squirrel

n. a small animal with a long, bushy tail that lives in trees and eats nuts.

n. a small arboreal rodent with a bushy tail, belonging to the family Sciuridae.

“A grey squirrel ran across the grass and climbed up the oak tree.”

“The red squirrel is increasingly rare in parts of Britain due to competition from the more aggressive grey species.”

v. to hide or store something away so you can use it in the future.

v. to store or hide something in a secretive manner for future use; often used with the particle 'away'.

“She managed to squirrel away some money every month for her holiday.”

“Over the years, he had managed to squirrel away a significant collection of rare stamps in a safe-deposit box.”

Informal

v. to suddenly lose focus or start doing something else.

v. to become suddenly distracted or to shift focus erratically from one task to another.

“I was trying to write my report, but I squirreled and started cleaning the kitchen instead.”

“The meeting was productive until the director squirreled onto the topic of office furniture, wasting twenty minutes of our time.”

Informal · American English