otter
part of speech
noun (otter, otters)
meaning for a pupil
An otter is a playful animal with smooth brown fur, short legs, webbed feet and a long tail that lives near rivers or the sea and swims very well. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons otters are mammals adapted to water: thick waterproof fur, webbed feet, closing ears and nostrils; they eat fish, crabs and shellfish. Sea otters float on their backs, hold hands while sleeping and use stones to crack shells — an animal using tools. In nature lessons river otters came back to rivers in the UK and Ireland when the water got cleaner. Phrases: sea otter, river otter, otter cubs.
examples
- The otter dived into the river to catch a fish. tree →
- Sea otters sleep floating on their backs. tree →
- An otter uses a stone to crack open shells. tree →
- Baby otters are called pups or cubs. tree →
- Otters have thick, waterproof fur. tree →
- We saw an otter playing in the water. tree →
- ‘Be not so downcast,’ replied the otter; ‘before noon to-morrow thou shalt behold thy wife. tree →
note
Countable noun (otters). A group of otters in the water is called a raft. Spelling: double t. Otters are mammals, not fish — they breathe air.
In the corpora
- Sea otters smash shellfish on a stone laid on the chest and keep a favourite stone in a loose skin pocket under the arm.
- An animal that keeps a whole habitat in balance, like the sea otter, is called a keystone species.
- Labradors were bred to fetch from water, with a thick waterproof coat and a thick otter-like tail used as a rudder.
- Sea otters, sea urchins and kelp are another trophic cascade.
- People once thought only humans used tools; now we know birds, apes, otters and even fish do.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «otter» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.