pack rat

/ˌpæk ˈræt/

Other forms: pack rats

A pack rat is someone who loves to collect things and hates to get rid of them. If your new roommate turns out to be a pack rat, you may find yourself increasingly crowded by all of her stuff.

There's also an actual rodent called a pack rat, also known as a "woodrat." These pack rats, which live mainly in the Western U.S. and parts of Mexico, do their collecting with an important purpose: to build nests for themselves. Along with sticks and twigs, pack rats love to gather shiny objects. Human pack rats may gravitate to shiny things too!

Definitions of pack rat

1. noun

   someone who collects things that have been discarded by others
   synonyms: magpie, scavenger

   type of:

   hoarder

   a person who accumulates things and hides them away for future use
2. noun

   any of several bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Neotoma of western North America; hoards food and other objects
   synonyms: Neotoma cinerea, bushytail woodrat, packrat, trade rat

   types:

   Neotoma fuscipes, dusky-footed woodrat

   host to Lyme disease tick (Ixodes pacificus) in northern California

   type of:

   wood rat, wood-rat

   any of various small short-tailed rodents of the northern hemisphere having soft fur grey above and white below with furred tails and large ears; some are hosts for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks)