wishtonwish

English

Alternative forms

wistonwish

Etymology

From a Native American word which was an onomatopoeic representation of the animals' cry.

Noun

wishtonwish (plural wishtonwishes)

1. (US, obsolete, except perhaps in dialects) The prairie dog.
   • 1812 April, “Pike's Expedition”, in The General Repository and Review, volume 1, page 398:

     On the twenty fourth of October, while on a short excursion from this place, Lt. Pike and Dr. Robertson, (a gentleman who accompanied the expedition,) killed some prairie squirrels, or wishtonwishes, and nine rattle snakes, […]

   • 1937, James Thurber, Let Your Mind Alone, page 189:

     […] who, it turned out, devoted all his spending money to them, asked me if I had ever seen a "wishtonwish."

References

• “wishtonwish”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.