viscacha

or viz·ca·cha

[ vi-skah-chuh ]

noun
  1. a burrowing rodent, Lagostomus maximus, about the size of a groundhog, inhabiting the pampas of Paraguay and Argentina, allied to the chinchilla.

  2. Also called mountain viscacha. a related rodent of the genus Lagidium, of the Andes, about the size of a squirrel, having rabbitlike ears and a squirrellike tail.

Origin of viscacha

1
1595–1605; <Spanish <Quechua wisk’acha

Words Nearby viscacha

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use viscacha in a sentence

  • Closely related to the chinchilla is the viscacha, which is found very abundantly in the great pampas districts of South America.

  • In many forms this part of the sternum is much broader than the pieces which follow; this is so with the viscacha.

  • There the biscacha, or viscacha—as it is indifferently spelt—plays pretty much the same part as the rabbit in our northern lands.

    Gaspar the Gaucho | Mayne Reid
  • Why does the white huntsman earth himself like a timid viscacha?

    The Guide of the Desert | Gustave Aimard
  • The fur of the viscacha is not so pretty, being of a brownish and white mixture.

    The Forest Exiles | Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for viscacha

viscacha

vizcacha

/ (vɪsˈkætʃə) /


noun
  1. a gregarious burrowing hystricomorph rodent, Lagostomus maximus, of southern South America, similar to but larger than the chinchillas: family Chinchillidae

  2. mountain viscacha the mountain chinchilla: See chinchilla (def. 3)

Origin of viscacha

1
C17: from Spanish, from Quechuan wiskácha

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012