hamster

CEFRA2

/ˈhæm(p)stə/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small furry animal often kept as a pet.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Any of various Old World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.

Examples

  • My hamster has a swollen testicle on one side.

  • This hamster is small enough to carry in your pocket.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈham(p)stə/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. In particular, a rodent of the species Mesocricetus auratus (the golden hamster) or of a species of the genera Cricetiscus and Phodopus (the dwarf hamsters), often kept as a pet or used in scientific research.

  2. Any of various 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).

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.

More examples

In context

  • The hamster stuffed his puffy cheeks with food.

  • 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.

  • […] eastern children frequently “hamstered,” smuggled, and begged across the boundary, especially after currency reform […]

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

My little sister keeps a small blank in a cage with a wheel.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from German Hamster (see for etymology). Displaced earlier term German rat.