squirrel--prophetes.ai

▪ I. squirrel, n.
    (ˈskwɪrəl)
    Forms: α. 5 squirel, sqwirel, squyrel(l, -elle, -ylle, sqvyrelle, 6 squirell, 8 north. dial. swirl; 5 squyrrel, 6 -ell, 6–7 squirrell (7 sqirrell), -ill, -ile, 7 -il, skuyrrell, 9 north. dial. swirrel; 5– squirrel. β. 5 squerel, 5–6 -ell(e, 5 sqwerylle, 9 north. dial. swerill; 7 squerrel, -ell, 9 dial. squerril. γ. 5 scorel, scurelle, Sc. skurel (6 skarale).
    [ad. AF. esquirel, OF. esquireul, escureul, -ol, etc. (mod.F. écureuil), = Prov. escurols, Sp. esquirol, med.L. (e)scurellus, scurellius, scuriolus, diminutives from pop.L. *scūrius, for L. sciūrus, ad. Gr. σκίουρος, app. f. σκιά shade + οὐρά tail.
    The pron. (ˈskwɪrəl) is not recognized by the earlier lexicographers of the 19th cent., who vary between (ˈskwɛrəl) and (ˈskwʌrəl).]
    1. a. One or other of various species of slender, graceful, agile rodents (characterized by a long bushy tail, furry coat, and bright eyes), belonging to the genus Sciurus, or to the widely-distributed sub-family Sciurina including this; esp. the common species Sciurus vulgaris, native to Britain, Europe, and parts of Asia.

α ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1402 There myght menne does and roes y-se And of squyrels ful great plente, From bowe to bowe alwaye lepyng. c 1381 ― Parl. Foules 196 (Camb.), Squyrelis & bestes smale of gentil kynde. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xix. 206 Thei wolde lepen als lightly in to Trees..as it were Squyrelles. 1483 Cath. Angl. 357/2 A Squyrelle,..sirogrillus. 1530 Palsgr. 275/1 Squyrrell a beest, escurevl, escuireau. c 1592 Breton C'tess Pembroke's Passion xcviii, The lambes and rabbots sweetlie rune at base, Whilst highest trees the litle squiriles clime. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 27 Their Squirrels some are neare as great as our smallest sort of wilde Rabbets, some blackish or blacke and white, but the most are gray. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 12 Its Muzle is round and of a Flesh⁓colour, and hath a Tail like a Squirrel. 1726 Swift Gulliver iv. i, They climbed high Trees, as nimbly as a Squirrel. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 315 The squirrel, flippant, pert, and full of play. 1815 Shelley Alastor 100 The doves and squirrels would partake From his innocuous hand his bloodless food. 1855 Orr's Circle Sci., Org. Nat. III. 467 In the United States of America,..Squirrels abound to an extraordinary extent, and often cause great loss to the farmer. c 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. III. 87 Squirrels appear to be strictly monogamous, pairing for life, and constantly inhabiting the same dwelling.

β 14.. Chaucer's Parl. Foules 196 (Harl.), Squerellis smale, and bestes of gentil kynde. 1423 Jas. I. Kingis Q. clv, The lytill squerell, full of besynesse. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 215 As it weare a grehounde shulde ouerturne a squerell. 1598 J. Manwood Lawes Forest v. (1615) 49 Any wild beast that is killed by hunting, as a squerrel. 1630 Higgeson New Engl. Plantation B 3 b, Also here are great store of squerrels, some greater, and some smaller and lesser. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. iii. vi. 86 Bob Jakin..as you went arter the squerrils with. 1876 Whitby Gloss. 191 Swerill,..the squirrel.

γ c 1440 Promp. Parv. 450/1 Scorel, or squerel, beest, esperiolus. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 759/29 Hic scurellus, a scurelle.

b. Without article, in collective sense; also = squirrel-skin, squirrel-fur.

1436 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 186 Skynnes of otere, squerel,..Of shepe, lambe, and fox. 14.. in Sc. Acts Parlt. (1844) I. 667 Of þe tymmyr of skurel [c 1575 skarale], ij d. Ibid., Of ane hundreth gray gryse and skurel dycht and letheryt, viij d.

c. Applied to other animals or to persons, usu. with contemptuous force.

c 1566 Merie Tales of Skelton in S.'s Wks. (1843) I. p. lxvi, Skelton dyd harnesse the doughtye squirell [a cobbler]. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 59 The other Squirrill was stolne from me... And then I offer'd her mine owne, who is a dog As big as ten of yours. 1865 A. Smith Summer in Skye I. 124 Lachlan Roy was a little, cheery, agile, red squirrel of a man.

