Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various nocturnal, usually arboreal marsupials of the family Didelphidae of the Americas, especially Didelphis virginiana of North and Central America, having a thick coat, a long snout, and a long prehensile tail.
- noun A possum of Australia and adjacent islands.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An American marsupial mammal of the family Didelphyidæ (which see for technical characters).
- noun A name of sundry other marsupials: as, the ursine opossum (that is, the ursine dasyure); the vulpine opossum (the vulpine phalangist).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any American marsupial of the genera Didelphys and Chironectes; called also
possum . The common species of the United States isDidelphys Virginiana . - noun (Zoöl.) See Flying mouse, under
Flying . - noun (Zoöl.) any schizopod crustacean of the genus Mysis and allied genera. See
Schizopoda .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun zoology Any
American marsupial of thegenera Didelphys and Chironectes. The common species of the United States is Didelphys virginiana.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun nocturnal arboreal marsupial having a naked prehensile tail found from southern North America to northern South America
- noun small furry Australian arboreal marsupials having long usually prehensile tails
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word opossum.
Examples
-
The penis of the male opossum is bifurcated or forked.
-
The common opossum is the size of a house cat, with a long, pointed nose, round ears, short legs, and is predominantly grey in color.
-
This endemic opossum is found in this ecoregion and others in dry forests in northern Colombia and Venezuela.
-
The common opossum is the size of a house cat, with a long, pointed nose, round ears, short legs, and is predominantly grey in color.
-
Because of this pouch-like structure, Mysis is sometimes called the opossum shrimp.
Crustacea 2008
-
Superficially, mysidaceans look much like small shrimp, and since they have a ventral marsupium, they are often called opossum shrimp.
Crustacea 2008
-
Superficially, mysidaceans look much like small shrimp, and since they have a ventral marsupium, they are often called opossum shrimp.
-
Because of this pouch-like structure, Mysis is sometimes called the opossum shrimp.
-
This opossum, which is black and white, swims in the streams like a muskrat or otter, catching fish and living in burrows which open under water.
-
Among them is the American opossum, which is abundant, and is highly prized as an article of food.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913
bilby commented on the word opossum
Jesus had 12 of these.
March 12, 2009
sionnach commented on the word opossum
How many of them had opossable thumbs as well as prehensile tails.
opossokurtic - a distribution with a large prehensile tail that lives in the Vatican and is called Pedro.
March 12, 2009
lea commented on the word opossum
Jesus was one of the first animal communicators.
March 12, 2009
bilby commented on the word opossum
But he had noted difficulties comprehending vegetables, leading to his betrayal by Judas Atastycarrot. Or was it Judas Asparagus, I was dozing off in Sunday school.
March 12, 2009
lea commented on the word opossum
PS. I didn't listen in Sunday school either, but I have learned later, that The Asparagus in question did what He told him to do. The 12 Opossums were successfully 'potty trained' and it was time to go back Home, for new adventures, ay.
March 12, 2009
bilby commented on the word opossum
Ah.
March 12, 2009
dontcry commented on the word opossum
I think Eve might have been the very first... animal communicator,that is, not opossum!
March 14, 2009