venery

Pursuit of game

Venery has two distinct meanings from different roots.

One refers to the pursuit of sexual pleasure or indulgence in sexual activity, related to Venus, the goddess of love.

The other, now archaic, refers to the practice or sport of hunting, particularly with hounds.

The hunting sense survives mainly in historical texts and in the collective nouns for animals known as "terms of venery"—phrases like a murder of crows or a parliament of owls.

hunting

pursuit

Act of chasing something

quarryPit for extracting rock
stalkingStealthy, persistent pursuit
trackingMonitoring location over time

chase · hound · beagle · harrier · scent · trail · gamekeeper · poacher · flush · driven

archaism

medieval

Of the Middle Ages

chivalryKnightly code of honor
courtlyRefined and dignified
falconryTraining raptors to hunt

hawking · coursing · joust · tourney · heraldry · squire · nobility · aristocracy · manor · feudal

sexuality

erotic

Sexually stimulating

sensualOf bodily pleasure
lasciviousOvertly sexual in manner
promiscuousSexually undiscriminating

libertine · wanton · lewd · licentious · prurience · debauched · carnal · lustful · amorous · concupiscence

Opposites

sexual conduct

veneryabstinence

Voluntary forgoing of indulgences

celibacy · chastity · continence · asceticism · self-denial

relationship to wildlife

veneryconservation

Preventing waste or loss

wildlife preservation · animal protection · nature sanctuary · wildlife refuge · rewilding

Phrases

venereal diseaseSexually transmitted infection

Family

venereal, venerator

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