flittermouse

[flit-er-mous]

noun

plural

flittermice 

1. bat.

flittermouse

/ ˈflɪtəˌmaʊs /

noun

1. a dialect name for bat 2

Word History and Origins

Origin of flittermouse¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of flittermouse¹

C16: translation of German Fledermaus ; see _flitter , _mouse

Example Sentences

A flittermouse, we learned, is a bat.

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Over all the jackdaws chime and chatter, for it is their home now, and they share it with the owl and the flittermouse.

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"He may have thought", reflects Miller, that "I was some more than unusually flittermouse publicist come to ingratiate myself, who needed to be made aware that a clan was a serious business."

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The flittermouse is perhaps at his best when being darkly comic at his own expense.

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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.

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