Meerkat meaning

mîr'kät'
A small burrowing mongoose (Suricata suricatta) of southern Africa, having brownish-gray fur and a long tail, which it uses for balance when it stands on its hind legs.
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Any of various mongooses of SW Africa, esp. a small, grayish one (Suricata suricatta) that lives in colonies underground.
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Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.
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Origin of meerkat

  • Afrikaans from Middle Dutch meercatte monkey meer sea (because monkeys came from overseas) mori- in Indo-European roots catte cat (from Germanic kattuz) cat
    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
  • From Afrikaans meerkat, transferrative use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon (monkey)"). Compare English mercat.
    From Wiktionary

Meerkat Sentence Examples

  • SURICATE, or MEERKAT (Suricata tetradactyla), a small South African mammal.

  • There he is found by Pumbaa, a friendly warthog, and his wisecracking meerkat sidekick Timon.

  • wisecracking meerkat sidekick Timon.

  • I'd like to see a crummy meerkat do that!

  • meerkat groups.

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Also Mentioned In

Words near meerkat in the Dictionary