silver fox
- noun
- /ˈsɪlvər fɑks/
:
zorro plateado
- He was thrilled to find a vintage jacket made of silver fox fur at the thrift shop.
Examples
-
The designer used a luxurious silver fox fur to make the elegant coat.
-
One of them wore a fur piece, a black silver-fox fur with its head left in place, wicked glass eyes set in above its narrow snout.
Fiction book (1995) -
She draped the silver fox stole over her shoulders for the winter gala.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'silver' transparently evokes grey or silver hair and thus older age, while 'fox' can be used metaphorically for an attractive or cunning person; together they suggest an attractive older man with grey hair. However, the figurative use of 'fox' for attractiveness is culturally specific and not guaranteed to be known by a B1 learner who only knows the literal senses, so the relation is partially but not fully predictable.
Etymology
Silver fox names a real fox that has mostly dark fur with many silvery-white hairs, and its shiny pelt was once highly valued for clothing and trade.
