gray squirrel

American  

[grey skwur-uhl, skwuhr‐] / ˈgreɪ ˈskwɜr əl, ˈskwʌr‐ /

noun

1. a gray-colored arboreal squirrel: North American species include the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis ) of the eastern and midwestern U.S. and southeastern Canada, the western gray squirrel (S. griseus ) of the coastal western U.S. and Mexico, the Arizona gray squirrel (S. arizonensis ) of eastern Arizona and adjacent Mexico, and the Mexican gray squirrel (S. aureogaster ), found from Guatemala north through eastern Mexico to the Florida Keys.

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Etymology

Origin of gray squirrel

An Americanism dating back to 1615–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gray squirrel

On they came, day after day, a great, unrelenting tide of Sciurus carolinensis: the Eastern gray squirrel.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2023

Birdfeeders may need squirrel-proof housing to avoid interlopers like the non-native gray squirrel.

From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022

These are a different species from the common Eastern gray squirrel, but both are experts at navigating treetops.

From New York Times ● Aug. 5, 2021

If Potter were writing today, she’d certainly have spotted many a gray squirrel in Britain’s Lake District, where the author spent holidays as a child and set “The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2017

That's when a gray squirrel leaps out of the trash like a firecracker on the Fourth of July.

From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi