OTTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does otter mean? 

• OTTER (noun)
  The noun OTTER has 2 senses:

1. the fur of an otter

2. freshwater carnivorous mammal having webbed and clawed feet and dark brown fur

  Familiarity information: OTTER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OTTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The fur of an otter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

fur; pelt (the dressed hairy coat of a mammal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Freshwater carnivorous mammal having webbed and clawed feet and dark brown fur

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

mustelid; musteline; musteline mammal (fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals)

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

Lutra canadensis; river otter (sociable aquatic animal widely distributed along streams and lake borders in North America)

Eurasian otter; Lutra lutra (otter found in Europe and Asia)

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

genus Lutra; Lutra (in some classifications considered a genus of the subfamily Lutrinae)

 Context examples 

The researchers noted the sevengill sharks might not have the same effect on the ecosystems involved as the great whites have had, citing the ecological disruption apparently caused off Alaska when a change in orca behavior had a knock-on effect, disrupting sea otters' predation of sea urchins, whose population then exploded, plowing through the area's kelp forests.

(Study indicates as great white shark disappears, living fossil moves in, Wikinews)