mouse

English

Alternative forms

• mowse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English mous, from Old English mūs, from Proto-West Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *muh₂s.

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

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mous, IPA^(key): /maʊs/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /mʌʊs/
• Rhymes: -aʊs

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mous, mouz, IPA^(key): /maʊs/, /maʊz/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /mʌʊs/, /mʌʊz/
• Rhymes: -aʊs, -aʊz

Noun

mouse (plural mice or (computer) 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

• (small rodent): rodent

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

• (small rodent): rat
• (input device): joystick, trackpad, trackball, pointing stick

Derived terms

Related terms

• muss

Descendants

Translations

Verb

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.
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.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     [Death] mousing the flesh of men.

Derived terms

Related terms

• muscle
• mussel

Translations

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

• meous, moues

Chinese

Etymology

From English mouse.

Pronunciation

Noun

mouse

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

Synonyms

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaws/
• Rhymes: -aws

Noun

mouse m (invariable)

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

Derived terms

• tappetino per mouse

Anagrams

• esumo, esumò, museo

Middle English

Noun

mouse

1. Alternative form of mous

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmaw.zi/, /ˈmawz/

Noun

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

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mouse.

Romanian

Alternative forms

• maus

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

Noun

mouse n (plural mouse-uri)

1. (computing) mouse (for a PC)

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse. Doublet of mur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaus/
• Rhymes: -aus

Noun

mouse m (plural mouses)

1. (computing, chiefly Latin America) 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.