English Dictionary |
MONGOOSE
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Dictionary entry overview: What does mongoose mean?
• MONGOOSE (noun)
The noun MONGOOSE has 1 sense:
1. agile grizzled Old World viverrine; preys on snakes and rodents
Familiarity information: MONGOOSE used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Agile grizzled Old World viverrine; preys on snakes and rodents
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("mongoose" is a kind of...):
viverrine; viverrine mammal (small cat-like predatory mammals of warmer parts of the Old World)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mongoose"):
Herpestes nyula; Indian mongoose (keen-sighted viverrine of southern Asia about the size of a ferret; often domesticated)
Herpestes ichneumon; ichneumon (northern African mongoose; in ancient times thought to devour crocodile eggs)
Holonyms ("mongoose" is a member of...):
genus Herpestes; Herpestes (mongooses)
Context examples
“It’s a mongoose,” I cried.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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