trade rat

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

trade rat

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

trade rat - any of several bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Neotoma of western North America; hoards food and other objects

bushytail woodrat, Neotoma cinerea, pack rat, packrat

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)

genus Neotoma, Neotoma - packrats

dusky-footed woodrat, Neotoma fuscipes - host to Lyme disease tick (Ixodes pacificus) in northern California

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

By tapping on the can with a stick, we determined that it held a pack rat (scientific name: Neotoma cinera, also known as a wood rat or trade rat) almost as large as a cat.

Beware the optional equipment: collector gets more than he bargains for in tractor salvage operation

Pack rats (also known as wood rats or trade rats) had filled every nook and cranny with debris of all kinds.