English Explanatory Dictionary

Hanoverian rat

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The brown rat, Rattus norvegicus.

Word forms

Hanoverian rat Hanoverian rats

Etymology

The name was introduced by English naturalist Charles Waterton, a devout Catholic, as a slur on Protestant Hanoverians whose British rule began in 1714, shortly before the species first appeared in Britain.

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