What does "mouse" mean?
A rodent, typically having a small body, dark fur, and a long tail.
Mouse
/maʊs/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A rodent, typically having a small body, dark fur, and a long tail.
- Grammar: mouse is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: animal, antelope, armadillo, baby.
- Useful contrasts: joysticks, keyboard input, keyboards.
- Usage evidence: The mouse ran and the cat ran after him.
How to use "mouse"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "mouse" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "mouse" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "mouse" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "mouse" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "mouse" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "animal" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "mouse", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A rodent, typically having a small body, dark fur, and a long tail.
- 2 any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails wordnet
- 3 Any small rodent of the genus Mus.
"At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs."
- 4 a hand-operated electronic device that controls the coordinates of a cursor on your computer screen as you move it around on a pad; on the bottom of the device is a ball that rolls on the surface of the pad wordnet
- 5 A quiet or shy person.
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 person who is quiet or timid wordnet
- 7 An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.
"My mouse needs new batteries."
- 8 a swollen bruise caused by a blow to the eye wordnet
- 9 A pointer.
"Move the mouse over the icon."
- 10 A facial hematoma or black eye.
- 11 A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straightening out.
- 12 A familiar term of endearment. obsolete
"Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed, / Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse"
- 13 A match used in firing guns or blasting.
- 14 A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).
- 15 A small cushion for a woman's hair. historical
- 16 Part of a hind leg of beef, next to the round.
Verb
- 1 To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around). intransitive
- 2 manipulate the mouse of a computer wordnet
- 3 To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats. intransitive
- 4 to go stealthily or furtively wordnet
- 5 To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire. transitive
"Captain Higgins moused the hook with a bit of marline to prevent the block beckets from falling out under slack."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To navigate by means of a computer mouse. intransitive
"I had just moused to the File menu and the pull-down menu repeated the menu bar's hue a dozen shades lighter."
- 7 To tear, as a cat devours a mouse. nonce-word, obsolete, transitive
"[Death] mousing the flesh of men."
Proper Noun
- 1 The Walt Disney Company. US, metonymically, uncountable, with-definite-article
"At Disney, on the other hand, there was only one landowner and one government; public and private were fused. […] Spawned by the Mouse's arrival, I-Drive (as it is known locally) runs parallel to I-4, lying partly in Orlando and partly[…]"
- 2 A surname from German.
Example
"The mouse ran and the cat ran after him."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "mouse"?
Common synonyms include: animal, antelope, armadillo, baby, bantam, banty.
How do you use "mouse" in a sentence?
The mouse ran and the cat ran after him.
How do you pronounce "mouse"?
Pronounced /maʊs/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English mous, from Old English mūs, from Proto-West Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *múHs. Cognates Germanic cognates include Old Frisian mūs, Old Saxon mūs (German Low German Muus), Dutch muis, Old High German mūs (German Maus), Old Norse mús (Swedish mus, Danish mus, Norwegian mus, Icelandic mús, Faroese mús). Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek μῦς (mûs), Latin mūs, Spanish mur, Armenian մուկ (muk), Old Church Slavonic мꙑшь (myšĭ) (Russian мышь (myšʹ)), Albanian mi, Persian موش (muš), Northern Kurdish mişk, Sanskrit मूष् (mūṣ). The computing sense was coined by American engineer Bill English in 1965 and first used publicly in a publication titled "Computer-Aided Display Control", in reference to the similarity with the animal.
Etymology 2
The surname is sometimes an Americanized spelling of German Maus. The metonym for Disney comes from its icon Mickey Mouse.