'Coffee rat' definitions:

Definition of 'Coffee rat'

From: GCIDE
  • Coffee \Cof"fee\ (k[add]"f[-e]; k[o^]f"f[-e]; 115), n. [Turk. qahveh, Ar. qahuah wine, coffee, a decoction of berries. Cf. Caf['e].]
  • 1. The "beans" or "berries" (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and Africa, and also in tropical America. [1913 Webster +PJC]
  • 2. The coffee tree. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: There are several species of the coffee tree, as, Coffea Arabica, Coffea canephora, {Coffea occidentalis}, and Coffea Liberica. The white, fragrant flowers grow in clusters at the root of the leaves, and the fruit is a red or purple cherrylike drupe, with sweet pulp, usually containing two pyrenes, commercially called "beans" or "berries". [1913 Webster]
  • 3. The beverage made by decoction of the roasted and ground berry of the coffee tree. [1913 Webster]
  • They have in Turkey a drink called coffee. . . . This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. a cup of coffee[3], especially one served in a restaurant; as, we each had two donuts and a coffee; three coffees to go. [PJC]
  • 5. a social gathering at which coffee is served, with optional other foods or refreshments. [PJC]
  • 6. a color ranging from medium brown to dark brown. [PJC]
  • Note: The use of coffee is said to have been introduced into England about 1650, when coffeehouses were opened in Oxford and London. [1913 Webster]
  • Coffee bug (Zool.), a species of scale insect ({Lecanium coff[ae]a}), often very injurious to the coffee tree.
  • Coffee rat (Zool.) See Musang. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'coffee rat'

From: GCIDE
  • Musang \Mu*sang"\, n. (Zool.) A small animal of Java (Paradoxirus fasciatus), allied to the civets. It swallows, but does not digest, large quantities of ripe coffee berries, thus serving to disseminate the coffee plant; hence it is called also {coffee rat}. [1913 Webster]