COTTONTAIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cottontail mean? 

• COTTONTAIL (noun)
  The noun COTTONTAIL has 1 sense:

1. common small rabbit of North America having greyish or brownish fur and a tail with a white underside; a host for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks)

  Familiarity information: COTTONTAIL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COTTONTAIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Common small rabbit of North America having greyish or brownish fur and a tail with a white underside; a host for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

cottontail; cottontail rabbit; wood rabbit

Hypernyms ("cottontail" is a kind of...):

coney; cony; rabbit (any of various burrowing animals of the family Leporidae having long ears and short tails; some domesticated and raised for pets or food)

Meronyms (parts of "cottontail"):

hare; rabbit (flesh of any of various rabbits or hares (wild or domesticated) eaten as food)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cottontail"):

eastern cottontail; Sylvilagus floridanus (widely distributed in United States except northwest and far west regions)

canecutter; swamp hare; swamp rabbit; Sylvilagus aquaticus (a wood rabbit of southeastern United States swamps and lowlands)

marsh hare; swamp rabbit; Sylvilagus palustris (a wood rabbit of marshy coastal areas from North Carolina to Florida)

Holonyms ("cottontail" is a member of...):

genus Sylvilagus; Sylvilagus (North American rabbits)

 Context examples 

But the other animals—the squirrels, and quail, and cottontails, were creatures of the Wild who had never yielded allegiance to man.

(White Fang, by Jack London)