muskratn.adj.
/ˈmʌskrat/, U.S. /ˈməskˌræt/ 1.
a. A large semiaquatic rodent, Ondatra zibethicus (family Muridae), with a laterally flattened tail, found in lakes, rivers, and wetlands throughout much of North America and (as naturalized populations) in Europe and Asia, and highly valued for its fur. Also called musquash.The muskrat has perineal glands that produce a musky secretion.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Ondatra (musk-rat)
water rat1481
rat1584
mussascus1612
muskrat1615
musquash1616
squash1678
Muscovy rat1693
musk beaver1771
Ondatra1774
rat-tailed shrew1827
mushrat1842
beaver-rat1884
musky1884
1615 R. Hamor True Disc. Present Estate Virginia 20 The Land is stored with plenty and variety of wilde beasts..Beauers, Otters, Foxes, Racounes, almost as big as a Fox..wild Cats, muske rats, [etc.].
1620 Observ. Silkwormes D 2 b Muske Rats skins, two shillings a dozen: the cods of them will serue for good perfumes.
1694 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 18 123 Musk-rats in all things shaped like our Water-rats, only Something larger, and is an absolute Species of Water-rats, only having a curious musky scent.
1714 J. Lawson Hist. Carolina 120 Musk Rats frequent fresh Streams and no other; as the Bever does. He has a Cod of Musk, which is valuable, as is likewise his Fur.
1778 J. Carver Trav. N.-Amer. 455 The Musquash or Musk-rat, is so termed for the exquisite musk it affords.
1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 72 He was a lucky fox that left his tail in the trap. The muskrat will gnaw his third leg off to be free.
1892 W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 25 Musk-rats swam in all the little creeks and lakes.
1924 M. H. Mason Arctic Forests 14 The Rabbitskins believed that the earth was conceived through some mysterious workings of a musk-rat and a beaver.
1946 Harper's Mag. Dec. 495/1 Less publicized but equally serious..have been the introduction of the mongoose into the West Indies [and] the American muskrat into Europe.
1992 BBC Wildlife Jan. 48/3 In North America, the muskrat (the bearer of musquash fur) is perhaps the mink's most important mammal prey.
b. The pelt or thick glossy fur of a muskrat. Also attributive or as adj. Cf. musquash n. 2.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > skin with hair attached or fur > [noun] > of musk-rat
muskrat1666
Russia musquash1882
musquash1884
musquash sealskin1902
Hudson Bay seal1914
1666 G. Alsop Char. Province Maryland 49 Furrs and Skins, as Beavers, Otters, Musk-Rats,..were first made vendible by the Indians of the Country, and sold to the Inhabitant [sic].
1822 in T. L. McKenney Memoirs (1846) I. 288 Mr Kennerly sold, of the parcel which was destined to this market..rackoon, muskrat, and beaver.
1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 838/2 Musk-Rat.—A well-known fur in North America.
1892 Scribner's Mag. Jan. 124/2 She wore a queer little muskrat cap with a fur tail bobbing down her neck.
1902 Scotsman 3 Jan. 7/5 Musk-rat is the least costly, being worth only about 2d.
1933 F. P. Grove Fruits of Earth ii. xvii. 198 He sat..in an old raccoon coat and a wedge-shaped cap of muskrat.
1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor iii. v. 556 The boarders were dressed almost identically in deerskin matchcoats and hats of beaver, raccoon, or muskrat.
1962 W. Stegner Wolf Willow iii. iii. 230 Crouching in the trench in his muskrat cap, he looked like some digging animal.
1963 North Sept.–Oct. 36 Coming home from the trapline, the toboggan will hold..furs, which include lynx, marten, minx, beaver, muskrat, [etc.].
2.
a. Any of various other small mammals with a musky smell, such as a musk shrew or a desman.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > [noun] > order Insectivora > family Soricidae > genus Crocidura (musk-shrew)
muskrat1681
musk shrew1834
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > [noun] > order Insectivora > family Talpidae > genus Desmana (desman)
desman1774
muskrat1774
water mole1845
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Hystricomorpha (porcupine or guinea-pig) > [noun] > family Capromyidae (hutia)
pilori1763
musk cavy1771
muskrat1774
coypu1793
nutria1811
hutia1834
hog-rat1847
tree-rat1885
the world > animals > mammals > group Implacenta > subclass Marsupialia (marsupials) > [noun] > family Macropodidae > genus Hypsiprymnodon (musk-kangaroo)
muskrat1892
musk kangaroo1894
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon 31 They have a sort of Rats, they call Musk-Rats, because they smell strong of Musk.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 78 The Musk Rat. Of these animals of the rat kind, but with a musky smell, there are also three distinctions..the Ondatra, the Desman, and the Pilori.
1785 Gentleman's Mag. 55 i. 204 A little animal, very frequent in these parts, totally unknown I believe, to other countries. It is called here [sc. in Russia] the Musk-rat.
1813 J. Forbes Oriental Mem. I. iii. 41 The musk-rats [at Bombay]..have a most disagreeable smell.
1836 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 133/1 One of the largest and most destructive rats..is the pilori, or musk-rat of the Antilles (Mus pilorides).
1884 R. A. Sterndale Nat. Hist. Mammalia India & Ceylon 83 Sorex cærulescens. The common Musk Shrew, better known as Musk-rat.
