vole

Meaning

Noun

Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae of the family Cricetidae which are not lemmings or muskrats.

Verb

To win all the tricks by a vole.

Synonyms

field mouse

grand slam

guinea pig

mouse

🐭

rat

🐀

shrew

water vole

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvəʊl/

Etymology

Borrowed from Norn vollj, from Old Norse vǫllr (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *walþuz (“forest”). The Orkney dialectal term vole mouse, lit. “field mouse”, was introduced to general English by George Barry in 1805; John Fleming in 1828 was first to refer to the creature by the epithet vole alone. Displaced earlier names for these species which also classified them as mice, e.g. short-tailed field mouse.