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squirrel

/ˈskwʌr(ə)l/
/ˈskwʌrəl/
IPA guide

Other forms: squirrels

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.

Definitions of squirrel
  1. noun
    a kind of arboreal rodent having a long bushy tail
    see moresee less
    types:
    tree squirrel
    any typical arboreal squirrel
    gopher, ground squirrel, spermophile
    any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops
    Tamias striatus, eastern chipmunk, ground squirrel, hackee, striped squirrel
    small striped semiterrestrial eastern American squirrel with cheek pouches
    chipmunk
    a burrowing ground squirrel of western America and Asia; has cheek pouches and a light and dark stripe running down the body
    American flying squirrel
    New World flying squirrels
    Asiatic flying squirrel
    nocturnal rodent of Asia having furry folds of skin between forelegs and hind legs enabling it to move by gliding leaps
    Sciurus carolinensis, cat squirrel, eastern gray squirrel, eastern grey squirrel
    common medium-large squirrel of eastern North America; now introduced into England
    Sciurus griseus, western gray squirrel, western grey squirrel
    large grey squirrel of far western areas of United States
    Sciurus niger, eastern fox squirrel, fox squirrel
    exceptionally large arboreal squirrel of eastern United States
    black squirrel
    fox squirrel or grey squirrel in the black color phase
    Sciurus vulgaris, cat squirrel, red squirrel
    common reddish-brown squirrel of Europe and parts of Asia
    Douglas squirrel, Tamiasciurus douglasi, chickeree
    far western United States counterpart of the red squirrel
    Citellus leucurus, antelope chipmunk, antelope squirrel, whitetail antelope squirrel
    small ground squirrel of western United States
    Citellus lateralis, mantled ground squirrel
    common black-striped reddish-brown ground squirrel of western North America; resembles a large chipmunk
    Citellus citellus, souslik, suslik
    rather large central Eurasian ground squirrel
    Citellus richardsoni, Richardson ground squirrel, flickertail
    of sagebrush and grassland areas of western United States and Canada
    Citellus variegatus, rock squirrel
    large grey ground squirrel of rocky areas of the southwestern United States
    Arctic ground squirrel, Citellus parryi, parka squirrel
    large ground squirrel of the North American far north
    Glaucomys volans, southern flying squirrel
    small large-eyed nocturnal flying squirrel of eastern United States
    Glaucomys sabrinus, northern flying squirrel
    large flying squirrel; chiefly of Canada
    Petaurista petaurista, flying cat, flying marmot, taguan
    East Indian flying squirrel
    type of:
    gnawer, rodent
    relatively small placental mammals having a single pair of constantly growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing
  2. noun
    the fur of a squirrel
    see moresee less
    type of:
    fur, pelt
    the dressed hairy coat of a mammal
Pronunciation
US
/ˈskwʌr(ə)l/
UK
/ˈskwʌrəl/
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