sea mouse

American

noun

any of several large, marine annelids of the genus Aphrodite and related genera, having a covering of long, fine, hairlike setae.

sea mouse British

noun

any of several large polychaete worms of the genus Aphrodite and related genera, having a broad flattened body covered dorsally with a dense mat of iridescent hairlike chaetae

"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

Etymology

Origin of sea mouse

First recorded in 1510–20

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.

The nocturnal sea mouse, four centimeters long, is a kind of heart urchin with thin spines that can hurt a diver digging in the sand for it.

From New York Times

Beneath the waves I chased with joyous hand Upon the bed of an imagined sand The slippery brown sea mouse, that still escaped, Where the deep cave beneath my knee was shaped.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023