Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The ground squirrel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A rodent quadruped of the genus Spermophilus, as a ground-squirrel or suslik, of which there are numerous species in Europe, Asia, and North America. See cuts under suslik and Spermophilus.
  • noun A fringilline bird of the genus Spermophila; a little seed-eater, of which there are numerous Central and South American species. See cut under grassquit.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any ground squirrel of the genus Spermophilus; a gopher. See Illust. under gopher.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A terrestrial burrowing rodent; ground squirrel

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From spermo- + -phile, hence, "seed-lover".

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Examples

  • In the Middle West, especially in Indiana, the little spermophile, sometimes called the ground-squirrel, is common and not afraid to venture into the outskirts of a village.

    On the Trail An Outdoor Book for Girls Lina Beard 1888

  • But for the poor spermophile nothing I could do in the way of revival was of any avail.

    The Story of My Boyhood and Youth John Muir 1876

  • Every boy and girl loves the little fairy, airy striped chipmunk, half squirrel, half spermophile.

    The Story of My Boyhood and Youth John Muir 1876

  • Strange that no squirrel or spermophile I yet have found ever seemed to have anything like enough of Scotch religion to enjoy this grand old tune.

    Travels in Alaska John Muir 1876

Comments

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  • get your minds out of the gutter, perverts

    :)

    December 8, 2008