city mouse

English

Etymology

An allusion to "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", one of Aesop's Fables.

Noun

city mouse (plural city mice)

2. (figurative) A city person: someone who has city ways.

   Coordinate term: country mouse

4. (Antarctica, slang, figurative) A member of support personnel who remains at the base.

   Coordinate term: country mouse

   • 2021, M. L. Buchman, In for the Long Haul: An Antarctic Ice Fliers Romance Story:

     […] before arriving, he'd never thought it would be spent as one of the city mice. Most of the McMurdoans never ranged more than walking distance from the largest town on the entire continent.

   • 2023, J. Scott Coatsworth, Love & Limitations:

     " […] Maybe we'll run into some country mice."
     "Country mice?"
     "Some of the Mac-Town folks, out here on the ice. City mice stay at McMurdo, and country mice—"