GNAWER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gnawer mean? 

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

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

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• GNAWER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relatively small placental mammals having a single pair of constantly growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

gnawer; rodent

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

eutherian; eutherian mammal; placental; placental mammal (mammals having a placenta; all mammals except monotremes and marsupials)

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

mountain paca (rodent of mountains of western South America)

marmot (stocky coarse-furred burrowing rodent with a short bushy tail found throughout the northern hemisphere; hibernates in winter)

beaver (large semiaquatic rodent with webbed hind feet and a broad flat tail; construct complex dams and underwater lodges)

Aplodontia rufa; mountain beaver; sewellel (bulky nocturnal burrowing rodent of uplands of the Pacific coast of North America; the most primitive living rodent)

cavy (short-tailed rough-haired South American rodent)

Dolichotis patagonum; mara (hare-like rodent of the pampas of Argentina)

capibara; capybara; Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (pig-sized tailless South American amphibious rodent with partly webbed feet; largest living rodent)

agouti; Dasyprocta aguti (agile long-legged rabbit-sized rodent of Central America and South America and the West Indies; valued as food)

Cuniculus paca; paca (large burrowing rodent of South America and Central America; highly esteemed as food)

prairie dog; prairie marmot (any of several rodents of North American prairies living in large complex burrows having a barking cry)

coypu; Myocastor coypus; nutria (aquatic South American rodent resembling a small beaver; bred for its fur)

chinchilla; Chinchilla laniger (small rodent with soft pearly grey fur; native to the Andes but bred in captivity for fur)

mountain chinchilla; mountain viscacha (a rodent native to the mountains of Chile and Peru and now bred in captivity)

chinchillon; Lagostomus maximus; viscacha (gregarious burrowing rodent larger than the chinchillas)

abrocome; chinchilla rat; rat chinchilla (ratlike rodent with soft fur and large ears of the Andes)

mole rat (furry short-limbed tailless rodent resembling a true mole in habits and appearance; of eastern Europe and Middle East)

mole rat (African rodent resembling a mole in habits and appearance)

sand rat (small nearly naked African mole rat of desert areas)

wood-rat; wood rat (any of various small short-tailed rodents of the northern hemisphere having soft fur grey above and white below with furred tails and large ears; some are hosts for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks))

mouse (any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails)

rat (any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse)

murine (a rodent that is a member of the family Muridae)

water rat (any of various amphibious rats)

New World mouse (a variety of rodent)

muskrat; musquash; Ondatra zibethica (beaver-like aquatic rodent of North America with dark glossy brown fur)

Florida water rat; Neofiber alleni; round-tailed muskrat (of Florida wetlands)

cotton rat; Sigmodon hispidus (destructive long-haired burrowing rat of southern North America and Central America)

hamster (short-tailed Old World burrowing rodent with large cheek pouches)

gerbil; gerbille (small Old World burrowing desert rodent with long soft pale fur and hind legs adapted for leaping)

lemming (any of various short-tailed furry-footed rodents of circumpolar distribution)

hedgehog; porcupine (relatively large rodents with sharp erectile bristles mingled with the fur)

jumping mouse (any of several primitive mouselike rodents with long hind legs and no cheek pouches; of woodlands of Eurasia and North America)

jerboa (mouselike jumping rodent)

dormouse (small furry-tailed squirrel-like Old World rodent that becomes torpid in cold weather)

squirrel (a kind of arboreal rodent having a long bushy tail)

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

order Rodentia; Rodentia (small gnawing animals: porcupines; rats; mice; squirrels; marmots; beavers; gophers; voles; hamsters; guinea pigs; agoutis)

Derivation:

gnaw (bite or chew on with the teeth)