Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

flittermouse

American  
[flit-er-maus] / ˈflɪt ərˌmaʊs /

noun

  • flittermice
    plural
  1. bat.


flittermouse British  
/ ˈflɪtəˌmaʊs /

noun

  1. a dialect name for bat 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of flittermouse

1540–50; flitter 1 + mouse; calque of German Fledermaus


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

After that he greased it with the fat of a bat or flittermouse, to see if it was not written with the sperm of a whale, which some call ambergris.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 2 by Peter Anthony Motteux

However, in some parts of the country the bat is still called by its old English name, "the flittermouse," that is, the mouse that flitters, or flutters about.

From The Squirrels and other animals Illustrations of the habits and instincts of many of the smaller British quadrupeds by George Waring

In at least sixteen dialects a flittermouse means “a bat.”

From English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day by Walter W. (Walter William) Skeat

Indeed, as he spoke a flittermouse scurried through the air within a foot of her ear.

From Castle Craneycrow by George Barr McCutcheon

In the light of futurity's favours Fair gratitude burgeons amain, And the flittermouse Love never wavers In truth to the Psyche of gain.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, July 26, 1890 by Various

Three bats or flittermice are in the shield of Burninghill and in that of Heyworth of Whethamstede.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various

Bats look more like mice than they do like birds, and they are sometimes called flittermice.

From The Human Side of Animals by Royal Dixon

It is only here that fish no bigger than trout kill swimmers, and bats the size of the ordinary "flittermice" of the northern hemisphere drain the life-blood of big beasts and of man himself.

From Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt

In some places bats are called flittermice, but they are more nearly related to moles, shrews, and other insect-eaters than they are to mice.

From The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year by William Beebe

I can endure flittermice painted blue, but they must wear petticoats—and pretty petticoats too.

From Red Axe by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Just like flashcards, but way more fun

Don't take our word for it. Leave the boring studying behind and join VocabTrainer today. You'll learn even faster and never look back.

Take me to Vocabulary.com