Fun with Animal Verbs

One of our listeners wrote in with a question about what she called “animal verbs” — verbs that take their name from an animal’s characteristic behavior. She wondered if there were a proper name for such verbs. 

Kathryn, there is a special name for animal sounds, at least ones that imitate the noises that animals make. They’re called onomatopoeia. For example, “quack,” “woof,” and “chirp” are onomatopoeias.  These words mimic the sounds that ducks, dogs, and birds make, respectively.

As far as we can find, there’s no special name for words based on the behavior of animals. We’re going to talk about them anyway today just for fun. 

Some such words are pretty obvious in their meaning. The verb “to ram” is based on the tendency of male sheep (aka rams) to crash into one another, horns first, when they’re competing for a mate. The verb “to hog” refers to pigs jostling one another for room at a feeding trough. And “monkeying around” refers to the sometimes-mischievous behavior of spider monkeys. 

Some animal verbs have a more subtle meaning.

Verbs Based on Mammal Behavior

To bird dog

For example, to “bird dog” means to conduct a determined search for something or to pester someone relentlessly. It’s based on the behavior of hunting dogs like Labradors and Spaniels. These dogs are used to find birds, flush them out of the underbrush, then retrieve them once they’ve been downed. 

To dog or hound

In a related vein, to “dog” or to “hound” someone means to follow someone or harass them persistently. This is based on the behavior of hound dogs like beagles, bassets, and bloodhounds. These dogs use their acute sense of smell to chase prey—or escaped convicts, in many a cops-and-robbers movie—across miles on end.  

READ MORE: Do you capitalize dog breeds?

To squirrel away

To squirrel something away means to save up or hoard something, much as a squirrel hoards nuts to eat during the winter months. 

Squirrelly

Interestingly, as an adjective, to say someone is “squirrelly...

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