Hebrews `akhbar, "swift digger"1 Samuel 6:4). In Leviticus 11:29, Isaiah 66:17 this word is used generically, and includes the jerboa (Mus jaculus), rat, hamster (Cricetus), which, though declared to be unclean animals, were eaten by the Arabs, and are still eaten by the Bedouins. It is said that no fewer than twenty-three species of this group (`akhbar=Arab. ferah) of animals inhabit Palestine. God "laid waste" the people of Ashdod by the terrible visitation of field-mice, which are like locusts in their destructive effects (1 Samuel 6:4, 11, 18). Herodotus, the Greek historian, accounts for the destruction of the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35) by saying that in the night thousands of mice invaded the camp and gnawed through the bow-strings, quivers, and shields, and thus left the Assyrians helpless. (see SENNACHERIB.)

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) Any one of numerous species of small rodents belonging to the genus Mus and various related genera of the family Muridae. The common house mouse (Mus musculus) is found in nearly all countries. The American white-footed, or deer, mouse (Hesperomys leucopus) sometimes lives in houses. See Harvest.

2. (n.) A knob made on a rope with spun yarn or parceling to prevent a running eye from slipping.

3. (n.) Same as Mousing.

4. (n.) A familiar term of endearment.

5. (n.) A dark-colored swelling caused by a blow.

6. (n.) A match used in firing guns or blasting.

7. (v. i.) To watch for and catch mice.

8. (v. i.) To watch for or pursue anything in a sly manner; to pry about, on the lookout for something.

9. (v. t.) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.

10. (v. t.) To furnish with a mouse; to secure by means of a mousing. See Mouse, n., 2.