Crossword clues for dormouse
dormouse
- Member of Alice's tea party
- Small furry-tailed squirrel-like Old World rodent that becomes torpid in cold weather
- Alice's tea-party companion
- Wonderland creature
- Small rodent
- Little creature’s sleeping-place on river
- Rodent's sleeping place on river
- Rodent's place for resting by river
- Rodent that sleeps most of the day
- Place to sleep on river for rodent
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dormouse \Dor"mouse\, n.; pl. Dormice. [Perh. fr. F. dormir to sleep (Prov. E. dorm to doze) + E. mouse; or perh. changed fr. F. dormeuse, fem., a sleeper, though not found in the sense of a dormouse.] (Zo["o]l.) A small European rodent of the genus Myoxus, of several species. They live in trees and feed on nuts, acorns, etc.; -- so called because they are usually torpid in winter.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., possibly from Anglo-French *dormouse "tending to be dormant" (from stem of dormir "to sleep," see dormer), with the second element mistaken for mouse; or perhaps it is from a Middle English dialectal compound of mouse and Middle French dormir. The rodent is inactive in winter. French dormeuse, fem. of dormeur "sleeper" is attested only from 17c.
Wiktionary
n. 1 Any of several species of small, mostly European rodents of the family Gliridae; also called Myoxidae or ''(taxlink Muscardinidae family noshow=1)'' by some taxonomists. 2 (context UK English) (taxlink Muscardinus avellanarius species noshow=1), the (vern hazel dormouse pedia=1). 3 (context figuratively English) A person who sleeps a great deal, or who falls asleep readily (by analogy with the sound hibernation of the dormouse).
WordNet
n. small furry-tailed squirrel-like Old World rodent that becomes torpid in cold weather
[also: dormice (pl)]
Wikipedia
The dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are mostly found in Europe, although some live in Africa and Asia. They are particularly known for their long periods of hibernation. As only one species of dormouse is native to the British Isles, in everyday English usage "dormouse" can refer either to that one species (the hazel dormouse) or to the family as a whole.
Usage examples of "dormouse".
March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head.
Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for some time without interrupting it.
Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off: the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.
The dormouse put up his hand again to be excused and was allowed to leave.
And then she dropped the dormouse into the pocket of her apron and she clambered onto the caravan.
Madame Semele bent down and pulled a wooden cage from the cluttered space beneath her bed, and she took the blinking dormouse from her pocket and placed it into the cage.
Yvaine also cared for the dormouse, who spent most of his time fast asleep, curled up with his head between his paws.
When the witch was off gathering firewood or fetching water, Yvaine would open up his cage and stroke him and talk to him, and, on several occasions, she sang to him, although she could not tell whether anything of Tristran remained in the dormouse, who stared up at her with placid, sleepy eyes, like droplets of black ink, and whose fur was softer than down.
She opened the cage door, and picked out the sleeping dormouse with bony fingers.
The dormouse rubbed its liquid black eyes with its forepaws and blinked at the fading daylight.
He felt his spirits lift, and his time as a dormouse had already become nothing more in his head than the remnants of a dream, as if he had merely taken an afternoon nap in front of the kitchen fire and was now wide awake once more.
And it is hard to regret a moment of it, although I missed soft beds from time to time, and I shall never be able to look at another dormouse in quite the same way ever again.
I selected the final large photograph of a dormouse and decided on a pre-emptive strike.
English dormouse is a most charming little animal, and a great pet with children.
They were all there, Humpty and the grinning Cat, the Dormouse and the Hatter, the March Hare, the Walrus and the Jabberwock.