jack rabbit

American

noun

any of various large hares of western North America, having very long hind legs and long ears.

jack rabbit British

noun

any of various W North American hares, such as Lepus townsendi ( white-tailed jack rabbit ), having long hind legs and large ears

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of jack rabbit

1860–65; jack(ass) + rabbit; so named from the size of its ears

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:

jack rabbit

It looked like the work of a jack rabbit, he said, which must have been trying to get at the moisture in the stem.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2021

I grew up loving and rescuing animals: two badgers, a gopher, a jack rabbit, five baby squirrels and a great horned owl.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 2018

A jack rabbit hopped down my driveway and disappeared into the yard.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 27, 2016

“They don’t want old moo-out-to-pasture me. They want the jack rabbit, they want the young blood. They want him and they want his friends.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2016

Betty, too, was much overwrought, and it is probable that if either a jack rabbit or a white owl had crossed the path of the three there would have been instant flight.

From Betty Gordon in the Land of Oil The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune by Alice B. Emerson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023