mouse-ear

[ mous-eer ]

noun

1. any of various plants having small, hairy leaves, as the hawkweed, Hieracium pilosella, or the forget-me-not, Myosotis palustris.

mouse-ear

noun

1. short for mouse-ear chickweed See chickweed

Word History and Origins

Origin of mouse-ear¹

First recorded in 1225–75, mouse-ear is from the Middle English word mous-ere. See mouse, ear ¹

Example Sentences

Even more surprising, two temperate plant species from the Northern Hemisphere, annual meadow grass and mouse-ear chickweed, colonised sites faster than any other species.

From Science Daily

Three women in their 20s, each wearing mouse-ear headbands, waited their turn; one of them, Natalie Parks, from Salt Lake City, said hugging Minnie was “a chance to reconnect with my childhood.”

From New York Times

The Girl Scouts are sending up ants, brine shrimp and plants as test subjects, while University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are flying up seeds from mouse-ear cress, a small flowering weed used in genetic research.

From Seattle Times

It, too, has those attractive bracts above bluish-gray mouse-ear leaves, and it’s marginally hardy for us and probably safer now that we don’t seem to dip that much anymore into the teens.

From Washington Post

And some call it a ‘mouse-ear.’

From Literature