Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 4 [of 7] (part 3 of 3)

Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 4 [of 7] (part 3 of 3)

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1754. Disc. John Poulter, 14. While we went a milling that swag.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mill. To rob; also to break, beat out, or kill. I’ll mill your glaze; I’ll beat out your eye. To mill a bleating cheat; to kill a sheep. To mill a ken; to rob a house.

1790. A. Wilson, Poems, 73. His dearie glad of siccan routh, To mill a note was aye right ready.

1829. Scott, Mid-Lothian, xxx. Rot me, one might have milled the Bank of England and less noise about it.

3. (thieves’).—To send to the tread-mill.

1838–9. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 122 (ed. 1859). ‘So I do do as she bids me,’ replied Mr. Chitling; ‘I shouldn’t have been milled if ’t hadn’t been for her.’

To go through (or be on) the mill, verb. phr. (common).—1. To go through the Bankruptcy Court; to be whitewashed (q.v.). See Mill, subs. sense 3.

2. (colloquial).—To pass through a more or less severe course of discipline, experience, or training.

1829. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xxxi. ‘She [Jeanie Deans] ’s got a jark from Jim Ratcliffe’ said the short fellow ‘and Frank won’t hear of our putting her through the mill.’

1858. W. W. Pratt, Ten Nights in a Bar-room, ii. 1. P’raps you have been through the mill.

1872. Fun, 10 Aug. ‘Over.’ One more year on the mill, Twelve months more at the pen, Ere I of respite again have my fill—.

1883. Referee, 1 July, p. 2, col. 4. He hinted at the hardships which many actors and actresses have to endure, and did not disguise the fact that he had himself been through the mill.

1887. Contemp. Rev., li. 10. Certain persons who have gone through the mill of what is known as our ‘higher education.’

3. (thieves’).—See mill, verb. 3.

1889. Daily News, 4 July. He had been through the mill, and could do it again.

To bring grist to the mill, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be a source of profit.

1726. Ayliffe, Parergon [Century]. The computation of degrees, in all matrimonial causes, is wont to be made according to the rules of that law, because it brings grist to the mill.

To put through the mill, verb. phr. (common).—To put to trial: as a horse before a race.

1872. Morning Post, 7 Nov. Totally disregarding the horse’s retrogression in the betting after he was put through the mill I advised my readers to make him a winner.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 24 Dec. The number of yearlings put through the mill before Christmas is fewer than usual.

Mill-clapper, subs. (common).—The tongue: specifically of women.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

Mill-doll, subs. (obsolete).—The Bridewell, once situate in Bridge Street Blackfriars.

1781. Messink, in Choice of Harlequin, ‘The Keeper of Bridewell’s Song.’ I’m Jigger Dubber here, and you are welcome to mill doll.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.

Verb. (old).—To beat hemp in Bridewell; to do work on the treadmill. See Mill-dolly.

1751. Fielding, Amelia, i. x. I am sent hither to mill doll.

1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, vi. When sitting with Nancy, what sights have I seen!... But now she mills doll.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Mill-dolly, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.

1719. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen, i. 108. ‘Punisht at hard labour in Bridewell, which beating of hemp, the thieves call mill dolly.’

Mill-dose, subs. (American thieves’).—Prison labour.—Matsell (1859).

Mill-lay, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mill Lay. To force open the doors of houses in order to rob them.

Miller, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A pugilist.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Millers—second-rate boxers, whose arms run round in rapid succession, not always falling very hard, or with determinate object.

1837. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, vii. The captain ... being a first-rate miller, as the phrase is ... let fall a sudden shower of blows about Mr. Marningham’s head and breast.

c. 1840. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg. Because she wouldn’t go to a mill, She didn’t know when but remembered still, That the miller’s name was Mendoza.

2. See Joe miller.

3. (old).—A vicious horse.

1825. The English Spy, i. 236. The horse shewed symptoms of being a miller. The Baronet, nothing daunted, touches him smartly under the flank, when up he goes in his forequarters, smashes the tilbury into ten thousand pieces, bolts away with the traces and shafts, and leaves the baronet with a broken head.

