gerbil
noun
ger·bil
| \ ˈjər-bəl
\
\
variants:
or less commonly gerbille
Definition of gerbil
: any of numerous Old World burrowing desert rodents (Gerbillus and related genera) with long hind legs adapted for leaping
Examples of gerbil in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As of press time, his family also has a cat named Silver, two turtles named Gus and Dan, a snake named Monty, a gerbil (who has not yet been fed to the snake) and what appears to be a bearded dragon his wife calls Sandman. — Scottie Andrew, CNN, "For National Dog Day, meet the 2020 hopefuls running for America's First Pooch," 25 Aug. 2019 The backyard is full of the bones of our pets, mostly cats, but some gerbils, too, and even one guinea pig. — Beth Thames | [email protected], al.com, "Bloom where you are planted," 26 June 2019 And a study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in 2014 found that supplements of apigenin, a flavonoid found in celery, may have helped slow the progression of gastritis and gastric cancer—in gerbils, that is. — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, "Surprise: Celery Juice Will Not Cure All of Your Health Issues," 25 Jan. 2019 An unmanned Russian space biology mission called BION-M1 took various animals into space, including mice and gerbils, for a month. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "Why There Are Sperm Swimming Around at the Space Station," 16 July 2018 To try to answer that question, a team of German bioengineers surgically installed coiled strips of optical fibers in the ears of deaf gerbils. — Justin Chen, STAT, "Pulses of light restored hearing in gerbils. Could that lead to higher-tech cochlear implants?," 11 July 2018 Turns out Betsy Ross is the biggest lie your kindergarten teacher ever told you (except that Bubbles the class gerbil was moving to a farm upstate). — Josh Axelrod And Saeed Ahmed, CNN, "It's Flag Day. Here are some fun facts about the American flag you may not have known," 14 June 2018 The shelter is accepting donations for food for the surviving animals, which include cockatiels, parakeets, lovebirds and Macaws; hamsters, gerbils, mice, degus and rabbits, the Voice reported. — Marwa Eltagouri, ajc, "Sign said pet store was closed for maintenance, but inside were 41 dead animals," 30 May 2018 London’s parents limited her to gerbils and hamsters as pets because of her allergies. — Amy Sutherland, BostonGlobe.com, "An experimental cancer treatment cured this dog. Could it work for people?," 16 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gerbil.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for gerbil
gerbil
noun
English Language Learners Definition of gerbil
: a small animal that is often kept as a pet
See the full definition for gerbil in the English Language Learners Dictionary
gerbil
noun
ger·bil
| \ ˈjər-bəl
\
\
Kids Definition of gerbil
: a small Old World leaping desert rodent that is often kept as a pet
gerbil
noun
ger·bil
variants:
also gerbille \ ˈjər-bəl
\
\
Medical Definition of gerbil
: any of numerous Old World burrowing desert rodents (Gerbillus and related genera) with long hind legs adapted for leaping
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