mouse

plural mice · plural mouses · alternative obsolete mowse

1. broadlyAny mammal of the many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail.

   Near-synonyms: murine, murid, vole (all parasynonymous with this broad sense)

   Synonyms: murine, murid, vole

   1. broadlystrictlySuch a rodent that is of the genus Mus.

      A person smeared with the excrement of a mouse was rendered impotent, according to Pliny the Elder.

      1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 158

      2 more examples

      At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

      1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC

      In molecular biologist David Sinclair’s lab at Harvard Medical School, old mice are growing young again. […] After injecting the virus into the eye, the pluripotent genes were then switched on by feeding the mouse an antibiotic.

      2022 June 2, Sandee LaMotte, “The ‘Benjamin Button’ effect: Scientists can reverse aging in mice. The goal is to do the same for humans”, in CNN

      Synonyms: murine, murid, vole

   2. broadlyfigurativelyA quiet or shy person.

      She's probably hiding in her room, she always does when we have company. She's our little mouse.

      Synonyms: murine, murid, vole

   3. broadlyfigurativelyobsoleteA familiar term of endearment.

      Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed, / Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse

      c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene 4

      Synonyms: murine, murid, vole

2. computingAn input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.

   My mouse needs new batteries.

   1. broadlycomputingAn on-screen pointer controlled by a mouse device.

      Move the mouse over the icon.

3. boxingA facial hematoma or black eye.
4. nauticalA 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.
5. A match used in firing guns or blasting.
6. mathematicsA small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).
7. historicalA small cushion for a woman's hair.
8. Part of a hind leg of beef, next to the round.

   Synonyms: mouse buttock

present singular third person mouses · participle present mousing · participle past moused · past moused · alternative obsolete mowse

1. intransitiveTo move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around).
2. intransitiveTo hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats.
3. transitivenauticalTo close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire.

   Captain Higgins moused the hook with a bit of marline to prevent the block beckets from falling out under slack.

4. intransitivecomputingTo navigate by means of a computer mouse.

   I had just moused to the File menu and the pull-down menu repeated the menu bar's hue a dozen shades lighter.

   1988, MacUser, volume 4

   1 more example

   Unlike the Flamenco work, the Relation Browser allows users to quickly explore a document space using dynamic queries issued by mousing over facet elements in the interface.

   2009, Daniel Tunkelang, Faceted Search, page 35

5. nonce wordobsoletetransitiveTo tear, as a cat devours a mouse.

   [Death] mousing the flesh of men.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

plural Mouses

1. USmetonymicallyuncountablewith definite articleThe Walt Disney Company.

   They are cut off from their regular jobs to see how the Mouse operates. Eisner told the Harvard Business Review. Synergy happens at Disney because it should. Our products scream out for synergy.

   2005, Ralph E. Hanson, Mass Communication: Living in a Media World

   3 more examples

   At Disney, on the other hand, there was only one landowner and one government; public and private were fused. […] Spawned by the Mouse's arrival, I-Drive (as it is known locally) runs parallel to I-4, lying partly in Orlando and partly[…]

   2001 January 1, Richard E. Foglesong, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 93

   […] take eventually eked up to $33 million worldwide, but not before Walt Disney Studios declared the whole experiment a disappointment. […] But when the Mouse cut bait, MAGI was forced to close its LA office and sell off Synthavision.

   2013, Tom Sito, Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 165

   This has led to the public believing that every animated film is made by the Mouse or, at least, is family-friendly entertainment. (A similar situation: Many people refer to all 3D animated films as “Pixar” films.) The cause dates back to Walt Disney's early days as an animator.

   2017 August 11, Whitney Grace, Lotte Reiniger: Pioneer of Film Animation, McFarland, →ISBN

2. A surname from German.