hamster

Pluralhamsters

Formshamsters, hamstering, hamstered

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A rodent of the golden hamster species or one of the dwarf hamster species, commonly kept as a pet or used in scientific research.

   We bought a golden hamster from the pet store last weekend.

   Researchers often study hamsters because they breed quickly.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   Any of various small, stout-bodied rodents of the Old World subfamily Cricetinae, which carry food in large cheek pouches.

   Several hamster species across Europe and Asia hoard grain in underground chambers.

   The European hamster grows larger than its domesticated relatives.

   Note

   The name came into English from German Hamster, and it pushed out an older, plainer label: German rat. That earlier name tells you how the animal was first placed, as a kind of rat tied to Germany, before the borrowed word took over. Today it covers the whole Old World subfamily, wild species included, not just the golden and dwarf pets most people picture.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Any of various other look-alike rodents, such as the maned hamster (Lophiomys imhausi), the mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, or the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).

   The maned hamster coats its flank hairs with poison drawn from chewed bark.

   The mouse-like hamsters of Calomyscus inhabit arid mountain regions of the Middle East.

   Note

   Here the name follows looks rather than lineage. These animals stand apart from the true hamsters, yet resemblance earned them the word: the maned or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, and the mouse-like hamsters of Calomyscus. The naming is loose in both directions, since Mystromys albicaudatus counts among them while its everyday name is the white-tailed rat. When precision matters, the scientific name is the safer label.

4. 4
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To store or hide something away privately, in the manner of a hamster filling its cheek pouches with food.

   During the shortage, families began to hamster flour and sugar.

   He hamsters spare cables in every drawer of the house.

   Similarstash

   Note

   A verb born of shortage more often than greed. In Phyllis and Rolf Knight's A Very Ordinary Life (1974), hamstering keeps half a city from starving. Edith Sheffer's Burned Bridge (2014) sets it beside smuggling and begging at the East–West German boundary. It works with or without an object, and like its near-synonym stash it pairs naturally with away: he hamstered them away upstairs.

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