Vōle1, n.
n. [Fr. vole, from voler, to steal, to steal away, to rob, abbreviated from Lat. involare, to fly at, to seize.]
Sense 1. A deal at cards that draws all the tricks. Swift.
Sense 2. (Zoöl.) An animal of the rat or mouse kind, of the genus Arvicola.
The water-vole, or water-rat of Europe, is A. amphibious, and inhabits the banks of rivers, ponds, ditches, &c., where it burrows and breeds. The field-vole, or meadow-mouse (A. arvalis or agrestis), does great damage to the roots of trees. The economic vole of Siberia (A. œconomicus) inhabits an oven-like cavity under the turf, from which passages lead out to other cavities containing food. Baird.