hamster

• hampster

Borrowed from German Hamster, from Middle High German hamster, from Old High German hamastra, hamustro (compare Old Saxon hamustra), probably from Old East Slavic хомѣсторъ (xoměstorŭ), хомѣстаръ (xoměstarŭ), compound of (1) хомѣкъ (xoměkŭ, “hamster”) (compare Russian хомя́к (xomják), Polish chomik), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *kāmjas (compare Latvian kāmis (“hamster”), Lithuanian kãmas (“rat”),[1] and of (2) Baltic *staras (compare Lithuanian stãras (“ground squirrel”).[2][3] Alternatively, a borrowing into Slavic from Iranian, compare Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬨𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬭-‎ (hamaēstar-, “who throws down (in this case: corn stalks), oppresses”).[4] Displaced earlier term German rat.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæm(p)stɚ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

hamster (plural hamsters)

1. Any of various Old-World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.
   1. especially, the golden hamster, Mesocricetus auratus, and the dwarf hamsters of genus Phodopus, often kept as a pets and used in scientific research.

   It is the cutest sight to see a hamster stuff his puffy cheeks with food; where is it going to store it?

2. Other rodents of similar appearance, such as the maned hamster or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).

• (golden hamster): Syrian hamster

• hamstering
• rationalization hamster

hamster (third-person singular simple present hamsters, present participle hamstering, simple past and past participle hamstered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.

   Synonym: stash

   • 1974, Phyllis Knight, ‎Rolf Knight, A Very Ordinary Life (page 43)

     Probably the city government knew that without that hamstering half the city would starve and they somehow got the police to lay off. It was in the little stinky one-horse towns that you had all the trouble.

   • 2004, Sharon L. Pywell, What Happened to Henry (page 50)

     […] in his bedroom in neat stacks — he always hamstered them away upstairs as soon as the morning was done. This year the gifts sat ignored […]

   • 2014, Edith Sheffer, Burned Bridge: How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain

     […] eastern children frequently “hamstered,” smuggled, and begged across the boundary, especially after currency reform […]

• gerbil
• guinea pig
• mouse
• rat

• hamster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Golden hamster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• hamster in Mammal Species of the World at Bucknell.

• Amherst, harmest

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦɑmstər/

• audio

  (file)

hamster m (plural hamsters, diminutive hamstertje n)

1. hamster

hamster

1. first-person singular present indicative of hamsteren
2. imperative of hamsteren

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /am.stɛʁ/

  • audio (France)

    (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /am.stɚ/

  • audio (Quebec)

    (file)

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. hamster

• “hamster” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

hamster

1. Imperative singular of hamstern.

From German Hamster

hamster m (definite singular hamsteren, indefinite plural hamstere or hamstre or hamstrer, definite plural hamsterne or hamstrene)

1. a hamster

• “hamster” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From German Hamster

hamster m (definite singular hamsteren, indefinite plural hamsterar, definite plural hamsterane)

1. a hamster

• “hamster” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• hámster (uncommon)
• hâmster (rare)

hamster m (plural hamsters or hamsteres (rare))

1. hamster (small, short-tailed European rodent)

From English hamster.

• IPA^(key): /ˈham.ster/

hamster m (plural hamsteri)

• hamster

hamster c

1. a hamster

• guldhamster
• hamsterbur
• hamsterhjul
• hamstra
• hamstrare
• hamstring

• hamster in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)

From English hamster.

• IPA^(key): [hamsteɾ]
• Hyphenation: hams‧ter

hamster (definite accusative hamsteri, plural hamsterler)

1. (zoology, mammals, rodents) hamster