hamster

→ Japanese: ハムスター (hamusutā)

→ Korean: 햄스터 (haemseuteo)

→ Scottish Gaelic: hamstair

→ Tagalog: hamster

desc

→ Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)

→ Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)

→ Turkish: hamster

Borrowed from German Hamster (see for etymology). Displaced earlier term German rat.

hamster

rodent species belonging to the Cricetinae

The tempo of evolution in South American hamsters was very rapid – in the course of the Pliocene and Anthropocene 40 genera were formed here, at which time a series of them attained the level of tribe and subtribe (Oxymycteri, Phyllotiini, Ichthyomyini).

1960, Doklady. Biological Sciences Sections, volumes 132–135, Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Biological Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 640, column 2:

Any of various Old-World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.

The hamster stuffed his puffy cheeks with food.

Since the pregnancy interceptive agents or the menses regulators may also influence the development of either trophoblasts or the maternal cells (epithelial and stromal) at the embryo attachment site, another in vitro assay method using using trophoblast cells of hamster and mouse isolated from a preplacental organelle, the ectoplacental cone, has been developed.

2013, George deStevens, Ernst Jucker, V. Zingel, Progress in Drug Research, page 166:

Mesocricetus auratus
Mesocricetus auratus#Translingual

especially of species Mesocricetus auratus (the golden hamster) and species of genus Phodopus (dwarf hamsters), often kept as a pet or used in scientific research.

Other rodents of similar appearance, such as the maned hamster or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).


hamster

en-verb

hamster (third-person singular simple present hamsters, present participle hamstering, simple past and past participle hamstered)

hamsters (present singular third-person)
hamstering (participle present)
hamstered (participle past)
hamstered (past)

Probably the city government knew that without that hamstering half the city would starve and they somehow got the police to lay off. It was in the little stinky one-horse towns that you had all the trouble.

1974, Phyllis Knight, Rolf Knight, A Very Ordinary Life, page 43:

[…] in his bedroom in neat stacks — he always hamstered them away upstairs as soon as the morning was done. This year the gifts sat ignored […]

2004, Sharon L. Pywell, What Happened to Henry, page 50:

[…] eastern children frequently “hamstered,” smuggled, and begged across the boundary, especially after currency reform […]

2014, Edith Sheffer, Burned Bridge: How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain:

(transitive, intransitive) To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.


muskrat

Perhaps so called for its musky odour and because it resembles a rat, or perhaps called by an Algonquian name like the Abenaki moskwas, with the spelling altered under the influence of the English words musk and rat.


vole

Borrowed from Norn vollj, from Old Norse vǫllr (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *walþuz (“forest”). The Orkney dialectal term vole mouse, lit. “field mouse”, was introduced to general English by George Barry in 1805; John Fleming in 1828 was first to refer to the creature by the epithet vole alone. Displaced earlier names for these species which also classified them as mice, e.g. short-tailed field mouse.

Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae of the family Cricetidae which are not lemmings or muskrats.

hryzec

(every genus from Arvicolinae has got its specific Czech name); genus Arvicola


squash

en-noun

squash (countable and uncountable, plural squashes)

→ Catalan: esquaix

→ Czech: squash

→ Dutch: kwast

Afrikaans: kwas

→ Finnish: squash

→ French: squash

→ Japanese: スカッシュ (sukasshu)

→ Korean: 스쿼시 (seukwosi)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: squash

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: squash

→ Polish: squash

→ Portuguese: squash

→ Russian: сквош (skvoš)

→ Swedish: squash

From Middle English squachen, squatchen, from Old French esquacher, escachier, from Vulgar Latin *excoāctiāre, from Latin ex + coāctāre. Probably influenced by Middle English quashen, quassen, from Old French esquasser, escasser (“to crush, shatter, destroy, break”), from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex- + quassare (“to shatter”) (see quash).

Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

(uncountable) A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.


squash

squash (countable and uncountable, plural squash or squashes)

Shortening of Narragansett askutasquash (“[a vegetable] eaten green (or raw)”), from askut (“green, raw”) + asquash (“eaten”).

wasawa

plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita

Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita maxima#Translingual

(botany, countable) A plant and its fruit of any of a few species of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd kind.

