Definition of "stoat" []

• Chiefly British The ermine, especially when in its brown color phase. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "She was brought up in the country, rides well (side-saddle), plays a goodish game of tennis, but does not know a stoat from a weasel or notice the direction of the wind."
• "The ermine, or stoat, is a bloodthirsty little villain."
• "* An animal called the stoat, a kind of ermine, is said to be found in North America, but very inferior to the European and Asiatic."