cynarctomachy

English

Etymology

From cyno- +‎ Ancient Greek ἄρκτος (árktos) +‎ -machy.

Noun

cynarctomachy (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) bearbaiting with a dog
   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

     And shall we turn our fangs and claws
     Upon our own selves, without cause?
     That some occult design doth lie
     In bloody cynarctomachy,
     Is plain enough to him that knows
     How Saints lead brothers by the nose.

Related terms

• tauromachy

References

“cynarctomachy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.