Noun

(en noun)

(zoology) A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus .

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose

, title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.}}

(informal) A term indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families (e.g. voles and mice) having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.

(informal) A person who is known for betrayal; a scoundrel; a quisling.

* 1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)

He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house.

(informal) An informant or snitch.

(slang) A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.

Scab.

Vagina.

A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.

Noun

(es)

A red fox, small carnivore (Vulpes vulpes ), related to dogs and wolves, with red or silver fur and a bushy tail.

*15^th century ,

*:The fox went out on a chase one night, / he prayed to the Moon to give him light, / for he had many a mile to go that night / before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o. / He had many a mile to go that night / before he reached the town-o.

*

*:They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

Any of numerous species of small wild canids resembling the red fox. In the taxonomy they form the tribe Vulpini within the family Canidae, consisting of nine genera (see the ).

The fur of a fox.

A fox terrier.

The , so called from its yellow color.

A cunning person.

(lb) A physically attractive man or woman.

*1993 , (Laura Antoniou), (w) , p.90:

*:And Jerry was cute, you know, I liked him, but Frank was a total fox . And he was rougher than Jerry, you know, not so cultured.

*2012 , Adele Parks, Still Thinking of You

*:It wasn't just that Jayne was a fox – although, fuck, was she ever a fox. That arse, those tits, those lips. They could have a really good time together.

(lb) A small strand of rope made by twisting several rope-yarns together. Used for seizings, mats, sennits, and gaskets.

(lb) A wedge driven into the split end of a bolt to tighten it.

(lb) A sword; so called from the stamp of a fox on the blade, or perhaps of a wolf taken for a fox.

*(rfdate) (William Shakespeare)

*:Thou diest on point of fox .