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单词 mouse
释义

mousen.

Brit. /maʊs/, U.S. /maʊs/
Inflections: Plural mice Brit. /mʌɪs/, U.S. /maɪs/.
Forms: Singular. early Old English muus, Old English–Middle English mus, Middle English moose, Middle English mose, Middle English mosse, Middle English mowce, Middle English muse, Middle English musse, Middle English 1600s mowsse, Middle English–1500s mows, Middle English–1500s mowse, Middle English–1600s mous, Middle English– mouse, 1500s mouce, 1500s mousse, 1500s mowss, 1600s movse; English regional 1800s maase (northern), 1800s meawse (northern), 1800s– moose, 1900s– moss; U.S. regional 1800s– mice; Scottish pre-1700 mous, pre-1700 mows, pre-1700 mowse, pre-1700 mus, pre-1700 muse, pre-1700 1700s– mouse, 1700s mouss, 1800s mooss, 1800s– moos, 1800s– moose, 1900s– mus (Shetland). Plural. Old English–1500s mys, Middle English mees, Middle English meis, Middle English mes, Middle English mijs, Middle English mis, Middle English misse, Middle English muse, Middle English musz, Middle English muys, Middle English muyse, Middle English myes, Middle English myesse, Middle English myȝs, Middle English myis, Middle English mysz, Middle English myys, Middle English myzs, Middle English–1500s myse, Middle English–1600s mise, Middle English–1600s myce, 1500s miese, 1500s myss, 1500s– mice; also Middle English musus, 1700s (in sense 4) 1900s– mouses (chiefly in sense 13); English regional 1800s meazon, 1800s– mece, 1800s– meece, 1800s– mees, 1800s– meesen, 1800s– meeze, 1800s– mousen, 1900s– meese, 1900s– meezen, 1900s– mese, 1900s– meses; U.S. regional 1900s– mices, 1900s– mouses; Scottish pre-1700 mise, pre-1700 myce, pre-1700 myis, pre-1700 mys, pre-1700 myse, pre-1700 myss, pre-1700 mysse.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian mūs, Middle Dutch muus, mues, muys (Dutch muis), Old Saxon mūs, Old High German mūs, muos (Middle High German mūs, German Maus), Old Icelandic mús, Swedish mus, Danish mus, ultimately < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit mūṣ, ancient Greek μῦς, classical Latin mūs, Armenian mowkn, Old Church Slavonic myšĭ, Russian myš′.The word for mouse also has the sense ‘muscle’ (especially of the upper arm) in many Indo-European languages, e.g. Middle Dutch, Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Icelandic, ancient Greek and Hellenistic Greek, post-classical Latin, and Armenian, apparently because of the resemblance of a flexing muscle to the movements made by a mouse (for rare use in English in this sense see sense 14). Compare also Old Church Slavonic myšĭca arm muscle, Old French soris mouse, muscle of arm or leg, and muscle n. Compare also joint mouse n. at joint n.1 Compounds 2. Classical Latin mūs and ancient Greek μῦς ‘mouse’ are also used to denote the mussel. The Old English plural mys arises from i-mutation of the stem vowel, and shows the normal subsequent development of Old English y . Occasional secondary plural forms are found (as mices , meses , meesen , etc.), especially in regional use, as well as new plural forms showing addition of a regular plural morpheme to the singular stem (mouses , mousen ): see full listing above. The plural mouses is also sometimes found in sense 13. Compare louse n., goose n. With sense 3a compare German Maus (18th cent. as a term of endearment for a girl or woman), French souris (1938 as a term of endearment for a young girl or young woman), Italian topino , topolino , lit. ‘little mouse’ (20th cent. as a term of endearment for a baby). With sense 3b compare French souris mistress (1879 or earlier), loose woman (1905), German Maus female genitals (17th cent. or earlier). With sense 4 compare Dutch muis (1671 as a nautical term for a type of fastening made with rope; also in form muising : compare mousing n. 2), German Maus (1807 as a nautical term for a ring-shaped fastening which holds an eye in place). With use as a term in hairdressing in sense 9, compare French souris (1689 in this sense). Senses 11 and 10 do not seem to be parallelled in other major European languages. Sense 13 has given rise to similar use of French souris , German Maus , Spanish ratón , and is borrowed in Italian as mouse . With sense 12 compare squealer n. 2b, rat n.1 4e. With sense 15 perhaps compare French souris fleshy muscle at the end of a leg of lamb (1694), Spanish ratón sinewy cut of meat. With the phrase ‘quiet as a mouse’ at Phrases 1b, compare German still wie eine Maus (mid 16th cent.). With the phrase ‘mouse and man’ at Phrases 3, compare Dutch Man en muis every living thing (1624–9) and German Mann und Maus the whole population (18th cent.). With mouse grey adj. and n. at Compounds 1d, compare German mausgrau (1691), Old Icelandic mús-grár ; compare also French gris de souris (1660). With mouse-haired adj. at Compounds 1d, compare French poil-sourris (1790, of the colour of a woman's hair). With mouse-quiet adj., mouse-still adj. at Compounds 1d, compare Dutch muisstil (1645), German mäuschenstill (17th cent.), mausestill, mausstill (18th cent.).
I. The animal; a person or thing likened to this.
1.
a. Any of numerous small rodents of the family Muridae (which also includes rats, voles, gerbils, etc.), which usually have a pointed snout, relatively large eyes and ears, and a long tail, and typically feed on seeds and fruit.In Europe mice are perceived as differing from rats mainly in their consistently smaller size; elsewhere the size difference can be less clear cut and the two terms are used interchangeably for some species.field, harvest, house, wood mouse, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Muridae
mouseeOE
murid1910
eOE Épinal Gloss. (1974) 36 Mus muris, mus.
OE Ælfric Homily (Corpus Cambr. 188) in B. Assmann Angelsächsische Homilien u. Heiligenleben (1889) 64 Se micela ylp..ondræt him forþearle, gif he gesihð ane mus, ðeah ðe seo mus ne mage his micelnysse derian.
lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) xvi. 35 Gif ge nu gesawan hwelce mus þæt wære hlaford ofer oðre mys, & sette him domas..hu wunderlic wolde eow ðæt þincan.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 53 (MED) Þurh þe sweote smel of þe chese, he bicherreð monie mus to þe stoke.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 591 (MED) Wan ich flo niȝtes after muse, Imai þe uinde ate rum huse.
c1350 Nominale (Cambr. Ee.4.20) in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1906) 21* Chat rat et soriz, Cat ratoun and mouse.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 297 While a myȝti man sat at þe feste, muys [?a1475 anon. tr. myce] bysette hym sodenliche al aboute.
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 5383 For þou ȝyuest myys to ȝete Þ at was ordeyned to mannys mete.
?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. ii. Pr. vi. 35–7 Now yif thou saye a mows among othere mys that chalanged to hymself-ward ryght and power over alle othere mys, how gret scorn woldestow han of it!
c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Order of Fools (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 452 (MED) An hardy mous..is bold to brede In cattys eris.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 665 He seide that he hadde nede ther-of in his house for rattes and mees.
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 160 It [sc. whyte Hellebore] kylleth miese knodden wyth mele and honye.
a1600 ( W. Stewart tr. H. Boece Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) III. 388 Ouir Albione aboundit so the myss, Ouir all the feild in mony hoill and dyke, And in the houssis..That [etc.].
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xx. 18 The fishermen that walke vpon the beach Appeare like mise.
1648 S. Danforth Almanack 15 Much corne spoyled this harvest by pigeons and after by mice.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 157 The Breeches I had then on..were made of a Mouse's Skin.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. x. ix. 73 Many a Woman who shrieks at a Mouse, or a Rat, may be capable of poisoning a Husband. View more context for this quotation
a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. J. W. von Goethe Scenes from Faust in Posthumous Poems (1824) 397 For I am like a cat—I like to play A little with the mouse before I eat it.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 95 The thin weasel there Follows the mouse, and all is open field.
1908 H. James Portrait of Lady (rev. ed.) II. xxviii. 6 My envy's not dangerous; it would n't hurt a mouse.
1969 J. Ashbery & J. Schuyler Nest of Ninnies iii. 35 Fluffy entered the room carrying a dead mouse.
1989 N.Y. Times 10 Oct. c7/2 Genomic maps of simpler organisms, like bacteria and mice, will be made simultaneously.
2000 Times 3 Feb. 15/6 One, presumably very occasional, cause of breast cancer might be a virus carried by the domestic mouse.
b. Any of various small mammals that more or less resemble mice, formerly including voles, shrews, and bats. Now chiefly: any of various rodents of the families Dipodidae ( Zapodidae) and Heteromyidae ( Geomyidae), and marsupials of the family Dasyuridae. Usually with distinguishing word.flying, jumping, marsupial, pine, pocket mouse, etc.: see the first element. Cf. Old English hreaðemūs bat, scirfemūs shrew (see shrew n.1), sisemūs dormouse (see zizel n.). See also dormouse n., flittermouse n., rearmouse n., shrewmouse n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Muridae > genus Mus or mouse
mouseeOE
mousy1692
murine1879
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Arvicola
mouse1864
eOE Épinal Gloss. (1974) 51 Sorix, idest, mus.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 190 (MED) R[ecipe]..poudre of litil meis [L. suricum] brent.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist v. iv. sig. Mv My fine Flitter-mouse, My Bird o' the night. View more context for this quotation
1785 T. Jefferson Notes Virginia vi. 88 The beaver, the otter, and shrew mouse, though of the same species, are larger in America than Europe.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xiii. 300 The zoology of Tierra del Fuego..is very poor... There is one bat, a mouse..(Reithrodon of Waterhouse) [etc.].
1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 597/2 The name Mouse is often popularly given to animals considerably different from the true mice, as the Voles.
1888 O. Thomas Catal. Marsupialia Brit. Mus. 287 Little Pouched Mouse. Size rather small, general form murine.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 754/1 The snow-mouse (Arvicola nivalis) is confined to the alpine and snow regions.
1994 New Scientist 21 May 13/3 The cat is known to hunt..possums, marsupial mice and birds.
†c. With modifying word or phrase: any of several somewhat larger mammals that are not now thought to resemble mice, as a marmot, a mongoose. Obsolete. mouse of the mountain n. [after post-classical Latin mus montanus (see marmot n.)] Obsolete the Alpine marmot, Marmota marmota. Indian, Pharaoh's mouse, etc.; see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [noun] > family Sciuridae (squirrel) > genus Marmota > marmota marmota (marmot)
mouse of the mountain?1583
mountain-mouse1599
marmottane1601
Alpine mouse1607
marmot1607
mountain rat1659
Alpine marmot1771
?1583 J. Hester tr. Paracelsus et al. Hundred & Fouretene Exper. & Cures sig. B7 Anointing the outward partes with the oyle of the mouse of the mountaine.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 521 The Alpine Mouse taketh her name from the Alpes... The Italians cal it Marmota.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 532 The Movse Pontiqve.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 550 The Indian mouse, or Pharoes mouse (as some learned later writers doe write) is no other then the Ichneumon.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Indian Mouse, a little beast called in Greek Ichneumon.
d. The grey or brownish colour of the common house mouse; = mouse-colour n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > yellowish grey
mouse-dunc1465
mouse-coloura1576
mouse grey1825
putty1869
beige1879
naturelle1887
mouse1895
greige1911
kasha1957
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 99/3 Shopping Bags... Colors: Mouse (or drab), purple, brown.
