What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Mouse vs Muse - What's the difference?

mouse | muse |

In intransitive terms the difference between mouse and muse

is that mouse is to hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats while muse is to become lost in thought, to ponder.

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

    Related terms

    * muscle * mussel

    See also

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

    Anagrams

    * English nouns with irregular plurals ----

    muse

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) muse, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (s)
  • A source of inspiration.
  • (archaic) A poet; a bard.
    • (Milton)
    Usage notes
    The plural musae'' can also be found, though it is much rarer than ''muses .
    Related terms
    * museum * music

    Etymology 2

    First attested in 1340. From (etyl) muser.

    Verb

    (mus)
  • To become lost in thought, to ponder.
  • To say (something) with due consideration or thought.
  • * (seeCites)
  • To think on; to meditate on.
  • * (rfdate) Thomson
    • Come, then, expressive Silence, muse his praise.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […];  […]; or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.}}
  • To wonder at.
    • (Shakespeare)
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Related terms
    * muser * musing

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of musing; a period of thoughtfulness.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , I.xii:
    • still he sate long time astonished / As in great muse , ne word to creature spake.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia , Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 416:
    • He fell into a muse and pulled his upper lip.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) musse. See muset.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A gap or hole in a hedge, fence, etc. through which a wild animal is accustomed to pass; a muset.
    • Find a hare without a muse . (old proverb)

    Anagrams

    * ----