2. a. With the, in generalized sense; also, the genus Sciurus or the sub-family Sciurina to which this belongs.
Many species or varieties are distinguished by specific epithets, as Alpine, Barbary, Brazilian, Carolina, etc., black, grey, red, striped, etc., cat-, fox-, palm-squirrel. See also flying squirrel, ground squirrel.

1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 142 There skips the Squirrill, seeming Weather-wise. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 656 Of the Squirrell. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 21 Sciurus,..the Squirrel. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. I. 93 Those vast leaps the squirrel takes from tree to tree. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) II. 71 A few of the numerous varieties of the squirrel. 1801 Shaw Gen. Zool. II. i. 136 The Squirrel feeds on the buds and young shoots of trees, and is said to be particularly fond of those of the fir and pine. 1834 M'Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 80 In the Squirrel, properly so called, the hairs of the tail are arranged on the sides, so as to resemble a feather.

b. pl. = prec.

1834 M'Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 80 It is probable that we shall have to separate from the Squirrels certain species which have cheek pouches like the Hamsters. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 397/2 The geographic range of the Squirrels is very wide both in the Old and New World. c 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. III. 91 The true Ground Squirrels (Tamias) are distinguished from the rest of the Squirrels (Sciurinæ), and approach the Marmots.

c. ellipt. A variety of squirrel skin. Also, squirrel-fur in fashionable use (in the 19th and 20th cent.). Also ellipt., a coat of squirrel fur.

1827 Manch. Guardian 27 Oct. 1/2 (Advt.), A perfectly new, elegant..and fashionable assortment of Furs, consisting of Chinchilla, Russia Fitch,..Squirrel and Sable. 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 15 Sept. 1038 Cape, lined throughout with grey and white Squirrel. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 1 Dec. 8/2 This Russian squirrel..makes an excellent coat. 1930 P. Hambledon Straight Flame iv. 169 A fur coat..fashioned of the softest silvery squirrel from Manchuria. 1978 Country Life 31 Aug. 598/3 There are..squirrels and durable musquashes for the less well heeled.

† 3. U.S. The prairie dog. Obs. rare.

1808 [see prairie-dog]. 1814 Brackenridge Views of Louisiana 239, I happened on a village of barking squirrels, or prairie dogs, as they have been called.

4. Ichth. One or other of various species of fish belonging to the family Holocentridæ, esp. Holocentrus erythræus (Holocentrum sogo).

1734 Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 315 Perca marina rubra. The Squirrel. It is a good eating Fish. 1876 Goode Fishes of Bermudas 50 Their voracity is very great, and the tyro in angling usually finds his first prize to be a ‘Squirrel’.

5. techn. (See quot.)

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 348 Some cards [for carding cotton] consist entirely of cylinders, the central main cylinder being surrounded by a series of smaller ones called urchins or squirrels.

6. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib., as squirrel bell, squirrel gun, squirrel hole, squirrel hunt, etc., or appositive, as squirrel family, squirrel tribe.

1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6364, Clang bells for cattle; ferret bells; *squirrel bells.

1894–5 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. III. 70 The *Squirrel family..includes the true flying squirrels, ordinary squirrels, marmots, and susliks.

1902 Munsey's Mag. XXVI. 513/1 Men armed with *squirrel guns..from the back counties of Georgia.

1851 Zoologist IX. 3298 There is a bird here which lives in the *squirrel-holes in the ground.

1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 289 The squirrels..are prevented from an inordinate increase by the frequency of *squirrel hunts by the riflemen. 1860 Mayne Reid Hunters' Feast xix, To make a successful squirrel-hunt two persons at least are necessary.

1901 Scribner's Mag. XXIX. 389/1 Garnett himself fell with a bullet from a mountaineer's *squirrel rifle.

1844 Emerson Ess. Ser. ii. Experience (1901) 245 Western roads, which opened stately enough,..and ended in a *squirrel-track.

1860 Mayne Reid Hunters' Feast xix, The naturalist stated many facts in relation to the *squirrel tribe, that were new to most of us.

b. In the sense ‘made of, obtained from, the squirrel’, as squirrel fur, squirrel lock, squirrel pie, squirrel skin; also ‘made of squirrel skin or fur’, as squirrel coat, squirrel hat, squirrel lining.

1936 E. M. Delafield Provincial Lady in Amer. 235 Ella, elegant..in..grey *squirrel coat. 1969 L. Hellman Unfinished Woman xi. 153 A little girl in a fine squirrel coat and hat.

1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlew. 459/1 *Squirrel Fur... There are seven varieties of this Fur.

1974 Selfridge Xmas Catal. 14 Leather coat with silvered racoon collar and *squirrel lining, {pstlg}330.00.

1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlew. 459/2 *Squirrel Lock..is that portion of the grey squirrels' fur that grows..on the belly.

