mouse

• mowse (obsolete)

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

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.

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

mouse (plural mice or (computing) mouses)

2. 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.

3. (informal) A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling mice, typically having a small body, dark fur, long tail, and nocturnal sleeping pattern compared to rats.
4. A quiet or shy person.
6. (computing) (plural mice or 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.

   my mouse needs new batteries

7. (computing) A pointer.

   move the mouse over the icon

8. (boxing) A facial hematoma or black eye.
9. (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.
10. (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

11. A match used in firing guns or blasting.
12. (set theory) A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).
13. (historical) A small cushion for a woman's hair.
14. Part of a hind leg of beef, next to the round.

    Synonym: mouse buttock

• (small rodent): rodent

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

• muss

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.
   • 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.

• muscle
• mussel

• 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

• meous, moues

From English mouse.

mouse

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

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.us/^[1]
• Rhymes: -aus

mouse m (invariable)

1. (computing, computer hardware) mouse

• tappetino per mouse

• esumo, esumò, museo

mouse

1. alternative form of mous

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

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

mouse m (plural mouses)

1. (Brazil, computer hardware) 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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (Brazil, loosely) pointer; cursor (moving icon that indicates the position of the mouse)

   Synonyms: ponteiro, cursor

• maus

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse.

mouse n (plural mouse-uri)

1. (computing) mouse (for a PC)

Unadapted borrowing from English mouse. Doublet of mur.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaus/ [ˈmau̯s]
• Rhymes: -aus

mouse m (plural mouses)

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

   Synonym: ratón

• 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.

• “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
• Manuel Seco, Olimpia Andrés, Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023) “mouse”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]
• mouse | Diccionario • DELE Ahora