beaver

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“
The prying camp-robbers, the grouse, the muskrats, the beaver were my companions.

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Definitions (30)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (11)

  1. noun A large aquatic rodent of the genus Castor, having thick brown fur, webbed hind feet, a broad flat tail, and sharp incisors adapted for gnawing bark, felling trees, and constructing dams and underwater lodges.
  2. noun The fur of this rodent.
  3. noun A top hat originally made of the underfur of this rodent.
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Examples (50)

  • Well at six stone the Tamar One is hardly little which all goes nowhere near explaining my dream, because the beaver was here, yes really in the kitchen, and he shot out through the cat flap. —  Brit Lit Blogs
  • Shah was classified as a beaver, someone who likes clear-cut things. —  Cricket365
  • And that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal —  Progressive Bloggers
  • A: Well, to begin, I'll clarify that the beaver was always there. —  The Web Comic List - Latest Webcomics
  • Trappers who knew of it long ago never returned, believing that the beaver were all gone forever, and it was too near to the warlike Sioux of the plains for mountain Indians to make a home there Dick did not stop long for the look backward--he was too intent upon his mission--but resumed the ascent with light foot and light heart. —  The Last of the Chiefs A Story of the Great Sioux War
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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English bever, from Old English beofor; see bher-2 in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English bavier, from Old French baviere, child's bib, beaver, from bave, saliva.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also beavor, bever, from Middle English bever, from Anglo-Saxon beofer, befer = D. Low German bever = Old High German bibar, Middle High German G. biber = Icelandic bjōrr = Swedish bäfver = Danish bæver = Latin fiber, Old Latin biber (later Italian bevero = Spanish bibaro = Pr.vibre = French bièvre) = Gaelic beabhar = Cornish befr = Old Bulgarian bebrŭ, bĭbrŭ, bobrū, Bohemian Polish bobr = Russian bobrŭ = Lithuanian bebrus = Lettish bebris, Old Prussian bebrus, a beaver, =Sanskrit babhru, a large ichneumon; as adjective, brown, tawny; perhaps a redupl. of ✓ *bhru, the ult. root of Anglo-Saxon brūn, English brown: see brown.
  2. Early modern English also bever, beevor, etc., altered, by confusion with beaver, in “beaver hat,” from earlier baver, bavier, from late Middle English baviere, from Old French baviere (= Spanish babera = Italian baviera), beaver of a helmet, properly a bib, from bave, foam, froth, saliva: see bavette.
 

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/ˈbivər/
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