1788 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 419 Dined..on venison steak and *squirrel pie; very good dinner. 1883 Sunday Mag. Oct. 628/1 Squirrel-pie is a well-known luxury in some parts of England, and is far superior to rabbit-pie.

1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2498/4 Stolen.., a red and white *Squirrel-skin Peticoat. 1710 Tatler No. 245 ¶2 A musk-coloured velvet mantle lined with squirrel skins. 1832 M{supc}Culloch Dict. Commerce (1834) 203 Calabar Skin,..the Siberian squirrel skin.

c. Comb. with vbl. ns., (ppl.) adjs., and agent nouns, as squirrel-coloured, squirrel-limbed, squirrel-trimmed; squirrel-hunting, squirrel-shooting, squirrel-stoning; squirrel-hunter; also squirrel-like.

1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta vi, The east gleamed upon Ethelberta's *squirrel-coloured hair.

1860 Mayne Reid Hunters' Feast xix, The height..is one of those marvels witnessed by every *squirrel-hunter.

1667 Cotton Scarron. iv. 78 æneas and the Queen have made..A match to go..Into the Woods a *Squirrel hunting. 1704 Dict. Rust. (1726), Squirrel-hunting. The proper time to hunt this little Animal, is at the fall of the Leaf. c 1790 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 666/1 Squirrel-hunting is a noted diversion in country places [in New England]. 1847 Halliw., Squirrel-hunting, a curious Derbyshire custom [etc.].

1849 Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia IV. 22 They lift their food to their mouths while sitting *squirrel-like. 1862 Lytton Str. Story II. 271 The squirrel-like opossums frolicked on the feathery boughs.

1626 B. Jonson Staple of N. v. iii, H' has almost kill'd his maid,..But that she's Cat-liu'd, and *Squirrill-limb'd, with throwing bed-staues at her.

1860 Mayne Reid Hunters' Feast xix, *Squirrel-shooting is by no means poor sport.

7. a. Special combs.: † squirrel's brains (see quot. and cf. squirrel-minded); squirrel-cage, a cylindrical cage in which squirrels are confined, and which revolves as they move; also transf. a structure resembling this; spec. in Electr., a form of rotor resembling a squirrel-cage, used in small electric motors (usu. attrib.); squirrel card (see quot. and sense 5); squirrel-dog, a dog used for hunting squirrels; squirrel eyes, sharp eyes like those of a squirrel; squirrel-fish, = sense 4 (Cent. Dict. 1891); squirrel-headed, -minded, shallow-brained a.; also squirrel-headedness.

1647 Ward Simple Cobler 26 Having nothing..but a few *Squirrils brains to help them frisk from one ill-favour'd fashion to another.

1821 Scott Kenilw. xxxviii, We shall never find them to-night amongst all these..*squirrel-cages and rabbit-holes. 1831 Ann. Reg. (1832) 323 He had a cage like a squirrel-cage, and two white mice in it. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 163 Over this casing..a fan is placed,..which sucks out the dust through the wire or squirrel cage. 1887 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 526 In a revolving squirrel-cage way. 1895 S. P. Thompson Polyphase Electr. Currents iv. 117 A solid cylinder of iron is improved [as a rotor] by surrounding it with a mantle of copper, or by a squirrel⁓cage of copper bars. 1920 Whittaker's Electr. Engineer's Pocket-bk. (ed. 4) 552 Motors with squirrel-cage rotors require special features in the rotor to obtain large starting torque without large losses at normal load. 1972 Sci. Amer. Oct. 114/2 The air is circulated and exhausted by a system of squirrel-cage blowers.

1851 Art Jrnl. Illust. Catal. p. iv**/2 The large card-drum is generally surmounted by urchin or *squirrel cards instead of tops.

1860 Mayne Reid Hunters' Feast xix, A good *squirrel-dog is a useful animal.

1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood ii. 53 With narrow brow, and *Sqirrell eyes, he showes.

1637 J. Williams Holy Table 59 That *Squirrel-headed young man, that..would throw the Communion-table out of doores, and build him a close Altar, out of faction and singularity. 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Jan. b4/1 Former President Harry S. Truman was quoted as saying..that action..to curb President Eisenhower's Government reorganisation powers ‘was a squirrel-headed thing to do’.

1955 E. Pound Section: Rock-Drill lxxxv. 6 Not to pamper this *squirrel-headedness.

1837 Syd. Smith Lett. Singleton Wks. 1859 II. 276/2 What a strange thing it is that such a man..should be so *squirrel-minded as to wish for a movement without object or end!

b. Bot., Zool., and Ichth., as squirrel briar, a name used in New England for either of two local species of Smilax, S. glauca or S. rotundifolia, deciduous prickly vines bearing blue-black berries; squirrel-corn, -cup, -fish, flying phalanger, hake, hawk, monkey, mouse, opossum (see quots.).

