noun
mouse
mows
noun
1
A small rodent with a long tail, common in houses and fields.
"A mouse scurried under the fridge when the light came on."
"They set a trap to catch the mouse in the pantry."
2
A handheld device used to move a pointer and click on a computer screen.
"Her mouse stopped working, so she used the trackpad instead."
"He clicked the mouse to open the file."
3
A quiet, timid person.
"He was a mouse in meetings, never speaking up."
verb
1
To search or move around cautiously and quietly.
"She moused around the empty office after everyone had left."
How to Use Mouse
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small rodent, or the desktop pointing device named after it.
Common pairings
computer mouse
mouse trap
quiet as a mouse
Word Forms
moused past tense, mice plural, mouses plural, Mouses plural, mouses singular
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Etymology
From Old English mūs, tracing back to a very old Proto-Indo-European word for the animal. The computer sense was coined by engineer Bill English in 1965, after the device's cord resembled a tail.