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# otter

«otter» in Mova's school dictionary: **a playful animal with smooth brown fur, short legs…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (otter, otters)

### meaning for a pupil

An otter is a playful animal with smooth brown fur, short legs, webbed feet and a long tail that lives near rivers or the sea and swims very well. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons otters are mammals adapted to water: thick waterproof fur, webbed feet, closing ears and nostrils; they eat fish, crabs and shellfish. Sea otters float on their backs, hold hands while sleeping and use stones to crack shells — an animal using tools. In nature lessons river otters came back to rivers in the UK and Ireland when the water got cleaner. Phrases: sea otter, river otter, otter cubs.

### examples

- The otter dived into the river to catch a fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x1)
- Sea otters sleep floating on their backs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x2)
- An otter uses a stone to crack open shells. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x3)
- Baby otters are called pups or cubs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x4)
- Otters have thick, waterproof fur. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x5)
- We saw an otter playing in the water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x6)
- ‘Be not so downcast,’ replied the otter; ‘before noon to-morrow thou shalt behold thy wife. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/otter/#x7)

### note

Countable noun (otters). A group of otters in the water is called a raft. Spelling: double t. Otters are mammals, not fish — they breathe air.

### In the corpora

- [Sea otters smash shellfish on a stone laid on the chest and keep a favourite stone in a loose skin pocket under the arm.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters/12/)
- [An animal that keeps a whole habitat in balance, like the sea otter, is called a keystone species.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters/14/)
- [Labradors were bred to fetch from water, with a thick waterproof coat and a thick otter-like tail used as a rudder.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/192-dogs-from-wolves-to-hundreds-of-breeds/13/)
- [Sea otters, sea urchins and kelp are another trophic cascade.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/283-wolves-in-yellowstone-beavers-in-britain-and-bringing-nature-back/8/)
- [People once thought only humans used tools; now we know birds, apes, otters and even fish do.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs/3/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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