hamster
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˈhæm(p)stɚ/
Noun

hamster (plural hamsters)

  1. Any of various Old-World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.
    1. especially, the golden hamster, Mesocricetus auratus, and the dwarf hamsters of genus Phodopus, often kept as a pets and used in scientific research.
      The hamster stuffed his puffy cheeks with food.
  2. Other rodents of similar appearance, such as the maned hamster or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).
Synonyms
  • (golden hamster) Syrian hamster
Translations Verb

hamster (hamsters, present participle hamstering; past and past participle hamstered)

  1. (ambitransitive) To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.
    Synonyms: stash
    • 1974, Phyllis Knight, ‎Rolf Knight, A Very Ordinary Life (page 43)
      Probably the city government knew that without that hamstering half the city would starve and they somehow got the police to lay off. It was in the little stinky one-horse towns that you had all the trouble.



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