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Webster 1913 Edition

Mouse

Mouse

(mous)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Mice
(mīs)
.
[OE.
mous
,
mus
, AS.
mūs
, pl.
mȳs
; akin to D.
muis
, G.
maus
, OHG. & Icel.
mūs
, Dan.
muus
, Sw.
mus
, Russ.
muishe
, L.
mus
, Gr.
μῦς
, Skr.
mūsh
mouse,
mush
to steal. √277. Cf.
Muscle
,
Musk
.]
1.
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of small rodents belonging to the genus
Mus
and various related genera of the family
Muridae
. The common house mouse (
Mus musculus
) is found in nearly all countries. The American
white-footed mouse
, or
deer mouse
(
Peromyscus leucopus
, formerly
Hesperomys leucopus
) sometimes lives in houses. See
Dormouse
,
Meadow mouse
, under
Meadow
, and
Harvest mouse
, under
Harvest
.
2.
(Naut.)
(a)
A knob made on a rope with spun yarn or parceling to prevent a running eye from slipping.
(b)
Same as 2d
Mousing
, 2.
3.
A familiar term of endearment.
Shak.
4.
A dark-colored swelling caused by a blow.
[Slang]
5.
A match used in firing guns or blasting.
Field mouse
,
Flying mouse
, etc.
See under
Field
,
Flying
, etc.
–
Mouse bird
(Zool.)
,
a coly.
–
Mouse deer
(Zool.)
,
a chevrotain, as the kanchil.
–
Mouse galago
(Zool.)
,
a very small West American galago (
Galago murinus
). In color and size it resembles a mouse. It has a bushy tail like that of a squirrel.
–
Mouse hawk
.
(Zool.)
(a)
A hawk that devours mice
.
(b)
The hawk owl; – called also
mouse owl
.
–
Mouse lemur
(Zool.)
,
any one of several species of very small lemurs of the genus
Chirogaleus
, found in Madagascar.
–
Mouse piece
(Cookery)
,
the piece of beef cut from the part next below the round or from the lower part of the latter; – called also
mouse buttock
.

Mouse

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Moused
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Mousing
.]
1.
To watch for and catch mice.
2.
To watch for or pursue anything in a sly manner; to pry about, on the lookout for something.

Mouse

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.
[Obs.]
“[Death] mousing the flesh of men.”
Shak.
2.
(Naut.)
To furnish with a mouse; to secure by means of a mousing. See
Mouse
,
Noun.
, 2.

Webster 1828 Edition

Mouse

MOUSE

,
Noun.
plu.mice. [L. mus; The L. mus forms muris in the genitive, and the root is not obvious.]
1.
A small animal of the genus Mus, inhabiting houses. The name is also applied to many other species of the genus, as the field mouse, meadow mouse, rock mouse, &c.
2.
Among seamen, a knob formed on a rope by spun yarn or parceling.

MOUSE

, v.i.. mouz. To catch mice.

MOUSE

,
Verb.
T.
mouz. To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.
To mouse a hook, with seamen, is to fasten a small line across the upper part to prevent unhooking.

Definition 2024

mouse

mouse

English

A mouse (rodent).
A computer mouse.

Noun

mouse ‎(plural mice)

  1. Any small rodent of the genus Mus.
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter II:
      At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
  2. (informal) A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling such a rodent.
  3. A quiet or shy person.
  4. (computing) (plural mice or, rarely, mouses) An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.
  5. (boxing) Hematoma.
  6. (nautical) A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straighening out.
  7. (obsolete) A familiar term of endearment.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  8. A match used in firing guns or blasting.
  9. (set theory) A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).

Hypernyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mouse ‎(third-person singular simple present mouses, present participle mousing, simple past and past participle moused)

  1. (intransitive) To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around).
  2. (intransitive) To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats.
  3. (transitive, nautical) To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire.
    Captain Higgins moused the hook with a bit of marline to prevent the block beckets from falling out under slack.
  4. (intransitive, computing) To navigate by means of a computer mouse.
    • 1988, MacUser: Volume 4
      I had just moused to the File menu and the pull-down menu repeated the menu bar's hue a dozen shades lighter.
    • 2009, Daniel Tunkelang, Faceted Search (page 35)
      Unlike the Flamenco work, the Relation Browser allows users to quickly explore a document space using dynamic queries issued by mousing over facet elements in the interface.
  5. (obsolete, nonce word, transitive) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.
    • Shakespeare
      [Death] mousing the flesh of men.

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

See also

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

mouse m ‎(invariable)

  1. (computing) mouse (for a PC)

Derived terms

Anagrams

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English mouse.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmaw.zi/, /ˈmawz/

Noun

mouse m (plural mouses)

  1. (Brazil, computer hardware) mouse (input device used to move a pointer on the screen)
  2. (Brazil, loosely) pointer; cursor (moving icon that indicates the position of the mouse)

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:mouse.

Synonyms

Romanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowing from English mouse.

Noun

mouse n ‎(plural mouse-uri)

  1. (computing) mouse (for a PC)

Declension

Spanish

Noun

mouse m ‎(plural mouses)

  1. (computing, chiefly Latin America) mouse (input device)

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle English mous, from Old English mūs, from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *muh₂s.

Pronunciation

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