stoat

American  

[stoht] / stoʊt /

noun

1. the ermine, Mustela erminea, especially when in brown summer pelage.

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stoat British  

/ stəʊt /

noun

1. a small Eurasian musteline mammal, Mustela erminea, closely related to the weasels, having a brown coat and a black-tipped tail: in the northern parts of its range it has a white winter coat and is then known as an ermine

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Etymology

Origin of stoat

1425–75; late Middle English stote < ?

Compare meaning

How does stoat compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• stoat vs. mink

Example Sentences

This makes it yet another introduced species like the rat or stoat, with unpredictable behavior.

From Slate • Aug. 8, 2025

On one predator-free island—home to threatened species such as a flightless parrot called the kakapo—the government spent some $295,000 over eight months tracking down a single stoat.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 5, 2024

This allowed the stoat population to rebound to pre-eradication levels undoing the previous progress.

From BBC • Sep. 24, 2023

A problem that appears to consist of a single stoat.

From New York Times • Jun. 5, 2022

But then another shift in things took place, because he realized that they, both girl and stoat, were profoundly afraid of him, as much as if he’d been a ghost.

From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman