dust mouse
- noun
- /dʌst maʊs/
- UK
:
pelusa
- While cleaning, she discovered a dust mouse hiding behind the radiator.
Examples
-
The cat chased a dust mouse under the coffee table, thinking it was real prey.
-
I found a dust mouse under the couch.
-
A dust mouse drifted across the hardwood floor whenever the door slammed.
-
Look at that dust mouse in the corner!
-
While cleaning, she discovered a dust mouse hiding behind the radiator.
-
A dust mouse drifted across the hardwood floor whenever the door slammed.
-
The cat chased a dust mouse under the coffee table, thinking it was real prey.
How Big
- UK
66
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
dust + mouse
The meaning 'a small clump of dust' is directly inferable from combining 'dust' (tiny particles) with 'mouse' (a small animal) as a simple size/shape metaphor — learners will understand it denotes a mouse-sized ball of dust. This compositional metaphor follows common transparent naming patterns (cf. 'dust bunny') and would be comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Dust mouse comes from a simple picture: small, round bits of dust that roll or move and look like a tiny mouse. People began to call these clumps 'dust mice', so today dust mouse means 'a small ball or clump of dust'.