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
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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
"Here on Rathlin in 2017, a feral ferret reached one of our puffin colonies and killed 27 puffins in a two-day period," she said.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
They’re all law-abiding people, and this directive ostensibly aims to ferret out terrorists and criminals.
From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2025
The modern discipline of psychology would ferret out the private motives of regular and refined collectors alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
Killconey the ferret extolled the virtues of his weasel friend, Scragg, who had met his death at the foot of the big elm tree.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Supporters say Title IX is vital to campus safety because it ferrets out sexual misconduct that might not be considered a crime but still make it hard for a student to continue studies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
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
Tara's axolotl rescue centre has about 160 of the amphibians, as well as ferrets, snakes and lizards.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
Nevertheless, the weasels, and their brethren the stoats and ferrets, argued their case hotly.
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
He also "ferreted about" in a "deception" to obtain false "dodgy" quotes to help the firm get the lucrative business.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2025
In a clever bit of detective work, Yale legal scholar Reva Siegel has ferreted out the vital role that this “seminar” plays in the originalist ecosystem:
From Slate ● May 14, 2024
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
Julia jumped out, opened the boot, ferreted through her box of records, and ran back up the drive.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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
As passive index-tracking has allowed most investors to disengage from corporate boards, the market needs more investors willing to spend the time and money ferreting out information and identifying undervalued companies.
From Reuters ● Mar. 3, 2022
She had been looking forward to ferreting out Bebe’s past, to delivering the secret weapon that would end things for good.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