Cucurbita maxima, including hubbard squash, great winter squash, buttercup squash, and some varieties of pumpkins.

Cucurbita moschata
Cucurbita moschata#Translingual

Cucurbita moschata, butternut squash, Barbary squash, China squash.

Cucurbita pepo
Cucurbita pepo#Translingual

Cucurbita pepo, most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini.


lemming

From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek. Sense 2 derives from a longstanding myth that they exhibit so much herd mentality that populations jump off cliffs to their deaths together.

Lemmings are strongly cohesive, but could be, in organisational terms, highly destructive for the business.

2004, Ilse Hobbs, Jan Havenga, A Practical Guide to Strategy, →ISBN, page 127:

Like a lemming, I followed the crowd, got to the right line and was concentrating hard when queried by the customs officer.

2014, M.P. Fedunkiw, A Degree of Futility, page 61:

follow a leader off a cliff
follow someone off a cliff

(figuratively) Any member of a group given to conformity or groupthink, especially a group poised to follow a leader off a cliff.


microtine

From scientific Latin Microtinae , a subfamily name, from Microtus + -inae.

Any rodent of the former subfamily Microtinae (now Arvicolinae)


field mouse

One of several species of mice in genus Akodon found in South America.


rice rat

A rat of the species Oryzomys palustris, found in rice fields and grassy marshes of Mexico, Central America and the southern United States.


hammy

en-adj

hammy (comparative hammier, superlative hammiest)

hammier (comparative)
hammiest (superlative)

McDonald & Dodds is back, with episode one so deliberately hammy and meta that, technically, it should have been a complete horlicks. In one scene, when they were all hanging on to the balloon ropes, Mr Bean-like, to stop Jason Watkins flying away, it sort of was.

2021 March 1, Carol Midgley, “McDonald & Dodds review – cheerful escapism and filth-free distraction”, in The Times:

Amateurish; characterized by overacting.


hammy

He put his palms flat on the ground, then grabbed the back of his knees, stretching his hammies for the millionth time that morning.

1999, Melissa Lucashenko, Hard Yards, University of Queensland Press, page 129:

“A move like this would have been inpossible for me before yoga,” he said. “Flexibilty-wise, I was struggling. My hammies were tight, my groin was tight. My hips have really benefited.”

2003, John Capouya, Real Men Do Yoga: 21 Star Athletes Reveal Their Secrets for Strength, Flexibility and Peak Performance, page 150:

I've noticed that although cycling keeps me reasonably "cardio fit", I am losing general flexibility, e.g. when touching my toes. This is despite me stretching my quads, calves, and hammies during and after my training rides.

2003 June 10, Andrew Swan, “Good complementary exercise to cycling?”, in aus.bicycle (Usenet):

2004, J. L. Roberts, Braggin' Rights: Fantasy Football Rewind 2004 (2003 Season Recap), AuthorHouse USA, page 83,
A slow start and hammy injury were major contributors.

(US, Australia, New Zealand, chiefly sports, slang) The hamstring.

A: I′m only just getting fully fit now after that hammy [hamstring tear].

2000, Mark B. Andersen, Doing Sport Psychology, page 96:

Why he went back on after 3/4 time is beyond me. If he was trying to prove a point he has all season to do that not do your hammy in the first game.

2009 March 26, Phil, “So Cousins does a hammy”, in aus.sport.aussie-rules (Usenet):

(US, Australia, New Zealand, chiefly sports, slang) A hamstring injury.


water rat

From water + rat. Compare Saterland Frisian Woaterrotte, West Frisian wetterrôt, Dutch waterrat, German Low German Waterrötte, Waterrött, German Wasserratte, Danish vandrotte, Swedish vattenråtta, Icelandic vatnsrotta.


golden hamster

A small rodent of species Mesocricetus auratus, popular as a pet and used for scientific research.


packrat

en-verb

packrat (third-person singular simple present packrats, present participle packratting, simple past and past participle packratted)

packrats (present singular third-person)
packratting (participle present)
packratted (participle past)
packratted (past)

(colloquial, transitive, intransitive) To hoard things.


Chinese hamster

en-noun

Chinese hamster (plural Chinese hamsters)

Any of species Cricetulus griseus of hamsters originating in the deserts of northern China and Mongolia.


wood lemming

wood + lemming; from the animal's native habitat in forests

Any of species Myopus schisticolor of lemmings.


