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

You reviewed my picture and you were like, ‘Yeah, that is a squirrel. An Eastern gray squirrel.’’’

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2022

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

From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022

Gamble’s lovely photo of an Eastern gray squirrel reaching up to some pink crepe myrtle blossoms as rain begins to fall is the winner of the 2020 Washington Post Squirrel Week Squirrel Photography Contest.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2020

It’s unlikely Potter had ever seen a gray squirrel, which hadn’t yet reached the area where she lived, Lear notes.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2017

There on a limb sat a gray squirrel.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls