Emily Dickinson Lexicon

O-POS'SUM, n. [This name is pronounced possum, which perhaps may be its true orthography.]

The popular name of several species of Didelphis, a genus of marsupiate carnivorous mammals. One species only of seventeen inhabits the United States, and this is one of the six species whose females have an abdominal pouch, in which they protect and carry their young. The Didelphis Virginiana has a prehensile tail by which it easily suspends itself.