mouse vs vole

mouse

noun
  • Any small rodent of the genus Mus. 

  • A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straightening out. 

  • (plural mice or, rarely, mouses) An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display. 

  • Part of a hind leg of beef, next to the round. 

  • A small cushion for a woman's hair. 

  • The cursor. 

  • A small model of (a fragment of) Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context). 

  • A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling such a rodent. 

  • A quiet or shy person. 

  • A facial hematoma or black eye. 

  • A match used in firing guns or blasting. 

verb
  • To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats. 

  • To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire. 

  • To navigate by means of a computer mouse. 

  • To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around). 

vole

noun
  • Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae of the family Cricetidae which are not lemmings or muskrats. 

  • A deal in a card game, écarté, that draws all the tricks. 

verb
  • To win all the tricks by a vole. 

How often have the words mouse and vole occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )