DCHP-1 Online

groundhog

• 1 n. a large burrowing rodent, Marmota monax, common in eastern and central Canada.

  See also: ground chuck  weenusk  woodchuck  

  • 1789  (1801)  We saw a fox and a ground hog on the hill. . . .
  • 1883  A ground-hog had issued forth from his winterquarters and had been worried by a dog.
  • 1957  Any groundhog who is crazy enough to get out of a nice warm bed to see what the weather is like should be shot at sunrise.
  • 1963  . . . it was a very large pine marten attacking a ground hog.

• 2 n. B.C. a large marmot, Marmota caligata, of the western mountains.

  See also: hoary marmot  

  • 1807  (1889-90)  The other animals are the beaver, otter, wolverine, wolf, lynx; red, grey, white and black foxes, porcupine, ground hog, marten, mink; common red, ground and flying squirrels; hares, bats and mice.
  • 1824  (1955)  The Old Slave says there are Siffleu or the Ground Hog . . . on some of these bare mountains.
  • 1954  And across the divides the groundhogs whistling down at them and the flocks of little birds coming and going in swirls of cheery sound. . . .
  • 1959  I watched ground hogs swimming for their lives. . . .