bandicoot

noun

1. Any of various small marsupials of Australia and New Guinea, some with distinctive long snouts, of the family Peramelidae.

   “At the rustle of a bandicoot we noticed the upraised gleam of eyes around the fires.”

2. A bandicoot rat; any of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia of rat-like rodents of southeast Asia.

verb

1. (Australia, informal)To steal growing root vegetables from a garden by digging the vegetable out but leaving the tops undisturbed.

   “‘Well, the abos ‘bandicooted’ his peanuts.’”