muskrat

WordNet 3.6
- n muskrat beaver-like aquatic rodent of North America with dark glossy brown fur
- n muskrat the brown fur of a muskrat
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

- Muskrat (Zoöl) A North American aquatic fur-bearing rodent (Ondatra zibethica formerly Fiber zibethicus). It resembles a rat in color and having a long scaly tail, but the tail is compressed, the hind feet are webbed, and the ears are concealed in the fur. It has scent glands which secrete a substance having a strong odor of musk. Called also musquash musk beaver ondatra, and sometimes water rat.
- Muskrat (Zoöl) The desman.
- Muskrat (Zoöl) The musk shrew.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

- n muskrat A large murine rodent quadruped, Fiber zibethicus, of the family Muridœ and subfamily Arvicolinœ: so called from its musky odor. It is of about the size of a small rabbit, of a very stout thick-set form and dark-brown color, grayish underneath, with small eyes and ears, large hind feet with webbed toes, and long naked scaly tail, compressed in the horizontal plane so as to present an upper and an under edge, and two broad sides. In the character of the fur, the scaly tail, and aquatic habits, the muskrat resembles the beaver, and is sometimes called muskbeaver; but its actual relationships are with the voles and lemmings. It is one of the commonest quadrupeds of North America, almost universally distributed throughout that continent, living in lakes, rivers, and pools, either in underground burrows in the banks, or in houses made of reeds, rushes, and grasses, as large as haycocks and of similar shape. The fur is of commercial value, and the animal is much hunted. Also called musquash and ondatra.
- n muskrat An insectivorous animal of musky odor likened to a rat, such as the European desman, Mygale pyrenaica, and the Indian musk-shrew or rat-tailed shrew, Sorex indicus or Crocidura myosura, also called Indian muskrat and monjourou.
- n muskrat A viverrine quadruped, the South African genet, Genetta felina.
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In literature:

But in Tennessee, whar thar's rivers to waste, them cats takes to the water like so many muskrats.

"Faro Nell and Her Friends" by Alfred Henry Lewis

At the same instant his left leg gave way under him and he fell to the ground, supposing he had stepped into a muskrat hole.

"A Forest Hearth: A Romance of Indiana in the Thirties" by Charles Major

Even in a muskrat the teeth do not ordinarily show at all.

"Taxidermy" by Leon Luther Pray

Americans who relish squirrel, opossum, muskrat, "coon," etc.

"Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome" by Apicius

Why, they're as hard to catch as a muskrat!

"Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930" by Various

It is the oases we want and it is muskrat we get.

"The Paliser case" by Edgar Saltus

This nest is built on top of a Muskrat house.

"The Bird Book" by Chester A. Reed

Maybe some opossums and muskrats, which don't launch kites.

"The Flying Stingaree" by Harold Leland Goodwin

They heard a distant splash where a muskrat had taken to the water.

"Chicken Little Jane on the Big John" by Lily Munsell Ritchie

And I almost caught a muskrat there.

"The Tale of Old Dog Spot" by Arthur Scott Bailey

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In poetry:

In Muskrat Land dim streams divide
The tundras belted by the sky.
How sweet in slim canoe to glide,
And dream, and let the world go by!
Build gay camp-fires on greening strand!
In Muskrat Land, in Muskrat Land.

"Sunshine" by Robert W Service

In Muskrat Land the conies leap,
The wavies linger in their flight;
The jewelled, snakelike rivers creep;
The sun, sad rogue, is out all night;
The great wood bison paws the sand,
In Muskrat Land, in Muskrat Land.

"Sunshine" by Robert W Service