1923 Daily Mail 5 June 1 Colours: Nude, Fawn,..Mouse, Castor, Dark Tan.
1975 Harpers & Queen May 101 Crisis for coiffeurs... Some of the nouvelles pauvres are clamouring for Brillo-pad mouse, the new colour and the new texture.
2. figurative.
a. The type of something timid, weak, small, or insignificant. Also in similative uses.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Judith xiv. 12 Goþ in & arereþ hym, for myys goon out of þer caues ben hardi to clepen forþ vs to bataile.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 3024 (MED) Whi be ȝe so dismaied..Ferful for drede as a litel mows.
1596 T. Lodge Wits Miserie 4 At euery word he speaketh, hee makes a mouse of an elephant, he telleth them of wonders done in Spaine by his ancestors.
1633 Costlie Whore i. sig. B3v Oh wherefore should we fawne upon such curres, The mice of mankind, and the scorne of earth?
1687 M. Prior & Earl of Halifax Hind & Panther Transvers'd 6 Gadsokers! Mr. Johnson, does your Friend think I mean nothing but a Mouse, by all this?
1707 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II. viii. 25 For if the King must give Assent To Laws that bear an ill Intent, And cannot..Deny his Royal Approbation, Such Majesty is but a Mouse.
1801 B. Thompson tr. F. Schiller Robbers ii, in German Theatre VI. 26 How can you be revenged? What harm can a mouse do to a lion?
1863 R. W. Buchanan Undertones xi. 148 My very heart has grown a timid mouse, Peeping out, fearful, when the house is still.
1868 Galaxy 15 Nov. 726 She was but a poor mouse of a woman, who had made a god of that stupid little weak-eyed fellow.
1931 T. E. Lawrence Let. 27 Aug. (1988) vi. 457 The mouse is very much indebted to his lion, and feels it.
1937 Time 11 May 7/2 Austria was not about to become the mouse that roared, if only because the range of measures it can take..are..limited.
1990 N.Y. Times 9 Oct. a25/1 What made Congress's rejection so noble was not that the budget agreement was a mere mouse of an agreement, but that, mere mouse though it was, it was profoundly unfair.
1991 T. Healy It might have been Jerusalem (BNC) 27 The frightened nervous wretch he'd been. A mouse of a man.
b. A timid, quiet, or retiring person. Cf. mousy adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > timidity > [noun] > one who is timid
sheep1542
trembler1552
sheep's hearta1616
mouse1839
feartie1923
Nervous Nellie1925
1839 C. M. Kirkland New Home xliv. 292 What was my surprise when I learned that our ‘most magnanimous mouse’, Mr. Shafton, the tailor, had been sent down a thief.
1869 C. Reade in Galaxy June 796 ‘Why did you give in?’..‘I've got a wife and children; and they make a man a mouse.’
1935 Notes & Queries 23 Nov. 366 Mouse.., a person who is timid—who plays best alone.
1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke i. 31 That shady little mouse we just caught was frightened of somebody, wasn't he?
1975 D. Clark Premedicated Murder vi. 92 Where he was an uncouth bully, she was a mouse, a nonentity.
1987 E. Rhode Birth & Madness iii. 86 Anna was no mouse. Even at the age of twenty-one, she had authority.
3.
a. A darling, a sweetheart. Frequently as a term of endearment, esp. for a woman. Now archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > terms of endearment > [noun] > of or to a girl > of or to a woman
mousec1525
coneya1529
nobsa1529
muskin1530
mully?1548
carissima1857
chickadee1860
Schatz1907
c1525 Bk. Mayd Emlyn sig. A.ii With suche wordes douse Thys lytell prety mouse The yonge lusty prymme She coude byte and whyne.
1567 Triall of Treasure sig. E My dere lady. My mouse my nobs and cony swete.
1586 W. Warner Albions Eng. ii. x. 42 God blesse thee Mouse the Bridegroome sayd, and smakt her on the lips.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 19 Whats your darke meaning mouce, of this light word? View more context for this quotation
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iv. 167 Let the blowt King..call you his Mouse . View more context for this quotation
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster West-ward Hoe ii. i. sig. C Iud. [to her husband] I am so troubled with the rheume too: Mouse whats good fort?
1655 J. Mennes & J. Smith Musarum Deliciæ (1656) 14 Mopsa, even Mopsa, prety Mouse.
1798 J. Baillie Tryal iv. ii, in Series Plays Stronger Passions I. 263 Agnes. You are an idler. Harwood. You are a little mouse.
1835 C. Dickens Let. Oct. (1965) I. 81 Not low this morning I hope? You ought not to be, dear Mouse.
1878 Littell's Living Age Feb. 344/2 How do you do, my little mouse, give me a kiss and let me look at you, that I may see whether you resemble your mother.
1892 Harper's Mag. Feb. 404 Look you, my mouse, who think you is below, And hungry?
†b. Police slang. A woman, esp. a prostitute, arrested for disorderly conduct or brawling. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1781 Compl. Mod. London Spy 38 The men taken up for assaults or night-brawls were termed Rats, and the harlots or women..were there [i.e. in Wood-Street Compter] called Mice.
c. U.S. slang. A young woman; a girlfriend.There is little evidence of continuity between this and the semantically similar sense 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > young person > young woman > [noun]
daughterOE
maidenOE
young womanOE
mayc1175
burdc1225
maidc1275
wenchc1290
file1303
virginc1330
girla1375
damselc1380
young ladya1393
jilla1425
juvenclec1430
young person1438
domicellea1464
quean1488
trull1525
pulleta1533
Tib1533
kittyc1560
dell1567
gillian1573
nymph1584
winklota1586
frotion1587
yuffrouw1589
pigeon1592
tit1599
nannicock1600
muggle1608
gixy1611
infanta1611
dilla1627
tittiea1628
whimsy1631
ladykin1632
stammel1639
moggie1648
zitellaa1660
baggagea1668
miss1668
baby1684
burdie1718
demoiselle1720
queanie?1800
intombi1809
muchacha1811
jilt1816
titter1819
ragazza1827
gouge1828
craft1829
meisie1838
sheila1839
sixteenc1840
chica1843
femme1846
muffin1854
gel1857
quail1859
kitten1870
bud1880
fräulein1883
sub-debutante1887
sweet-and-twenty1887
flapper1888
jelly1889
queen1894
chick1899
pusher1902
bit of fluff1903
chicklet1905
twist and twirl1905
twist1906
head1913
sub-deb1916
tabby1916
mouse1917
tittie1918
chickie1919
wren1920
bim1922
nifty1923
quiff1923
wimp1923
bride1924
job1927
junior miss1927
hag1932
tab1932
sort1933
palone1934
brush1941
knitting1943
teenybopper1966
weeny-bopper1972
Valley Girl1982
1917 Oneonta (N.Y.) Daily Star 2 Nov. 8/2 (list) It was a whale of a party...She's a cunning little mouse.
1940 J. O'Hara Pal Joey 3 A little mouse I got to know up in Michigan.
1962 D. Hamilton Murderers' Row ix. 50 A mouse I've never seen before saves me from the cops and asks me to a conference in her motel room.
1965 F. M. Spillane Killer Mine iii. 27 I'm going to make a pass at this mouse here and try to snag her out of this place.
1972 D. Dalby in T. Kochmann Rappin' & Stylin' Out 183 Mouse, in sense of ‘(attractive) girl, young woman, girlfriend, wife’.
2002 G. P. Pelecanos Cleaning Up (TV shooting script) 15 in Wire (O.E.D. Archive) We need to pull up with that boy of yours, the one who dimed Omar's mouse.
4. Nautical (a) A small collar, usually of spun yarn, round a rope or wire, esp. for holding an eye, etc., in place. (b) A mark fixed on a rope to indicate when it has reached a required position. (c) A mousing of spun yarn, etc., for a hook (see mousing n. 2b) (rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > neck-wear > [noun] > collar > types of > small
collarettea1685
mouse1750
1750 T. R. Blanckley Naval Expositor Mouse is a large Knot artificially made by the Riggers on the Ship's Stays.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Mouse, a sort of knob, usually in the shape of a pear, wrought on the outside of a rope,..used to confine some other [rope] securely to the former, and prevent it from sliding along its surface. These mouses are particularly used on the stays of the lower-mast, to prevent the eye from slipping up to the mast.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple I. vi. 65 And then he asked the first lieutenant whether something should not be fitted with a mouse or only a turk's-head.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Mouse, a kind of ball or knob, wrought on the collars of stays by means of spun-yarn, [etc.]... The mouse prevents the running eye from slipping... Also, a mark made upon braces and other ropes, to show their squaring or tallying home.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1486/1 Mouse,..b. a turn or two of spun-yarn uniting the point of a hook to the shank to prevent its unhooking.
1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 116/2 Mouse, a washer for a rope passing through a ring bolt or the like.
1955 C. N. Longridge Anat. Nelson's Ships ii. xiv. 220 At a point about a third of its length from the eye a ‘mouse’ is worked... A loop is formed by passing the end through the eye: the loop is limited because the mouse engages in, but cannot pass through, the eye.
1987 I. Dear & P. Kemp Pocket Oxf. Guide Sailing Terms 113/1 Mouse, a stop made of spunyarn fixed to the collar of the stays in a square-rigged ship to hold the running eye of the rigging from slipping down the stay. It is also a mark fixed on the braces and other rigging of the yards to indicate when they are square.
5. [After the taxonomic name, scientific Latin Cypraea mus.] A small Caribbean cowrie, Cypraea mus, with a thick humped shell that is cream with brown markings; also mouse cowrie.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > superorder Branchifera > order Prosobranchiata > section Siphonostomata > family Cypraeidae > member of (cowrie)
Venus-shell1589
Venus-winkle1601
wart-gowry?1711
nipple cowry1713
smallpox1759
cowrie1777
serpent's skull1795
Arabian cowrie1804
mouse1815
sea-louse1815
serpent's head1815
wasp1815
niggerhead1895
1815 S. Brookes Introd. Conchol. List Shells 156 Mouse, Cypræa Mus.
1966 A. G. Melvin Sea Shells of World 29/2 Cypraea mus L. Venezuela. Mouse Cowry.
6. = mouse moth n. at Compounds 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Caradrinidae > amphipyra tragopogenis (mouse)
mouse moth1819
mouse1829
1829 J. F. Stephens Systematic Catal. Brit. Insects ii. 77 Pyrophila..Tragopogonis. Mouse.
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 63 The Mouse..appears in June... First pair [of wings] mouse-brown.
1882 W. F. Kirby European Butterflies & Moths (1903) 192/1 When disturbed in the day time it falls down and shuffles about in such a manner that it has acquired the name of ‘the Mouse’.
1961 R. South Moths Brit. Isles (new ed.) I. 272 The Mouse (Amphipyra tragopoginis Clerck). The English name of this..moth..applies more especially to the mouse-like way it scuttles off when discovered.
7. colloquial. A swollen and discoloured bruise, esp. one on or near the eye, caused by a blow; a black eye.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > [noun] > bruise > black eye
blue eyea1545
black eye1622
bullacea1658
mouse1842
shiner1904
1842 Spirit of Times 17 Sept. 346/2 Giving him the upper cut as he sank, and raising a ‘mouse’ on his left cheek with the blow.
1843 Bell's Life in London 9 Apr. 4/2 Raised a mouse of no inconsiderable magnitude.
1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) iv. 31 That'll raise a tidy mouse on your ogle, my lad!
