to squirrel
- verb
- /ˈskwɜrəl/
- Informal
- He takes in tens of thousands in donations, and he squirrels them away in an offshore account.
- squirrel away
Yeah, he's, he's, he's, he's squirreling.
- Yeah, he's, he's, he's, he's squirreling.
- This is not just something to squirrel to away and become a, you know, a recipient of something from a trust.
Examples
-
Mama had squirreled away two hundred dollars in her coffee can.
Fiction book (1996) -
I gave it six months, squirreling away the money I made hustling games or jobs at the track.
Fiction book (1995) -
This is the amount that you squirrel away for next year.
-
Now we can squirrel that nut away for the winter.
-
You can bet he has squirreled some of that money away somewhere.
Blog text (15) -
It's also managed to squirrel away $6.5 billion in cash under the mattress for a rainy day.
Blog text (2) -
Well, the government is going to make sure that that money isn't squirreled away in some bank.
Blog text (10) -
Much of the new wealth was used inefficiently or simply squirreled away.
Academic text (2009) -
The extra candy got squirreled away in my room to be eaten illegally in bed at night.
Fiction book (1993) -
It's wise to squirrel away some money for unexpected expenses.
Synonyms
To hide something quickly in a small bag sewn into your clothing
Put something in a hidden place to use later
To save money or things over time, often secretly
Hide something carefully where others cannot find it
To put something away in a safe place to keep it
Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
A small active monkey with a long tail and dark face that lives in Central and South American forests
A small tree animal with a long tail that has black fur because of a change in its genes
- UK
A small reddish-brown tree squirrel from Europe and Asia with small fur tufts on its ears
A small squirrel that lives in trees in the coastal forests of western North America
A large tree squirrel with a bushy tail and reddish gray fur that lives in the eastern United States
A common medium-sized squirrel from eastern North America with gray fur and a bushy tail
A small ground squirrel with white side stripes that moves quickly in deserts
A small squirrel active at night that glides between trees using a skin flap
- Specialized
A small animal with red fur that lives in trees in northern United States and Canada
A small tree animal from Asia with fur flaps between its legs that let it glide at night
A large squirrel that lives in burrows in far northern North America and hibernates for many months
A small brown animal with black stripes on its back that lives on the ground in western North America
A large North American squirrel that glides between trees using a skin flap
- Specialized
A small squirrel that lives in the grasslands of western North America and digs burrows
A small animal with a bushy tail that lives in northern forests and eats spruce cones
A small woodland plant with creamy white flowers and yellow roots like corn kernels
- Informal
A situation where people keep moving or working but make no real progress
- Specialized
An electric motor with a round metal turning part shaped like a cage
A small squirrel from eastern North America with dark stripes on its back that stores food in its cheek pouches
- Specialized
A large gray tree squirrel with a bushy tail that lives in western United States forests
- Specialized
A small ground squirrel with a white tail that moves quickly in the dry western United States
How Hidden
Surface Forms
Etymology
Squirrel as a verb comes from the animal's habit of hiding nuts for winter. So to 'squirrel away' something is to hide or store it in a safe place for later.