Meanings
vole1
plural voles
- Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini.
vole2
plural voles
- archaicA deal in a card game, écarté, that draws all the tricks.
Ladies, I'll venture for the vole.
1731, Jonathan Swift, Verses on the Death of Dr Swift1 more example
With humble curate can I now retire, (While good Sir Peter boozes with the squire,) And at backgammon mortify my soul, That pants for loo, or flutters at a vole?
1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Epilogue
present singular third person voles · participle present voling · participle past voled · past voled
- archaicintransitivecard gamesTo win all the tricks by a vole.
no lad shall chuck, or lady vole, But some excising Courtier will have toll.
1717, Alexander Pope, “The Fourth Satire of Dr. John Donne”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
nounany of various small mouselike rodents of the family Cricetidae (especially of genus Microtus) having a stout short-tailed body and inconspicuous ears and inhabiting fields or meadows
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
vole · noun
- Proto-Germanic*walþuz“forest”
- Old Norsevǫllr“field”
- Nornvollj
- Englishvole
Borrowed from Norn vollj, from Old Norse vǫllr (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *walþuz (“forest”). The Orkney dialectal term vole mouse, lit. “field mouse”, was introduced to general English by George Barry in 1805; John Fleming in 1828 was first to refer to the creature by the epithet vole alone. Displaced earlier names for these species which also classified them as mice, e.g. short-tailed field mouse.
More words from Norn, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →vole · noun, verb
- Frenchvole
- Englishvole
Borrowed from French vole.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σμίνθος
- σμίνθος (smínthos)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Bulgarian полевка, полска мишка
- полевка (polevka)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- полска мишка (polska miška)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Catalan talpó
- talpósmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Chinese Mandarin 田鼠
- 田鼠 (tiánshǔ)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Czech hryzec, hraboš
- hryzecsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- hrabošsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- norníksmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Danish studsmus
- studsmussmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Dutch veldmuis, woelmuis
- veldmuissmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- woelmuissmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Esperanto arvikolo
- arvikolosmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Finnish myyrä
- myyräsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
French campagnol
- campagnolsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
German Wühlmaus
- Wühlmaussmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Hungarian pocok
- pocoksmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Indonesian tikus padang
- tikus padangsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Irish vól
- vólsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Italian arvicola, campagnolo
- arvicolasmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- campagnolosmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Japanese ハタネズミ, 畑鼠
- ハタネズミ (hatanezumi)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- 畑鼠 (hatanezumi)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Malay tikus padang
- tikus padangsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Persian ول
- ول (vol)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Polish nornica, nornik
- nornicasmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- norniksmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- polniksmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Portuguese rato-do-campo
- rato-do-camposmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Romanian șoarece-de-câmp
- șoarece-de-câmpsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Russian полёвка
- полёвка (poljóvka)small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Spanish campañol, topillo
- campañolsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- topillosmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
- rata de aguasmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Swedish sork
- sorksmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Vietnamese chuột đồng
- chuột đồngsmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Welsh llygoden
- llygodensmall rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with vole
Anagrams
Cite this entry
vole. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vole
“vole.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vole. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vole,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vole.
Source: vole on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.