mouse
English


Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#MOUSECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#MOUSE mous, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#MOUSECategory:English terms derived from Old English#MOUSE mūs, from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#MOUSECategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#MOUSE *mūs, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#MOUSECategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#MOUSE *mūs, from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#MOUSECategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#MOUSE *múHs.
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 (mûs), Latin mūs, Spanish mur, Armenian մուկ (muk), Old Church Slavonic мꙑшь (myšĭ) (Russian мышь (myšʹ)), Albanian mi, Persian موش (muš), Northern Kurdish mişk, Sanskrit मूष् (mūṣ).
The computing sense was coined by American engineer Bill English in 1965Category:English coinages#MOUSE and first used publicly in a publication titled "Computer-Aided Display Control", in reference to the similarity with the animal.
Pronunciation
- Noun
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mous, IPA(key): /maʊs/Category:English 1-syllable words#MOUSECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MOUSE
- (Canada) IPA(key): /mʌʊs/Category:English 2-syllable words#MOUSECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MOUSE
- Rhymes: -aʊsCategory:Rhymes:English/aʊs#MOUSECategory:Rhymes:English/aʊs/1 syllable#MOUSE
- Verb
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mous, mouz, IPA(key): /maʊs/, /maʊz/Category:English 1-syllable words#MOUSECategory:English 1-syllable words#MOUSECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MOUSE
- (Canada) IPA(key): /mʌʊs/, /mʌʊz/Category:English 2-syllable words#MOUSECategory:English 2-syllable words#MOUSECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MOUSE
- Rhymes: -aʊs, -aʊzCategory:Rhymes:English/aʊs#MOUSECategory:Rhymes:English/aʊs/1 syllable#MOUSECategory:Rhymes:English/aʊz#MOUSECategory:Rhymes:English/aʊz/1 syllable#MOUSE
Noun
mouse (plural mice or (computing) mouses)Category:English lemmas#MOUSECategory:English nouns#MOUSECategory:English countable nouns#MOUSECategory:English nouns with irregular plurals#MOUSECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
- (loosely) Any of many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail.
- Hypernyms: (taxonomically) muroid < myomorph, myodont < rodent < mammal < vertebrate < animal < organism; (otherwise) gnawerCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, critterCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, creatureCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE
- Coordinate terms: ratCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE (bigger), moleCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, mole-ratCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE
- Near-synonyms: murine, murid, voleCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE (all parasynonymous with this broad sense)
- (strictly) Such a rodent that is of the genus Mus.
- Hypernyms: (taxonomically) murine < murid < muroid < myomorph, myodont < rodent < mammal < vertebrate < animal < organism; (otherwise) gnawerCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, critterCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, creatureCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE
- Coordinate terms: voleCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, ratCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE (bigger), moleCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE, mole-ratCategory:English links with manual fragments#MOUSE
- 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
- 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.Category:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
- 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 158:
- A person smeared with the excrement of a mouse was rendered impotent, according to Pliny the Elder.Category:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
- 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:
- 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.Category:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
- A quiet or shy person.
- (computingCategory:en:Computing#MOUSE) 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.
- My mouse needs new batteries.Category:English terms with usage examples#MOUSE
- (computingCategory:en:Computing#MOUSE) A pointer.
- Move the mouse over the icon.Category:English terms with usage examples#MOUSE
- (boxingCategory:en:Boxing#MOUSE) A facial hematoma or black eye.
- (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#MOUSE) 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.
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#MOUSE) A familiar term of endearment.
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene 4:
- Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed, / Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouseCategory:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
- A match used in firing guns or blasting.
- (set theoryCategory:en:Set theory#MOUSE) A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).
- (historicalCategory:English terms with historical senses#MOUSE) A small cushion for a woman's hair.
- Part of a hind leg of beef, next to the round.
- Synonym: mouse buttock
Hypernyms
- (small rodent): rodent
Hyponyms
- birch mouse (Sicista spp.)
