dormouse

American  

[dawr-mous] / ˈdɔrˌmaʊs /

noun

plural

dormice

1. any small, furry-tailed, Old World rodent of the family Gliridae, resembling small squirrels in appearance and habits.

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dormouse British  

/ ˈdɔːˌmaʊs /

noun

1. any small Old World rodent of the family Gliridae , esp the Eurasian Muscardinus avellanarius, resembling a mouse with a furry tail

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Etymology

Origin of dormouse

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English dormowse, dormoise; etymology obscure; perhaps Anglo-French derivative of Old French dormir “to sleep,” with final syllable reanalyzed as mouse, but no such Anglo-French word is known; see dormant, mouse

Example Sentences

Each 20g dormouse had a 10-minute check-up with wildlife vets from ZSL's Institute of Zoology in central London.

From BBC • May 19, 2024

To test this, they took skeletal muscle samples from two small hibernators -- the Thirteen-lined ground squirrel and the Garden dormouse -- and two large hibernators -- the American black bear and brown bear.

From Science Daily • Feb. 20, 2024

The squat, dinosaur-eating mammal Repenomamus was about the size of a badger, the early placental mammal Eomaia was about the size of a shrew, and the spiky Spinolestes was about as tiny as a dormouse.

From Slate • Feb. 20, 2023

Some people can also echolocate by clicking their tongues, a behavior shared by only a few other animals, including tenrecs, a shrew-like animal from Madagascar, and the Vietnamese pygmy dormouse, which is effectively blind.

From National Geographic • Feb. 3, 2021

The dormouse felt the good food turn to ashes in his mouth at the thought of his betrayal of fellow mice, but there was no alternative if he wanted to save his family.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques