mouse

Meanings

Noun

• Any small rodent of the genus Mus.
• A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling such a rodent.
• A quiet or shy person.
• (plural mice or, rarely, mouses) An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.
• The cursor.
• A facial hematoma or black eye.
• A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straightening out.
• A match used in firing guns or blasting.
• A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).
• A small cushion for a woman's hair.

Verb

• To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around).
• To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats.
• To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire.
• To navigate by means of a computer mouse.
• To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• mul
• church mouse
• deer mouse
• dormouse
• field mouse
• harvest mouse
• optical mouse

Broader meaning words

• rodent

Origin

• From Middle English mous, from Old English mūs, from Proto-West Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *muh₂s.
• Germanic cognates include Old Frisian mūs, Old Saxon mūs (German Low German Muus), Dutch muis, Old High German mūs (German Maus), Old Norse mús (Swedish mus, Danish mus, Norwegian mus, Icelandic mús, Faroese mús).
• Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek μῦς, Latin mūs, Spanish mur, Armenian մուկ, Old Church Slavonic мꙑшь (Russian мышь), Albanian mi, Persian موش,Northern Kurdish mişk,Sanskrit मूष्.
• The computing sense was and first used publicly in a publication titled "Computer-Aided Display Control".