1886 F. H. Doyle Reminisc. iv. 81 He acquired a severe black eye, of that peculiar kind known to professional pugilists as a ‘mouse’.
1929 A. Conan Doyle Maracot Deep 18 The chap with the mouse under his eye.
1962 ‘E. McBain’ Empty Hours (1963) x. 152 Fred..wearing a mouse under his left eye, where Hawes had hit him.
1985 S. Moody Penny Post xxiii. 186 Winced. Touched the mouse under her eye. She just hoped a Vogue photog wasn't going to show up.
†8. Medicine. = joint mouse n. at joint n.1 Compounds 2. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [noun] > outgrowth or loose fragment
mouse1850
joint mouse1886
syndesmophyte1957
1850 C. H. Moore tr. C. von Rokitansky Man. Pathol. Anat. III. x. 295 All the loose bodies (or mice [Ger. Gelenkmäuse], as they are called) which are met with in joints.
1850 C. H. Moore tr. C. von Rokitansky Man. Pathol. Anat. III. x. 297 The loose bodies,—articular mice,—which have been already described.
9. U.S. Hairdressing. A small round cushion-shaped pad over or around which hair is arranged. Cf. rat n.1 9. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > accessories worn in the hair > [noun] > pad or cushion
roll1532
cock-up1692
cushion1774
system1778
toque1817
rat1863
mouse1866
1866 Oregon State Jrnl. 30 June 1/4 Such little things as ‘waterfalls’, ‘nets’ and ‘mice’, and other head fixings we were prepared for.
1870 L. M. Alcott Old-fashioned Girl xi. 223 So much hair of her own, that she never patronised either rats, mice, waterfalls, switches, or puff-combs.
1888 Cent. Mag. Sept. 769/1 The crescent shaped pillows on which it [sc. hair] was put up, the startling names of which were ‘rats’ and ‘mice’.
1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 197 A rat was a pad of hair, horse-hair or other material used to give fullness to the hair..a smaller version was a ‘mouse’.
1989 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 June 728/1 Hair-pads (for supporting puffed-up Edwardian coiffures, when they were known, disgustingly, as ‘mice’).
10. A small weight attached to a cord or wire (occasionally the wire itself) used in various applications (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > support > hanging or suspension > [noun] > that which hangs or is suspended
hanging1549
pendule1578
lob1688
suspension1793
hang1857
mouse1860
hang-down1888
1860–4 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) Mouse, a small weight to which a cord is attached, used by plumbers for clearing a stoppage in a closet pipe. The carpenters also use a similar weight for passing a sash line over the pulley.
1905 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Mar. 185 A fine wire is sometimes drawn through a duct by a conical piece of wood with a thin leather washer filling the duct, and forced ahead by the air pressure at the rear... This piece of wood is termed the ‘mouse’.
1964 J. S. Scott Dict. Building 212 Mouse, a short, curved piece of lead tied to a string and slipped over a sash pulley.
1974 P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry vii. 62 Very small animals met in industry include the mouse, for putting in sash windows and consisting of a piece of string to which a weight is attached.
1977 J. Rousmaniere Gloss. Mod. Sailing Terms (rev. ed.) 88 Mouse, a small lead weight or sometimes a flexible wire used to lead a new halyard down the centre of a hollow spar.
†11. A match used in firing a mine or a gun. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > equipment for use with firearms > [noun] > fuse
portfire1629
fuse1647
match1653
field staff1705
port-feu1802
mouse1867
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Mouse,..a match used in firing a mine.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1486/1 Mouse,..2. (Blasting) A match used in firing guns or mines.
12. Criminals' slang. An informer.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > informing on or against > [noun] > informer
wrayerc1000
wrobberc1300
discoverera1400
denunciator1474
informer1503
denouncer1533
detector1541
delatora1572
sycophant1579
inquisitor1580
scout1585
finger man1596
emphanista1631
quadruplator1632
informant1645
eastee-man1681
whiddler1699
runner1724
stag1725
snitch1785
qui tam1788
squeak1795
split1819
clype1825
telegraph1825
snitcher1827
Jack Nasty1837
pigeon1847
booker1863
squealer1865
pig1874
rounder1884
sneak1886
mouse1890
finger1899
fizgig1902
screamer1902
squeaker1903
canary1912
shopper1924
narker1932
snurge1933
cheese eater1935
singer1935
tip-off1941
top-off1941
tout1959
rat fink1961
whistle-blower1970
1890 N. Gould With Tide xxx, in Referee (Sydney) 19 Feb. 7/4 ‘He's turned mouse, has he?’.. ‘What's up now?’.. ‘He's turned us over.’
1934 J. North New Masses 3 Apr. 10/2 To the epithet ‘Rat!’ or ‘Mouse!’ or ‘Weasel!’ the scab finds his car doorless or even in flames.
1981 P. Sann Trial in Upper Room 187 I don't want that mouse any deader than he was when he got here.
13. Computing. A small hand-held device which is moved over a flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a monitor screen or to delimit an area of the screen, and which usually has fingertip controls to select or initiate a computer function, or to place a cursor at the pointer's position.Douglas C. Engelbart, generally regarded as the inventor of the mouse, patented such a device in 1970 ( U.S. Patent 3,541,541, filed 21 June 1967), while he was based at the Augmentation Research Center of the Stanford Research Institute. The word ‘mouse’ is not used in the patent; the device is there called a ‘position indicator control’ or just an ‘indicator control’. W. K. English was one of Engelbart's team at the Center.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > peripherals > [noun] > control devices > mouse
mouse1965
rollerball1966
track-ball1969
tracker ball1969
1965 W. K. English et al. Computer-aided Display Control: Final Rep. (Stanford Res. Inst.) 6 Within comfortable reach of the user's right hand is a device called the ‘mouse’ which we developed for evaluation..as a means for selecting those displayed text entities upon which the commands are to operate.
1967 R. H. Stotz & T. B. Cheek Low-cost Graphic Display for Computer Time-sharing Console 13 Its position [sc. the cursor's] on the display screen is controlled by means of a hand-held box that is moved about on a surface. This box, similar to a device called the ‘mouse’ by its developers at Stanford Research Institute, has two potentiometers.
1977 Sci. Amer. Sept. 234/2 The user makes his primary input through a typewriterlike keyboard and a pointing device called a mouse, which controls the position of an arrow on the screen as it is pushed about on the table beside the display.
1982 N.Y. Times 26 Nov. d1 Instead of typing commands or code words to request information, users can point to words or symbols on the screen..through manipulation of a hand-held device known as a mouse.
1997 ‘Q’ Deadmeat 13 I could see people inside clicking on mouses and tapping keyboards.
II. A muscle, and related uses.
†14. A muscle. Obsolete. rare. [In quot. 1561 after German Maus ball of the thumb (1519 or earlier); compare also French souri (1690 in this sense).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > [noun]
mouseOE
musclea1398
lacerta1400
fillet1541
musculage1547
musculus1565
lizard1574
flesh-string1587
bower1590
muscling1766
thews1817
myon1888
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 169 Forus [read Torus] uel muscula uel lacerta, mus þæs earmes.
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 12 v Binde the garlike, vpon the wrest of the arme..so that it do not touche the mousse [Ger. Mause] of the hande.
1961 H. Garner in R. Weaver 10 for Wednesday Night 124 He stretched out an arm that showed the mice running under the chocolate tan of his skin.]
15. Any of various parts of meat rich in muscle tissue. Cf. mouse buttock n., mouse-piece n. at Compounds 2a. Now British regional.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > part or joint of animal > [noun] > muscular part
mouse1584
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial
gnatc1000
ball play?c1225
smalla1250
triflec1290
fly1297
child's gamec1380
motec1390
mitec1400
child's playc1405
trufferyc1429
toyc1450
curiosity1474
fly-winga1500
neither mass nor matins1528
boys' play1538
nugament1543
knack?1544
fable1552
nincety-fincety1566
mouse1584
molehill1590
coot1594
scoff1594
nidgery1611
pin matter1611
triviality1611
minuity1612
feathera1616
fillip1621
rattle1622
fiddlesticka1625
apex1625
rush candle1628
punctilio1631
rushlight1635
notchet1637
peppercorn1638
petty John1640
emptiness1646
fool-fangle1647
nonny-no1652
crepundian1655
fly-biting1659
pushpin1660
whinny-whanny1673
whiffle1680
straw1692
two and a plack1692
fiddle1695
trivial1715
barley-strawa1721
nothingism1742
curse1763
nihility1765
minutia1782
bee's knee1797
minutiae1797
niff-naff1808
playwork1824
floccinaucity1829
trivialism1830
chicken feed1834
nonsensical1842
meemaw1862
infinitesimality1867
pinfall1868
fidfad1875
flummadiddle1882
quantité négligeable1885
quotidian1902
pipsqueak1905
hickey1909
piddle1910
cream puff1920
squat1934
administrivia1937
chickenshit1938
cream puff1938
diddly-squat1963
non-issue1965
Tinkertoy1972
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > a small thing > typical examples of
little fingerc1300
pear1340
hair1377
flea1388
a pin's head (also point)c1450
fitch1550
mouse1584
minnow1596
the pestle of a lark1598
nutshella1616
pinhead1662
pinpoint1670
rope yarn1751
bee's knee1797
peanut1864
postage stamp1881
1584 J. Lyly Sapho & Phao i. iii. sig. Bv Cryti...but come among vs, and you shall see vs once in a morning haue a mouse at a bay. Molus. A mouse? vnproperly spoken. Criti. Aptly vnderstoode, a mouse of beafe. Molus. I thinke indeed a peece of beafe as bigge as a mouse, serues a great companie of such cattes.
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Mouse, the outermost fleshy part of a leg of mutton, when dressed; the bulb of flesh on the extremity of the shank, S. pron. moose. When roasted, it formerly used to be prepared with salt and pepper.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 36 Mouse, the strongest muscle in the shoulder of a pig; which, when drawn out quickly from the flitch, makes a squeaking noise; and children often say to the butcher, ‘Come, let's hear the mouse squeak.’
1881 Oxfordshire Gloss. Suppl. Mouse, a small piece of meat under the spare-rib of a pig, about the size of a mouse.
1942 W. Rose Good Neighbours vi. 66 A curious item was the extraction of a muscle from each flitch, called ‘the mouse’.
1969 R. Whitlock Family & Village 99 He also discovered various other titbits in a cut-up pig, which he called the sweetbread, the melt, the mouse and various other extraordinary names.
1974 W. Leeds Herefordshire Speech 78 Mouse,..a beef joint.
1999 D. Parry Gram. & Gloss. Conservative Anglo-Welsh Dial. Rural Wales 169/2 Mouse, the tender loin from a pig.

Phrases

P1. In various similes.
a. †drunk as a (drowned) mouse: very drunk (obsolete). †like a drowned mouse: soaking wet; in a miserable plight (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > completely or very drunk
drunk as a (drowned) mousea1350
to-drunka1382
as drunk as the devilc1400
sow-drunk1509
fish-drunk1591
swine-drunk1592
gone1603
far gone1616
reeling drunk1620
soda1625
souseda1625
blind1630
full1631
drunk (also merry, tipsy) as a lord1652
as full (or tight) as a tick1678
clear1688
drunk (dull, mute) as a fish1700
as drunk as David's sow or as a sow1727
as drunk as a piper1728
blind-drunkc1775
bitch foua1796
blootered1820
whole-seas over1820
three sheets in the wind1821
as drunk as a loon1830
shellaced1881
as drunk as a boiled owl1886
stinking1887
steaming drunk1892
steaming with drink1897
footless1901
legless1903
plastered1912
legless drunk1926
stinko1927
drunk as a pissant1930
kaylied1937
langers1949
stoned1952
smashed1962
shit-faced1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
trashed1966
faced1968
stoned1968
steaming1973
langered1979
annihilated1980
obliterated1984
wankered1992
muntered1998
a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 70 (MED) When þat he is dronke ase a dreynt mous, þenne we schule borewe þe wed ate bayly.
c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 1261 We faren as he that dronke is as a mous.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 12998 (MED) I lese wyt and resoun..Mad and dronke as ys A mous.
1536 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monasteries (1843) 133 Monckes drynk an bowll after collacyon tell ten or xii. of the clock, and cum to mattens as dronck as myss.
1568 U. Fulwell Like wil to Like sig. Djv I wil pledge Tom tospot, til I be as drunk as a mouse a.
1612 W. Fennor Cornu-copiæ 54 And looking forth did see that miser wight, which (like a drowned mouse) stood dropping there.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) i. ii. 12 Or pitteous they will looke, like drowned Mice. View more context for this quotation
1638 J. Clarke Phraseologia Puerilis (1671) 298 You are dropping dry, not drown'd I see—look like a drown'd mouse.
1656 Duchess of Newcastle Natures Pictures i. 96 To his House of Bridegroom brought the Bride, each drunk as Mouse.
1850 Harper's Mag. Sept. 516/2 He came home, dripping like a drowned mouse.
b. quiet (also †mum, mute, still, etc.) as a mouse (in a cheese): very quiet. †(to speak) like a mouse in a cheese: (to speak) with a muffled voice, inaudibly (obsolete).In quot. 1856 used allusively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > inaudibility > [adjective] > silent
coyc1330
stone-still1338
quietc1384
softa1393
peacec1400
swownc1400
tongueless1447
clumc1485
mutec1500
whist1513
silent1542
dead1548
husht1557
whisted1557
whust1558
whust1558
whisht1570
huisht1576
quiet (also mum, mute, still, etc.) as a mouse (in a cheese)1584
fordead1593
noiseless1608
whisha1612
dumba1616
soundlessa1616
st1655
silentish1737
defta1763
sleeping1785
untoned1807
mousy1812
soughless1851
deathlike1856
whisperless1863
deathly1865
the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > speak in a particular manner [verb (intransitive)] > speak in an undertone
(to speak) like a mouse in a cheese1584
to speak aside1801
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > inaudibility > [noun] > silence > type of that which is silent
quiet as a mouse1856
1584 R. Wilson Three Ladies of London sig. E.i Mute like a mouse.
1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. G2 Mum, mouse in cheesse, cat is neare.
1686 E. Verney 24 June in Verney Mem. (1899) IV. x. 381 Child,—I pray when you speak in the Theatre doe not speak like a mouse in a chees.., but speak out your words boldly and distinctly.
1696 P. A. Motteux Love's a Jest v. 68 Come along, I'm as still as a Mouse.
1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (at cited word) He speaketh like a mouse in a cheese, mussat, mussitat; occulte & depressa voce loquitur.
1798 G. Colman Heir at Law ii. ii. 28 Pardon me, if on the subject of your father's cheese, I advise you to be as mute as a mouse in one, for the future.
1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Piccolomini ii. xii. 109 Just before, when Count Deodate gave out the Emperor's health, they were all as mum as a nibbling mouse.
1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. xxv. 636 If I only begin to say ‘Miss May told me—’ they are all like mice.
1862 W. M. Thackeray Adventures of Philip III. xiii. 284 I am going to be as mum as a mouse.
1871 W. Black Daughter of Heth II. vii. 106 What for am I to talk to him, and ye sitting here as mute and as mum as a mouse?
1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island iii. xiv. 111 I..squatted there, hearkening, as silent as a mouse.
1960 K. Amis Take Girl like You 193 Quiet as a mouse coming in. Don't want Martha down here with a hatchet.
1990 E. Dorn Abhorrences 172 The recruits are as still as mice with an extra gene, transfixed in the glare of a robocat.
P2. the mountain has (laboured and) brought forth a mouse and variants: great struggle, effort, etc., may result in something ridiculously small or insignificant. Also in various allusions to this. [Originally in translations of or references to classical Latin Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus (Horace Ars Poetica 139), or other versions of this fable.]
ΚΠ
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 3572 For so it fell that ilke day, This hell on his childinge lay,..The nerr this hell was upon chance To taken his deliverance, The more unbuxomliche he cride;..And ate laste it was a Mous, The which was bore.
1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance Pref. f. v When these great hyllys had thus trauailed longe,..the good houre came on as god wold, yt one was broughte a bed, with sore labour at laste deliuered of a dede mouse.
1584 J. Lyly Alexander, Campaspe, & Diogenes Prol. sig. A3 So we hope, if the shower of our swelling mountaine seeme to bring forth some Eliphant, perfourme but a mouse, you will gently saye, this is a beast.
1598 F. Rous Thule i. sig. B Nor let your harts great hils bring foorth a mouse.
a1637 B. Jonson tr. Horace Art of Poetrie 199 in Wks. (1640) III The Mountains travail'd, and brought forth A trifling Mouse!
1754 S. Fielding & J. Collier Cry II. iv. ii. 301 Do we not perceive all the mountains in labour, and find the produce to be—a mouse?
1808 F. Reynolds Begone Dull Care Prol. p. v The Author's..pains of labour have rung thro' the house, And, like the mountain, oft produc'd a mouse.
1887 Times (Weekly ed.) 14 Oct. 14/4 It is curious that such a grave contingency should spring from such a trivial cause. This time it is the mouse that brings forth the mountain.
1982 Economist (Nexis) 6 Mar. 19 Considering the mountain of labour during the past year, it was a pathetic mouse for the prime minister to put before her new committee.
P3. In alliterative association with man. neither man nor mouse: not a living creature (great or small). mouse and man (also mice and men): every living thing. In later use often allusive to Robert Burns (see quot. 1785 at sense 1b).a man or a mouse: see man n.1
ΚΠ
1611 J. Davies Scourge of Folly 57 Flaccus..doth keepe too great an house;..But, he therein keepes neither Man nor Mouse, For, there is meate for neither.
1627 W. Hawkins Apollo Shroving i. v. 14 Looke Præco, canst thou see no audience? Præco. Nor man, nor mouse.
1712 S. Cobb Mouse-Trap 15 So all are serv'd by Fates, who weave the Doom Of Mice and Men upon one common Loom!
1786 R. Burns To Mouse vii, in Poems 140 The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley.
1845 T. Carlyle in O. Cromwell Lett. & Speeches I. 483 Poor Prince Maurice, sea-roving..sank, in the West Indies, mouse and man.
1875 R. Browning Inn Album i. 17 My mouth's shut, mind! I tell nor man nor mouse.
a1882 H. W. Longfellow Poet. Wks. IV. 157 Over her decks the seas will leap, She must go down into the deep, And perish mouse and man.
1883 R. Broughton Belinda II. ix. 144 Maria..would flatly refuse to brave the elements on such a night; and neither man nor mouse could blame her.
1937 J. Steinbeck (title) Of mice and men.

Compounds

(The plural form mice- has occasionally been used instead of mouse-.)
C1.
a. General attributive.
mouse cage n.
ΚΠ
1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. xviii. 157 Here Young John turned the great hat round and round upon his left-hand, like a slowly twirling mouse-cage.
1997 N.Y. Mag. 6 Oct. 24/1 The Candyland aesthetic of the original 1961 zoo, with its walk-in whale, cheese-wedge-shaped mouse cage, and daffodil street lamps.
mouse cell n.
ΚΠ
1965 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 53 1040 Hybridization of somatic cells in vitro..has since been shown to occur in mixed cultures of many different pairs of cultured mouse cells.
1994 New Sci. 23 Apr. 20/3 The researchers attached these four F promoters to ‘reporter’ genes and placed these in mouse cells.
mouse dung n.
ΚΠ
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 425 (MED) Take of..bitter almandes, of þe heeres of a beere..of myse donge.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Muscerda, mouse dunge.
1583 A. Nowell et al. True Rep. Disput. E. Campion iii. sig. X.i He should keepe the Pix diligently from mise dung.
1851 Encycl. Americana VII. 500 He says that he observed long ridges of mouse dung, several inches deep.
1994 G. Lehmann Spring Forest 101 I've tasted his johnny cakes,..cooked on a sheet of galvanized iron,..Burned specks turned out to be mouse dung.
mouse fur n.
ΚΠ
1420–1 in N. S. B. Gras Early Eng. Customs Syst. (1918) 509 (MED) ii mantellis martyn throtez, ii mantellis misefurre.
1964 Transition No. 14. 46/1 Bats have the faces of pigs and three hang in the privy and squeak; soft mouse-fur, kite-strutted wings.
2000 National Post (Canada) (Electronic ed.) 9 June e4 I am not sure about the long-term appeal of brown/beige or the mouse fur texture of the seat materials, but for a week, it was livable.
mouse-meat n.
ΚΠ
1875 L. Larcom Childhood Songs 132 Dreaming of sweet cream and mouse-meat.
1900 G. M. Gould & W. L. Pyle Anomalies & Curiosities Med. ix. 494 The ancient Egyptians..abhorred mice and would not touch mouse-meat.
1911 J. Masefield in Eng. Rev. 9 390 Then each tom-cat lights little candles..They light a fire fit for roasting (And how good mouse-meat smells when toasting).
mouse skin n.
ΚΠ
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xxxi. i. 400 They are clad all over in garments made of linnen, or else patched up of wild mice skinnes.
1836 J. F. Davis Chinese I. ix. 330 Even rat and mouse-skins are sewn together for garments.
1990 Internat. Immunol. 2 1113/1 The cells of mouse skin epidermis.
mouse track n.
ΚΠ
1854 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Apr. 361/1 One of the footpaths that mark up all country neighborhoods—sneaking about..or tapering off into a mouse track.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House ii. ii. 192 It was invisible at a distance, like a mouse track winding into a big cheese.
1982 E. Osers tr. M. Holub Coll. Eng. Transl. (1995) 166 In the near world A barely perceptible Snow White drags herself along mouse tracks, Searching for seven honest old Dwarfs.
mouse-turd n.
ΚΠ
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 83 A Mowse torde, musterda.
1992 S. King Gerald's Game (1993) xxvi. 288 She would hear the jar hit the floor down there, landing among the mouse-turds and dust bunnies.
b. Objective.
(a)
mouse-catching n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1857 Househ. Words 23 May 502/2 As naturally as the art of mouse-catching is hereditarily transmitted from cat to kitten.
1890 Overland Monthly 16 83/2 My reputed father being connected at the time in a business capacity—that of mouse catching—with the chief burgler's household.
1943 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Sept. 6/6 (heading) Women win mouse catching contest.
1994 Harrowsmith Country Life Dec. 65/3 Expect to pay more for anything designed to keep fingers or eyes away from the dead mouse, but do not expect technomiracles in mouse-catching ability.
mouse-chasing n.
ΚΠ
1948 E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxvii. 47 Mrs. Tinkey never believed he wanted her cat for mouse-chasing and not for oriental cuisine.
† mouse taking n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1563 F. Seager in W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) sig. Yiiii [They] watched and wayted as duely for theyr pray, As ever dyd the Cat for the Mouse taking.
(b)
mouse-killing adj.
ΚΠ
a1777 S. Foote Nabob (1778) iii. 56 The..mouse-killing Cat.
1914 Science 9 Oct. 526/2 The mouse-killing and eating propensities of the short-tailed shrew.
1993 Q. Rev. Biol. 465/1 It treats the different laboratory models (focusing appropriately on the mouse-killing model that Karli himself discovered).
c. Instrumental.
mouse-eaten adj.
ΚΠ
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. D1v The Historian..loden with old Mouse-eaten records.
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida v. iv. 9 That stale old Mouse-eaten drye cheese Nestor. View more context for this quotation
1760 J. Langhorne Poems 128 (title of poem) Cowley mouse-eaten.
1876 Harper's Mag. Feb. 334/2 I excavated..some odd volumes of the Federalist, mouse-eaten files of the National Intelligencer, with a considerable mess of diplomatic correspondence.
1997 Car Mar. 105/1 Bulgari rescued the mouse-eaten heap from a barn and spent gazillions of lire restoring it.
mouse-gnawn adj.
ΚΠ
1921 W. de la Mare Veil & Other Poems 1 From crock of bone-dry crusts and mouse-gnawn cheese.
d. Similative.
mouse-brown adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [noun] > greyish brown
mouse-brown1792
suede1873
smoke1882
antelope1889
string1914
ash-brown1921
oatmeal1927
1792 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 2) III. 358 Pileus mouse brown.
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 63 First pair [of wings] mouse-brown.
1992 B. Rowlands Over Edge (1993) (BNC) 101 Iris..paused in the act of brushing her short, mouse-brown hair.
mouse-eyed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > types of vision > [adjective] > clear- or sharp-sighted
bright-eyeda1393
sightya1400
well-eyeda1425
well-seeing?a1425
eagle-eyeda1475
well-sighteda1529
clear-eyed1530
quick-sighted1542
oculate1549
quick-eyed1561
eyed1563
sharpsighted1571
clear-sighted1586
eagle-sighted1589
lynx-eyed1597
mouse-eyed1599
lycophosed1600
lycophosy1600
right-eyed1600
nimble-eyed1605
perspicacious1616
lyncean1622
piercing-sighted1630
perspicuous1657
sharp-eyed1672
gimlet-eyed1752
keen-eyed1781
keen-sighted1813
hawk-eyed1818
accipitrine1872
accipitral1881
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 67 O for a Legion of mice-eyed decipherers and calculaters vppon characters, now to augurate what I meane by this.
1845 Encycl. Metrop. XXIV. 333/2 Saurus Myops, Cuv.;..Mouse-eyed Saury... Is found off St. Helena, and called by the colonists the Ground Spearing.
1998 Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) 4 Apr. d1 Ullman turned a few mouse-eyed dowdy disasters into sharp fashion statements using the thin eyeglass frames she designed herself.
† mouse-fallow adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in W. G. Stryker Lat.-Old Eng. Gloss. in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1951) 310 Myrteus, bleoread, musfealu.
a1567 L. Nowell Vocabularium Saxonicum (1952) 37/1 Bleoread, alias Musfalu. Mousfalowe coulour, the coulour of a mouse.
mouse grey adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > yellowish grey
mouse-dunc1465
mouse-coloura1576
mouse grey1825
putty1869
beige1879
naturelle1887
mouse1895
greige1911
kasha1957
1825 R. Harlan Fauna Americana 33 Each hair [of a red mole] being mouse-gray at its base.
a1832 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXII. 249/1 The fur..of a uniform mouse-grey above.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 619 Mouse-gray is obtained, when with the same proportions as for ash-gray.
1968 A. Nowlan Miracle at Indian River Stories 58 The Canada Jays, white and mouse-grey like the colour of winter,..flew almost close enough to snatch the food from his hands.
1986 D. Hogan New Shirt ii. 65 She dyed her hair black and curled it, leaving two bolls of mouse grey by the ears.
mouse-haired adj.
ΚΠ
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. 913 (MED) A staloun asse..al blaak Or moushered or reede is to been hadde.
1916 Munsey's Mag. Oct. 38 A mouse-haired, fish-eyed, pigeon-toed, bow-legged, brain-shy, poverty-stricken boob is immune.
1997 Guardian (Nexis) 13 Nov. 18 If Bruce Chatwin had been portly, myopic and mouse-haired,..his life and reputation would have been quite different.
mouse-poor adj.
ΚΠ
1921 R. Graves Coronation Murder in Pier-glass 50 Baffled, aghast with hate, mouse-poor.
mouse-quiet adj.
ΚΠ
1892 T. Martin tr. F. Schiller Camp of Wallenstein in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 246 Mouse-quiet [Ger. mausstill] must everything round him be.
1946 R. Graves Poems 1938–45 13 And we remain mouse-quiet when they begin Suddenly in their unpredictable way To weave an allegory of their lives.
mouse-still adj.
ΚΠ
1868 C. G. Leland Hans Breitmann's Party 19 All mouse-still ve shtood, yet mit oop-shoompin hearts.
1872 H. W. Longfellow Cobbler of Hagenau in Three Bks. Song i. 34 His quiet little dame..Eager, excited, but mouse-still.
C2.
a.
mouse-birth n. poetic rare a disappointing or ridiculously small result; cf. Phrases 2.
ΚΠ
1868 R. Browning Ring & Bk. I. iii. 225 Oh mouse-birth of that mountain-like revenge!
mouse-bur n. any of various mouselike plant burrs, esp. (U.S.) the mature pod of the unicorn plant or devil's claw, Proboscidea louisianica (family Martyniaceae); (also) this plant.
ΚΠ
1875 F. T. Buckland Log-bk. Fisherman 42 Among these tails [sc. South American horsetails] are found most extraordinary burrs, which are called in ordinary parlance, ‘Mouse Burrs,’ on account of their strong resemblance to a mouse.
1878 A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam vi. 84 The seeds of the Martynia proboscidea, mouse-burrs as they call them.
1993 T. Coffey Hist. & Folklore N. Amer. Wildflowers 223/1 Unicorn-Plant, Devil's-Claw Proboscidea louisiana [sic]... Elephant's-Trunk (Texas),..Mouse-Bur, [etc.].
mouse buttock n. now regional a fleshy piece cut from a round of beef; the part immediately above the knee-joint in a leg of beef or mutton; cf. mouse-piece n. and sense 15.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > beef > [noun] > other cuts or parts
tild1342
ox foota1398
oxtaila1425
neat's foot?c1450
beef-flick1462
sticking piece1469
ox-tonguea1475
aitch-bone1486
fore-crop?1523
sirloin1525
mouse-piece1530
ox-cheek1592
neat's tongue1600
clod1601
sticking place1601
skink1631
neck beef1640
round1660
ox-heart1677
runner1688
sticking draught1688
brisket-beef1697
griskin1699
sey1719
chuck1723
shin1736
gravy beef1747
baron of beef1755
prime rib1759
rump and dozen1778
mouse buttock1818
slifta1825
nine holes1825
spauld-piece1828
trembling-piece1833
shoulder-lyar1844
butt1845
plate1854
plate-rand1854
undercut1859
silver-side1861
bed1864
wing rib1883
roll1884
strip-loin1884
hind1892
topside1896
rib-eye1926
buttock meat1966
onglet1982
1818 Rep. Comm. Prisons City of London & Southwark I. 38 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 275) VIII. 297 That [meat] which I bought for them is called the mouse buttock.
1824 M. Willis Cookery Made Easy 150 Put the mouse buttock of beef, a knuckle of veal, and some mutton shanks, into a pan, just cover with water.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 36 Mouse-buttock, the fleshy piece which is cut out from a round of beef.
1859 E. G. Storke Domest. & Rural Affairs 15 (in figure) A bullock marked as cut by the butcher... C Aitchbone. D Buttock. E Mouse Buttock.[etc.]
† mousecatch n. Obsolete a mousetrap (also figurative).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > [noun] > mouse-trap
mousefalleOE
stockc1175
mouse stocka1225
mousecatcha1382
mousetrap1440
Samson's post1577
the world > food and drink > hunting > equipment > trap or snare > [noun] > trap for vermin
falleOE
mousefalleOE
stockc1175
mouse stocka1225
mousecatcha1382
mousetrap1440
rat trap1469
Samson's post1577
whipa1589
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Wisd. xiv. 11 In to a moose cacche [a1425 L.V. trappe; L. muscipulam].
c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 117 (MED) Þei ben þe deuelis mousecacche wiþ here maumetrie.
1583 in M. A. Havinden Househ. & Farm Inventories Oxfordshire (1965) 152 A mouscatche.
mouse-catcher n. (a) a person or animal that catches mice; †(b) derogatory a deceiver, a trickster (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > [noun] > that catches mice
mouser1440
mouse-catcher1611
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun]
owleOE
howlec1430
mouser1440
howletc1450
nightbirdc1450
owlet1542
night owl1581
jenny-howlet1600
tu-whit tu-whoo1604
Welsh ambassador1608
mouse-catcher1611
Welsh falconera1640
hooter1673
hobhouchin1682
flying-cat1699
houchin1746
jumbie bird1827
the world > food and drink > hunting > hunter > hunter of specific animal > [noun] > animal hunting mice
mouser1440
mouse-hunt1597
mouse-catcher1611
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Felidae (feline) > felis domesticus (cat) > [noun] > defined by actions or habitat
mouser1440
mouse-taker?c1475
mouse-catcher1611
Kilkenny cat1822
spitfire1825
alley cat1886
stray1892
tiler1905
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Souricier, a Mouser, or Mouse-catcher.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. 153 Those Popish Muscipulatores or Mice-catchers, as the story calleth them, that raked together their Peter-pence, and other moneys here in England by most detestable arts.
1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) viii. xiii. 342 Pardon..my speaking of cats and kings in the same page; but when kings turn mice-catchers, it must diminish their dignity.
1899 Living Age 26 Aug. 549/2 Some of the brown owls make their habitat there. The circumstance has not, I fancy, been noticed..so that the mouse-catchers are in comparative security.
1958 Dumfries & Galloway Standard 17 May He believes that there are two distinct species of weasel—one of which is extremely small and which he calls the ‘mouse-catcher’.
mouse-crope adj. [ < mouse n. + crope, past participle of creep v.] English regional = shrew-run n. at shrew n.1 Compounds 2.
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1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Mouse-crope, a Beast that is run over the Back by a Shrew Mouse is said to be so. C[ountry word].
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. at Rubus We have heard of cows that were said to be mouse-crope, or to have been walked over by a shrew-mouse (an ancient way of accounting for paralysis), being [etc.].
mouse dirt n. mouse excrement.
ΚΠ
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 293 Mouse dryt y-powned wiþ vynegre clenseþ þat yuel allopicia and kepeþ and saueþ þe heed fro fallyng of heer.
a1598 D. Fergusson Sc. Prov. (1641) sig. D2v I wald I had as meikle pepper as he compts himself worthy myse dirt.
1871 F. A. Gunther New Man. Homoeopathic Vet. Med. 135 A horse, accustomed to cleanliness, loses appetite..when he finds mouse dirt, or other excrements in the manger.
1983 N. Dubie Sel. & New Poems 139 You were downstairs Sweeping mouse dirt out of the cupboards.
mouse-hunter n. a person or animal that hunts mice, spec. a (female) weasel; cf. mouse-hunt n.1 1.
ΚΠ
1659 J. Howell Prov. Eng. Toung 2/2 in Lex. Tetraglotton (1660) A muffled Cat no good Mous-hunter.
1854 Notes & Queries 22 Apr. 385/1 Three kinds..: the weasel, the stoat or stump, and the mousehunt or mousehunter, which is also called the thumb, from its diminutive size.
