mouse

American  

[mous, mouz] / maʊs, maʊz /

noun

• mice
  plural

1. any of numerous small Old World rodents of the family Muridae, especially of the genus Mus, introduced widely in other parts of the world.

2. any similar small animal of various rodent and marsupial families.

3. a quiet, timid person.

4. Computers. a palm-sized, button-operated pointing device that can be used to move, select, activate, and change items on a computer screen.

5. Informal. a swelling under the eye, caused by a blow or blows; black eye.

6. Slang. a girl or woman.

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verb (used with object)

moused, mousing

1. to hunt out, as a cat hunts out mice.

2. Nautical. to secure with a mousing.

verb (used without object)

moused, mousing

1. to hunt for or catch mice.

2. to prowl about, as if in search of something.

   The burglar moused about for valuables.

3. to seek or search stealthily or watchfully, as if for prey.

4. Computers. to use a mouse to move the cursor on a computer screen to any position.

mouse British  

noun

1. any of numerous small long-tailed rodents of the families Muridae and Cricetidae that are similar to but smaller than rats See also fieldmouse harvest mouse house mouse

2. any of various related rodents, such as the jumping mouse

3. a quiet, timid, or cowardly person

4. computing a hand-held device used to control the cursor movement and select computing functions without keying

5. slang a black eye

6. nautical another word for mousing

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verb

1. to stalk and catch (mice)

2. (intr) to go about stealthily

3. (tr) nautical to secure (a hook) with mousing

mouse Scientific  

/ mous /

1. A hand-held input device that is moved about on a flat surface to direct the cursor on a computer screen. It also has buttons for activating computer functions. The underside of a mechanical mouse contains a rubber-coated ball that rotates as the mouse is moved; optical sensors detect the motion and move the screen pointer correspondingly. An optical mouse is cordless and uses reflections from an LED to track the mouse's movement over a special reflective mat which is marked with a grid that acts as a frame of reference.

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mouse Cultural  

1. A common device that allows the user to reposition an arrow on their computer screen in order to activate desired applications. The term mouse comes from the appearance of the device, with the cord to the main computer being seen as a tail of sorts.

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mouse Idioms  

1. see play cat and mouse; poor as a churchmouse; quiet as a mouse. Also see under mice.

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Discover More

The user usually sends signals to the computer when the user depresses or “clicks” a switch. A number of slang terms, such as “click on X” or “click and drag” have arisen from the appearance of symbols on a screen when a mouse is used.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mouselike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mice
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mouse

before 900; Middle English mous (plural mis ), Old English mūs (plural mȳs ); cognate with German Maus, Old Norse mūs, Latin mūs, Greek mŷs

Explanation

A small rodent with a pointy face, rounded ears, and a long tail is called a mouse. A mouse may be kept as a pet, or it may be an uninvited guest in your home. A person who is timid and shy can also be called a mouse. In computer terms, a mouse is a corded or wireless device that moves your computer's cursor while you move the mouse. In most cases, the plural of mouse is "mice," but more than one computer mouse can also be called "mouses." Mouse can also be a verb in this context, like when you mouse over an icon to select a link.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mouse mice moused mousing

On a patrol with Surrey Police, officers described catching those riding electric motorbikes illegally as a constant game of cat and mouse.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

But some workers swear by mouse docks, like one made by Tech8 USA, that keep cursors moving.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

The researchers observed the same pattern in mice, specifically in a mouse model for Alzheimer's disease.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

Working with other researchers, they examined myelin formation in additional mouse models using several different methods.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

He smiled back and put the mouse in his vest pocket.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Previous experiments in mice had indicated that violet light near 380 nanometers could reduce myopia.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

Reducing calorie intake has extended lifespan in animals including mice, rhesus monkeys, and fruit flies.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

In young mice exposed to stress, the researchers found elevated levels of an enzyme called SETD7 in dopamine neurons compared with mice raised under typical conditions.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

When injected into mice, they slowed the growth of several types of solid tumors over periods of days and weeks.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026

But at least he had no mice around him.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

For one, the dock occasionally disappeared when I opened a full-screen Chrome tab in laptop mode, and it didn’t pop up when I moused around the bottom of the screen.

From The Verge ● Aug. 31, 2022

I have moused and clicked through a few, mostly ones I could watch without covering the screen whenever the children walked by.

From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2020

Figuring that black-clad subversives might congregate on the indie boards, I moused over to Pop Genius to check out the state of the conversation around Death Cab For Cutie.

From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2015

Jamie videoed her dance routine and then they ran it in slow motion and moused it into shape, speeding up moves or slowing them down, repositioning legs, arms and head.

From Nature ● Mar. 17, 2015

Sherman was a professor in a college at Baton Rouge before the War, and evidently had moused in the Latin classics to a purpose.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 10 Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers by Elbert Hubbard

He was moved out of the department's central London building during the Covid pandemic and in 2020 he formally retired from his mousing duties.

From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2025

Typing and mousing for long periods is stressful for the finger and wrist muscles as well as the forearms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2025

When mousing in snow, the fox's long snout also allows it to reach its prey earlier, as mice are very sensitive to movements in their environment and can quickly escape.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 29, 2024

They’re surfaces upon that to put your input devices in order to protect your desktop — or, in my case, to regain a reliable mousing surface after I damaged my desk surface.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2023

Charles said harshly, “Say, what you mousing around at?”

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck