[fer-it] 
| 1. | a domesticated, usually red-eyed, and albinic variety of the polecat, used in Europe for driving rabbits and rats from their burrows. |
| 2. | black-footed ferret. |
| 3. | to drive out by using or as if using a ferret (often fol. by out): to ferret rabbits from their burrows; to ferret out enemies. |
| 4. | to hunt with ferrets. |
| 5. | to hunt over with ferrets: to ferret a field. |
| 6. | to search out, discover, or bring to light (often fol. by out): to ferret out the facts. |
| 7. | to harry, worry, or torment: His problems ferreted him day and night. |
| 8. | to search about. |
| fer·ret 1 (fěr'ĭt) n.
v. tr.
[Middle English furet, ferret, from Old French furet, from Vulgar Latin *fūrittus, diminutive of Latin fūr, thief; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots.] fer'ret·er n., fer'ret·y adj. |
| fer·ret 2 (fěr'ĭt) n. A narrow piece of tape used to bind or edge fabric. [Probably alteration of Italian fioretti, floss silk, pl. of fioretto, diminutive of fiore, flower, from Latin flōs, flōr-, flower; see bhel-3 in Indo-European roots.] |
Ferret
Lev. 11:30 (R.V., "gecko"), one of the unclean creeping things. It was perhaps the Lacerta gecko which was intended by the Hebrew word (anakah, a cry, "mourning," the creature which groans) here used, i.e., the "fan-footed" lizard, the gecko which makes a mournful wail. The LXX. translate it by a word meaning "shrew-mouse," of which there are three species in Palestine. The Rabbinical writers regard it as the hedgehog. The translation of the Revised Version is to be preferred.