squirrel

/ˈskwʌr(ə)l/

/ˈskwʌrəl/

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
   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

   Eutamius asiaticus, Eutamius sibiricus, baranduki, baronduki, barunduki, burunduki

   terrestrial Siberian squirrel

   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

   American red squirrel, Sciurus hudsonicus, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, red squirrel, spruce squirrel

   of northern United States and Canada

   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
   type of:

   fur, pelt

   the dressed hairy coat of a mammal