1910 C. B. Graves et al. Catal. Flowering Plants & Ferns Connecticut 125 Smilax glauca..Saw, Cat or *Squirrel Briar. Common. Dry or moist open woods and thickets. Ibid., Smilax rotundifolia..Common Green Briar. Horse, Cat, Bull or Squirrel Briar. 1979 C. MacLeod Family Vault viii. 53 Something grabbed her..but it was only a squirrel briar.

1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 27 Dicentra Canadensis... *Squirrel-Corn.

1877 Bryant Poems, Twenty-Seventh of March 30 The *squirrel cups [= liverleaf], a graceful company, Hide in their bells, a soft aërial blue.

1803 Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. ii. 439 Squirrel Sparus... Size of a common Perch: native of the American seas, where it is known by the name of the Grunt, or *Squirrel-fish. 1867 Latham Black & White 122 Bastard snappers and squirrel-fish, the like of which I had never seen before. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 46 The Squirrel fish, Serranus fascicularis, is a beautifully colored species.

c 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. III. 207 The *Squirrel Flying Phalanger,..Petaurus sciureus. Ibid. 207 Probably it..has been called the Squirrel Flying Phalanger by mistake.

1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 799 Phycis tenuis, Codling; White hake; *Squirrel-hake.

1884 Coues N. Amer. Birds 551 Archibuteo ferrugineus,..California *Squirrel Hawk.

1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 219 Of these I noticed the following, viz. the *Squirrel Monkey [etc.]. 1827 Griffith tr. Cuvier I. 307 The Saïmiri, or Squirrel monkey, is a beautiful and elegant little animal found in Brazil, Cayenne, etc. 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 49 The genus Saimaris (Chrysothrix) contains but three species. These Squirrel Monkeys are active little creatures.

1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 533 There is a flying Ponticke or Scythian Mouse, which we may call the broad *Squerrell-Mouse.

1800 Shaw Gen. Zool. I. ii. 498 *Squirrel Opossum. Didelphis Sciurea. 1827 Griffith tr. Cuvier V. 200 Norfolk Island Squirrel,..Squirrel Opossum.

Hence ˈsquirrelish, ˈsquirrelline, squiˈrrellian adjs.

1834 Beckford Italy II. 363 Timoni, with his prying, squirrelish look, and malicious propensities. 1872 Ruskin Fors Clav. xviii, These three moist-throated men and the squirrelline boy. 1874 Ibid. xliv, This is..their work in the world. When they rest from their squirrellian revolutions,..these are what will follow them.

▪ II. ˈsquirrel, v.
[f. the n.]
† 1. a. intr. To hunt squirrels. Also fig. b. trans. To hunt or chase like squirrels. Hence † ˈsquirreling ppl. a. Obs.

1589 ? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet B ij, Obscenitie? Naie, now I am too nice, squirrilitie were a better word: well, let me alone to squirrell them. a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 540 Which we might worthely call a phrensie if it had not some support of grauer men, then are those squirriling Iesuits. 1667 Cotton Scarron. iv. 83 But young Ascanius, hops o' th' house, Car'd not for Squirreling a Louse.

c. intr. To go round in circles like a caged squirrel; to run or scurry (round) like a squirrel.

1921 Sat. Westm. Gaz. 29 Jan. 21/1 His deeply affectionate but explosive father inexhaustibly squirrelling round the cage of conventional ideas. 1953 A. Clarke Coll. Plays (1963) 374 My soul was waiting for me, so small, It wriggled and squirrelled to my shoulder. 1966 D. Francis Flying Finish xvii. 200 The useless thoughts squirrelled round and round, achieving nothing. 1983 ‘M. Yorke’ Find me Villain v. 39 Nina's mind went on squirrelling round unhappily.

2. trans. To store away in the manner of a squirrel; to save, hoard; to cache. Rarely with up and without advb.

1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath xxviii. 569, I been squirrelin' money away. 1949 M. Mead Male & Female vii. 145 Mouths first suck and later bite, and are capable of spitting, of squirrelling food in the cheek all night. 1953 J. Blish Case of Conscience in If. Worlds of Sci. Fiction I. iv. 40 I've got more plans to that effect squirrelled away. 1959 J. Braine Vodi vi. 95 Dick felt somehow provident, squirrelling up at least one good event to remember in the winter. 1965 G. Holden Don't go it Alone (1966) xvii. 141 He wasn't the type of person to squirrel away something and forget it. 1974 D. Smith Look Back with Love viii. 68, I started a bottom drawer, but it petered out after I had squirrelled one tea-cosy and a pen-wiper. 1981 N. Freeling One Damn Thing after Another viii. 58 Arlette..was good at squirrelling away things in obscure places.