squirrel
Americannoun
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squirrels,
plural
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squirrel
plural
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any of numerous arboreal, bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Sciurus, of the family Sciuridae.
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any of various other members of the family Sciuridae, as the chipmunks, flying squirrels, and woodchucks.
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the meat of such an animal.
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the pelt or fur of such an animal.
a coat trimmed with squirrel.
verb (used with object)
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squirrels,
present (3rd person singular)
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squirreled,
past participle, past
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squirrelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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squirreling,
present participle
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squirrelling
present participle (especially British)
noun
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any arboreal sciurine rodent of the genus Sciurus , such as S. vulgaris ( red squirrel ) or S. carolinensis ( grey squirrel ), having a bushy tail and feeding on nuts, seeds, etc
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any other rodent of the family Sciuridae , such as a ground squirrel or a marmot
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the fur of such an animal
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informal a person who hoards things
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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squirrelsimple
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squirrelssimple
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have squirreledperfect
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have squirrelledperfect
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has squirreledperfect
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has squirrelledperfect
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am squirrelingprogressive
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am squirrellingprogressive
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are squirrelingprogressive
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are squirrellingprogressive
-
is squirrelingprogressive
-
is squirrellingprogressive
-
have been squirrelingperfect progressive
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have been squirrellingperfect progressive
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has been squirrelingperfect progressive
-
has been squirrellingperfect progressive
Past
-
squirreledsimple
-
squirrelledsimple
-
had squirreledperfect
-
had squirrelledperfect
-
was squirrelingprogressive
-
was squirrellingprogressive
-
were squirrelingprogressive
-
were squirrellingprogressive
-
had been squirrelingperfect progressive
-
had been squirrellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of squirrel
1325–75; Middle English squirel < Anglo-French escuirel ( Old French escuireul ) ≪ Vulgar Latin *scūrellus, *scūriolus, representing Latin sciurus (< Greek skíouros literally, shadow-tailed ( ski ( á ) shadow + -ouros, adj. derivative of ourá tail); apparently so called because the tail was large enough to provide shade for the rest of the animal) with diminutive suffixes -ellus, -olus
Explanation
Squirrels are rodents that live in trees and have big, bushy tails. You've probably seen many squirrels in the park eating acorns and seeds. A well-known characteristic of squirrels is gathering nuts and seeds to store for the winter: you can say they squirrel away that food. You can squirrel things away, too, like squirreling away money in your savings account to use later. If you find a great sale on snow boots in the middle of summer, you might take advantage of the bargain and squirrel those boots away for your trip to northern Canada in January.
Vocabulary lists containing squirrel
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:
During the top of the seventh inning, the squirrel found his way between the mound and home plate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Jian and the other microraptors probably weren't capable of true, powered flight, but they could probably glide like a flying squirrel," says O'Connor.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
During the game, he stays calm while a squirrel approaches him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
JG: Hypothetical: My pet squirrel died and left me $5,000 in his will with the requirement I spend it at the 2026 World Cup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
My eyes widen and I come to a halt, sending a squirrel skittering into the bushes.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
After Coleman died, he said he had had to buy a new petrol can because squirrels had been destroying the other cans he had on site.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
His haul ended up including two taxidermy squirrels as well — one dressed as a sheriff and the other posed to look like it is drinking out of a Budweiser can.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Squirrelpox is carried by the invasive grey squirrels that were brought into this country at the end of the 1800s," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Observe: There are no plants building cathedrals, squirrels gazing at the stars or two AI models on a date night looking into each other’s eyes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
As we drove on, the forest grew thicker at the sides of the road, and we saw squirrels and bush fowl scurry across it, and at one point, a dead snake, stretched out.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Andrzejewski’s company now has 30 boxes of pennies squirreled away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
"I haven't been on wages for the past two weeks. I'm now dipping into savings, money that I've squirreled away for retirement, with no insight into exactly when this will be over."
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2025
Dramatizations, love letters, photographs and home videos paint a portrait of a happy couple who squirreled a life for themselves away from the public eye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
In fact, I still have a box or two of these cereals squirreled away at my house, even though I'm well into adulthood, working as an assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2024
I opened my mouth to say whatever Big Ma would have said if she wasn’t squirreled away reading her gossip paper, but JimmyTrotter gave me a head shake.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
"I just feel like right now, we need that money squirrelled away in a safe spot," he said.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2025
During the late 2000s, when Pliny the Younger became the most sought-after ale in North America, Brouwer’s had kegs of the triple IPA squirrelled away.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2024
Given the lax-to-nonexistent policing in Ottawa, it’s impossible to know what else could be squirrelled away in the convoy’s warren of vehicles, tents, and bases.
From Slate ● Feb. 17, 2022
They wanted to show Greenberg and Margit Erb, the director of the Saul Leiter Foundation, what Ennis had squirrelled away in a drawer.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 27, 2017
In the next episode it's the Magic Circle Museum, squirrelled away at the society of magicians' HQ in Euston, north London, and the bewilderingly dense Grant Museum, the last remaining zoological museum in London.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 12, 2013
But, mindful of fluctuating costs, they have also been taking steps to reduce their fuel consumption, while "squirreling away that extra little bit of cash".
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
You have to choose — there’s no squirreling out of it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
“I just worry about the undisclosed kind of squirreling money away,” Rossman said.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2023
The crystal ball is also brightening at several big banks, who are no longer squirreling away as much money to cover loans that a long downturn could force to go bad.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 21, 2021
On the back of an envelope left beside the museum phone, she has sketched an enormous tree, laden with flowers, the branches squirreling over the flap.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
He still rereads his manuscripts from the beginning each day—an increasing burden, as each book goes on—stripping away what’s superfluous and squirrelling new ideas into the gaps.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 9, 2019
In early 2016 some analysts fretted that consumers were squirrelling away the money they were saving on cheap petrol, and so denying the economy a needed fillip.
From Economist ● Dec. 14, 2017
If they had fled after squirrelling away millions, why was there no sign of largesse?
From The Guardian ● Jun. 22, 2013
Unbeknown to them, Farepak, the savings club they were squirrelling their cash into, was in serious trouble.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 21, 2012
And Switzerland's banking privacy is under threat from a long-running dispute with the US, which takes a dim view of its wealthier citizens squirrelling away funds in Swiss banks to avoid tax.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2011
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.
