DictionarymoleBurrowing animal
noun

mole

A small mammal that tunnels unseen below the ground.

A mole digs a tunnel beneath the soft garden soil.

Etymology

The Middle English animal-name continues in the modern word for the underground mammal. Its deeper ancestry is uncertain, so no more specific original image can be confidently supplied.

More examples

  • Moles use their broad front feet to dig.
  • The mole searches underground for worms.
  • Fresh piles of dirt show where a mole has been digging.

Forms

mole · moles

molehill noun — A small mound of earth a mole raises.