine therapists at a nonprofit ashram of sorts called the Gentle Barn, located in the small, rural community of Dittmer, Missouri. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2022 The researchers then estimated how many cases of anthrax and bovine tuberculosis could spread from contact with animal carcass waste in Mekelle and modeled disease rates with and without hungry hyenas cleaning up. — Bethany Brookshire, Scientific American, 27 Dec. 2021 The likely ancestral origin of OC43 is a bovine coronavirus; the nearest neighbor for 229E is a llama coronavirus; and the others probably arose as inter-species jumps from the vast global reservoir of bat coronaviruses. — Donald S. Burke, STAT, 18 Feb. 2022 One of his most demanding assignments, Dr. Cox said, was a study of bovine tuberculosis in badgers. — James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 28 Jan. 2022 And there are classical references mirroring Joyce’s, such as the full-page painting of a bull in the style of the ancients to illustrate a passage about a renowned bovine stud. — Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 2022 Last year’s Year of the Ox was a set of AirPods Pro which on the front showed an Animoji of a bull (or cow) with its head exploding and a smaller bovine creature popping out of the top, winking an eye. — David Phelan, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2022 For example, raw cow meat can carry bovine leukemia virus, which some studies have suggested can increase the chance of a human getting breast cancer. — Doug Johnson, Ars Technica, 28 Dec. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The bovine was seen as a crucial ally in taming — and then claiming — the wildest of terrain. — Washington Post, 29 Apr. 2022 Outside, Tye Martinez, 17, paused from grooming his steers, Diesel and Bullet, to recount the thrill of state fairs in the past, where participants paraded their bovine down a street lined with young children marveling at the enormous animals. — Karin Brulliard, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Sep. 2021 Outside, Tye Martinez, 17, paused from grooming his steers, Diesel and Bullet, to recount the thrill of state fairs in the past, where participants paraded their bovine down a street lined with young children marveling at the enormous animals. — Karin Brulliard, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Sep. 2021 Outside, Tye Martinez, 17, paused from grooming his steers, Diesel and Bullet, to recount the thrill of state fairs in the past, where participants paraded their bovine down a street lined with young children marveling at the enormous animals. — Karin Brulliard, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Sep. 2021 Bennett, a rancher, was there with his 16-year-old daughter, Callie, who was showing a 1,335-pound steer named Jimmy in hopes of winning a belt buckle, a banner and a chance to sell the bovine. — Karin Brulliard, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Sep. 2021 Outside, Tye Martinez, 17, paused from grooming his steers, Diesel and Bullet, to recount the thrill of state fairs in the past, where participants paraded their bovine down a street lined with young children marveling at the enormous animals. — Karin Brulliard, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Sep. 2021 Bennett, a rancher, was there with his 16-year-old daughter, Callie, who was showing a 1,335-pound steer named Jimmy in hopes of winning a belt buckle, a banner and a chance to sell the bovine. — Karin Brulliard, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Sep. 2021 Even these bovine seemed to be among the happy-to-be-moving-again crowd. — New York Times, 11 Oct. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bovine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.