What does "mouse" mean?
Mouse: (Naut.) (a) A knob made on a rope with spun yarn or parceling to prevent a running eye from slipping. (b) Same as 2d Mousing, 2.
Additional senses
- 2.A familiar term of endearment. Shak.
- 3.A dark-colored swelling caused by a blow. [Slang]
- 4.A match used in firing guns or blasting. Field mouse, Flying mouse, etc. See under Field, Flying, etc. -- Mouse bird (Zoöl.), a coly. -- Mouse deer (Zoöl.), a chevrotain, as the kanchil. -- Mouse galago (Zoöl.), a very small West American galago (Galago murinus). In color and size it resembles a mouse. It has a bushy tail like that of a squirrel. -- Mouse hawk. (Zoöl.) (a) A hawk that devours mice. (b) The hawk owl; -- called also mouse owl. -- Mouse lemur (Zoöl.), any one of several species of very small lemurs of the genus Chirogaleus, found in Madagascar. -- Mouse piece (Cookery), the piece of beef cut from the part next below the round or from the lower part of the latter; -- called also mouse buttock.
- 5.To watch for and catch mice.
- 6.To watch for or pursue anything in a sly manner; to pry about, on the lookout for something.
- 7.To tear, as a cat devours a mouse. [Obs.] "[Death] mousing the flesh of men." Shak.
- 8.(Naut.) To furnish with a mouse; to secure by means of a mousing. See Mouse, n., 2.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00