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Mouse vs Hedgehog - What's the difference?

mouse | hedgehog |

As nouns the difference between mouse and hedgehog

is that mouse is any small rodent of the genus mus while hedgehog is a small mammal, of the subfamily erinaceinae, characterized by its spiny back and by its habit of rolling itself into a ball when attacked.

As a verb mouse

is to move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around ).

mouse

English

Noun

(mice)
  • 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.
  • (lb) A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling such a rodent.
  • A quiet or shy person.
  • (lb) (plural'' mice''' ''or, rarely,'' ' mouses ) 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.
  • (lb) Hematoma.
  • (lb) 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 straighening out.
  • (lb)
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • A match used in firing guns or blasting.
  • (lb) A small model of (a fragment of) (Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory) with desirable properties (depending on the context).
  • Hypernyms

    * (small rodent) rodent

    Coordinate terms

    * (small rodent) rat * (input device) joystick, trackpad, trackball, pointing stick

    Derived terms

    * (as) quiet as a mouse * cat and mouse * church mouse * deer mouse * dormouse * fieldmouse * house mouse * kangaroo mouse * mouseable, mousable * mouse button * mouse click * mouse-ear * mouse mat * mouse pad * mouser * mousetrap * mousy * optical mouse * play cat and mouse * poor as a church mouse * when the cat's away the mice will play

    Verb

    (mous)
  • To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around ).
  • To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats.
  • (nautical) To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire.
  • Captain Higgins moused the hook with a bit of marline to prevent the block beckets from falling out under slack.
  • (computing) To navigate by means of a computer mouse.
  • * 1988 , MacUser: Volume 4
  • I had just moused to the File menu and the pull-down menu repeated the menu bar's hue a dozen shades lighter.
  • * 2009 , Daniel Tunkelang, Faceted Search (page 35)
  • Unlike the Flamenco work, the Relation Browser allows users to quickly explore a document space using dynamic queries issued by mousing over facet elements in the interface.
  • (obsolete, nonce, transitive) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.
  • * Shakespeare
  • [Death] mousing the flesh of men.

    Derived terms

    * mouse around * mouse over * mouser

    See also

    {{projectlinks , pedia , pedia , page2=mouse (computing) , commons , page3=Mus , commons , page4=Computer mouse , quote , page5=Mice , species , page6=Mus}}

    hedgehog

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small mammal, of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by its spiny back and by its habit of rolling itself into a ball when attacked.
  • A type of moveable military barricade made from crossed logs or steel bars, laced with barbed wire, used to damage or impede tanks and vehicles; Czech hedgehog.
  • The nickname for a spigot mortar-type of depth charge weapon from World War II that simultaneously fires a number of explosives into the water to create a pattern of underwater explosions intended to attack submerged submarines.
  • (Australia) A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
  • * 2005 , Paul Mitchell, The Favourite'', Frank Moorhouse, ''The Best Australian Stories 2005 , page 145,
  • There are hedgehogs with sultanas as well as breadcrumbs, carrot cakes and fruitcakes and banana walnut loaves.
  • * 2008 , Lili Wilkinson, The Not Quite Perfect Boyfriend , unnumbered page,
  • I am so flustered that I order a vanilla slice instead of hedgehog .
  • * 2009 , , The Skull: Informers, Hit Men and Australia's Toughest Cop , page 199,
  • His wife had made a hedgehog cake and he offered some but Murphy refused – his mouth was so dry with terror he couldn?t swallow.
  • A form of dredging machine.
  • (Knight)
  • * 1868 , "Dredging," article in Charles Tomlinson (editor), Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering , Volume 1, page 520,
  • The first machines merely loosened, but did not raise the stuff, a scouring being afterwards effected by means of sluices. These machines consisted of large bars or prongs placed vertically in a frame, and being fastened to a barge placed in the line of the sluices, the whole was inpelled forward by the current, thereby scouring the bed. Such a machine, called a hedgehog , is still used in Lincolnshire.
  • The flowering plant , the pods of which are armed with short spines.
  • (Loudon)

    Synonyms

    * (mammal with spines) urchin (archaic), furze-pig (West Country), hedgepig (UK), Erinaceus europaeus * (Medicago intertexta)

    Coordinate terms

    * (mammal with spines) gymnure

    Derived terms

    * Czech hedgehog * hedgehog signalling pathway * sonic hedgehog

    See also

    * echidna * porcupine * erinaceous