meerkatn.
/ˈmɪəkat/, U.S. /ˈmɪ(ə)rˌkæt/, South African English /ˈmɪəkæt/ Originally South African.
Any of several small, agile mammals found in southern Africa, such as the mongooses Cynictis penicillata and Mungos mungo, the African ground squirrel, Xerus inauris, and the zorilla, Ictonyx striatus. Now: esp. the suricate, Suricata suricatta, a gregarious burrowing mongoose with dark bands on the back and a black-tipped tail.
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the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > monkey
apea700
mercat1481
jackanapesa1529
monkey1530
pug1598
puggy1662
meerkat1801
monkey-man1819
monk1841
simian1861
Moloch1929
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Carnivora > [noun] > family Herpestidae > genus Suricata (meerkat)
four-toed weasel1771
suricate1780
meerkat1801
zenick1801
1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. 231 Upon those parched plains are also found a great variety of small quadrupeds that burrow in the ground, and which are known to the colonists under the general name of meer-cats.
1826 A. Smith Catal. S. Afr. Mus. 32 Meer Kat of the Dutch. Ryzæna Surikatta of the Naturalists.
1835 Trans. Zool. Soc. 1 34 The name Meer-kat..is of very general acceptation in South Africa, being applied indifferently to the present species [sc. Cynictis], the Cape Herpestes, Ground Squirrels, and various other burrowing animals.
1890 A. Martin Home Life Ostrich Farm 158 There are two kinds of meerkats; one red, with a bushy tail like that of a squirrel, the other grey, with a pointed tail, and it is this latter kind which makes so charming a pet.
1897 A. Page Afternoon Ride 62 Meerkat skins sewn together, as pouches for tobacco.
a1920 O. Schreiner Thoughts on S. Afr. (1923) 19 There was a possibility that the red African mier-kat might ultimately creep back into its hole in the red African earth.
1930 S. T. Plaatje Mhudi xx. 181 As she picked her way along the hillside, she frightened several coveys of meercats.
1949 Cape Argus 3 Sept. (Mag.) 1/9 To most people it is just a ‘mierkat’, but in reality it is a rodent, a squirrel, and quite different from the insect-eating, slender-tailed mierkat that is to be found in the same vicinity.
1952 Cape Times 12 Nov. 2/6 Two of the deaths followed meerkat bites.
1986 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 20 July 15/7 Nothing much happens in the vast open spaces of the Karoo... Sheep wander about aimlessly..and meercats play hide-and-seek among the dried-out bushes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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