muskrat
Americannoun
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a large, aquatic, North American rodent, Ondatra zibethica, having a musky odor.
-
its thick, light-brown fur, used for coats, for hats, as a trimming, etc.
noun
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a North American beaver-like amphibious rodent, Ondatra zibethica, closely related to but larger than the voles: family Cricetidae
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the brown fur of this animal
-
either of two closely related rodents, Ondatra obscurus or Neofiber alleni ( round-tailed muskrat )
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of muskrat
1680–90, alteration, by folk etymology, of musquash
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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:
The most popular mullet of today isn’t the spiky Bowie version or the luxurious muskrat look from “Joe Dirt.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
For mink and muskrat, the researchers concluded, drowning traps "fell within the tentative criteria of humaneness" established by the Canadian committee.
From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2022
A muskrat population oscillates 33 above and below average during the year, reaching the lowest value in January.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 1, 2021
She checked muskrat traps, broke flax and hauled logs with a team of oxen she was later permitted to purchase.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2021
Pastor Tom could dunk Henry in saving grace till he was sleek as a muskrat, but he couldn’t shake those mistakes off easy as drops of water.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
While these mussels are not harvested for human consumption, larger species, like waterbirds, raccoons, muskrats and otters, regularly eat freshwater mussels, meaning the contamination could pass up the food chain, Pankratz said.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2024
A city where bullfrogs sing in marshes, where otters and muskrats frolic along the waterfront, and where kingfishers perform aerial acrobatics into ponds thick with fish.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2023
Mussels help the ecosystem in other ways, too: Their beds make a good habitat for insects, and the mussels are a food source for muskrats and otters.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2023
But they are quick and agile, and their prey can include everything from fish and rabbits to birds and muskrats.
From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2022
Like sea things retreating with the ocean’s tide, water snakes and muskrats went back to the green areas along ditches and in the dampest vegas.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
