DHPHBAa small animal with fur, a tail, and long back legs, that is often kept as a pet 沙鼠
Examples from the Corpus
gerbil• Nelo said, holding her hand, patting it like a gerbil.• You'd have trouble swinging a gerbil, let alone a cat, in the kitchen.• A gerbil would have struggled to make it out alive.• This is a large species of eagleowl, hunting the large gerbil that lives on the short grassplains of Serengeti.• One by one the gerbils were scooped up, turned over, inspected, and dropped back.• Q My children think the world of their gerbil.• I've got two gerbils and a hamster.
Origingerbil
(1800-1900)Frenchgerbille, from Latingerboa“jerboa”, a type of small animal, from Arabicyarbu'