1891 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 523 Two friends—a bird-watcher and a mouse-hunter.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xxi. 719 The true and only weasel is the whittret or futteret or mouse-hunter or fairy-hound.
2000 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 27 Dec. 11 Night is the best time for mouse hunters.
mouse-killer n. (a) a killer of mice; †(b) derogatory a coward (obsolete).
ΚΠ
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Muricidus, a mousekiller.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 513 In ancient time, a mouse-killer was taken for an opprobrious speech.
1882 H. D. Traill Recaptured Rhymes 103 Of me By forces as resistless and her own She [sc. Nature] made a mouse-killer.
1963 B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Cat Owner's Encycl. 59 The domestic mouse-killer of the Greeks..was not a cat at all, but a weasel or marten.
2000 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 12 Aug. The house cat—a mouse-killer—got her own stencil (a tiny mouse shape) sprayed on the wall by her water bowl, signifying confirmed kills.
† mouse mark n. Scottish Obsolete a birthmark resembling a mouse in shape.
ΚΠ
1611 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. (1833) III. 196 The laird of Coleraine..driming of him in his sleipe and that he had a muse-marke under his left pape.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd iii. ii. 40 I'll wager there's a Mouse Mark on your Side.
mouse mill n. now historical a device used in a siphon recorder for bringing about electrostatic induction of the ink.
ΚΠ
1873 J. C. Cuff Direct. Setting up Sir W. Thomson's Siphon Recorder 13 The mouse mill is at once an electro magnetic engine and electro-static induction machine.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 619/1 Mouse mill, a small electro-magnetic engine and electro static induction machine used in the siphon recorder.
1957 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 144/1 Lord Kelvin also devised an influence machine, commonly called a ‘mouse mill’, for electrifying the ink in connection with his siphon recorder.
† mouse-piece n. Obsolete a cut of meat rich in muscle tissue; cf. sense 15.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > beef > [noun] > other cuts or parts
tild1342
ox foota1398
oxtaila1425
neat's foot?c1450
beef-flick1462
sticking piece1469
ox-tonguea1475
aitch-bone1486
fore-crop?1523
sirloin1525
mouse-piece1530
ox-cheek1592
neat's tongue1600
clod1601
sticking place1601
skink1631
neck beef1640
round1660
ox-heart1677
runner1688
sticking draught1688
brisket-beef1697
griskin1699
sey1719
chuck1723
shin1736
gravy beef1747
baron of beef1755
prime rib1759
rump and dozen1778
mouse buttock1818
slifta1825
nine holes1825
spauld-piece1828
trembling-piece1833
shoulder-lyar1844
butt1845
plate1854
plate-rand1854
undercut1859
silver-side1861
bed1864
wing rib1883
roll1884
strip-loin1884
hind1892
topside1896
rib-eye1926
buttock meat1966
onglet1982
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement f. xlixv/1 Mouspece of an oxe, moufle.
1696 J. Aubrey Miscellanies 109 There is a certain piece in the Beef, called the Mouse-piece, which given to the Child, or Party so affected, to Eat, doth certainly Cure the Thrush.
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 335 In handling the sheep he shewed me the piece of fat by the brisket, before the shoulder, which is called the mouse-piece.
1864 R. Jennings Sheep, Swine, & Poultry 64 The chine is taken out, as also the spare-ribs from the shoulders, and the mouse-pieces and short-ribs, or griskins, from the middlings.
† mouse powder n. Obsolete rare a poison for mice.
ΚΠ
1886 York Herald 10 Aug. 5/6 After the death of Mrs. Dixon, Mrs. Britland..suggested that they might have been poisoned with mouse powder.
mousepox n. Veterinary Medicine infectious ectromelia of mice.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of animals generally > [noun] > other disorders
bunnyc1440
cold1486
big-head1805
dwarfism1833
milk fever1860
fagopyrism1895
hyperdactyly1902
myelocytoma1929
osteofibrosis1936
mousepox1947
osteolathyrism1957
whitepox1996
1947 F. Fenner in Austral. Jrnl. Exper. Biol. 25 334 In view of..the newly found close relationship of the disease to the mammalian pox diseases, Professor F. M. Burnet has suggested that ‘mouse pox’ should be used as a synonym for ‘infectious ectromelia’.
1970 S. M. Brooks World of Viruses v. 47 The so-called variola-like poxviruses cause smallpox,..mousepox,..and turkey~pox.
1998 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95 6325/1 Rmp1 controls host resistance to mousepox virus.
mouse-proof adj. impervious to mice; strengthened to prevent mice from gnawing through.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > [adjective] > stopping up or blocking > having no opening that mouse can go through
rat-proof1838
mouse-proof1859
rat-tight1893
1859 G. Suckley in Rep. Explor. & Surv. Route Railroad Mississippi to Pacific I. Suppl. iii. 127 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (35th Congr., 2nd Session: Senate Executive Doc. 46) XVIII A chest of drawers supposed to have been mouse-proof.
1895 Outing 26 365/2 A mouse-proof locker.
1928 ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country viii. 127 Bags of white sugar and rice in the big ant- and mice-proof bins.
1974 Sci. Amer. June 44/1 In 1965 we established three mouseproof areas, each enclosing about two acres, in a field in southern Indiana.
1998 Bee Craft 80 313/2 Such entrances are mouse-proof all the year round.
mouse roller n. Printing a small additional roller on a printing machine (see quots.).
ΚΠ
1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 84 Mouse roller, a small additional roller for the better distribution of ink on a machine.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 560/2 Mouse roller,..a small extra roller used to obtain better distribution of the ink on a machine.
† mouse's heart n. Obsolete a coward; (also) cowardliness.
ΚΠ
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iii. 736 Thow wrecched mouses herte, Artow agast so that she wol the bite?
1647 R. Fanshawe tr. B. Guarini Pastor Fido iv. 124 But 't had been worse t' have been prisoner To such a beast; Who though he doth not bear A mouses heart, might have mouz'd me.]
† mouse-sight n. [probably arising from false analysis of myopia n. as showing ancient Greek μῦς mouse: see quot. a1822 at sense 1a] Obsolete rare myopia.
ΚΠ
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. III. 208 Mice are said to have this kind of vision naturally, and hence one of the technical names for it is myopia or myopiasis, literally ‘mouse-sight’.
mouse-slayer n. = mouse-killer n.
ΚΠ
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 43 Muricida, a mou sleer.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 83 A mowse slaer, muricida.
2000 Re: Two Oddities & a Question in rec.games.roguelike.angband (Usenet newsgroup) 2 June As an avid mouse slayer you should be high enough in level to have a spell to use instead.
† mouse-snatch n. Obsolete rare a mousetrap.
ΚΠ
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 10 Muscipula, a mous snacche.
† mouse stock n. Obsolete a mousetrap (also figurative).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > [noun] > mouse-trap
mousefalleOE
stockc1175
mouse stocka1225
mousecatcha1382
mousetrap1440
Samson's post1577
the world > food and drink > hunting > equipment > trap or snare > [noun] > trap for vermin
falleOE
mousefalleOE
stockc1175
mouse stocka1225
mousecatcha1382
mousetrap1440
rat trap1469
Samson's post1577
whipa1589
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 53 (MED) Þeos wimmen þe þus luuieð beoð þes deofles musestoch.
a1500 Gloss. John of Garland in T. Wright Vocabularies (1857) 132 (MED) A musse stocke: muscipula.
mouse-taker n. now historical = mouse-catcher n.
ΚΠ
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 83 A mowse [1483 BL Add. 89074 Mowsse] taker, muscipulator.
1986 O. Rackham Hist. Countryside iv. 40 A usual word for the cat as a huntable beast is murilegus, ‘mouse-taker’, which indicates the ex-domestic cat.
b. In the names of animals.
mousefish n. (a) the sargassum fish, Histrio histrio; (b) a slim, brightly coloured Indo-Pacific fish, Gonorhynchus gonorhynchus (family Gonorhynchidae), which burrows in sand on the seabed; also called beaked salmon, rat-fish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > superorder Paracanthopterygii > order Lophiiformes (anglers) > [noun] > member of genus Antennarius
toad-fish1612
mousefish1818
walking fish1840
frogfish1931
frog1985
1818 Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. Mar. 325/1 Mouse-fish... This is a fish scarcely two inches long.
1876 G. B. Goode Animal Resources U.S. 13 Pediculati. (Sea-bats or devil-fish, goose-fish or angler, mouse-fish, &c.)
1957 Encycl. Brit. IX. 322/2 A pattern obviously designed to give them a low visibility in the rockweed, as that of the mousefish (Histrio) does in the yellow gulf weed of the open ocean.
1985 A. Wheeler World Encycl. Fishes 200/1 Gonorhynchus gonorhynchus. Ratfish, beaked salmon, mousefish, sand-eel.
† mouse-galago n. Obsolete rare Demidoff's bushbaby, Galagoides demidoff, a small African galago.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. at Mouse n. Mouse-galago, a small West-African galagonine lemur (Galago murinus).
mouse hare n. a pika (genus Ochotona).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) > [noun] > ochotona princeps (pika) > ochotona roylei (large-eared pika)
calling hare1780
rat-hare1831
mountain hare1848
mouse hare1891
1891 W. T. Blanford Fauna Brit. India: Mammalia ii. 456 Lagomys roylei. The Himalayan Mouse-Hare.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 575/2 Pica, the name of the European representative of a group of diminutive rodent mammals, also known as tailless hares, mouse-hares, or piping hares.
1966 R. Morris & D. Morris Man & Pandas viii. 151 The local Tibetan inhabitants claimed that the giant panda also occasionally hunted fish, pikas (mouse-hares) and small rodents.
1991 R. M. Nowak Walker's Mammals of World (ed. 5) I. 540/1 Genus Ochotona... Pikas, Mouse Hares, or Conies.
mouse lemur n. a dwarf lemur (family Cheirogaleidae), spec. either of two members of the genus Microcebus, having large ears, close-set eyes, and a long tail.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types of
mouse lemur1893
1893 R. Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. I. 219 The tiny creatures known as the mouse-lemurs.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 486/1 Subfamily Cheirogaleinae includes the mouse lemurs, referable to three genera.
1993 Sci. Amer. Jan. 90/3 These primates ranged in size from the two-ounce mouse lemur, Microcebus, to the 400-pound Archaeoindris.
mouse moth n. a small greyish brown noctuid moth, Amphipyra tragopoginis, which scuttles away when disturbed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Caradrinidae > amphipyra tragopogenis (mouse)
mouse moth1819
mouse1829
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 251 Mouse moth (Noctua Tragopogonus).
1984 B. Skinner Moths Brit. Isles 123/1 Mouse moth Amphipyra tragopoginis... Resident. Comes to light, sugar, [etc.].
mouse opossum n. any of numerous small Neotropical opossums belonging or formerly belonging to the genus Marmosa (family Didelphidae), with long prehensile tails.
ΚΠ
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam II. xxii. 144 A murine or mouse opossum.
1926 Sci. Monthly June 536/2 I recognized..the remains of a mouse opossum and of a small rodent.
1984 D. Macdonald Encycl. Mammals II. 834 Female Pale-bellied mouse opossums will retrieve detached young within a few days of birth.
