possum
54
1.9
- noun
- /ˈpɑsəm/
- US
:
zarigüeya
- At night, we often see a possum wandering around our garden, searching for insects and fruits.
- raccoons and possums
It's like the same things possums do where they pretend the faint their death.
- It's like the same things possums do where they pretend the faint their death.
- Anyway, this is a response to everyone who believes possums are cute.
- He's like, I hit possum and I was like, all right.
- You know, there's another possum and she's not asking how long.
- IS the possum the most dangerous and elusive of prey?
- You never get, you only get surprise possums.
- So I want to give folks sort of a contrast by giving present day and then the story of what happened to me at my silence retreat, which was a possum retreat.
Examples
-
The animals looked to Karnazes like possums, raccoons, and skunks, but only at first.
Blog text (5) -
What do you think drove the possums our way?
-
OK, there is a possum looking at me in my shower.
-
I look from side to side, waiting for something, anything, a bird, a possum, a movement in the trees.
Fiction book (2000) -
If climate change brings more heat waves, such possums may be in danger.
Academic text (2004) -
"Well, come here, you little possum, and let me squeeze you!" she said, and he tottered over.
Fiction book (1999) -
Quail, skunks, raccoons, and possums were spotted in large numbers on levees along the Missouri and Mississippi.
Academic text (1993) -
While hiking in the forest, we spotted a possum high up in a tree, nibbling on some leaves.
-
The possum scavenged through the trash can in our backyard looking for food.
Synonyms
7
5.1
A small tree-living animal in Australia and the Americas with a pouch and a tail that can hold things
1
9.9
A woolly tree mammal from New Guinea and northern Australia that carries young in a pouch
A type of possum with a bushy tail that lives in forests and cities in Australia
A small animal from Australia and New Guinea that lives in trees and has a pouch and a bushy tail
A group of mammals with a pouch, like brushtail possums from Australia and New Guinea
A small animal from Australia and New Guinea that lives in trees and uses its long tail to hold branches
A medium-sized mammal from the Americas that carries its young in a pouch and plays dead when threatened
Idioms
Compounds
- US
A shrub that loses its leaves in winter and has bright red berries that attract birds
- US
A tall tree with leaves that fall in winter, grown in the southeastern United States for shade in wet soil
Surface Forms
Etymology
Possum is the short form of opossum, a word English speakers borrowed from a Native American word apasum that meant something like 'white dog'. Settlers soon used the shorter possum, and the same name was later used in Australia for similar tree-living marsupials. So, a possum today is a small, furry, tree animal with a pouch, and its name comes from local native words for these animals.