marmot
Americannoun
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any bushy-tailed, stocky rodent of the genus Marmota, as the woodchuck.
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any of certain related animals, as the prairie dog
noun
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any burrowing sciurine rodent of the genus Marmota, of Europe, Asia, and North America. They are heavily built, having short legs, a short furry tail, and coarse fur
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another name for prairie dog
Etymology
Origin of marmot
First recorded in 1600–10; from French marmotte, Old French, apparently noun derivative of marmotter “to mutter, murmur” (referring to the whistling noises made by such animals), equivalent to marm- imitative base denoting a variety of indistinct, continuous sounds + -ot(t)er suffix of expressive verbs (though verb is attested only in modern French ); cf. murmur
Compare meaning
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Explanation
A marmot is a furry animal that looks like a very large squirrel. The groundhog is the most solitary member of the marmot family. Marmots are the heaviest members of the squirrel family, weighing as much as 22 pounds. You can find these big rodents all over the Northern Hemisphere, from the French Alps to the steppes of Eurasia. Although groundhogs prefer to keep to themselves, many marmots are quite social. They all have long front teeth that keep growing, requiring them to gnaw constantly, and are herbivores. Marmot is derived from the Latin murem montis, "mountain mouse."
Vocabulary lists containing marmot
The Golden Compass
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Wayward Creatures
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I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967
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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.
In other words, we wanted to see whether we could use this index to estimate how long a marmot would live.
From Salon • Oct. 23, 2024
The authors suggest it spilled over to humans, perhaps from a marmot, which are abundant in the Tian Shan mountain region of northern Kyrgyzstan, southern Kazakhstan, and northwestern China.
From Science Magazine • Jun. 15, 2022
A marmot study has been running since 1962.
From Washington Post • Nov. 27, 2021
We received a whistle’s welcome from a marmot, which had just scrambled out from under boulders to get a glimpse of the intruders, only to retreat again.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 3, 2021
I want to hunt, to feel my paws in the soft dirt between the trees, to smell the scent of a marmot as it peeks from its hole.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
