possum

American  

[pos-uhm] / ˈpɒs əm /

noun

1. opossum.

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

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idioms

1. play possum,

   1. to feign sleep or death.

   2. to dissemble or pretend ignorance.

      The baseball broke the window, but the children played possum when asked who had thrown it.

possum British  

/ ˈpɒsəm /

noun

1. an informal name for opossum

2. Also called: phalanger.  any of various Australasian arboreal marsupials, such as Trichosurus vulpecula ( brush-tailed phalanger ), having dense fur and a long tail: family Phalangeridae

3. to pretend to be dead, ignorant, asleep, etc, in order to deceive an opponent

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possum More Idioms  

1. see play possum.

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Usage

Plural word for possum The plural form of possum is possums. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -um are also formed in this way, including museum/museums and drum/drums.Possum is pluralized in the regular, or standard, way of adding an -s to the end of the word.In some nouns that end in -um that are derived from Latin, the irregular plural ending -a may be used instead, as in memorandum/memoranda and curriculum/curricula. These nouns are considered irregular nouns. However, the -a ending isn’t valid for possum, because the word derives from the Virginia Algonquian term (with English spelling) opussum. Possa would be an invalid plural for possum.

Etymology

Origin of possum

1605–15, short for opossum

Example Sentences

A camera trap in Tasmania originally set to photograph quolls captured a possum mother and joey passing nightly to forage.

From BBC

Found among the stuffed animals at one airport gift shop – an actual living possum.

From MarketWatch

A wild possum joined stuffed furry friends in an Australian airport gift shop this week, surprising travellers in an adorable case of hide and squeak.

From Barron's

You could see where he’d thrashed around, but now he was quiet, playing possum.

From Literature

A tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand is one of two species thought to have been extinct that have been discovered in West Papua, in what's been called an "exceptional" scientific discovery.

From BBC