Norway lemming

Lemmus lemmus
Lemmus lemmus#Translingual

A lemming of species Lemmus lemmus, endemic of northern Scandinavia and northern Russia.


musquash

From Abenaki moskwas (or its Massachusett equivalent). Compare musquaw.

[…] Muſquaſhes, vvhich be much like a Beaver for ſhape, but nothing neare ſo bigge; the male hath tvvo ſtones vvhich ſmell as ſvveete as Muske, […]

1634, William Wood, “Beasts Living in the Water”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 25:

Ondatra zibethicus
Ondatra zibethicus#Translingual


southern vole

A species of vole, Microtus levis (syns. Microtus rossiaemeridionalis, Microtus epiroticus)


common vole

Microtus arvalis
Microtus arvalis#Translingual


grey red-backed vole

grey red-backed vole (plural grey red-backed voles)

A vole of species Myodes rufocanus, former genus names Chletrionomys and Evotomys.


bank vole

A vole of species Myodes glareolus (former genus names Chletrionomys and Evotomys), of much of western Eurasia.


tundra vole

A vole of species Microtus oeconomus, found throughout the Arctic.


field vole

A vole of species Microtus agrestis, of cool-temperate western Eurasia.


European water vole

European water vole (plural European water voles)

Arvicola amphibius
Arvicola amphibius#Translingual

Arvicola terrestris
Arvicola terrestris#Translingual

A species of vole, Arvicola amphibius, formerly Arvicola terrestris.


harvest mouse

A New World mouse of the genus Reithrodontomys.


pack rat

Any of several small North American rodents, of the genus Neotoma, that have bushy tails.


water vole

Any of three Old World vole species: European water vole (Arvicola amphibius, formerly Arvicola terrestris), montane water vole (Arvicola scherman), or southwestern water vole (Arvicola sapidus).


arvicole

From Latin arvum (“field”) + colo (“I inhabit”); compare Italian arvicola.

A single species, A. quasiater, is known from Mexico. Evotomys rutilus, a form very closely related to the arvicoles, inhabits the circumpolar regions of both hemispheres.

1887, Angelo Heilprin, The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals, page 356:

(zoology, dated) field mouse (US, Canada), vole


northern red-backed vole

northern red-backed vole (plural northern red-backed voles)

Myodes rutilus
Myodes rutilus#Translingual

A species of vole, Myodes rutilus, former genus names Clethrionomys and Evotomys.


campagnol

Borrowed from French campagnol (“vole”), from campagne (“field”).

The dormice are distinguished from the campagnols by the superior softness of the fur, and the greater length of the tail.

1819, The Edinburgh magazine and literary miscellany, volume 83, page 505:

(archaic) A vole (US, Canada: field mouse), Microtus agrestis that often does great damage in fields and gardens by feeding on roots and seeds.


Stoliczka's mountain vole

Stoliczka's mountain vole (plural Stoliczka's mountain voles)

A species of rodent, Alticola stoliczkanus, found in the Himalayan region.


oryzomyine

Any member of the rodent tribe Oryzomyini, including the rice rats.


sigmodont

Ancient Greek σῖγμα (sîgma) + ὀδών (odṓn, “tooth”). So called from the form of the ridges of enamel on the crowns of the worn molars.

(zoology) Any of the Sigmodontinae subfamily of rodents, including New World rats and mice.


cricetid

(zoology) Any member of the Cricetidae, a family of rodents.


arvicolid

(zoology) Any member of the cricetid subfamily Arvicolinae, formerly considered to be the family Arvicolidae.


meadow vole

Microtus pennsylvanicus
Microtus pennsylvanicus#Translingual

A small rodent (Microtus pennsylvanicus), native to the United States.


Djungarian hamster

Djungarian hamster (plural Djungarian hamsters)

Phodopus sungorus, a dwarf hamster with a typically thick, dark grey dorsal stripe and furry feet.


mountain vole

Voles typically found in high-altitude environments, principally in genera Alticola and Neodon.


fish-eating rat

fish-eating rat (plural fish-eating rats)

A New World rat of the genus Neusticomys.


oldfield mouse

* (Peromyscus polionotus): ?
* (Thomasomys): Named for Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (1858 – 1929), a British zoologist.