4. (old coaching).—A white hat.

5. (Old Cant).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Miller, a Killer or Murderer.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To give the miller, verb. phr. (common).—See quot.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 193. Some of his pals gave him the miller, that is a lot of flour is wrapped up in thin paper about the size of a fist, and when thrown, the first thing it comes in contact with, breaks and smothers the party all over.

To drown the miller, verb. phr. (common).—1. To water overmuch. Originally to drown the miller’s thumb, i.e., the thumb-mark on the glass.

1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 171]. To put out the miller’s thumb. Spoken by good housewives, when they have wet their meal for bread or paste too much.

1821. Scott, The Pirate, ii. 64. ‘He shall drink off the yawl full of punch.’ ‘Too much water drowned the miller,’ answered Triptolemus.

1834. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xii. Old Tom put the pannikin to his lips. ‘Drowned the miller, by heavens!’ said he; ‘what could I have been about?’ ejaculated he, adding more spirits to his mixture.

1886. Miss Hume, Shrops. Folk Lore, p. 597. To drown the miller = to add too much water to the flour in bread-making; also frequently applied to tea-making, when it is of course meaningless.

2. (Scots’).—To go bankrupt. [Jamieson].

1805. A. Scott, Poems, 34. Honest men’s been ta’en for rogues, When bad luck gars drown the miller, Hunted ’maist out o’ their brogues, Fortune-smit for lack o’ siller.

Miller’s-eye, subs. (common).—A lump of flour in a loaf.

To put the miller’s-eye out, verb. phr. (common).—To be sparing of flour.

Miller’s-thumb. See Cobbler’s-thumb.

Milliner’s-shop, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mill-ken, subs. (thieves’).—A housebreaker. See Area-sneak, and (for synonyms) Thieves.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I. ch. v. (Repr. 1874), p. 50. Milken, one that breaks houses.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii. 108. Mill-ken [in list of names of thieves].

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Milken, a house breaker.

1725. Old Ballad (in New Cant. Dict.), ‘The Twenty Craftsmen.’ The fourth was a mill-ken, to crack up a door, He’d venture to rob both the rich and the poor.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. I. ch. v. The same capacity which qualifies a mill-ken, a bridle-cull, or a buttock-and-file to arrive at any degree of eminence in his profession would likewise raise a man in what the world esteem a more honourable calling.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Milling, subs. (common).—1. A beating. Also fighting.

1810. Combe, Dr. Syntax, ii. 2. One blood gives t’other a milling.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, iv. The champion of England stands unrivalled for his punishment, game, and milling on the retreat.

1841. Mrs. Gore, Cecil, 158. Put myself in a Cribb-like attitude for a milling-match.

2. (old).—Stealing.

Milling in the darkmans, subs. phr. (Old Cant).—Murder by night. See Mill, verb. 1.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxviii. Men were men then, and fought each other in the open field, and there was nae milling in the darkmans.

Milling-cove, subs. phr. (pugilists’).—A pugilist.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Milling Cove. How the milling cove served the cull out; how the boxer beat the fellow.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 250 (ed. 1864). Zoroaster, who was not merely a worshipper of fire, but a thorough milling-cove, had engaged to some purpose in a pugilistic encounter with the rustics.

Mill-round, subs. (common).—Routine: see go through the mill, sense 2.

1892. M. E. Braddon, Gerard, p. 4. ‘What have you been doing with yourself?’ ‘Nothing beyond the usual mill-round.’

Millstone. To see (or look) through a mill-stone (or brick wall), verb. phr. (common).—To be well-informed; to judge with precision; to be quick of perception.

1582. Lyly, Euphues and His England [Nares]. Then, Fidus, since your eies are so sharp that you cannot onely looke through a milstone, but cleane through the minde, and so cunning that you can levell at the dispositions of women whom you never knew.

1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 171], s.v.

