Mouser

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmaʊzə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A hunter of small mammals, specifically rodents such as mice, this term can also refer to a human or device used for trapping these pests
2. An animal or individual known for capturing and killing mice to control their population
3. A creature or human skilled at pursuing and eliminating mice in various environments

Etymology: The word is a plain formation: "mouse" plus the agent suffix "-er", so it names anything that catches mice. Its Middle English form, "mousere", meant "a hunter of mice", and the sense has stayed close to that literal core ever since. The surprise lies in a second meaning. Cats' whiskers were jokingly transferred to people, so "mouser" came to mean a moustache. This extension is apparently playful rather than systematic, and it may have been nudged along by the similar-sounding "moustache". Scottish dictionaries record the usage too, which shows it was not confined to one region's joke.

Synonyms: cat, hunter, predator