In the wild, deer mice and oldfield mice never interbreed.

2017 April 19, Carl Zimmer, “Why Are Some Mice (and People) Monogamous? A Study Points to Genes”, in The New York Times:

Peromyscus polionotus, a nocturnal rodent in the family Cricetidae, found in the southeastern United States.


cotton rat

Any member of the rodent tribe Sigmodontini, that build their nests from cotton, and can damage cotton crops.


cotton mouse

Peromyscus gossypinus, an omnivorous rodent of the southeastern United States, often using cotton for nest construction.


deer mouse

Peromyscus maniculatus
Peromyscus maniculatus#Translingual

Any of the muroid rodents in the genus Peromyscus, especially Peromyscus maniculatus.

Many of the muroid rodents with notable jumping capability within the subfamily Neotominae (family Cricetidae), including all species in the genera Peromyscus and Habromys, as well as some species in several others.


maned rat

Lophiomys imhausi, a nocturnal, long-haired and bushy-tailed East African rodent that superficially resembles a porcupine.


sigmodontine

These are not minor issues because the regional extinctions of small mammals are a widespread phenomenon in southern South America and have involved several sigmodontine and caviomorph rodent species.

2015 July 24, “Regional Extinctions and Quaternary Shifts in the Geographic Range of Lestodelphys halli, the Southernmost Living Marsupial: Clues for Its Conservation”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(zoology) Any rodent of the subfamily Sigmodontinae


marsh rice rat

Oryzomys palustris, a semiaquatic North American rodent in the family Cricetidae, mostly found in wetland habitats.


white-footed mouse

white-footed mouse (plural white-footed mice)

Peromyscus leucopus
Peromyscus leucopus#Translingual

An American rodent of species Peromyscus leucopus, a reservoir for Borrelia burgdorferi, the cause of Lyme disease.


winter white Russian hamster

winter white Russian hamster (plural winter white Russian hamsters)

A Djungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus).


hairy-soled conyrat

hairy-soled conyrat (plural hairy-soled conyrats)


bunny rat

A species of rodent, Reithrodon auritus, found in southern South America.


Coues' rice rat

Coues' rice rat (plural Coues' rice rats)

Named in honor of American naturalist Elliott Coues.

Oryzomys couesi, a semiaquatic rodent in the family Cricetidae occurring from southernmost Texas through Mexico and Central America into northwestern Colombia.


grasshopper mouse

grasshopper mouse (plural grasshopper mice)

Any of the genus Onychomys of rodents, found in North America.


scapteromyine

Any rat of the former tribe Scapteromyini (now Akodontini)


neotomid

Any muroid rodent of the subfamily Neotominae


European snow vole

European snow vole (plural European snow voles)

Chionomys nivalis, a species of rodent found in mountainous regions.


Baker's small-toothed harvest mouse

Baker's small-toothed harvest mouse (plural Baker's small-toothed harvest mice)

Baker's small-toothed harvest mice (plural)

Reithrodontomys bakeri, a species of Mexican harvest mouse.


painted bristly mouse

painted bristly mouse (plural painted bristly mice)

Neacomys pictus, a species of Panamanian bristly mouse.


Schidlovsky's vole

Schidlovsky's vole (plural Schidlovsky's voles)

Microtus schidlovskii, a species of vole rodent.


Siberian hamster

Siberian hamster (plural Siberian hamsters)

Djungarian hamster
Djungarian hamster#English


Siberian dwarf hamster

Siberian dwarf hamster (plural Siberian dwarf hamsters)


Russian winter white dwarf hamster

Russian winter white dwarf hamster (plural Russian winter white dwarf hamsters)

Russian winter white dwarf hamsters (plural)


bristly mouse

A small, spiny-furred rodent of South America, genus Neacomys


cactus mouse

A rodent of species Peromyscus eremicus, native to desert areas of western North America.


cactus deermouse

cactus deermouse (plural cactus deermice)

Synonym of cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus)


crab-eating rat

crab-eating rat (plural crab-eating rats)

Ichthyomys hydrobates, a species of rat found in northern South America.