muskrat

[ muhsk-rat ]

/ ˈmʌskˌræt /

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noun, plural musk·rats, (especially collectively) musk·rat.

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.

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Origin of muskrat

1680–90, Americanism; alteration, by folk etymology, of musquash

Words nearby muskrat

Muskogean, Muskogee, musk orchid, muskox, musk plant, muskrat, musk rose, musk thistle, musk turtle, musky, Muslem

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use muskrat in a sentence

The brothers took odd jobs together, picking fruit, caddying at the local golf club or trapping muskrats and selling the fur.
Inside the 80-Year Quest to Name Pearl Harbor's Unknown Victims|W.J. Hennigan|November 23, 2021|Time
He later transferred to the Asheville School in North Carolina, where he spent his free time catching muskrats, and studied at Williams College in Massachusetts, grouse hunting on the weekends.
Leigh H. Perkins, who built Orvis into an upscale sporting brand, dies at 93|Harrison Smith|May 13, 2021|Washington Post
Even in one of the earliest books, the Muskrat philosopher ends up seeing the point of things.
Tove Jansson, Queen of the Moomins|John Garth|August 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But it was a young hawk, unversed in the way of the muskrat, which had seized him.
The Watchers of the Trails|Charles G. D. Roberts

No muskrat had ever, within her experience, even tried to fight her.
The Watchers of the Trails|Charles G. D. Roberts
But flight was far from the big muskrat's mind in that crucial moment.
The Watchers of the Trails|Charles G. D. Roberts
He knew that the muskrat could not stay for ever down in that muddy crevice.
The Watchers of the Trails|Charles G. D. Roberts
An old Indian once told me how a muskrat lays up stores of food in his house.
Prairie Smoke (Second Edition, Revised)|Melvin Randolph Gilmore

British Dictionary definitions for muskrat

muskrat

/ (ˈmʌskˌræt) /

noun plural -rats or -rat

a North American beaver-like amphibious rodent, Ondatra zibethica, closely related to but larger than the voles: family Cricetidae

the brown fur of this animal

either of two closely related rodents, Ondatra obscurus or Neofiber alleni (round-tailed muskrat)

Often (informal) shortened to: musquash

Word Origin for muskrat

C17: by folk etymology, from the same source as musquash

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