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Glite Dictionary
sea mouse

sea mouse

9.9
A large worm with many stiff hairs that lives on the sea floor
  • noun
  • /siː maʊs/
  • UK
translation icon : ratón de mar
  • The sea mouse has a broad, flattened body covered in coarse hairs that help it navigate the seabed.

Examples

  • Divers were fascinated by the bright colors of the sea mouse gliding across the ocean floor.

  • The biology lab kept a live sea mouse to show students its bristly appearance.

  • A sea mouse is not actually a mouse but a type of marine worm.

  • Look at that sea mouse crawling on the ocean floor!

  • The sea mouse is a fascinating creature.

  • After diving, the students were excited to describe the sea mouse they spotted among the rocks.

  • With its unique bristly texture, the sea mouse is often studied for its intriguing adaptations in marine environments.

Surface Forms

sea mouse singular
sea mice plural

Morphology

sea + mouse

The compound 'sea mouse' transparently indicates a creature associated with the sea—combining 'sea' and 'mouse' would lead a B1 learner to infer some kind of marine animal. However, the specific referent (a large marine worm covered in coarse hairs) is not predictable from the constituents, so the expression is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Sea mouse may come from the worm's look: its flat body is covered in short, stiff hairs that make it look like a small 'mouse' on the sea, so the name joins sea and mouse and now means a hairy sea worm.