varmint
or var·ment
Chiefly Southern and South Midland U.S.
an objectionable or undesirable animal, usually predatory, as a coyote or bobcat.
a despicable, obnoxious, or annoying person.
Origin of varmint
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use varmint in a sentence
The poor beasts have smoked for it: rabbit me, but I'd rather ride forty miles after a fox than ten with such varment.
She Stoops to Conquer | Oliver GoldsmithHe was swearing wildly, and vowing vengeance on the "heathen varment" who had pinked him.
Brothers of Peril | Theodore Goodridge RobertsI have fired that clumsy varment at the stump till my head ached and my shoulder was quite sore, and have hardly hit it once.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 454 | Various"I thought the old varment was a-fire already an' lookin' over my shoulder," explained Timothy, a minute later.
Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery | Theodore Goodridge RobertsEy'n join ye os soon os ey con scrush this varment's heaod agen a stoan.
The Lancashire Witches | William Harrison Ainsworth
British Dictionary definitions for varmint
/ (ˈvɑːmɪnt) /
informal an irritating or obnoxious person or animal
Origin of varmint
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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