rabbit

UK: /ˈræbɪt/ US: /ˈræbɪt/ ,(rab′it)

Inflections of 'rabbit' (n):

rabbits

npl (All usages)

rabbit

npl (Can be used as a collective plural—e.g. "The men are hunting rabbit.")

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

rab•bit /ˈræbɪt/   n., pl. -bits, (esp. when thought of as a group) -bit. 

1. Mammals [countable] a large-eared, hopping animal, usually smaller than the hare, living in holes in the ground.
2. Clothing [uncountable] the fur of a rabbit or hare.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

rab•bit  (rab′it), n., pl. -bits, (esp. collectively) -bit for 1–3.

1. Mammals any of several soft-furred, large-eared, rodentlike burrowing mammals of the family Leporidae, allied with the hares and pikas in the order Lagomorpha, having a divided upper lip and long hind legs, usually smaller than the hares and mainly distinguished from them by bearing blind and furless young in nests rather than fully developed young in the open.
2. Mammals any of various small hares.
3. Clothing the fur of a rabbit or hare, often processed to imitate another fur.
4. Food See Welsh rabbit. 
5. Sport a runner in a distance race whose goal is chiefly to set a fast pace, either to exhaust a particular rival so that a teammate can win or to help another entrant break a record;
   pacesetter.
6. British Terms a person who is poor at sports, esp. golf, tennis, or cricket.
7. pull a rabbit out of the hat, to find or obtain a sudden solution to a problem:
   Unless somebody pulls a rabbit out of the hat by next week, we'll be bankrupt.

• Old North French; compare Walloon robett, dialect, dialectal Dutch robbe
• late Middle English rabet(te) young rabbit, bunny, probably 1375–1425

rab′bit•like′, rab′bit•y, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

rabbit / ˈræbɪt/ noun ( -bits, -bit)

1. any of various common gregarious burrowing leporid mammals, esp Oryctolagus cuniculus of Europe and North Africa and the cottontail of America. They are closely related and similar to hares but are smaller and have shorter ears
2. the fur of such an animal
3. a novice or poor performer at a game or sport

verb

1. (intransitive) to hunt or shoot rabbits
2. (intr; often followed by on or away) to talk inconsequentially; chatter

Etymology: 14th Century: perhaps from Walloon robett, diminutive of Flemish robbe rabbit, of obscure origin; sense 5 from rhyming slang rabbit and pork talk