See Also: oestrus(medicine)
oestrus(dictionary)

nuance (iou) and oestrus (iou)


nuance (iou)



nuance noun & verb. ['nju:¨»:ns] L18.
[French, from nuer show cloudlike variations in colour, from nue cloud from popular Latin var. of Latin nubes: see -ANCE.]
A. noun. A slight or subtle variation in or shade of meaning, expression, colour, etc. L18.
A. Wilson Every such relationship had a hundred overtones, a thousand nuances that made it unique. E. H. Gombrich The rendering of the exact nuance of facial expression is notoriously difficult. Q A phenomenally rich and expressive voice, awesome in its..mastery of emotional nuance.
b. verb trans. Give a nuance or nuances to. L19.

oestrus (iou)



oestrus noun. Also *estrus. L17.
[Latin from Greek oistros gadfly, breeze, sting, frenzy.]
A parasitic insect; now spec. a biting fly of the genus Oestrus or the family Oestridae whose larvae are parasitic on various animals; a botfly. Now chiefly as mod. Latin genus name. L17.
fig. A sharp stimulus; (a) passion, (a) frenzy. Now rare. E19.
E. FitzGerald The Impetus, the Lyrical oestrus, is gone.
Zoology & Physiology. (The period of) a female animal's readiness to mate, accompanied by certain physiological changes; the rut, heat. L19.