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Glite Dictionary
prairie dog

prairie dog

8 4.7
A small animal that digs tunnels and lives in large groups on North American grasslands
  • noun
  • /ˈprɛəri dɔg/
  • US
translation icon : perro de la pradera
  • The prairie dog is known for its distinctive burrowing habits and social behavior within large colonies.
  • prairie dog town
  • prairie dog colonies
  • prairie dog burrow

Examples

  • The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum was a great exhibit of more than 300 live animal species, including mountain lions and prairie dogs.

    Academic text (2007)

  • TV features the antics of a nervous little prairie dog family.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • "There were huge prairie dog cities everywhere."

    Fiction book (1994)

  • In Texas there's nothing but a bunch of prairie dogs and stuff.

    Pillow Talk (1959)

  • There's a big ol' abandoned prairie dog town off the way she's headed.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • An animal distributor had then sold the infected prairie dogs to pet stores in Milwaukee and at an animal swap meet in northern Wisconsin.

    Academic text (2005)

  • While hiking in the grasslands, we observed a family of prairie dogs playing near their burrow.

  • Many conservation efforts focus on protecting the habitats of prairie dogs to support their colonies.

Synonyms

Cynomys
vsprairie dog
  • Specialized
9.9

A burrowing animal called a prairie dog that lives in North America

is the common name for these small colonial grassland rodents
blacktail prairie dog
vsprairie dog
  • US
8.1

A small squirrel-like animal that lives underground in groups and has a black-tipped tail

is the broader everyday name for that species group rather than one species
whitetail prairie dog
vsprairie dog
  • US
7.7

A small animal that lives in holes in the ground and has a white-tipped tail, found in western US grasslands

is the wider common name for these small burrowing colony animals

Surface Forms

prairie dog singular
prairie dogs plural

Morphology

prairie + dog

The compound is compositionally interpretable: a B1 learner who knows 'prairie' (grassland) and 'dog' (animal) can reasonably infer it refers to an animal associated with prairies. However, the specific taxonomic meaning — that it is a small burrowing rodent rather than a true dog — is not predictable from the parts, so the relation is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Prairie dog comes from early settlers who saw small animals living in holes on the prairie and heard their sharp, barking calls that sounded like a little dog. One popular story says that this picture of a barking animal on the grassland gave the name, so today prairie dog means 'a small burrowing animal'.