wood rat
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of wood rat
First recorded in 1750–60
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.
A wood rat she can’t bring herself to kill has recently taken up residence under her house, and every day it leaves piles of rocks by her desk window as an inscrutable offering.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 30, 2021
A rabbit jumped up, but so did a wood rat.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
In a second, Bristle’s head reappeared, and in her jaws was a wood rat.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
The Mexican wood rat is the most common species of wood rat on the Mesa Verde.
From Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado by Anderson, Sydney
Afterwards I caught sight of a gray animal, probably a wood rat, running down a branch behind me, and heard queer muffled sounds of gnawing.
From A-Birding on a Bronco by Merriam, Florence A.
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.
