ˈmouse-hole
A hole used by a mouse for passage or abode; a hole only big enough to admit a mouse. Also transf. and fig. Hence ˈmousehole v. trans. and intr., to make a narrow passage or tunnel (through); ˈmouseholed ppl. a.
| c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1953 For feere I lookyd as blak as a coole, I wold haue cropyn in a mouse hole. 1483 Cath. Angl. 244/2 A Mosse (MS. A. mowse) hole, amfractus. 1603 Dekker Wonderfull Yeare E j, Not a creuis but was stopt, not a mouse-hole left open. 1679 T. Kirke Mod. Acc. Scot. 10 Men, Women, and Children pigg altogether in a poor Mouse-hole of Mud. 1708 S. Centlivre Busie Body iii. iii, Have you let a Man into my House?..I'll not leave a Mouse-hole unsearch'd. 1888 Eggleston Graysons xx. 216 Bob..liked this lurking for prey as a cat likes the watching at a mouse-hole. 1950 O. Nash Family Reunion (1951) 40 Little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed. 1967 L. Deighton Expensive Place xx. 137 It was another half-hour before they had broken into the cellars..and then it took twenty minutes more to mousehole through into Datt's house. Ibid. 138 Loiscau's men were moving up from the mouse-holed cellars. |