mouse
(maʊs )
Word forms: mice language note: The plural mouses can be used for meaning [sense 2].
1. countable noun A2
A mouse is a small furry animal with a long tail.
...a mouse running in a wheel in its cage.
...the problem of rats and mice.
2. countable noun A2
A mouse is a device that is connected to a computer. By moving it over a flat surface and pressing its buttons, you can move the cursor around the screen and do things without using the keyboard.
3. game of cat and mouse phrase
In a fight or contest, if one person plays cat and mouse, or a game of cat and mouse, with the other, the first person tries to confuse or deceive the second in order to defeat them.
The youths have played cat and mouse with the police.
It's a cat-and-mouse game to him.
Image of mouse
© Rudmer Zwerver, Shutterstock
Idioms:
cat and mouse or a game of cat and mouse
a situation in which a person tries to confuse or deceive another in order to defeat them
He would play cat-and-mouse with other riders, sometimes waiting until the fourth lap to come from behind and win.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
poor as a church mouse [old-fashioned]
very poor
I was as poor as a church mouse, but I bought that wreck of a car.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
quiet as a mouse
very quiet or silent
We were quiet as mice, hiding in there.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Collocations:
pet mouse wireless mouse
Tonight's caseload, meanwhile, includes a landscape gardener with a secret crop, an amusingly bickering young couple, missing high-explosive laxatives and a pet mouse causing trauma among the staff.
Times, Sunday Times
He spins an amusing though, of course, self-regarding half-hour routine out of the futility of gym workouts and his childhood diary entry detailing the demise of a pet mouse.
Times, Sunday Times
Not for appearance - my pet mouse was just desperate for a leather armchair.
The Sun
The dummy terrified her rabbit and her pet mouse pulled out the stuffing.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
In the harshness of the real world mice rarely survive for more than a few months; pet mice live for two years or more.
Times, Sunday Times
The prize also includes fitness advice and nutritional guidance from experts, and fab laptop accessories including a case and wireless mouse.
The Sun
You could, of course, try a wireless mouse instead.
Times, Sunday Times
It had a wireless keyboard and optional wireless mouse, which communicated with the computer using an infrared link; this was relatively new at the time.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Translations:
Chinese: 老鼠, 鼠标
Japanese: ハツカネズミ, マウス
- embody a vision
- embody the essence of
- embody the spirit
- embolden
- embolism
- embossed
- embrace
- embrace a challenge
- embrace a concept
- embrace a culture
- embrace a lifestyle
- embrace an idea
- embrace a notion
- embrace a principle
- embrace a religion
- embrace a style
- embrace a vision
- embrace change
- embrace democracy
- embrace diversity
- embrace equality
- embrace innovation
- embrace technology
- embrace the cause
- embrace the chaos