marmot
(ˈmɑːmət)
Also 8 mar(a)motto, marmotta, ? erron. marmout, 8–9 marmotte.
[ad. F. marmotte fem. (whence prob. Sp., Pg. marmota, It. marmotta, also † marmotto masc.), prob. an altered form, due to assimilation to OF. marmotte, marmot monkey (see marmoset), of Rumonsch murmont:—L. type mūrem montis ‘mountain mouse’, whence OHG. muremunto, murmainti, murmenti, MHG. mürmendîn, mod.G. dialects murmentel, murmeten, murmetli, mod.G. murmeltier, whence Du. mormeldier, Da. murmeldyr, Sw. murmeldjur.]
1. A rodent of the genus Arctomys or sub-family Arctomyinæ of the squirrel family, esp. A. marmotta, which inhabits the Alps and the Pyrenees, sometimes called the Alpine marmot.
With qualification applied to other animals of the same and allied genera: † American or Maryland m., the woodchuck, A. monax; Bobac or Polish m., A. bobac (see bobac); † Canadian or Quebec m., Spermophilus empetra; Earless or Pouched m., the suslik, S. citillus; hoary m., the whistler, A. pruinosus; † Lapland m., the lemming; prairie m., the prairie dog (genus Cynomys).
| 1607 Topsell Hist. Four-f. Beasts (1658) 405 Scaliger describeth them in this manner, a Marmot (saith he, for so he tearmeth an Alpine Mouse in French) is a Beast about the bigness of a Badger. 1704 Ray Creation ii. (ed. 4) 337 The Marmotto or Mus Alpinus, a Creature as big or bigger than a Rabbet, which absconds all Winter. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Marmotte, Marmotta, the mountain rat, a creature very common in many parts of Europe. 1762 tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. I. 495 Mice, maramottos, and wild⁓fowl are their favourite dishes. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 38 The Marmot is..almost as big as an hare, but it is more corpulent than a cat, and has shorter legs. 1781 Pennant Quadrup. II. 396 Alpine Marmot. Ibid. 397 Quebec Marmot. Ibid. 398 Maryland Marmot. Ibid., Hoary Marmot. Ibid. 399 Bobuk Marmot. 1796 [see earless]. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 463/1 The monax, or American marmot... The bobac, or Polish marmot... The empetra, or Canadian marmot. 1861 G. F. Berkeley Sportsm. W. Prairies xv. 259 The prairie dog or marmot. 1896 Kirkaldy & Pollard tr. Boas' Text Bk. Zool. 529 The Pouched Marmot (Spermophilus citillus) of East Europe. |
¶ b. In full Cape marmot, marmot of the Cape: the Cape cony or daman, Hyrax capensis.
| 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. ii. 122 The Daman of the Cape (Hyrax Capensis),..commonly called..Marmot of the Cape. |
2. A kind of bathing cap. [After F. marmotte.]
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 22 July 3/3 The newest bathing cap is ‘the marmotte’..fastening in a knot on the forehead. 1902 Ibid. 31 July 3/2 The silk caps are a little more varied in shape; one sees the tammie and the marmot. |
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Add: [1.] c. The fur or skin of a marmot. Also attrib.
| 1865 Milton & Cheadle N.W. Passage by Land xiii. 241 They [sc. Shuswap Indians] were clothed merely in a shirt and marmot robe, their legs and feet being naked. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XI. 355/2 Marmot, dyed... Sold as mink or sable. 1988 D. Vernon Tiller's Girls 95 My friend had a leopard skin [coat] and I had a coney seal with a mink marmot collar. |