ˈmouse-ear
Also 3 musere, 4 mouser, 4–5 mous(h)ere, 5 mowseer, mushere, mousher.
[transl. of med.L. auricula muris, Gr. µυὸς ὠτίς: see myosotis. Cf. OHG. mûsôra ‘pilosa’, G. mäuse-, mauseohr.
In senses 1–3 the name seems to refer to the hairy leaves of the plants.]
1. A species of hawkweed, Hieracium Pilosella. Also mouse-ear hawkweed.
Bastard Mouse-ear Hieracium Pseudo-Pilosella (Treas. Bot. 1866). Golden Mouse-ear, Hieracium aurantiacum.
| c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 558/18 Pilosella, peluselle, musere. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 33/2 Pelvette, mouser. c 1440 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems Add. (1903) 311 Tak an handful of Bugyl..an oþer of Pympurnele, an oþer of mousere. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxvi. 53 Mouse eare..hath many small and slender stemmes somewhat redde bylow. Ibid. 54 Auricula muris Matthioli. Mouse eare. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xxxvi. (1633) 305 Golden mouse-eare or Grimme the Colliar. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 224 To him that hath a flux, of Sheepheards purse he giues, And Mous-eare vnto him whom some sharpe rupture grieues. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 25 This Plant is very like to the Great Mouse-Ear. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 319 Mouse-ear, Creeping, Hieracium. 1789 W. Aiton Hortus Kewensis III. 121 Hieracium Pilosella... Mouse-ear Hawkweed. 1806 J. Galpine Brit. Bot. §346 Hieracium... Pilosella... Mouse-ear. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. (1861) III. 213 Orange Hawkweed... The plant is sometimes called by gardeners Golden Mouse-ear. |
2. (More fully mouse ear chickweed.) A plant of the genus Cerastium, somewhat resembling chickweed, esp. C. vulgatum, C. triviale, and C. viscosum; also applied to Holosteum umbellatum, a plant with flowers like chickweed.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxvi. 53 There is yet an other herbe, which some holde for Mouse eare:..set about with a fine and softe heare, the rest is very like the second Chicke⁓weede. 1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomencl. 115/1 Alsine. Chickweede or mouseare. 1731 P. Miller Gard. Dict., Myosotis, *Mouse-ear Chickweed... The Species are; 1. Myosotis; Hispanica, segetum. Tourn. Spanish Corn Mouse-ear Chickweed. 2. Myosotis; Alpina, latifolia. Tourn. Broad-leav'd Mouse-ear Chickweed of the Alps. 1799 J. Hull Brit. Flora 30 Holosteum umbellatum... Umbelliferous Mouse-ear. Ibid. 101 Cerastium viscosum... Clammy Mouse-ear... C. vulgatum... Narrow-leaved Mouse-ear [and others]. 1840–8 Maunder Sci. & Lit. Treas. (ed. 5), Mouse-ear, in botany, a plant of the genus Cerastium, very similar to chickweed. 1866 Treas. Bot., Cerastium, a rather extensive genus of Caryophyllaceæ, containing small white-flowered plants, generally called Mouse-ear Chickweeds. |
3. A plant of the genus Myosotis, esp. the forget-me-not, M. palustris and M. arvensis. Also mouse-ear scorpion grass.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxciv. 514 Pilosella flore cæruleo. Blewe Mouseare. 1690 Ray Synopsis Meth. Stirpium (1724) 229 Mouse-ear Scorpion-Grass. 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 225 Myosotis arvensis... Field Mouse-ear. Scorpion-grass. 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. xxv. 146 The Mouse-ear (Myosotis) is valued for its medicinal properties; a species, the arvensis, or Forget-me-not, is an interesting little blue flower. 1883 ‘Ouida’ Wanda I. 157 The swollen brooks were blue with mouse-ear. |
4. The name of various other plants. a. The cruciferous plant Sisymbrium Thaliana; more fully mouse-ear cress, † mouse-ear molewort, codded (or podded) mouse-ear. b. dial. Various species of woundwort, esp. Stachys germanica and S. lanata. c. U.S. A species of everlasting flower, Antennaria plantaginifolia, having small grey soft leaves resembling a mouse's ear; also called mouse-ear everlasting (Cent. Dict.), † mouse-ear plantain.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxvi. 53 Bysides these two there is yet a kinde of Mouse-eare whiche..standeth vpright, growing amongst other herbes, lyke to the others in stemme and leaues, but it is greater and of colour white, couered ouer with a clammy Downe or Cotton, in handling as though it were bedewed or moystened with Honie, and cleaueth to the fingers. 1696 Plukenet Opera Bot. (1769) II. 298 Plantago Virginiana Pilosellæ foliis angustis radice turbinata..Mouse-ear Plantain. 1732 J. Martyn Tournefort's Hist. Pl. II. 318 Turritis vulgaris... Codded Mouse-ear. 1770 J. Hill Herb. Brit. II. 269, 1. Arabis Thaliana. Mouse-ear Molewort. Folia integerrima. Podded Mouse-ear. 1874 Gray Less. Bot. 70 Sisymbrium Thaliana,..(Mouse-ear Cress). 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Mouse-ear, Stachys Germanica, downy Woundwort (garden plant). 1882 Friend Devonsh. Plant-n., Mouse's Ear, Stachys lanata, L. the white-leaved garden variety. |
So ˈmouse-eared a., having an appendage resembling a mouse's ear; spec. † (a) of willows, having catkins; (b) in mouse-eared chickweed, mouse-eared hawkweed = mouse-ear 1, 2; (c) mouse-eared bat, a brown bat, Myotis myotis, with greyish-white underside, found in Europe, parts of western Asia, and, rarely, in Britain.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 15 The best wood for barres is the willow; but such as have had experience advise not to fell them till such time as they beginne to budde and bee mouse-ear'd. 1789 J. Pilkington View Derbysh. I. 344 Myosotis scorpioides. Mouse-eared Scorpiongrass. Ibid. 397 Cerastium vulgatum. Common mouse-eared Chickweed. Ibid. 449 Hieracium pilosella. Creeping Mouse-Ear or Mouse-eared Hawkweed. 1910 G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton Hist. Brit. Mammals I. 191 The Mouse-eared bat, should it occur again in Britain, can hardly be mistaken for any other. 1956 Proc. Zool. Soc. CXXVII. 201 The animal was indentified as a Mouse-eared Bat Myotis myotis..and then photographed in situ before being touched. 1975 Observer 26 Jan. 1/8 Mr Peter Hardy..said mouse-eared bats survived in Britain in only a single colony. |