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# gerbil

«gerbil» in Mova's school dictionary: **A small furry rodent with a long tail and strong back…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a gerbil, gerbils)

### meaning for a pupil

A small furry rodent with a long tail and strong back legs, from the deserts of Africa and Asia, often kept as a pet. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In children's life it is a common classroom or home pet, like a hamster. In science it shows desert adaptations: gerbils need little water and dig burrows. Stories use it as a small cute pet that must be fed and cleaned out. Phrases: gerbil cage, pet gerbil.

### examples

- Our class gerbil is called Nibbles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#x1)
- Gerbils love to dig tunnels in deep bedding. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#x2)
- My gerbil drinks very little water because it comes from the desert. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#x3)
- Gerbils are happier living in pairs than alone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#x4)
- Please close the cage so the gerbil doesn't escape. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#x5)
- The gerbil stood up on its back legs to sniff the air. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/#x6)

### note

Countable: one gerbil, two gerbils. Not the same as a hamster: gerbils have long furry tails and are more active by day. In some places, such as California, keeping gerbils is not allowed.

### In the corpora

- [Gerbils come from deserts where they live in tunnels, so they love a deep layer of bedding to dig in.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/202-hamsters-gerbils-and-pet-rats-and-mice/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «gerbil» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gerbil/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.