brushtail possum

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From brush + tail (originally tailed) + possum. See brushtail.

Noun

brushtail possum (plural brushtail possums)

  1. Any nocturnal, arboreal, Australian possum of the genus Trichosurus, having a furred tail with a naked tip.
    • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber, published 2003, page 56:
      The southerly caught the tree and tipped it. It fell with a crash, pinning a large brush-tailed possum to the ground.
    • 1999, Julia Leigh, The Hunter, Faber & Faber 2012, p. 67:
      A brush-tailed possum wanders close, and with his rifle scope he traces its outline […] .
    • 2005, Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, Life of Marsupials, page 229:
      There are 22 species in the family, the commonest being the brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula (Fig. 7.5d, Plates 12 and 13), in Australia and the northern common cuscus, Phalanger orientalis, in New Guinea.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.