View synonyms for guinea pig

guinea pig

noun

a short-eared, tailless rodent of the genus Cavia, usually white, black, and tawny, commonly regarded as the domesticated form of one of the South American wild species of cavy: often used in scientific experiments or kept as a pet.
Informal. the subject of any sort of experiment:
I've volunteered as a guinea pig in several clinical trials.

guinea pig

a domesticated cavy, probably descended from Cavia porcellus, commonly kept as a pet and used in scientific experiments
a person or thing used for experimentation

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First recorded in 1655–65

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C17: origin uncertain: perhaps from old use of the name Guinea to mean any remote unknown land

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The San Francisco Examiner had no problem asking young Lewis Lapham to be an LSD guinea pig for the sake of journalism.

Closely related to the guinea pig and weighing in between 77 and 150 pounds, these creatures are the largest rodents in the world.

Kate Middleton revealed today that her nickname at junior school was 'Squeak' - after the school guinea pig.

In the tenth week the bacillus present when in pure culture killed a guinea-pig in thirty-six hours.

The mechanical guinea-pig demonstrated that the syrup contained nothing harmful to human tissue.

The guinea pig was nestling in the corner of his box, and the cat and the tame rat had scampered into the house long ago.

The young man put the guinea pig in his pocket, picked up his crutches, and we started down the sunny village street.

Experimenting upon the virulence of the poison, Heloderma was made to bite a frog and a guinea pig.

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