English

Adjective

cygnine ‎(comparative more cygnine, superlative most cygnine)

1. (zoology) Being of the genus Cygnus (swan), within subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae, though sometimes considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.
   • 1869, Elliott Coues, On the Classification of Water Birds, Merrihew & Son (1870), page 26:

     The genus Choristopus, Eyton, apparently Anserine rather than Cygnine, is said to possess this character […]

2. Of, concerning, pertaining to, resembling, or having the characteristics of a swan or swans.
   • 1848, Edmund Saul Dixon, Ornamental and Domestic Poultry, page 20

     But, in the cutting of it, if thou dost shed / One drop of cygnine blood, thy clumsiness...

   • 1915, in Zoologische Jahrbücher: Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und […] , volume 38, page 44:

     On the whole, then, the bones of the pectoral arch in Dendrocygna — if we may judge from the two North American species of the genus — are more anatine than they are either anserine or cygnine.

   • 1949, G. L. Hendrickson, Classical Philology, Vol. 44, No. 1, page 30 alternate

     ...scarcely a translator can be found who conveys any other impression than that Horace becomes a swan before our eyes. One almost wonders in what cygnine dialect the rest of the poem was spoken.

Synonyms

• (of or pertaining to swans): olorine

See also

• anatine
• anserine

Etymology 2

From the Swan River, in Western Australia where the toxic plants were discovered

Noun

cygnine ‎(uncountable)

1. (dated) An alkaloid from plants of genus Gastrolobium, found in Australia, principally Western Australia, highly toxic to introduced animals.

See also

• monofluoroacetic acid
• fluoroacetate