01 n. The male of bovine quadrupeds, especially the domestic animal when castrated and grown to its full size, or nearly so. The word is also app…
pl.
Oxen ((#))
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1.
The male of bovine quadrupeds, especially the domestic animal when castrated and grown to its full size, or nearly so. The word is also applied, as a general name, to any species of bovine animals, male and female.(Zool.)“All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field.” — Ps. viii. 7.
Phrases & compounds
Grunting ox —
the yak.
Indian ox —
the zebu.
Javan ox —
the banteng.
Musk ox —
See under Musk.
Ox bile —
See Ox gall, below.
Ox gall —
the fresh gall of the domestic ox; -- used in the arts and in medicine.
Ox pith —
ox marrow.
Ox ray —
a very large ray (Dicerobatis Giornae) of Southern Europe. It has a hornlike organ projecting forward from each pectoral fin. It sometimes becomes twenty feet long and twenty-eight feet broad, and weighs over a ton. Called also sea devil.
To have the black ox tread on one's foot —
to be unfortunate; to know what sorrow is (because black oxen were sacrificed to Pluto).