possum - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pos·sum

Audio Help [pos-uh

m] Pronunciation Key

–noun

opossum.

2.	Australian. any of various phalangers, esp. of the genus Trichosurus.

—Idiom

play possum, Informal.

a.	to feign sleep or death.

b.	to dissemble or pretend ignorance: The baseball broke the window, but the children played possum when asked who had thrown it.

[Origin: 1605–15, Americanism; short for opossum

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
possum

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pos·sum Audio Help (pŏs'əm) Pronunciation Key
n. Chiefly Southern U.S.
An opossum.

[Short for opossum.]

Since English is a language that stresses some syllables and not others, weakly stressed syllables, especially those preceding strong stresses, are dropped at times. This process, called aphesis when it occurs at the beginning of a word, is more common in regional American dialects than in the more conservative Standard English, which tends to retain in pronunciation anything reflected in spelling. Although many American dialects feature aphesis, it is most famous in the dialects of the South, where it yields pronunciations such as count of for (on) account of, tater for potato, possum for opossum, and skeeter for mosquito.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
possum

1613, shortened form of opossum (q.v.). Phrase play possum is first recorded 1822.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

possum
noun
1.	nocturnal arboreal marsupial having a naked prehensile tail found from southern North America to northern South America [syn: opossum]
2.	small furry Australian arboreal marsupials having long usually prehensile tails [syn: phalanger]

American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

possum

see play possum.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
possum [ˈposəm] noun

(American) opossum

Arabic:	تَظاهُر بالجَهْل، تَماوُت
Czech:	vačice
Danish:	opossum; pungrotte
Estonian:	opossum
Greek:	μαρσιποφόρο θηλαστικό
Hungarian:	oposszum
Indonesian:	sejenis hewan berkantung
Italian:	opossum
Lithuanian:	oposumas, sterblinë þiurkë

Norwegian:	pungrotte
Polish:	opos
Russian:	опоссум
Slovak:	vačica
Slovenian:	oposum
Spanish:	zarigüeya
Swedish:	opossum, pungråtta
Turkish:	keseli sıçan

See also: play possum

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Possum

Pos"sum\, n. [Shortened from opossum.] (Zo["o]l.) An opossum. [Colloq. U. S.]

To play possum, To act possum, to feign ignorance, indifference or inattention, with the intent to deceive; to dissemble; -- in allusion to the habit of the opossum, which feigns death when attacked or alarmed.

Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

POSSUM

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