PACK RAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pack rat mean? 

• PACK RAT (noun)
  The noun PACK RAT has 2 senses:

1. someone who collects things that have been discarded by others

2. any of several bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Neotoma of western North America; hoards food and other objects

  Familiarity information: PACK RAT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PACK RAT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who collects things that have been discarded by others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

magpie; pack rat; scavenger

Hypernyms ("pack rat" is a kind of...):

hoarder (a person who accumulates things and hides them away for future use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of several bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Neotoma of western North America; hoards food and other objects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

bushytail woodrat; Neotoma cinerea; pack rat; packrat; trade rat

Hypernyms ("pack rat" is a kind of...):

wood-rat; wood rat (any of various small short-tailed rodents of the northern hemisphere having soft fur grey above and white below with furred tails and large ears; some are hosts for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks))

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

dusky-footed woodrat; Neotoma fuscipes (host to Lyme disease tick (Ixodes pacificus) in northern California)

Holonyms ("pack rat" is a member of...):

genus Neotoma; Neotoma (packrats)

 Context examples 

Remains of food and other materials left in caves inhabited by pack rats which are preserved and serve as a "time capsule" of the vegetation of the time and, by extension, the climate.

(Pack rat middens, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

An environmental remnant of the past (pollen grains, tree rings, lake sediments, pack rat middens, ice cores, coral skeletons) that assist researchers in deciphering past climate conditions through the use of scientifically proven dating techniques.

(Paleoenvironmental proxy, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)