1782. Mrs. Centlivre, Bold Stroke for a Wife, iii. 1. I’m sorry such a well-invented tale should do you no more service. We old fellows can see as far into a millstone as them that pick it.

To weep millstones, verb. phr. (old).—Said of a person not likely to cry.

1597. Shakspeare, Rich. III, i. 3. Your eyes drop mill-stones when fools’ eyes drop tears. Ibid. i. 6. Cl. Bid Glo’ster think on this, and he will weep. 1 M. Aye, mill-stones, as he lesson’d us to weep.

1607. Cæsar & Pompey [Nares]. He, good gentleman, Will weep when he hears how we are used. 1 Serj. Yes, mill-stones.

To run one’s head against a millstone (milestone, or brick wall), verb. phr. (common).—1. To resist mulishly; to attempt impossibilities.

1837. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 129 (ed. 1857.) ‘All them old cats will run their heads agin milestones.’

To run a milestone, verb. phr. (old dicing).—See quot. and Knap.

1714. Lucas, Gamesters, 27. He was not ignorant of knapping, which is, striking one die dead, and let the other run a milestone.

Mill-tog (tag or twig), subs. (old).—A shirt. For synonyms see Camesa.

1821. Haggart, Life, 133. Few had either a mill-twig, toper, or crabs.

1823. Grose, Vulgar Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lon. Poor, Vol. i. p. 231, s.v. Mill Tag—A shirt.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1888. Temple Bar, xxiv. 536. I’ve known him to get thirty mill-togs in one day.

Mill-wash, subs. (tailors’).—Vest canvas.

Milt, subs. (venery).—The semen; Hence, milt-market (or -shop) = the female pudendum; to double one’s milt (old) = to ejaculate twice without removal.

Milton, subs. (common).—An oyster.

1841. Thackeray, Comic Tales and Sketches, ii. p. 175. Mrs. Grampus herself operated with the oyster-knife, and served the milton morsels to the customers.

1854. Aytoun and Martin, Bon Gualtier Ballads [14th ed. (1884), p. 180]. These mute inglorious miltons are divine.

Milvader, verb. (old).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, ‘Glossary,’ p. 172, s.v. Milvad, a blow. Milvadering, boxing.

1823. Grose, Vulgar Tongue (3rd. ed.), s.v.

Mince, verb. (medical students’).—To dissect.

Mince-pies, subs. (rhyming).—The eyes. Also mutton-pies (q.v.).

1892. Sporting Times, 29 Oct. ‘The Rhyme of the Rusher.’ And I smiled as I closed my two mince-pies.

1894. Chevalier, Jerusalem’s Dead, i. My mince-pies are waterin’ jes like a pump, and they’re red as a ferrit’s.

Minckins. See Minx.

Mind. See P’s and Q’s.

Mind your eye, phr. (common).—Be careful. Also (nautical) mind your helm.

Minden Boys, subs. phr. (military).—The Twentieth Foot. [From their bravery at Minden, 1759].

Minder, subs. (common).—A child put out to nurse.

Mine-arse. See Bandbox.

Mine-of-pleasure, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

17[?]. Old Ballad [quoted by Burns in Merry Muses], ‘O Saw Ye my Maggy?’ A hidden mine of pleasure.

Mine uncle. See Uncle.

Mingle-mangle, subs. (old).—A hotch-potch.

1550. Apol. of Johan Bale, fo. 25. Al thys have I wrytten afore leaste we shulde take euyll for good, and couple sower wyth swete, making of the a mingle-mangel, for pigges of the pope’s old puddel.

1600. Hooker, Sermons, v. 7. He cannot love the Lord Jesus with his heart ... which can brook to see a mingle-mangle of religion and superstition.

Minikin (or Minnikon), subs. (old).—See quots. Also as adj. = diminutive; dainty; delicate.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Mingherlina, a daintie lasse, a minnikin, smirking wench.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, iii. 6, 45. Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd, Thy sheep be in the corn; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Thy sheep shall take no harm.

