any of a genus (Cynomys, family Sciuridae) of small, burrowing rodents of North America, having a barking cry and living in colonies
prairie dog
prairie dogWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"prairie dog." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/prairie-dog>.
APA Style
prairie dog. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/prairie-dog
prairie dog
noun
Any of several burrowing rodents of the genus Cynomys, having light brown fur and a warning call that sounds similar to a dog's bark. Prairie dogs lives in large colonies, chiefly in the Great Plains of North America.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"prairie dog." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/prairie-dog>.
APA Style
prairie dog. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/prairie-dog
Noun
(plural prairie dogs)
Verb
(third-person singular simple present prairie dogs, present participle prairie dogging, simple past and past participle prairie dogged)
- (intransitive) To pop up from a hole or similar in a manner that resembles the way a prairie dog pops his head up from his burrow.
- Veronica in accounting is always prairie dogging from her desk whenever that new hunk from marketing walks by.
- (slang, euphemistic) To struggle to hold back an involuntary bowel movement.
Origin
By analogy with how the animal pops its head up from its burrow.
Verb
(third-person singular simple present prairie-dogs, present participle prairie-dogging, simple past and past participle prairie-dogged)
- Alternative form of prairie dog.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"prairie dog." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 October 2018. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/prairie-dog>.
APA Style
prairie dog. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14th, 2018, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/prairie-dog
