GUINEA PIG • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Guinea pig

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/gˈɪni pɪg/ Listen

noun

Guinea pig n.

(Zool.) A small Brazilian rodent (Cavia porcellus or Cavia cobaya), about seven inches in length and usually of a white color, with spots of orange and black. Called also cavy. It is the domesticated form of the wild cavy, often kept as a pet and used commonly as an experimental animal in laboratory research.

Hence, (figuratively): Any animal or person used in an experiment; also applied to people who are unwillingly or unknowingly subjected by authorities to policies or procedures which might cause bodily or mental harm.

A contemptuous sobriquet. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Guinea pig'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Guinea pig" Quotes from Famous Books

... old and put the new in its place, or we retain only a more or less vigorous breath of the old with the new. Such images go far back; even animals possess them. One day my small son came with his exciting information that his guinea pig, well known as a stupid beast, could count. He tried to prove this by removing the six young from their mother and hiding them so that she could not see what happened to them. Then he took one of the six, hid it, and brought the remaining five back to the old lady. She smelled ...

— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... the eyes of the pastel—the beautiful pastel that seemed to fill with a real presence the rich autumnal leaves where the jays darted and screamed. The twisted columns of the bed rose, burdened with great weight of fringes and curtains, the python devoured a guinea pig, the last I gave him; the great white cat came to me. I said all this must go, must henceforth be to me an abandoned dream, a something, not more real than a summer meditation. So be it, and, as ...

— Confessions of a Young Man • George Moore