dormouse

Meaning

Noun

  • Any of several species of small, mostly European rodents of the family Gliridae; also called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae (family) by some taxonomists.
  • Glis glis, the edible dormouse
  • Muscardinus avellanarius (species), the hazel dormouse.
  • A person who sleeps a great deal, or who falls asleep readily (by analogy with the sound hibernation of the dormouse).

Origin

  • From Middle English dormous, of uncertain origin. Possibly from a dialectal *dor-, from Old Norse dár ("benumbed") + mous. More at doze, mouse.
  • The word is sometimes conjectured to come from an Anglo-Norman derivative of Old French dormir ("to sleep") (as *dormouse, with second element mistaken for mouse), but no such Anglo-Norman term is known to have existed.

Modern English dictionary

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