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Pat vs Mouse - What's the difference?

pat | mouse |

As a noun mouse is

any small rodent of the genus mus .

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 ).

pat

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . For loss of ''l , compare (patch) for (platch); (pate) for (plate), etc. See (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
  • A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
  • A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
  • * Charles Dickens
  • It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
    Derived terms
    * pat on the back (n.) * patter * pitter-pat: a diminutive of footfalls. "the pitter-pat of little feet running around the house."

    Verb

    (patt)
  • To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
  • To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
  • He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.
  • To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
  • I patted the cookie dough into shape.
  • * 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
  • Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
  • (Australia, New Zealand) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
  • Do you want to pat the cat?
  • To gently rain.
  • Derived terms
    * pat down * pat on the back (v.)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • timely, suitable, apt, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken
  • a pat expression
  • * 1788, Cowper, Pity for Africans , p 18
  • A story so pat , you may think it is coined.
  • trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality
  • * 2010, New York Times , Editorial: Jobs and the Class of 2010, May 23.
  • The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects. ''
    Derived terms
    * pat hand

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
  • * c''. 1600 , William Shakespeare, '' III.iii
  • Now might I do it pat
  • Perfectly.
  • He has the routine down pat .
    Derived terms
    * pat in the middle

    See also

    * strike * hit * feel * name

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • patent
  • (knitting) pattern
  • * 2012 , Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World (page 52)
  • Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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}}