DCHP-1 Online

mushrat [either a blend of muskrat and musquash or a dial. var. of marsh rat, q.v., influenced by these words]

• 1 n. East an aquatic rodent, Ondatra zibethica, common to many parts of North America and widely trapped for its valuable fur.

  See also: muskrat  

  • 1943  "An' I'm goin' to play hell with you, you game-poachin', fish-spearin', wood-stealin' ol' mushrat!"
  • 1954  . . . Grant went on to talk a little answering Bill's questions about how it would be later on. November and the mushrat season open. . . .
  • 1954  Stan was carrying on ... talk of mushrats and rabbit-snaring.

• 2 n. Slang, Derog., Obs. See quote.

  • 1901  For the Glengarry men [of the Ottawa Valley] who handled only square timber, despised the Murphy gang as sawlog-men; "log-rollers" or "mushrats " they called them, and hated them as Irish "Papishes" and French "Crapeaux."