2000 Nature 20 Apr. 813/3 (caption) Micoureus demerarae, perched here, is one of South America's largest mouse opossums.
mouse spider n. any of several large Australian trapdoor spiders of the genus Missulena, esp. the dangerous M. occatoria, the male of which has a red head and fangs.
ΚΠ
1858 A. M. Redfield Zoöl. Sci. 637 The Mason, or Trap-door Spider, Mygale, (Gr. mugalē, a mouse-spider,) cæmentaria, constructs a sort of tube in which it dwells.]
1936 K. C. McKeown Spider Wonders Austral. xiii. 188 Two other spiders..are the Red-headed Trap-door Spider (Eriodon rubrocapitatum) and Eriodon occatorium. The only popular name that I have heard used for the latter is ‘Mouse Spider’, which seems to be wholly unsuitable.
1976 B. Y. Main Spiders 65 Many years ago Missulena was designated the mouse spider apparently as a result of someone finding a spider, probably a male specimen, in a deep sinuous burrow.
1994 S. K. Sutherland Venomous Creatures of Austral. (rev. ed.) 76 Recent studies of the venom of the female mouse spider suggest that it may be as potentially dangerous as the male Funnel-web spider.
c. In the names of plants.
† mouse-ballock n. Obsolete a plant having leaves likened to a mouse's testicle, perhaps scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis.
ΚΠ
?a1425 (a1400) Alphita (Sloane 284) (1887) 184 Testiculus muris folia habet ualde parua, museballok.
a1500 in T. Hunt Plant Names Medieval Eng. (1989) 149 [Ippia Maior] mowse-ballok.
† mouse-bane n. [compare Hellenistic Greek μυοκτόνος, classical Latin myoctonon (Pliny) mouse-killing plant, aconite (see myoctonic adj.)] Obsolete rare a plant formerly reputed to kill mice, perhaps a kind of aconite, Aconitum anthora.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 760/2 Mouse-bane, Aconitum myoctonum.
mouse barley n. now rare wall barley, Hordeum murinum.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > hordeum grasses
wild rye?a1500
way bent1597
rye grass1633
squirrel-tail grass1777
squirrel-tail1796
mouse barley1800
1800 J. E. Smith Flora Britannica I. 155 Hordeum murinum... Angl. Wall Barley. Mouse Barley. Way Bennet.
1861 J. E. Sowerby & C. Johnson Grasses Great Brit. 148 Hordeum murinum. Wall Barley Grass. Way Bennet. Mouse Barley.
1935 A. S. Hitchcock Man. Grasses U.S. 268 Hordeum murinum L. Mouse barley... Fields, waste places, and open ground..; here and there in the Eastern States.
1989 Cytol. & Genetics 23 ii. 13 Some authors distinguish two independent species: H[ordeum] murinum L.—mouse barley (4×) and H. leporinum Link.—wall barley (4×, 6×).
mouse chop n. (also mouse chap) now rare a small ornamental succulent, Stomatium murinum (family Aizoaceae), with small yellow flowers and grey-green leaves having prominent white dots.
ΚΠ
1795 A. H. Haworth Observ. Genus Mesembryanthemum ii. 165 Mesembryanthemum murinum.., mouse chap fig-marygold.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 760/2 Mouse chop, Mesembryanthemum murinum.
1902 T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 5) 233 Mesembryanthemum (Fig Marigold,..Tiger Chop, Fox Chop, Mouse Chop, Weasle Chop).
mouse grass n. †(a) a sedum (obsolete rare); (b) Scottish the silvery hair grass, Aira caryophyllea; †(c) an Australian grass, Dichelachne crinita (cf. plume grass n. at plume n. Compounds 2). (obsolete rare).It is not clear which plant is denoted in quot. c1300.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Crassulaceae (stonecrop and allies) > [noun] > stonecrop
sengreenc1000
stonecropc1000
orpine?a1300
orval?a1300
mouse grassc1300
stonehorea1400
Crassulac1400
sedumc1440
thrift1538
prick-madam1542
mousetail1548
livelong1578
wall pepper1578
worm-grass1578
country pepper1597
jack of the buttery1597
pricket1597
stone-pepper1597
trick-madam1600
trip-madam1693
midsummer mena1697
rosewort1725
roseroot1731
live forever1760
ice plant1818
wall moss1855
Jacka1876
wall grass1882
thick-leaf1884
c1300 in T. Hunt Pop. Med. 13th-cent. Eng. (1990) v. 251 Herbam que vocatur mousgras vel horwey.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Ioubarbe sauvage, Mouse-grasse, wild Prickmadame.
1839 Collectanea Flora Moray 4 Triandria... Aira caryophyllea. ‘Mouse Grass’.
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 56/2 Mouse grass, Australian. Dichelachne crinita.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 169/2 Mouse Grass—(i.q. Long-haired Plume Grass.)
1978 M. M. Webster Flora Moray, Nairn & E. Inverness 514 Aira carophyllea L. Mouse Grass, Silver Hair Grass. Native. Common in dry gravelly places.
† mouse hood n. Obsolete rare a small agaric, Hygrophorus nitratus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > fungi > [noun] > mouse-hood
melon-hood1887
mouse hood1887
1887 W. D. Hay Elem. Text-bk. Brit. Fungi 175 Hygrophorus murinaceus, the Mouse Hood.
† mouse-thorn n. Obsolete rare a form of the star-thistle, Centaurea calcitrapa.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 760/2 Mouse-thorn, Centaurea myacantha.
† mouse-wort n. Obsolete mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > Artemisia or mugwort
mugworteOE
artemisiaOE
mugweeda1400
motherwort1440
matricary1523
French wormwood1548
holy wormwood1548
sea-mugwort1548
sea-wormwood1548
tree wormwood1548
Roman wormwood1551
southernwood1577
garden cypress1578
mouse-wort1607
field southernwood1739
sage1805
hyssop1807
sage-bush1807
appleringie1808
absinth1841
sage-brush1850
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > medicinal and culinary plants > medicinal and culinary plant or part of plant > [noun] > wormwood
wermodc725
mugworteOE
absinthiumOE
wormwooda1400
absinthc1429
Pontic wormwood1551
Roman wormwood1551
mouse-wort1607
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 512 Mug-wort, otherwise cald mouse-wort.
d. Computing. (Compounds relating to sense 13.)
mouse button n. a control button on a mouse.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > peripherals > [noun] > control devices > mouse > control on
mouse button1983
1983 Austral. Personal Computer Aug. 38/1 By selecting View from the menu while holding the mouse button down, [etc.].
1988 Desktop Publishing Today June 21/1 You have to press the Apple (or Command) key as well as the mouse button in order to do lots of things.
1993 Byte Dec. 139/2 When the cross-hairs turn into an arrow, press the left mouse button and drag.
mouse click n. the action or an act of depressing a control button on a mouse to select or initiate a function; = click n.1 9.
ΚΠ
1983 InfoWorld (Nexis) 21 Nov. 32 A user can change window size or position with a single mouse click.
1994 CompuServe Mag. July 20/3 To create a macro, all you need to do is turn on the recorder and start adding the keystrokes, mouse clicks and commands you want to use later.
2000 Daily Tel. 16 Mar. (Connected section) 17/1 (advt.) With Computer Books Direct, you are only a phone call or a mouse click away from the best computer books.
mouse-click v. transitive to press and release (a button on a mouse); to initiate (a program function) or select (an item) in this way, having first positioned the mouse pointer on the appropriate part of the screen; also intransitive; cf. click v.1 7.
ΚΠ
1985 MacUser (Nexis) Sept. Aimless mouse clicking isn't the only reader pastime.]
1986 PC Mag. (Nexis) 25 Feb. 211 You can set tabs (either left or decimal) either by typing the explicit measurements in a pop-up menu or by displaying the ruler line and just mouse-clicking them in.
1994 Guardian 21 July (OnLine section) 5/5 The great thing about the World Wide Web is that once you've loaded..a..browser, you can mouse-click from site to site without doing any real work.
1998 Back Stage 10 Apr. 1 Mouse-clicking the title calls up a reprint of a Los Angeles Daily News Feb. 1 article which opens by recalling Pat Morita's experience with cable residuals.
mouse-controlled adj. controlled by moving or clicking a mouse.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > [adjective] > relating to user interface
touch-sensitive1969
menu-driven1979
command-driven1983
mouse-controlled1983
mouse-driven1983
greyed-out1985
1983 Austral. Personal Computer Aug. 60/3 Mouse-controlled movements can be made highly accurate.
1992 Guardian 2 Jan. 29/2 Users operate the camera and CD-ROM drive by clicking on-screen icons with a mouse-controlled pointer.
mouse-driven adj. = mouse-controlled adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > [adjective] > relating to user interface
touch-sensitive1969
menu-driven1979
command-driven1983
mouse-controlled1983
mouse-driven1983
greyed-out1985
1983 Austral. Personal Computer Apr. 10/3 Mouse-driven software has caught the imagination of American hardware designers.
1985 Pract. Computing May 20 (advt.) The latest members of the Apple family will be running the latest mouse-driven software.
1993 UNIX World May 18/1 Users run programs [etc.]..through simple drag-and-drop mouse-driven operations.
mousemat n. chiefly British a small, flat pad over which a computer mouse is moved to produce movement of the pointer on the monitor screen.
ΚΠ
1989 3D (Nexis) Oct. 17 The mechanical mouse suffers from friction—or rather the lack of it (a mouse mat is advised).
1999 Sphaera Autumn 8/4 A mousemat facsimile of the Einstein Blackboard has been a best-selling item on the Museum bookstall.
mouse pad n. = mousemat n.
ΚΠ
1982 R. F. Lyon & M. P. Haeberli in VLSI Design Jan.–Feb. 21/1 Optical mice require a special patterned mouse pad.
2000 N.Y. Times 21 Aug. c3/1 The frame provides a link to Beck's Web site..where an e-commerce shop sells compact discs, T-shirts and mouse pads.
mouse port n. a socket on a computer, keyboard, etc., for connecting to a mouse.
ΚΠ
1983 InfoWorld (Nexis) 19 Dec. 17 A mouse port located in the back of the keyboard..supports the Microsoft mouse for optional cursor control.
1993 Compute Sept. 25/3 The package includes a Microsoft BallPoint mouse, which plugs directly into the dedicated mouse port (also at the rear).
1996 PC World Nov. 51/1 Designed to replace your serial, parallel, keyboard, and mouse ports with a single connection.
mouse potato n. [after couch potato n. at couch n.1 Additions] a person who spends large amounts of leisure time using a computer, esp. surfing the internet.
ΚΠ
1994 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 16 Jan. 1 c The Superhighway Summit was a celebration of sound bites and buzz-metaphors—500-channel cyberspace, mouse potato, killer app (application), time-shifting, the electronically elite.
1996 Times (Electronic ed.) 7 Jan. Computers are creating a generation of ‘mouse potatoes’.
2000 N.Y. Times 13 Apr. g3/2 La-Z-Boy worked with Microsoft's WebTV Networks division to create the ultimate throne for mouse potatoes who want to surf the Net, send and receive e-mail and watch TV at the same time.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

mousev.

Brit. /maʊs/, /maʊz/, U.S. /maʊs/, /maʊz/
Forms: early Middle English muse, Middle English–1700s mowse, 1500s–1600s mouze, 1600s mowze, 1800s– moose (English regional); N.E.D. (1908) records also Middle English mouze.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mouse n.
