Definition of STOAT

stoat

Plural: stoats

Noun

  • A small weasel, particularly one with a black-tipped tail.
  • the ermine in its brown summer coat with black-tipped tail
  • Mustela erminea, the ermine or short-tailed weasel, a mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip.

Examples

  • He found the word STOAT, quickly playing it for a double-letter score on the ’T’.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English stote (“the ermine, especially in its brown summer coat”), of uncertain origin. The word bears some resemblance to Old Norse stutr (“bull”), Swedish stut (“bull, steer”) and Danish stud (“steer”) (see also English stot), but the semantic link is difficult unless a common origin is from “(brown?) male mammal”. First attested in the mid 1400s.

Synonyms

clubster, ermine, short-tailed weasel

Scrabble Score: 5

stoat: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
stoat: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
stoat: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 5

stoat: valid Words With Friends Word