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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
hamster
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Barking mad Forget familiar classroom pets such as hamsters, gerbils and rabbits.
▪ He and I exchanged sharp words when he informed me that the hamster would have to undergo the rabies test.
▪ I peered in, checking the base of the curtains where a hamster might be lurking.
▪ It all started when she saw a hamster in a pet shop and decided to get another to keep him company.
▪ My brother had a hamster when we were kids.
▪ Some hamsters nurse and nurture large litters while also eating one or two to recoup strength.
▪ The hamster appears lifeless if disturbed, but returns to normal in about five minutes.
▪ Was there an effective hamster bait?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hamster

Hamster \Ham"ster\ (-st[~e]r), n. [G. hamster.] (Zo["o]l.) A small European rodent ( Cricetus frumentarius). It is remarkable for having a pouch on each side of the jaw, under the skin, and for its migrations. Hamsters are commonly kept as a pets.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
hamster

c.1600, from German Hamster, from Middle High German hamastra "hamster," probably from Old Church Slavonic chomestoru "hamster" (the animal is native to southeastern Europe), perhaps a blend of Russian chomiak and Lithuanian staras, both meaning "hamster." The older English name for it was German rat.

Wiktionary
hamster

n. 1 Any of various Old-World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. 2 # especially, the golden hamster, ''Mesocricetus auratus'', and the (vern dwarf hamster pedia=1)s of genus ''Phodopus'', often kept as a pets and used in scientific research. 3 Other rodents of similar appearance, such as the (vern: maned hamster) or (vern: crested hamster), (taxlink Lophiomys imhausi species noshow=1), mouse-like hamsters of genus (taxlink Calomyscus genus noshow=1), and the white-tailed rat ((taxlink Mystromys albicaudatus species noshow=1)).

WordNet
hamster

n. short-tailed Old World burrowing rodent with large cheek pouches

Wikipedia
Hamster

Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera. They have become established as popular small house pets, and partly because they are easy to breed in captivity, hamsters are often used as laboratory animals.

In the wild, hamsters are crepuscular and remain underground during the day to avoid being caught by predators. They feed primarily on seeds, fruits, and vegetation, and will occasionally eat burrowing insects. They have elongated cheek pouches extending to their shoulders in which they carry food back to their burrows.

Usage examples of "hamster".

Wat hielp het den Hamster, dat hij blazend naar den Egel beet: hij verwondde zich eenvoudig den bek aan de stekels, zoodat het bloed er uit druppelde, en kreeg intusschen zoovele stooten met den stekelhelm tusschen de ribben en zoovele beten in de pooten, dat hij bezweken zou zijn, als ik hem niet het leven had gered.

Arena, Greg Arena, Bill Bailey, Jim Blaylock, Jenny Bunn, Pete Devries, Phil Dick, Jeff Fontanesi, Don Goudie, Chris Gourlay, Dashiell Hamster, Rick Harding, K.

He found out a few minutes later that Gaye had gone rearward and managed to lock herself in the hydro-dynamic pumping station with Ruff and Widget, the giant hamsters, and was refusing to let any gnome near them.

The babes, who had more-or-less taken the huge Hamster Janders for granted, took one look at that massive Canary Clarence.

Hamster Janders, overweight and with an attitude, is banging the side of his cage.

Hares, giant hamsters, and great jerboas were large enough for a meal, and tasty when skinned and skewered over an evening fire.

As the sprouting herbs and grasses tempted burrowing ground squirrels, giant hamsters, great jerboas, rabbits, and hares from winter nests, Ayla started wearing her sling again, tucked into the thong that held her fur wrap closed.

Steppe pikes, souslik marmots, great jerboas, varying hares -- gray brown now instead of winter white -- and an occasional, omnivorous, mouse-hunting giant hamster abounded on the plains.

She had occasionally gone out with her sling, and he had not questioned where the jerboas, hares, and giant hamsters came from.

I dropped a few hamster nuggets into his bowl and made some smoochy sounds.

The small furry creatures were an example that Ayla noticed, although during the freezing season, the mice, dormice, voles, susliks, and hamsters were seldom seen, except when she broke through a nest for the vegetable foods they had stored.

From a niche behind her sleeping place, she took out a bundle wrapped in the hide of a giant hamster and tied with a cord, and brought it down to the rocky beach.

After a meal of starchy groundnuts wrapped in leaves to roast, and an assortment of edible greens stuffed in a giant hamster and cooked, she set up her low tent.

To the east, dimmed by the fulvous cloud the hamsters send up, is the vivid verdant ragged outline of the annularly overfertilized forests of what used to be central Maine.

Or one of our pet hamsters, with little slide walks in their terrarium, to let them run and think they were getting somewhere.