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opossum - 4 dictionary results

o⋅pos⋅sum

  [uh-pos-uhm, pos-uhm]
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–noun, plural -sums, (especially collectively) -sum.
1. a prehensile-tailed marsupial, Didelphis virginiana, of the eastern U.S., the female having an abdominal pouch in which its young are carried: noted for the habit of feigning death when in danger.
2. any of various animals of related genera.
Compare possum.

Origin:
1600–10, Americanism; < Virginia Algonquian (E sp.) opassom, opussum, aposoum (equiv. to Proto-Algonquian *wa˙p- white + *-aʔθemw- dog)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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o·pos·sum   (ə-pŏs'əm, pŏs'əm)   
n.   pl. opossum or o·pos·sums
  1. Any of various nocturnal, usually arboreal marsupials of the family Didelphidae, especially Didelphis marsupialis of the Western Hemisphere, having a thick coat of hair, a long snout, and a long prehensile tail. See Regional Note at possum.
  2. Any of several similar marsupials of Australia belonging to the family Phalangeridae.

[Virginia Algonquian.]
Word History: The word opossum takes us back to the earliest days of the American colonies. The settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607 by the London Company, chartered for the planting of colonies. Even though the first years were difficult, promotional literature was glowing. In one such piece, A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in Virginia, published in 1610, we find this passage: "There are ... Apossouns, in shape like to pigges." This is the first recorded use of opossum, although in a spelling that differs from the one later settled on to reproduce the sound of the Virginia Algonquian word from which our word came. The word opossum and its shortened form possum, first recorded in 1613 in more promotional literature, remind us of a time when the New World was still very new, settlers were few, and the inhabitants for whom the New World was not new were plentiful.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Opossum

O*pos"sum\, n. [Of N. American Indian origin.] (Zo["o]l.) Any American marsupial of the genera Didelphys and Chironectes. The common species of the United States is Didelphys Virginiana.

Note: Several related species are found in South America. The water opossum of Brazil (Chironectes variegatus), which has the hind feet, webbed, is provided with a marsupial pouch and with cheek pouches. It is called also yapock.

Opossum mouse. (Zo["o]l.) See Flying mouse, under Flying.

Opossum shrimp (Zo["o]l.), any schizopod crustacean of the genus Mysis and allied genera. See Schizopoda.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : opossum
Spanish: zarigüeya,
German: das Opossum,
Japanese: オッポサム（有袋動物）
More Translations »

opossum 
1610, from Algonquian (Powhatan) apasum "white animal."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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