MONGOOSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mongoose mean? 

• MONGOOSE (noun)
  The noun MONGOOSE has 1 sense:

1. agile grizzled Old World viverrine; preys on snakes and rodents

  Familiarity information: MONGOOSE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MONGOOSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Agile grizzled Old World viverrine; preys on snakes and rodents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("mongoose" is a kind of...):

viverrine; viverrine mammal (small cat-like predatory mammals of warmer parts of the Old World)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mongoose"):

Herpestes nyula; Indian mongoose (keen-sighted viverrine of southern Asia about the size of a ferret; often domesticated)

Herpestes ichneumon; ichneumon (northern African mongoose; in ancient times thought to devour crocodile eggs)

Holonyms ("mongoose" is a member of...):

genus Herpestes; Herpestes (mongooses)

 Context examples 

“It’s a mongoose,” I cried.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)