: any of several social nocturnal jumping rodents (family Dipodidae) of arid parts of Asia and northern Africa having a long tail and long hind legs
Examples of jerboa in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Life Story takes a look at the infancy, the first steps of many animals, including the Long-eared jerboa, a species never before captured on camera.
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Robert English, EW.com, 4 Oct. 2022
Cooper’s jerboa project could easily turn out to need mice homozygous for 10 or more genes.
—Quanta Magazine, 27 Aug. 2019
Robert English, EW.com, 4 Oct. 2022
Cooper’s jerboa project could easily turn out to need mice homozygous for 10 or more genes.
—Quanta Magazine, 27 Aug. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jerboa.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from Arabic yarbūʽ
First Known Use
1662, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near jerboa
Cite this Entry
“Jerboa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jerboa. Accessed 26 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
jerboa
noun
jer·boa
jər-ˈbō-ə 
: any of several social jumping rodents of dry regions of Asia and northern Africa with long hind legs and a long tail that are active at night
More from Merriam-Webster on jerboa
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about jerboa
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