1890 Cent. Dict. Muskrat, a viverrine quadruped, the South African genet, Genetta felina.
1892 J. D. Ogilby Catal. Austral. Mammals 38 Hypsiprymnodon moschatus Ramsay (1876). Australian Musk Rat.
1980 S. H. Prater Bk. Indian Animals (ed. 3) 168 The pointed snout, depressed ears, and teeth at once distinguish these shrews from rats, with which the present species [sc. Suncus murinus] is commonly confused, hence its popular, though erroneous, name ‘musk rat’.
b. U.S. A rodent, Neofiber alleni (family Muridae), resembling the muskrat (sense 1a) but smaller and with a round tail, found in swamps and wetlands of Florida and Georgia. More fully round-tailed muskrat.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Muridae > other types of mouse or rat
rock rat1781
Otomys1834
rabbit rat1837
deer-mouse1840
bamboo rat1881
muskrat1884
sigmodont1884
grasshopper mouse1888
veld rat1905
striped mouse1932
Sprague-Dawley1951
1884 F. W. True in Science 11 July 34/1 I have not yet received any particulars regarding the habits of this Floridan muskrat.
1917 Mammals Amer. 256 While called a Muskrat, this less familiar animal occupies a group by itself, intermediate between the smaller Mice and its big cousin the common Musk-rat.
1960 H. S. Zim Guide to Everglades 23 Round-tailed muskrat is not the southern fur-bearer but is a smaller mammal nesting in mangrove roots and in marsh grasses.
1996 Florida Field Naturalist 24 93 Numbers of prey items declined over the study period, particularly the more wetland-dependent species, rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) and round-tailed muskrat (Neofiber alleni).
3. U.S. colloquial (usually derogatory). A person thought to resemble a muskrat in some way; spec. an inhabitant of a low-lying district, esp. the state of Delaware or the St Clair Flats, Michigan.
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the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of North America > native or inhabitant of U.S.A. > [noun] > parts of
New Englander1637
bayman1641
New English1647
Novangle1650
Novanglian1752
Yankee1765
cracker1766
Yank?1778
bushwhacker1809
tuckahoe1816
southerner1817
Yengees1819
muskrat1823
blue belly1827
half horse and half alligator1828
Southron1828
northerner1831
westerner1835
Northman1836
Easterner1838
Far-Wester1843
southwesterner1845
western1846
sand-hiller1848
Vineyarder1851
mountain boomer1859
Far Westerner1862
blue-nosed Yankee1866
Appalachian1888
sloper1892
Ozarkian1893
rebel1895
reb1897
Middle Westerner1899
hillbilly1900
Midwesterner1916
Ozarker1920
Geechee1926
Middle American1944
upstater1944
Mid-American1959
1823 J. K. Paulding Koningsmarke I. iv. ii. 1203 ‘Delawares, Minks, Mingoes, Muskrats, and Mud Turtles, listen!’ said the Heer, feeling all the dignity of his situation.
1845 in C. Cist Cincinnati Misc. 240 The inhabitants of..Delaware [are called] Muskrats.
1863 Ladies' Repository Sept. 567/2 The inhabitants of Maine are called Foxes;..Delaware, Muskrats.
1890 Cent. Mag. July 369/2 Her grandmother..having a profound contempt for the ‘muskrats’ as the Flats people are generally called.
1949 Amer. Speech 24 27 To this list may be added..Fox for a Maine man, Muskrat for a Delawarean.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
muskrat burrow n.
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1870 Amer. Naturalist 4 385 This fish, when the bank was carelessly approached, would withdraw to a deserted muskrat burrow.
1973 Amer. Midland Naturalist 89 211 The dens were distributed around the marsh edge, and most were abandoned muskrat burrows.
muskrat skin n.
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1642 in Arch. Maryland (1887) IV. 99 2. musk-rat skins.
1796 E. P. Simcoe Diary (1911) 315 We..slept well,..but the smell of musk-rat skins..was disagreeable.
1823 in T. L. McKenney Memoirs (1846) I. App. 296 Furs and other articles..to wit,..2,500 muskrat skins, [etc.].
1988 Science 2 Sept. 1173/1 The harvest of muskrat skins in the Amu Dar'ya Delta has fallen to 2,500 per year from 650,000 in 1960.
C2.
muskrat house n. a mound-like structure made by a muskrat for shelter, consisting of reed mace and other vegetation held together with mud.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Ondatra (musk-rat) > burrow or resting-place
musquash hole1835
muskrat house1837
musquash housea1862
push-up1933
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville I. 277 They found the swamp full of ‘muskrat houses’.
1962 W. Stegner Wolf Willow iii. ii. 150 They had seen muskrat houses built six feet high in the sloughs—and when the rats built high you could depend on a hard winter.
1988 L. Eldrich Tracks (1989) v. 128 He saw a trail of those mink who tried to hide inside a muskrat house, and trapped them that same afternoon.
muskrat weed n. (a) any of several poisonous North American plants of the family Apiaceae ( Umbelliferae) , esp. a water hemlock, Cicuta maculata (cf. musquash weed n. (a) at musquash n. Compounds 2); (b) a tall North American meadow rue, Thalictrum polygamum.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Ranunculaceae (crowfoot and allies) > [noun] > thalictrum or meadow rue
feathered columbine1629
meadow rue1648
meadow rhubarb1656
Thalictrum1664
rue anemone1817
muskrat weed1830
fen-rue1863
feather-columbine1878
1830 C. S. Rafinesque Med. Flora U.S. II. 264 Water parsnip. Several wild sp...S[ium] rugosum, called Muskrat weed, because muskrats feed on it, and the Indians bait the traps with it.
1892 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 5 91 Thalictrum polygamum, muskrat-weed; musquash weed.
1964 J. M. Kingsbury Poisonous Plants U.S. 373 Water hemlock... A profusion of common names, locally applied, has resulted. Among such names are..muskrat weed.
1976 Hortus Third (L. H. Bailey Hortorium) 1105/1 Thalictrum polygamum... Muskrat weed, king-of-the-meadow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1615