black squirrel

noun

1. a fox squirrel or gray squirrel in that color phase in which the fur is black.

Word History and Origins

Origin of black squirrel¹

An Americanism dating back to 1595–1605

Example Sentences

Just two days before the Panamanian government announced a nationwide lockdown, a scruffy, black squirrel fell from a tree and into the river in front of their house.

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“If somebody wants to study black squirrels in Canada or red squirrels in Korea, the same data is available to them,” Blaxter said.

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But already, they noted in a statement, it’s made its way over to the United Kingdom — probably through black squirrels from the United States that escaped from private zoos in the U.K.

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The first wild black squirrel was recorded in Woburn in 1912, and was believed to have escaped from a private zoo having been imported from the United States.

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In Britain, black squirrels were imported from North America and then escaped from private zoos.

Read more on The Guardian