- a yellowish, unctuous substance with a strong musklike odor, obtained from a pouch in the genital region of civets and used in perfumery.
- any catlike, carnivorous mammal of the subfamily Viverrinae, chiefly of southern Asia and Africa, having a coarse-haired, spotted coat, rounded ears, and a narrow muzzle.
- any of various related or similar animals, as the palm civet.
- cacomistle.
- any catlike viverrine mammal of the genus Viverra and related genera, of Africa and S Asia, typically having blotched or spotted fur and secreting a powerfully smelling fluid from anal glands
- the yellowish fatty secretion of such an animal, used as a fixative in the manufacture of perfumes
- the fur of such an animal
- short for palm civet
