rodentialadj.
/rə(ʊ)ˈdɛnʃl/, U.S. /roʊˈdɛn(t)ʃ(ə)l/ Of or relating to rodents; resembling or characteristic of a rodent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [adjective] > of or relating to rodents
rodent1830
rodential1832
rodentian1846
sciuroid1850
1832 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom XV. 299 Neuroptera, that undergo a semi-metamorphosis, all terrestrial, active, carnivorous, or rodential, in all states.
1837 Mag. Nat. Hist. 1 523 The very superior development of the central pair [of upper incisors]..makes the Phalangers and Petaurists in some degree rodential animals.
1890 Nature 26 June 193/1 The dingo and several other, chiefly rodential, placental mammals.
1924 C. C. Willoughby Indian Burial Place at Winthrop 263 The true edge is less vestigial than in most rodential pelves.
1990 Behaviour 113 28 The physical anatomy of different rodents shows variation along a shared rodential pattern.
Derivatives
roˈdentially adv. like that of a rodent; in a way suggestive of a rodent; (in extended use) with respect to the use of a computer mouse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [adverb]
rodentially1892
1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Aug. 2/2 A nose rodentially keen.
1996 D. F. Wallace Supposedly Fun Thing I'll never do Again (1997) 252 Enqvist..looks eerily like a young Richard Chamberlain..with this narrow, sort of rodentially patrician quality.
1999 M. Tulloch Microsoft Exchange Server iv. 274 Sets the focus on the split bar between the two window panes—for the rodentially challenged, I guess, since you can also just point to it and drag.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1832