roof rabbit
- noun
- Informal
:
conejo urbano
- City dwellers often call these urban creatures roof rabbits as a joke.
Examples
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We watched the roof rabbit hop gracefully from one ledge to another.
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I saw two roof rabbits playing on the rooftop.
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After sunset, a curious roof rabbit appeared outside my apartment window.
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Look at that roof rabbit on the building!
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After sunset, a curious roof rabbit appeared outside my apartment window.
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City dwellers often call these urban creatures roof rabbits as a joke.
-
Look at that roof rabbit on the building!
Synonyms
242
1.0
A small rabbit, often a young one
220
1.0
A small furry animal with long ears that lives in holes and hops
5
1.0
A small, soft rabbit often thought of as young and cute
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward noun–noun compound where 'roof' specifies the location/association of the animal 'rabbit', so the meaning (a rabbit on or associated with a roof; an informal/playful label) can be directly inferred from the constituents. This follows common English compounding patterns and requires no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand it.
Etymology
The term roof rabbit may come from the funny image of a small rabbit hopping on a building roof at night, a sight people in cities sometimes see. That's why people use it jokingly to mean 'a rabbit', especially one seen in an urban area.