ferret
part of speech
noun (a ferret, ferrets); verb (ferret, ferrets, ferreted, ferreting)
meaning for a pupil
1) A small, long, thin furry animal related to the weasel, kept as a pet or once used to chase rabbits out of their holes. tree →
2) (verb) To ferret around or about is to search busily for something. tree →
3) To ferret out is to find something out by careful searching. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: The word is used for an unclean animal in the old translation, probably a wild creature of ruins; the exact animal is uncertain. Interpretation: Isaiah pictures Babylon as a ruin where only wild animals live. Tradition reads this as a sign of total desolation after God's judgment. In the primary lessons: In nature topics, ferrets are playful pets that sleep a lot. In history and countryside stories, people used ferrets to hunt rabbits. In everyday talk, ferret about in a drawer means rummage. Phrases: ferret around, ferret out the truth.
examples
- But wild-cats shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of ferrets; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. (Prophets ISA.13.21, JPS 1917) tree →
- Our neighbour has two pet ferrets. tree →
- The ferret squeezed into the rabbit hole. tree →
- Ferrets sleep for many hours a day. tree →
- She ferreted around in her bag for her keys. tree →
- The detective ferreted out the truth. tree →
- A baby ferret is called a kit. tree →
- Let a woman alone, in the meantime, for ferreting or wheedling a secret out of her good man, when she wishes. tree →
note
Regular verb: ferreted. In New Zealand, ferrets are a pest that kills native birds, and keeping them as pets is not allowed.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ferret» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.