Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SQUIR'REL, n. [squur'rel; Fr. ecureuil; L. sciurus; Gr. σκιουρος, a compound of σκια, shade, and ουρα, tail.]

A small rodent mammal. The squirrel has two cutting teeth in each jaw, four long toes on the fore feet, and a tubercle instead of a thumb, and five on the hind feet. Several species are enumerated. These animals are remarkably nimble, running up trees and leaping from branch to branch with surprising agility. They subsist on nuts, of which they lay up a store for winter, some of them in hollow trees, others in the earth. Their flesh is delicate food.