musquash

American  

[muhs-kwosh] / ˈmʌs kwɒʃ /

noun

1. Chiefly British. the fur of the muskrat.

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musquash British  

/ ˈmʌskwɒʃ /

noun

1. another name for muskrat , used esp to refer to its fur

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Etymology

Origin of musquash

1770–80, < Massachusett cognate of Western Abenaki mòskwas (perhaps equivalent to Proto-Algonquian *mo·ŝk- bobbing above the surface of the water + *-exkwe· head + derivational elements, i.e., the one whose head bobs above the water)

Example Sentences

In Great Britain a musquash pelt is worth only about a shilling.

From Time Magazine Archive

But here musquash has dived off into the water for the express purpose of throwing a possible pursuer off the scent.

From The Story of the Trapper by Laut, A. C.

"While we were facing starvation, why stewed musquash sounded right good to us; but with a whole carcass of venison on our hands it's plain muskrat again; and there you are, Lil Artha."

From Storm-Bound or, A Vacation Among the Snow Drifts by Douglas, Alan

The flesh of musquash killed under the ice is highly esteemed by the Indians.

From Canadian Wilds Tells About the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Indians and Their Modes of Hunting, Trapping, Etc. by Hunter, Martin

He did not like him, and declared that all he said "was not worth talk about a musquash."

From Canoeing in the wilderness by Thoreau, Henry David