a.; also 7–8 ass-. [ad. L. asinīnus, f. asinus ass: see -INE1.]
1. Of or pertaining to asses.
1624. Bolton, Nero, 246. Her fiue hundred female asses … her asinine dayrie.
1641. Milton, Educ., Wks. 1738, I. 137. That asinine feast of sowthistles.
1873. Longf., Monk Casal Magg., 157. Since monkish flesh and asinine are one.
2. Having the qualities by which the ass is characterized; obstinate, stupid, doltish.
c. 1610. Chapman, Iliad, To Reader 225. Your asinine souls, Proud of their burdens, feel not how they gall.
1781. Cowper, Convers., 209. ’Tis the most asinine employ on earth, To hear them tell of parentage and birth.
1859. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. II. I. ii. 153. And I … should be asinine enough to go.
