vole

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Norn vollj, from Old Norse vǫllr (“field”). The Orkney dialectal name vole mouse, lit. "field mouse", was introduced to general English by George Barry in 1805; John Fleming in 1828 was first to refer to the creature by the epithet vole alone. Displaced earlier names for these species which also classified them as mice, e.g. short-tailed field mouse.

noun

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

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French vole.

noun

1. A deal in a card game, écarté, that draws all the tricks.
   Ladies, I'll venture for the vole. 1731, Jonathan Swift, Verses on the Death of Dr Swift
   With humble curate can I now retire, (While good Sir Peter boozes with the squire,) And at backgammon mortify my soul, That pants for loo, or flutters at a vole? 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Epilogue

verb

1. (card games, intransitive) To win all the tricks by a vole.