[cf. Ger. kirchenmaus.] A mouse that inhabits a church. The proverb ‘as poor as a church-mouse’ is found also in German, and other langs.
1731. Pol. Ballads (1860), II. 222. The owner, ’tis said, was once poor as church-mouse.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxiii. The young couple are as poor as church mice.
