Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The common wild rat of India, Mus rufescens, which frequents the roofs of houses.
- noun A West Indian arboreal rodent of either of the genera Capromys and Plagiodon. See cuts under
pilori-rat and Plagiodon.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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None of these species now occurs in the southwest Kimberley, although the golden-backed tree-rat and golden bandicoot are still present in the rugged north Kimberley.
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The tree-rat then jumped in through the mouth of the jack-o-lantern, bushy tail vanishing between the teeth, and then popped up through the lid to keep a beady rodent-eye on me until I had passed beyond safe distance...
And sunshine yet again jhetley 2007
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Several mammal species, including bilby (Macrotis lagotis VU), northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), pale field-rat (Rattus tunneyi), golden-backed tree-rat, and golden bandicoot have declined, especially in the lower rainfall lowland portions of this ecoregion.
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He saw older hare tracks, expanded by the faint heat of the midday sun, tree-rat tracks, but nothing larger or newer.
Fall of Angels Modesitt, L. E. 1996
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'That tree-rat,' he said suddenly (he always called them'tree-rats ', on the grounds that people were too sentimental to shoot the dear little squirrels),' it reminded me of a very peculiar experience that happened shortly before I retired.
Of Time and Stars Clarke, Arthur C. 1972
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'If you'll excuse me a moment, I'm going to have another shot at that tree-rat.
Of Time and Stars Clarke, Arthur C. 1972
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Tom stepped softly out of a nearby thicket, licking his chops and apparently thinking of the delicate lunch of fat tree-rat he had just eaten.
Dick in the Everglades A. W. Dimock
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He calls it "the white-bellied tree-rat of Ceylon," and he states that it lives on trees or in the ceiling of houses in preference to the lower parts.
Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Robert Armitage Sterndale 1870
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One of the studies declining species: the black-footed tree-rat (Mesembriomys gouldii).
Mongabay.com News 2010
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"very numerous in the coast country around Roebuck Bay ... great numbers being brought to me"; and for the golden-backed tree-rat (Mesembriomys macrurus) "the houses of settlers ... are always tenanted by (this species)".
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