- bristly mouse
- cactus mouse
- California mouse
- church mouse
- Cypriot mouse
- deer mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- dormouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- fancy mouse
- fat mouse
- field mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- harvest mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- hopping mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- house mouse (Mus musculus)
- Java mouse-deer
- kangaroo mouse (Microdipodops spp.)
- Malagasy mouse
- meadow jumping mouse
- mesquite mouse
- mouse-goat
- mouse-like hamsterCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- mouse stock
- New World mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- Old World mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- optical mouse
- pouched mouse
- scorpion mouse
- single-striped grass mouse
- sleep like a mouse
- southern grasshopper mouse
- spiny mouse
- spiny pocket mouseCategory:English links with redundant wikilinks#MOUSECategory:English links with redundant alt parameters#MOUSE
- St Kilda field mouse
- Taiwan field mouse
- vesper mouse
- woolly mouse
- woolly mouse opossum
- yellow-necked field mouse
- zebra mouse
Coordinate terms
- (small rodent): rat
- (input device): joystick, trackpad, trackball, pointing stick
Derived terms
- a cat in gloves catches no mice
- anonymouse
- antimouse
- Arctic mouse-ear
- are you a man or a mouse
- (as) quiet as a mouse
- Baker's small-toothed harvest mouse
- bastard big-footed mouse
- big-footed mouse
- bit by a barn mouse
- brush-furred mouse
- brush-tailed mouse
- cat and mouse
- cat-and-mouse
- churchmouse
- city mouse
- clit mouse
- cotton mouse
- Count Branicki's mouse
- country mouse
- creepmouse
- Darling Downs hopping mouse
- demouse
- desert mouse
- Doogie mouse
- dormouse
- dust mouse
- fieldmouse
- flindermouse
- flitter-mouse
- flittermouse
- flying mouse
- Formosan wood mouse
- giant mouse lemur
- glacier mouse
- grasshopper mouse
- greater big-footed mouse
- greater mouse-eared bat
- hog mouse
- intermouse
- intramouse
- is there a mouse in your pocket
- joint mouse
- jumping mouse
- knockout mouse
- lab mouse
- laboratory mouse
- left-mouse
- Madame Berthe's mouse lemur
- marsupial mouse
- meadow mouse
- mechanical mouse
- mer-mouse
- mermouse
- mice-less
- micromouse
- Middle Mouse
- Mitchell's hopping mouse
- Mosley
- mouseable, mousable
- mouse belt
- mousebird
- mouse bungee
- mouseclick
- mouse click
- mouse-colored
- mouse-colored antshrike
- mouse-deer
- mouse deer
- mousedom
- mouse-ear
- mouse-eared
- mouse-eared bat
- mouse-ear hawkweed
- mousefall
- mousefish
- mousefucker
- mouse gun
- mouse-hearted
- mousehole
- mousehood
- mouse jiggler
- mouse jiggling
- Mouseketeer
- mousekin
- mousekind
- mouse lemur
- mouseless
- mouselet
- mouselike
- mouseling
- mouselook
- mouse mat
- mouse melon
- mouse mill
- mouseness
- mouse opossum
- mouseover
- mouse-over
- mousepad, mouse pad
- mouse pointer
- mouse potato
- mousepox
- mouseprint
- mouse print
- mouseproof
- mouser
- mousery
- mousesicle
- mouse-sight
- mouse slip
- mouse spider
- mousetail
- mousetrap
- mouse-warbler
- mouse wheel
- mousework
- mousie
- mousy
- mute as a mouse
- nipple mouse
- nonmouse
- northern birch mouse
- northern grasshopper mouse
- nouse
- oldfield mouse
- oncomouse
- painted bristly mouse
- Petter's big-footed mouse
- play cat and mouse
- pocket mouse
- poor as a church mouse
- premouse
- quiet as a church mouse
- rell-mouse
- reremouse
- ricefield mouse
- right-mouse
- rock mouse
- Rudd's mouse
- sable mouse
- sand mouse
- sea mouse
- seamouse
- sheath-tailed mouse
- shrewmouse
- striped field mouse
- strong enough to trot a mouse on
- sugar mouse
- supermouse
- the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray
- the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry
- the second mouse gets the cheese
- timid as a mouse
- vertical mouse
- water mouse
- when the cat's away the mice will play
- white-footed mouse
- wood mouse
- woodmouse
- yellow-necked mouse
- you got a mouse in your pocket
- you got a mouse in your purse
Related terms
Descendants
Translations
Category:Entries with translation boxes#MOUSE
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Category:Entries with translation boxes#MOUSE
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Category:Entries with translation boxes#MOUSE
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Verb
mouse (third-person singular simple present mouses, present participle mousing, simple past and past participle moused)Category:English lemmas#MOUSECategory:English verbs#MOUSECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#MOUSE) To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around).
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#MOUSE) To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats. [from 12th c.]
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#MOUSE, nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#MOUSE) To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire.
- Captain Higgins moused the hook with a bit of marline to prevent the block beckets from falling out under slack.Category:English terms with usage examples#MOUSE
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#MOUSE, computingCategory:en:Computing#MOUSE) To navigate by means of a computer mouse.
- 1988, MacUser, volume 4:
- I had just moused to the File menu and the pull-down menu repeated the menu bar's hue a dozen shades lighter.Category:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
- 2009, Daniel Tunkelang, Faceted Search, page 35:
- Unlike the Flamenco work, the Relation Browser allows users to quickly explore a document space using dynamic queries issued by mousing over facet elements in the interface.Category:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#MOUSE, nonce wordCategory:English nonce terms#MOUSE, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#MOUSE) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.
- 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]:
- [Death] mousing the flesh of men.Category:English terms with quotations#MOUSE
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Category:Entries with translation boxes#MOUSE
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Category:Entries with translation boxes#MOUSE
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Category:Entries with translation boxes#MOUSE
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Further reading
mouse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
mouse (computing) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Category:Mus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Category:Computer mouse on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Mice on Wikiquote.Wikiquote
Mus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
Anagrams
Category:English heteronyms#MOUSECategory:English nouns with irregular plurals#MOUSE Category:en:Rodents#MOUSECategory:en:Murids#MOUSEChinese
Etymology
From EnglishCategory:Cantonese terms borrowed from English#MOUSECategory:Cantonese terms derived from English#MOUSE mouse.
Pronunciation
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: mau1 si2 / maau1 si2
- Yale: māu sí / māau sí
- Cantonese Pinyin: mau1 si2 / maau1 si2
- Guangdong Romanization: meo1 xi2 / mao1 xi2
- Sinological IPA (key): /mɐu̯⁵⁵ siː³⁵/, /maːu̯⁵⁵ siː³⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Noun
mouseCategory:Chinese lemmas#MOUSECategory:Chinese nouns#MOUSECategory:Chinese entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
- (Hong Kong CantoneseCategory:Hong Kong Cantonese#MOUSE, computingCategory:zh:Computing#MOUSE) mouse (Classifier: 隻/只 c; 個/个 c)Category:Chinese nouns classified by 隻/只#MOUSECategory:Chinese nouns classified by 個/个#MOUSE
Synonyms
| Variety | Location | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 鼠標器 Mainland China, 滑鼠 Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia | |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Taiwan | 滑鼠 |
| Malaysia | 滑鼠 | |
| Singapore | 滑鼠 | |
| Cantonese | Hong Kong | 滑鼠, mouse |
| Taishan (Guanghai) | 鼠標 | |
| Hakka | Miaoli (N. Sixian) | 滑鼠 |
| Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) | 滑鼠 | |
| Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) | 滑鼠 | |
| Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) | 滑鼠 | |
| Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) | 滑鼠 | |
| Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) | 滑鼠 | |
| Southern Min | Xiamen | 鼠標 |
| Quanzhou | 鼠標 | |
| Zhangzhou | 鼠標 | |
| Kinmen | 滑鼠 | |
| Singapore (Hokkien) | 滑鼠 | |
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Italian terms borrowed from English#MOUSECategory:Italian unadapted borrowings from English#MOUSECategory:Italian terms derived from English#MOUSE mouse.
Pronunciation
Noun
mouse m (invariable)Category:Italian lemmas#MOUSECategory:Italian nouns#MOUSECategory:Italian countable nouns#MOUSECategory:Italian indeclinable nouns#MOUSECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Italian masculine nouns#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
Derived terms
References
- ↑ mouse in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
mouseCategory:Middle English alternative forms#MOUSECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
- alternative form of mous
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from English#MOUSECategory:Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English#MOUSECategory:Portuguese terms derived from English#MOUSE mouse.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmaw.zi/ [ˈmaʊ̯.zi]Category:Portuguese 2-syllable words#MOUSECategory:Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation#MOUSE
Noun
mouse m (plural mouses)Category:Portuguese lemmas#MOUSECategory:Portuguese nouns#MOUSECategory:Portuguese countable nouns#MOUSECategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE (BrazilCategory:Brazilian Portuguese#MOUSE)
- (computingCategory:pt:Computing#MOUSE) mouse (input device used to move a pointer on the screen)
- Synonym: (Portugal) rato
- 1997, Bobbi Linkemer, Secretária eficiente, NBL Editora, →ISBN, page 118:
- Verifique se a esfera do mouse está limpa. O mouse pad ajuda a mantê-lo limpo.Category:Portuguese terms with quotations#MOUSE
- Check that the mouse ball is clean. The mouse pad helps to keep it clean.
- 2015, Douglas Comer, Interligação de Redes com TCP/IP - Vol. 1 - 6ª Edição: Princípios, protocolos e arquitetura, Elsevier Brasil, →ISBN, page 48:
- O usuário só precisa de um dispositivo de interface com a tela, teclado, mouse ou touchpad, e uma conexão de rede.Category:Portuguese terms with quotations#MOUSE
- The user only needs a device that interfaces with the screen, keyboard, mouse or touchpad, and a network connection.
- (loosely) pointer; cursor (moving icon that indicates the position of the mouse)
Further reading
- “mouse”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
- “mouse”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
Romanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Romanian terms borrowed from English#MOUSECategory:Romanian unadapted borrowings from English#MOUSECategory:Romanian terms derived from English#MOUSE mouse.
Noun
mouse n (plural mouse-uri)Category:Romanian lemmas#MOUSECategory:Romanian nouns#MOUSECategory:Romanian countable nouns#MOUSECategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Romanian neuter nouns#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
- (computingCategory:ro:Computing#MOUSE) mouse (for a PC)
Declension
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative-accusative | mouse | mouse-ul | mouse-uri | mouse-urile |
| genitive-dative | mouse | mouse-ului | mouse-uri | mouse-urilor |
| vocative | mouse-ule | mouse-urilor | ||
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Spanish terms borrowed from English#MOUSECategory:Spanish unadapted borrowings from English#MOUSECategory:Spanish terms derived from English#MOUSE mouse. Doublet of murCategory:Spanish doublets#MOUSE.
Pronunciation
Noun
mouse m (plural mouses)Category:Spanish lemmas#MOUSECategory:Spanish nouns#MOUSECategory:Spanish countable nouns#MOUSECategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#MOUSECategory:Spanish masculine nouns#MOUSECategory:Pages with entries#MOUSECategory:Pages with 7 entries#MOUSE
- (computingCategory:es:Computing#MOUSE, chiefly Latin AmericaCategory:Latin American Spanish#MOUSE) mouse (input device)
- Synonym: ratón
Usage notes
- According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading
- “mouse”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
- Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “mouse”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
- mouse | Diccionario • DELE Ahora