| 释义 |
mouse
I. \ˈmau̇s\ noun
(plural mice \ˈmīs\)
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English mous, from Old English mūs; akin to Old High German & Old Norse mūs mouse, Latin mus, Greek mys, Sanskrit mūṣ mouse, and perhaps to Latin movēre to move — more at move
1.
a. : any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats with pointed snout, rather small ears, elongated body, and slender hairless or sparsely haired tail, including all the smaller members of the genus Mus and many members of other rodent genera and families having little more in common than their relatively small size — see harvest mouse, house mouse, jumping mouse, pocket mouse, white-footed mouse
b. : a young muskrat
2.
a. slang : woman, girl friend
< in the role of … the rich Chicago mouse — Playbill >
< the mouse he was shackin' up with — Earle Birney >
b. : a timid or diffident person
< he might be a lion, but in … public affairs he must remain a mouse — W.H.Hale >
c. : something trivial or insignificant
< labors over a mountain of the chaff of experience to bring forth a poor mouse of reflection — Edward Sapir >
3. : something that resembles a mouse: as
a. archaic : a small lump of muscle meat
b.
(1) archaic : a knot on a ship's stays to prevent a rope from slipping
(2) : mousing
c. : a dark-colored swelling caused by a blow
< a heavy right to the cheekbone … raised a mouse — New South Wales Bulletin >
specifically : black eye 1a
< began the voyage by hanging a mouse on the steward's eye — Time >
d. : rat 3
e.
(1) : a small lead weight fastened to a string and used to pull window sash cords into place over pulleys in the jambs of the frame
(2) : a similar weight used by plumbers to clear a stoppage in a pipe
(3) : a loose-fitting plug that is forced through a conduit by compressed air and carries with it wires to be drawn into place
4.
a. : an olive gray — called also beige gray
b. : mouse gray
II. \ˈmau̇z, ˈmau̇s\ verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
Etymology: Middle English mousen, from mous, n.
intransitive verb
1. : to hunt for or catch mice
< the large white owl … moused in the long grass — Charlotte Yonge >
2.
a. : to poke around or make a curious inspection : explore, snoop
< go mousing around libraries … looking for dead facts — Garrett Mattingly >
< mousing politicians — Telford Taylor >
b. : to move stealthily or slowly : creep, saunter
< walked eastward, mousing doggedly along on the shady side — John Galsworthy >
< just mouse along, putting one saddle shoe in front of the other — Peg Bracken >
transitive verb
1. obsolete
a. : nibble, gnaw
< death … feasts, mousing the flesh of men — Shakespeare >
b. : to harass playfully : toy with — used chiefly in the phrase touse and mouse
< none but naughty women sat there, whom they toused and moused — William Wycherley >
2. : to apply a mousing to (a hook)
3. : to discover by painstaking search — usually used with out
< mouse out a neighborhood scandal >
III. noun
: a small mobile manual device that controls movement of the cursor and selection of functions on a computer display |