Noun: creepmouse
| Singular | creepmouse |
| Plural | creepmice |
Sample Sentences
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"Pho! pho ! — I do not believe a word of it. Lord Basingstoke is one of those shy young men who are very much attached to any one who will take the trouble of making love to them ; — one of those creepmice who run away with their mother's waiting-maid, or marry an actress for want of courage and patience to encounter the formalities of an honourable courtship. […] [1831, Catherine Gore, Mothers and Daughters, Volume II, E. L. Carey & A. Hart/Allen & Ticknor (1834), page 62]
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The knocking was repeated, — a very gentle knocking, which seemed to argue that the devil was in a polite and patient mood. I felt a little creepmouse myself as I heard it, but I got up, and leaving the quaking woman in the parlour, I went and opened the door. [1907, Florence Hayllar, Nepenthes, William Blackwood and Sons, published 1907, page 5:]
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Don't be such a frightened little creepmouse. I take a deep breath, look at the feet again, and giggle. [2009, Laurie Viera Rigler, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, Dutton, →ISBN, page 6:]
Nouns inflected like creepmouse
painted bristly mouse,
rock mouse,
creepmouse,
dust mouse,
reermouse,
bark louse,
greater big-footed mouse,
hopping mouse,
leaf louse,
Mitchell's hopping mouse,
chicken louse,
chewing louse,
mermouse,
flying mouse,
shrewmouse,
yellow-necked field mouse,
desert mouse,
flickermouse,
fish louse,
clit mouse, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From creep + mouse, from a likening of a person's character and/or behaviour to that of a small, timorous, and often unseen rodent.