gray squirrel

[ grey-skwur-uhl, skwuhr‐ ]

noun
  1. a gray-colored arboreal squirrel: North American species include the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) of the eastern and midwestern U.S. and southeastern Canada, the western gray squirrel (S. griseus) of the coastal western U.S. and Mexico, the Arizona gray squirrel (S. arizonensis) of eastern Arizona and adjacent Mexico, and the Mexican gray squirrel (S. aureogaster), found from Guatemala north through eastern Mexico to the Florida Keys.

Origin of gray squirrel

1
An Americanism dating back to 1615–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use gray squirrel in a sentence

  • A young gray squirrel flirted across the wagon ruts ahead of him and darted up a chestnut sapling.

    The Escape of Mr. Trimm | Irvin S. Cobb
  • The distant bark of the more wary gray squirrel may be heard about the same time.

    A Year in the Fields | John Burroughs
  • I looked more looks at that gray squirrel sitting out on a limb.

    The Story of Opal | Opal Whiteley
  • A gray squirrel frisking by stopped at the lunch-counter and seized an 'Educator' cracker.

  • Little gray squirrel, crying into his maple-leaf handkerchief as though his very heart would break!

    Father Thrift and His Animal Friends | Joseph Charles Sindelar