Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various mammals of the order Rodentia, such as a mouse, rat, squirrel, or beaver, characterized by large incisors used for gnawing or nibbling.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Gnawing, as certain mammals; habitually feeding upon vegetable substances, which are gnawed or bitten first with the front teeth; pertaining to the Rodentia, Rosores, or Glires, or having their characters; gliriform.
  • noun A member of the order Rodentia, Rosores, or Glires; a rodent mammal; a gnawer.

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

  • adjective Gnawing; biting; corroding; (Med.) applied to a destructive variety of cancer or ulcer.
  • adjective Gnawing.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the Rodentia.
  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the Rodentia.

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

  • noun A mammal of the order Rodentia, characterized by long incisors that grow continuously and are worn down by gnawing.

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

  • noun relatively small placental mammals having a single pair of constantly growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Rōdentia, order name, from Latin rōdēns, rōdent-, present participle of rōdere, to gnaw; see rēd- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin rōdēns ("gnawer; one who gnaws"), present participle of rōdō ("I gnaw").

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Examples

  • UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best thing it do is what we call rodent proofing.

    CNN Transcript Mar 17, 2007 2007

  • GOLDBLATT: The best thing to do is what we call rodent proofing.

    CNN Transcript Sep 2, 2006 2006

  • GOLDBLATT: The best thing to do is what we call rodent-proofing.

    CNN Transcript Jul 1, 2006 2006

  • The son of a poor blacksmith in rural Manitoba, Mr. Barker joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in November, 1914, and endured what he called the "rodent life" in the trenches near Ypres and Flanders.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed MICHAEL POSNER 2011

  • The son of a poor blacksmith in rural Manitoba, Mr. Barker joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in November, 1914, and endured what he called the "rodent life" in the trenches near Ypres and Flanders.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed MICHAEL POSNER 2011

  • The son of a poor blacksmith in rural Manitoba, Mr. Barker joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in November, 1914, and endured what he called the "rodent life" in the trenches near Ypres and Flanders.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed MICHAEL POSNER 2011

  • The son of a poor blacksmith in rural Manitoba, Mr. Barker joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in November, 1914, and endured what he called the "rodent life" in the trenches near Ypres and Flanders.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed MICHAEL POSNER 2011

  • A cat killing a small rodent is not a cause for alarm as regards the psychological health of the cat. zombieite

    The mysteries of rabies Boing Boing 2009

  • From the motion of the molecules of the air that we breathe, to the spinning of our spherical planet that assures that the sun will rise tomorrow in the east, to the geological forces that cause fossils of seashells to be found on mountaintops, to the neurological tags that determine why one species of rodent is promiscuous and why another mates forlife ...

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Sex Education, Dirty Words, and the Due Process Clause 2010

  • Done thoroughly, every last destructive insect or rodent is sent to varmint hell - and in a day or two, the grand house is habitable again.

    Terry Krepel: Pat Boone, Obama-Hater Terry Krepel 2010

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