meerkat

[ meer-kat ]

/ ˈmɪər kæt /

noun

suricate.

Words nearby meerkat

mee, meech lake accord, meed, meek, meer, meerkat, meerschaum, meerut, meet, meet and greet, meet one's match

Origin of meerkat

Dutch: literally, monkey, apparently equivalent to meer (see mere²) + kat cat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for meerkat

This meerkat, the largest and handsomest we have ever seen, cannot have been anything less than the chief of his tribe.
Home Life on an Ostrich Farm|Annie Martin
I would still redeem my pledge, and restore Meerkat, so lost not a moment in turning back to release the other two.
A Veldt Vendetta|Bertram Mitford
Often, when starting for a ride or drive, we have been obliged to shut up our meerkat, so determined was he to come with us.
Home Life on an Ostrich Farm|Annie Martin
The astonishment of dogs in England at a meerkat brought home by us was most amusing.
Home Life on an Ostrich Farm|Annie Martin

The last of the civet-like animals about which we can tell you is the meerkat, sometimes known as the suricate.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History|Theodore Wood

British Dictionary definitions for meerkat

meerkat

/ (ˈmɪəˌkæt) /

noun

any of several South African mongooses, esp Suricata suricatta (slender-tailed meerkat or suricate), which has a lemur-like face and four-toed feet

Word Origin for meerkat

C19: from Dutch: sea-cat

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