brown rat
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of brown rat
First recorded in 1820–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But has the city’s vilest enemy, better known as the common brown rat, finally met its match?
From Washington Times ● Apr. 12, 2023
Hiding inside ships, the brown rat made its way to Europe in the 1500s and then to the Western hemisphere, Africa and Australia as colonizers arrived.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2022
"But it was our little brown rat and it was our responsibility to make sure it persisted. And we failed."
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2019
Though the black rat was old news in Europe, the Norway, or brown, rat arrived on the continent in the early 17th century.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2017
Out of nowhere, a scrawny brown rat materialized on the side bench, nervous and breathless.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
