Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several gregarious, burrowing South American rodents of the genera Lagostomus and Lagidium, related to and resembling the chinchilla.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A South American rodent mammal, of the family Chinchillidæ and genus Lagostomus, L. trichdactylus, inhabiting the pampas, and playing there the same part in the fauna that is taken in North America by the prairie-dogs and other spermophiles. It is of stout form, and about 2 feet long; the colors are varied, especially on the face, giving a harlequin visage. Its burrows are so numerous as to constitute a danger to travel, especially at night, the holes being so deep that a horse is almost certain to fall if he steps in one. The skins are valued for their fur
Wiktionary
- n. A rodent native to the Andes Mountains of South America, in the chinchilla family Chinchillidae.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A large burrowing South American rodent (Lagostomus trichodactylus) allied to the chinchillas, but much larger. Its fur is soft and rather long, mottled gray above, white or yellowish white beneath. There is a white band across the muzzle, and a dark band on each cheek. It inhabits grassy plains, and is noted for its extensive burrows and for heaping up miscellaneous articles at the mouth of its burrows. Called also
biscacha ,bizcacha ,vischacha ,vishatscha .
WordNet 3.0
- n. gregarious burrowing rodent larger than the chinchillas
Etymologies
- Spanish vizcacha, from Quechua wiskácha. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Then there is the taruco, a kind of deer, the viscacha, which is a big rat, the otoc, a sort of wild dog, or fox, and the ucumari, a black bear with a white nose.”
Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel, or, the Hidden City of the Andes
“Mountain viscacha Lagidium wolffsohni probably lives in some sectors of the park, but its presence remains to be confirmed.”
“Several animal species are regarded as being of special value because they are either endemic, nationally threatened or culturally valuable, including Andean condor Vultur gryphus, chestnut canastero Thripophaga steinbachi, sandy gallito Teledroma fuscus, puma Felis concolor, guanaco Lama guanicoe, mara Dolychotus patagonum and viscacha Lagidium viscacia.”
“Animal and human motifs abound, especially snakes, foxes, felines, eagles and the viscacha a large rodent, cousin to the chinchilla.”
“The red viscacha rat (Tympanoctomys barrerae) and the pichiciego (Chlamyphorus truncatus) are mammals endemic to this biome; they are also listed as vulnerable according to IUCN categories.”
“Oct. 9th, 2007 at 2:03 PM matt_ruff presents the viscacha, a herbivore in the chinchilla family, indigenous to the Andes.”
“Largest mammalian genome size: 8.40pg, Tympanoctomys barrerae, Red viscacha rat”
So Much Junk in the Genome... and the Press - The Panda's Thumb
“The viscacha makes his home, like the rabbit, by burrowing in the ground, where he remains during daylight.”
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America
“The lady reader will be shocked to learn that the head of the viscacha family, probably copying a bad example from the ostrich, his neighbor, is also very unamiable with his "better half," and inhabits bachelor's quarters, which he keeps all to himself, away from his family.”
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America
“With regard to the viscacha it is very interesting to note that these highly-sociable little animals not only live peaceably together in each village, but that whole villages visit each other at nights.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘viscacha’.
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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Rodents
A list of types of rodent, focusing on those with unusual names.
cavy, chinchilla, rat, mouse, nutria, capybara, hyrax, viscacha, gerbil, gopher, beaver, jerboa and 17 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for viscacha.
chained_bear "'He has already shown me ... mountain viscachas, fat creatures like rabbits with a squirrel's tail that live among the boulders, piping and whistling cheerfully...'"
--P. O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 205 Mar 16, 2008
sionnach A burrowing rodent, Lagostomus maximus, about the size of a groundhog, inhabiting the pampas of Paraguay and Argentina, allied to the chinchilla. Oct 20, 2007