Etymology: < mouse n. Compare Middle Dutch musen (Dutch muizen ), Middle Low German mūsen , Middle High German mūsen (German mausen ), Swedish musa . Compare rat v.5
1. intransitive. Esp. of a cat, owl, or fox: to hunt for or catch mice.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > hunt specific animal [verb (intransitive)] > hunt mice (of cat or owl)
mousea1275
a1275 (?c1200) Prov. Alfred (Trin. Cambr.) (1955) 110 (MED) Ofte mused [v.r. museþ] þe catt after þe moder.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 347 Mowsyn, or take myse, muricapio.
1791 G. Huddesford Monody Death Dick in Salmagundi 133 Thee, generous Dick, the Cat-controlling Powers Ordained to mouse in Academic Bowers.
1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. xxi The large white owl floating over the fields as it moused in the long grass.
1871 J. S. Blackie Four Phases Morals i. 42 You expect..your cat to mouse well.
1904 S. J. Weyman Abbess of Vlaye vii. 115 The owl mousing in the uplands.
1976 A. Price War Game i. v. 103 Animals..which worked for their living, guarding, mousing, pulling or carrying.
1999 Independent (Electronic ed.) 20 Feb. 17 I hustled towards another promising field and came cautiously up behind a stone wall to scan the grass meadow. The sole occupant was a big dog fox, mousing.
2.
†a. transitive. To handle as a cat or bird does a mouse; to claw at, tear, bite. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > rubbing or friction > rub [verb (transitive)] > scratch
clawc1000
scrat1340
frushc1430
scrapec1440
scartc1480
scrab1481
heckle?1507
mouse1531
bescratch1555
razea1586
ferret-claw1591
scrub1596
beclaw1603
bescramble1605
rake1609
shrub1657
talon1685
1531 W. Tyndale Answere Mores Dialoge f. xciiij In the .xiij. [chapter]..he biteth, sucketh, gnaweth, towseth, and mowseth tindale.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 38 Keepe shepe from dog, kepe lamb from hog. If foxes mowse them, then, nightly howse them.
1603 T. Dekker 1603: Wonderfull Yeare sig. C2v Whilst Troy was swilling sack and sugar, and mowsing fat venison, the mad Greekes made bonefires of their houses.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 354 Oh now doth death line his dead chaps with steele,..And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men In vndetermin'd differences of kings.
1647 R. Fanshawe tr. B. Guarini Pastor Fido iv. 124 But 't had been worse t' have been prisoner To such a beast; Who though he doth not bear A mouses heart, might have mouz'd me.
a1679 R. Boyle Mr. Anthony (1690) v. 46 Thou old Traytor, give 3000l. to Cuckold me, and Debauch my Niece, by the Injur'd Spirits of thy offended Wife, I'll Mouse thee for it.
1855 Fraser's Mag. 51 548 Sometimes after mousing a snail till it has put its head out..they fly at and peck off a little mouthful of its malacology.
†b. transitive. Frequently in collocation with touse. To tussle with (a person, usually of the opposite sex) in fun, esp. in a sexual or flirtatious manner. Also intransitive. Cf. mousle v. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > caress [verb (transitive)] > handle rudely or indelicately
ruffle1607
mouse1608
touse1624
mousle1664
tumble1715
tousle1839
1608 T. Middleton Familie of Love (new ed.) v. sig. I2 Yet if you did but see..how like a Cock sparrow he mouses and touses my little Besse already.
a1627 H. Shirley Martyr'd Souldier (1638) iv. sig. H Is't the Kings pleasure I should mouse her, and before all these people?
1675 W. Wycherley Country-wife ii. 15 He wou'd not let me come near the Gentry, who sate under us [at the play]... He told me, none but naughty Women sate there, whom they tous'd and mous'd.
1681 T. Otway Souldiers Fortune i. i. 6 To see a pretty Wench, and a young Fellow Towze and Rowze and Frouze and Mowze.
1691 T. Shadwell Scowrers iv. i. 34 My dear Chicken! I'll so mouse thee.
1706 R. Estcourt Fair Example iii. 37 And I'll so towse and mowse—heark'ye, Madam, I give no Quarter.
c. intransitive. U.S. College slang. To ‘neck’, to pet. Also with off. Cf. earlier mousing n. 1c.
ΚΠ
1961 D. Boroff Campus U.S.A. 46 ‘To mouse’ is to neck.
1961 D. Boroff Campus U.S.A. 46 The wash, Forty acres of sagebrush and serpentine dirt road... It is the unofficial ‘mousing’ and drinking area.
1970 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 4 iii.–iv. 21 Mouse, to indulge in sexual intimacies short of intercourse.
1986 R. Ford Sportswriter iii. 76 A whole lot of us would like to mouse off with a little nurse.
3.
a. intransitive. To hunt or search industriously or cautiously; to go or move about softly in search of or as if in search of something; to prowl. Also with along, around.Earlier uses seem to suggest predatory behaviour (i.e. with the sense ‘to search like an animal hunting for mice’) whereas some later uses may have a sense more like ‘to search like a mouse’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > investigate, inspect [verb (intransitive)]
inquirec1330
aska1382
ensearch1382
questiona1500
investigate?1520
vestigatea1561
to look into ——1561
perpend1568
mouse1575
rake1603
undergo1605
fathom1607
ravel1618
examine1628
inquisition1644
to cast abouta1676
inspect1703
sound1793
disquisitea1823
look-see1862
to cast about one1867
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > make a search [verb (intransitive)] > rummage or search thoroughly
ransackc1405
range1553
rig1565
rake1574
mouse1575
ferret1580
spoacha1585
rummage1625
scrimmage1843
fossick1871
roust1919
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > make a search [verb (intransitive)] > search captiously
mouse1575
pickeer1737
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > frivolous, captious objection > raise captiously [verb (intransitive)] > search captiously
mouse1575
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > make a search [verb (intransitive)] > range about searching
scour1297
prowlc1395
foragea1774
skirmish1864
mouse1874
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie li. 153 When he [sc. a boar]..doth but a little turne vp the grounde with his nose, he seeketh for wormes. So may you say that he hath been mowsing.
1673 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd II. 254 You fall a mousing about the definition of a Quibble.
1778 ‘P. Pindar’ Poet. Epist. Reviewers 7 There, Wisdom,..I've seen o'er pamphlets,..Mousing for faults, or, if you'll have it, Owling.
1840 W. Irving Oliver Goldsmith I. 92 He..wrote in a more free and fluent style than if he had been mousing at the time among authorities.
1842 J. Foster Let. 19 Feb. in Life & Corr. J. Foster (1846) II. 421 This has been the consequence of mousing for them [sc. engravings] during a good many years.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics II. ix. iii. 150 He..mouses for flaws of regulation.
1874 G. H. Kingsley Let. 20 Sept. in Notes Sport & Trav. (1900) 161 I was mousing around by myself the other day.
1885 H. C. McCook Tenants Old Farm 365 Maybe they peep and mouse into the tunnels and caves of worms.
1922 J. Galsworthy Forsyte Saga I. ii. i. 125 He..would mouse about among the débris for hours, careful never to soil his clothes, moving silently through the unfinished brickwork of doorways.
1947 N. Marsh Final Curtain xii. 192 At this stage of the proceedings, when I still have a very faint hope that we may come across something..I couldn't very well insist on anything. We'll just have to go mousing along.
1949 Boston Globe 18 Sept. (Mag.) 5/4 I guess I'll hunt back toward camp, Dad. Get a bite and maybe mouse around the ridge.
1991 Atlantic Jan. 51/2 He was mousing among the books of the old Congressional Library.
2001 J. Wolcott Catsitters xxxvii. 244 It was nearly dawn. Gray light was mousing across the window blinds.
†b. intransitive. U.S. to mouse over: to pore over (a book). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > study diligently or hard
to make a study ofa1591
nit1596
to sit over ——1606
to mouse over1808
to work out1830
bone1832
work1840
to work up1852
mug1868
swot1901
1808 Salmagundi 25 Jan. 426 With..a table full of books before me, to mouse over them alternately.
1864 B. Taylor in Life & Lett. (1884) II. xvii. 422 I have Little and Brown's ‘British Poets’ complete now, so you'll have wherewithal to mouse over.
1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 137 He was..always ‘mousing’ over books.
†c. transitive. U.S. to mouse out: to ascertain, discover, ferret out, etc., by patient and careful search. Also with omission of out. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > search for or seek [verb (transitive)] > patiently and carefully
to search out?1560
to mouse out1853
1853 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Aug. 156 I had moused out that Mr. Bulkley was a staunch Federalist, of the extremest sort.
1864 N.Y. Evangelist 20 Oct. He..usually returned laden with boxes and bundles of literary odds and ends, moused from rural attics and bought or begged for his collection.
1865 Harper's Mag. July 225/2 Now do you go over to the Navy Department and mouse out what he is fit for.
1870 H. Stevens Bibliotheca Historica Introd. 11 They are driven..to mouse out in foreign countries..what ought to be at home..in the public libraries.
1889 Overland Monthly 14 461/2 Books, moused out of a deep, dark closet, where they had been stored and long since forgotten.
†4. transitive. To ransack, rummage, pillage. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > rob [verb (transitive)] > search with a view to robbing
ransacka1325
mousec1580
ranshackle1605
to turn over1859
ramshack1893
rat1906
c1580 tr. Bugbears ii. i, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1897) 98 They have rifeled and mowsed the cofer by a false key thei made.
5.
a. transitive. Chiefly Nautical. To secure (a hook) with a mousing (mousing n. 2).
ΚΠ
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Mousing a hook, the operation of fastening a small cord..across the upper-part, from the point to the back..in order to prevent it from unhooking.
1852 W. Brady Kedge Anchor 127 The falls are rove through leading blocks, and all the hooks should be well moused.
1866 Ordnance Instr. U.S. Navy (ed. 4) 115 Small shell-hooks moused on lower block of shell-whip.
1925 H. Belloc Cruise of Nona 315 Be at the pains of getting your anchor up properly, and unstocking it, and also when you let it down, of mousing the catch.
1943 A. Ransome Picts & Martyrs xv. 141 Never forget to mouse the sister-hooks when you fasten the main halliard to the yard.
1986 Scouting Mar. Knot Chart No. 30 Mousing a Hook. This prevents the rope from jumping out of the hook and also stops the hook from ‘spreading’ under the load.
†b. transitive. Nautical. To put a collar round a rope or stay: see mouse n. 4. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1836 F. Marryat Snarleyyow ix, in Metropolitan Apr. 101 I can bring my tarry trowsers to an anchor—mousing the mainstay, or puddening the anchor.
6. intransitive. Computing. To use a mouse to control an application, browse through data, etc. Usually with an adverb, esp. around. Also transitive.In quot. 1983, a punning reference to the redesign of a computer to incorporate a mouse.
ΚΠ
1981 ACM SIGSOC Bull 13 118 Overviews are selected by 'mousing'..items on a menu.
1983 InfoWorld 31 Oct. 29/1 Apple is mousing around with the II e.
1990 Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbk. 8 vi. 26/2 We were soon zipping through the lessons with a minimum of mousing around.
1994 Microsoft Systems Jrnl. Aug. 5/2 Moving the mouse over it makes the taskbar appear; mousing away makes it vanish—no clicks necessary.

Derivatives

moused adj. chiefly Nautical (of a hook) supplied with a mousing.
ΚΠ
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 9 These Patent Slip-Hooks..form an automatically ‘Moused’ hook when in use.
1952 D. M. Jones Anathemata vi. 175 Grommetted, moused; parcelled, served. Two-stranded marline or straight-cored heart-of-hemp hawser.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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