[a. F. vison (Buffon), of obscure origin.] The American mink.
By some writers Vison has been used as the name of the genus Lutreola, to which the mink belongs.
1781–5. Smellie, Buffon’s Nat. Hist. (1791), VII. 303. The pekan has so strong a resemblance to the pine weasel, and the vison to the martin, that they may be regarded as varieties of these species.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. II. 448. Vison, Lutra Vison…. This animal appears to approach … extremely near to the L. Lutreola, or Smaller Otter.
1843. T. E. Gray, List Spec. Mammal. Brit. Mus., 64. The Mink, or Nurek Vison, Vison Lutreola.
1864–5. J. G. Wood, Homes without H., i. (1868), 22. The Mink, the Vison and other weasels of Northern America are in the habit of retiring to holes and crevices.
attrib. 1839. Penny Cycl., XV. 253/2. Minx, a name for the Vison-weasel.
