Other forms: mastiffs
A mastiff is a very large powerful guard dog. An English mastiff, a mastiff at the gate, a mastiff's head.
The English mastiff is among the heaviest breeds alive, and the temperament is famously placid, which is why it works as a guard: the size does the work. Romans wrote about the mastiffs they met in Britain.
1nounmastiffA very large powerful guard dog.
“A huge mastiff guarded the gate of the farm, barking at every stranger.”
mastiff is a dog.
Old French mastin comes from Latin mansuetus, tame, literally accustomed to the hand.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)meh₂-
Latin
mansuetus — tamed
Vulgar Latin
*mansuetinus — tamed (animal)
Old French
mastin
Middle English
mastif
English, today
mastiff
From Middle English mastif, mastyf, an aberrant derivation (with influence from Old French mestif) from Old French mastin (modern French mâtin), from Vulgar Latin mansuetinus (“tamed (animal)”), from Latin mansuetus (“tamed”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA