mouse

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See also: mouše

English

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A mouse (rodent).
A computer mouse.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English mous, from Old English mūs, from Proto-West Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *múh₂s.

cognates

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 1965 and first used publicly in a publication titled "Computer-Aided Display Control", in reference to the similarity with the animal.

Pronunciation

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Noun
Verb

Noun

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mouse (plural mice or (computing) mouses)

  1. Any small rodent of the genus Mus.
    • 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.
  2. (informal) A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling such a rodent.
  3. A quiet or shy person.
  5. (computing) (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.
    move the mouse over the icon
    (that is, move the mouse so that the pointer moves over the icon)
  6. (boxing) A facial hematoma or black eye.
  7. (nautical) 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.
  8. (obsolete) 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 mouse
  9. A match used in firing guns or blasting.
  10. (set theory) A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).
  11. (historical) A small cushion for a woman's hair.
  12. Part of a hind leg of beef, next to the round.
    Synonym: mouse buttock

Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Terms derived from mouse (noun)
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Descendants

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Descendants of mouse

Translations

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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.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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mouse (third-person singular simple present mouses, present participle mousing, simple past and past participle moused)

  1. (intransitive) To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around).
  2. (intransitive) To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats. [from 12th c.]
  3. (transitive, nautical) 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.
  4. (intransitive, computing) 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.
    • 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.
  5. (obsolete, nonce word, transitive) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.

Derived terms

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terms derived from mouse (verb)
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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English mouse.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mouse

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, computing) mouse (Classifier: 隻／只 c; 個／个 c)

Synonyms

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Dialectal synonyms of 鼠標 (“computer mouse”) [map]
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

Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mouse m (invariable)

  1. (computing, computer hardware) mouse (for a PC)

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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mouse

  1. Alternative form of mous

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mouse m (plural mouses)

  1. (Brazil, computer hardware) mouse (input device used to move a pointer on the screen)
    Synonym: (Portugal) rato
  2. (Brazil, loosely) pointer; cursor (moving icon that indicates the position of the mouse)
    Synonyms: ponteiro, cursor

Quotations

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For quotations using this term, see Citations:mouse.

Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

Noun

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mouse n (plural mouse-uri)

  1. (computing) mouse (for a PC)

Declension

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Declension of mouse
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) mouse mouse-ul (niște) mouse-uri mouse-urile
genitive/dative (unui) mouse mouse-ului (unor) mouse-uri mouse-urilor
vocative mouse-ule mouse-urilor

Spanish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English mouse. Doublet of mur.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mouse m (plural mouses)

  1. (computing, chiefly Latin America) mouse (input device)
    Synonym: ratón

Usage notes

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  • 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.
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