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)
-
ferrets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ferreted,
past participle, past
-
ferreting
present participle
-
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)
-
ferrets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ferreted,
past participle, past
-
ferreting
present participle
noun
noun
-
a domesticated albino variety of the polecat Mustela putorius , bred for hunting rats, rabbits, etc
-
an assiduous searcher
-
a musteline mammal, Mustela nigripes , of W North America, closely related to the weasels
verb
-
to hunt (rabbits, rats, etc) with ferrets
-
to drive from hiding
to ferret out snipers
-
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 ferret is thought to have been brought in deliberately in the 1980s to control pests.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
Such information can be hard enough to ferret out in democracies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
They’re all law-abiding people, and this directive ostensibly aims to ferret out terrorists and criminals.
From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2025
Winifred fired off a pebble from her sling, knocking a ferret clean out of his perch into empty space.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
That one guy who lives ’round the corner who has three pet ferrets and wears flip-flops all year long.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
They also looked at an unpublished study on ferrets which found that the research-grade version of Ervebo provided 100-percent protection against Bundibugyo, whereas all control animals died within 10 days.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Researchers at Georgia State University have developed an experimental oral antiviral that prevented a measles-like virus from spreading between ferrets through both close contact and the air.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
During the first phase of the project, 98 ferrets were caught in winter 2023.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
Many were sparrows, shrews and woodland defenders, but they were far outnumbered by the slain rats, ferrets, weasels and stoats.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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
“Good cops want bad cops ferreted out,” Jenkins said in a recent interview.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2023
Profligate users were ferreted out from public records and, if they could be identified, shamed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2021
He sees the look on my face and smiles, sure that he has ferreted out the secret desire of my heart.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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
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
At the recent Television Critics Association press tour, Manville claimed that she's not too shabby at ferreting out information herself.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2022
“They should not be able to act like Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby ferreting out clues,” that poll worker wrote.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2022
Does he prompt a laugh that makes it hard to focus on ferreting out the mystery?
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
