(Hebrews shu'al, a name derived from its digging or burrowing under ground), the Vulpes thaleb, or Syrian fox, the only species of this animal indigenous to Palestine. It burrows, is silent and solitary in its habits, is destructive to vineyards, being a plunderer of ripe grapes (Cant. 2:15). The Vulpes Niloticus, or Egyptian dog-fox, and the Vulpes vulgaris, or common fox, are also found in Palestine.

The proverbial cunning of the fox is alluded to in Ezek. 13:4, and in Luke 13:32, where our Lord calls Herod "that fox." In Judges 15:4, 5, the reference is in all probability to the jackal. The Hebrew word shu'al_ through the Persian _schagal becomes our jackal (Canis aureus), so that the word may bear that signification here. The reasons for preferring the rendering "jackal" are (1) that it is more easily caught than the fox; (2) that the fox is shy and suspicious, and flies mankind, while the jackal does not; and (3) that foxes are difficult, jackals comparatively easy, to treat in the way here described. Jackals hunt in large numbers, and are still very numerous in Southern Palestine.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A carnivorous animal of the genus Vulpes, family Canidae, of many species. The European fox (V. vulgaris or V. vulpes), the American red fox (V. fulvus), the American gray fox (V. Virginianus), and the arctic, white, or blue, fox (V. lagopus) are well-known species.

2. (n.) The European dragonet.

3. (n.) The fox shark or thrasher shark; -- called also sea fox. See Shark.

4. (n.) A sly, cunning fellow.

5. (n.) Rope yarn twisted together, and rubbed with tar; -- used for seizings or mats.

6. (n.) A sword; -- so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox.

7. (n.) A tribe of Indians which, with the Sacs, formerly occupied the region about Green Bay, Wisconsin; -- called also Outagamies.

8. (n.) To intoxicate; to stupefy with drink.

9. (n.) To make sour, as beer, by causing it to ferment.

10. (n.) To repair the feet of, as of boots, with new front upper leather, or to piece the upper fronts of.

11. (v. i.) To turn sour; -- said of beer, etc., when it sours in fermenting.