ferret
1 Americannoun
-
a domesticated, usually red-eyed, and albinic variety of the polecat, used in Europe for driving rabbits and rats from their burrows.
verb (used with object)
-
to drive out by using or as if using a ferret (often followed byout ).
to ferret rabbits from their burrows;
to ferret out enemies.
-
to hunt with ferrets.
-
to hunt over with ferrets.
to ferret a field.
-
to search out, discover, or bring to light (often followed byout ).
to ferret out the facts.
-
to harry, worry, or torment.
His problems ferreted him day and night.
verb (used without object)
noun
noun
-
a domesticated albino variety of the polecat Mustela putorius , bred for hunting rats, rabbits, etc
-
an assiduous searcher
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a musteline mammal, Mustela nigripes , of W North America, closely related to the weasels
verb
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to hunt (rabbits, rats, etc) with ferrets
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to drive from hiding
to ferret out snipers
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to find by persistent investigation
-
(intr) to search around
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ferretsimple
-
ferretssimple
-
have ferretedperfect
-
has ferretedperfect
-
am ferretingprogressive
-
are ferretingprogressive
-
is ferretingprogressive
-
have been ferretingperfect progressive
-
has been ferretingperfect progressive
Past
-
ferretedsimple
-
had ferretedperfect
-
was ferretingprogressive
-
were ferretingprogressive
-
had been ferretingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ferret1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English feret, furet, from Middle French furet, fuiret, from Vulgar Latin furittus (unrecorded), equivalent to fūr “thief” + -ittus -et
Origin of ferret2
First recorded in 1570–80; alteration of Italian fioretto “floss silk,” literally, “little flower,” equivalent to fior(e) + -etto diminutive ending; see flower, -et
Explanation
You may be familiar with ferrets, those adorable little mammals that look like cheap minks. Well, the verb to ferret means to act like a ferret: to dig for something until you find it. Ferrets are great at digging, so it's no surprise that we acknowledge their skills when we make the verb ferret, which almost always comes attached to the preposition "out." Woodward and Bernstein worked tirelessly to ferret out the names of the guys who raided the Watergate offices. When you're ready, I'm going to ask you to ferret out those two photos from that stack of photo boxes.
Vocabulary lists containing ferret
A Vocabulary Bestiary: Animals That Behave as Verbs
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And Then There Were None
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Amazing Animals, A-Z
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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.
See Examples For:
"We were very excited to see that GHP-88310 given by mouth completely prevented airborne transmission in our ferret model of measles," said first author Carolin Lieber, a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Plemper lab.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
The island is now ferret free and there are already encouraging signs in breeding seabird numbers, offering hope to other places round the world grappling with invasive predators.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
The online service Grammarly originated in 2009 as a suite of tools to help ferret out plagiarism in schoolwork or help students hone their grammar and spelling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Such information can be hard enough to ferret out in democracies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
And before Dolores knew what was happening, she found herself chasing a ferret down the New York City sidewalk.
From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff
During the first phase of the project, 98 ferrets were caught in winter 2023.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
The study also included an animal experiment using ferrets, which are highly susceptible to H5N1.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 21, 2025
Taylor ferrets out the secret with her bloodthirsty relentlessness and immediately raises pandemonium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025
A 2022 study in mice and ferrets showed that a universal flu vaccine NIH plans to support has promise.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2025
They’d obtained over a hundred new recruits, mainly rats but with a good scattering of ferrets and weasels, and the odd stoat.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Smith, for his part, is dubious about the veracity of the ransom notes - and believes Guthrie was ferreted down to Mexico where she could more easily be kept out of sight.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
The Agriculture Department ferreted data from 28 states and says it found nearly 186,000 dead recipients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Effective today it is not just a point of contention, it is a sin, to be ferreted out through rumor and whisper, to be punished by reprisals, unstated but ever present.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2025
Tran ferreted out a Social Security number for the patient from a confidential report about her test result, then plugged that into the databases.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2023
Gaheris, hovering round the edge, ferreted far the dirk.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The Spanish credited her with ferreting out plots against them and helping to recruit Indigenous warriors to Cortés’ ranks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026
While those investigations are time-limited, FBI agents can use the allotted time to practice techniques against targets, like recruiting informants and ferreting through their mail, financial transactions, phone data and abandoned trash.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2025
Twitter has drastically reduced its staff focused on ferreting out misinformation, hate speech and extremist content since it was bought by Elon Musk.
From Washington Times ● May 5, 2023
In the year or so since Colombia Rural Vital introduced its initiative in Orito, she had become a medical detective of sorts, traveling from village to village, cultivating sources and ferreting out unreported deaths.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
A voice materializes out of the distortion in his headphones, then fades, and he goes ferreting after it.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
