water rat

noun

1. any of various rodents having aquatic habits.
2. the muskrat, Ondatra zibethica.
3. (in Australia and New Guinea) any of the aquatic rats of the subfamily Hydromyinae, especially of the genus Hydromys.
4. Slang. a vagrant or thief who frequents a waterfront.

water rat

noun

1. any of several small amphibious rodents, esp the water vole or the muskrat
2. any of various amphibious rats of the subfamily Hydromyinae, of New Guinea, the Philippines, and Australia
3. informal.
   a person who is very fond of water sports

Word History and Origins

Origin of water rat¹

First recorded in 1545–55

Example Sentences

Now he rode on the back of the hay wagon with his five hundred followers, a mighty army of rats: sewer rats, tavern rats, water rats, dockside rats.

From Literature

Highly intelligent Australian water rats have learned how to kill poisonous cane toads in Australia by eating their hearts and carving their organs with "surgical precision," according to research published in Australian Mammalogy.

From Fox News

Otherwise it was a lonely kingdom of rabbits, water birds and water rats.

From Literature

“I was just like a water rat,” he told Robert Fowler, a military historian, in 1996.

From New York Times

A water rat scuttled away as the children felt their way I along the narrow passage.

From Literature