rice rat

noun

hardy agile rat of grassy marshes of Mexico and the southeastern United States

• Syn: ↑Oryzomys palustris

• Hypernyms: ↑rat

• Member Holonyms: ↑Oryzomys, ↑genus Oryzomys

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noun or rice mouse

: any of various cricetid rats (genus Oryzomys) abundant in moist or swampy areas from New Jersey to Venezuela; especially : a rodent (O. palustris) of the southeastern United States that greatly resembles the Norway rat

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any rat of the genus Oryzomys, having an exceptionally long tail, esp. O. palustris, inhabiting rice fields and marshes of the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.

[1880-85]

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rice rat,

a gray or brownish rat of the southern United States and Mexico, found especially in wet, grassy areas.

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n. a nocturnal rat that typically lives in marshy or damp areas, native to America, the Caribbean, and the Galapagos Islands. ● Oryzomys and other genera, family Muridae: numerous species