1606. Dekker, Newes from Hell [Grosart (1886), ii. 146]. Tickle the next minkin.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionary, s.v. Mignonnet. A prettie, or young minion; a minikin.

1635. Glapthorne, Hollander, ii. 1. Surely the minikin is enamoured of me.

1656. Muses’ Recr. [Hotten], 71. I should begin to call my strings My cattlings, and my minikins.

1667. Pepys, Diary, 18 March. Angling with a minnikin, a gut string varnished over, which keeps it from swelling, and is beyond any hair for strength or smallness.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Minikin, a little man or woman; also the smallest sort of pin.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Minikin.... ‘What a minikin mouth she has.’

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v., Minnikon.

Minor, subs. (Eton College).—1. A younger brother.

1864. Eton School Days, vii. ‘Let my minor pass, you fellows!’ exclaimed Horsham.

2. (old).—A water-closet.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Minor clergy, subs. phr. (old).—Young chimney-sweeps.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mint, subs. (Old Cant).—Money: also mint-sauce or mint-drops.

c. 1420. Palladius, Husbondrie [E. E. T. S.], p. 99. Thees if me spende, or mynt for them receyve.

1573. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all p. 39 (H. Club’s Repr. 1874), s.v.

1621. Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. Strike fair at some jewel, That mint may accrue well.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I. ch. v. p. 50 (1874), s.v.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1828. Egan, Finish to Tom and Jerry, 53. I not only hope that he gets lots of mint-sauce, etc.

1867. Jas. Greenwood, Unsent. Journeys, xxx. 230. The requisite mint sauce (as that horribly vulgar and slangy B. P. terms money).

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. .... When the Hon. T. H. Benton, of Missouri, put his whole strength forward on the floor of Congress and through the press to introduce a gold currency, he accidentally called the latter mint-drops.

Adv. (colloquial).—Plenty of money.—Lex. Bal. (1811); Matsell (1859). Also a mint of money = a big sum.—Grose.

Minx, subs. (old).—1. A woman: in contempt; and (2) a harlot. Also minckins.

d. 1593. Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, vi. What are you, Mistress Minx.

1597–8. Haughton, A Woman will have her Will [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), x. 509]. How now, you unreverent minx.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Magalda, a queane, a harlot, a strumpet, an old trot, a trull or minxe, a gixie.

b. 1600. Grim the Collier etc. [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii. 436]. Come hither, minx!

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, iii. 3, 475. Lewd minx! Come, go with me apart.

1605. London Prodigal, iii. 3. Minckins, look you do not follow me!

1635. Glapthorne, Hollander [Pearson (1874), i. 129]. Well said, minx!

1678. Butler, Hudibras [Johnson]. Some torches bore, some links, Before the proud virago minx.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Minks, a proud Flirt.

1691–2. Gentlemen’s Journal, May, p. 3. ’Twas there this precious minx agreed to betray this young innocent.

1775. Sheridan, St. Patrick’s Day, i. 2. Why, you little provoking minx.

Miraculous-cairn, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mischief, subs. (colloquial).—1. A vexatious person; and (2) ruin. To go to the mischief = to go to the bad. Hence, what, who, or where the mischief = what, who, or where the hell, or the devil; to play the mischief = to play havoc; to disorder; with a mischief = with a vengeance.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. What the mischief do you come with her? or she with you?

1630. John Taylor, Wks. [Nares]. Will in a little time make her encrease with a vengeance, and multiply with a mischiefe.

1818. S. E. Ferrier, Marriage, xv. Boys may go to the mischief, and be good for something—if girls go, they’re good for nothing I know of.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxvii. Bide down, with a mischief to ye, bide down!

1885. Morning Post, 5 Febr. These move slowly through the camp, their centrifugal force playing the mischief, blowing everything to pieces, knocking down tents, carrying them off 100 yards, and generally causing a good deal of bad language.

1892. Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 19, col. 3. ‘What will our wives say when we get home?’ ‘Let them say what they want to; mine will tell me to go to the mischief,’ responded number two.

1892. Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads, ‘Gunga Din.’ You ’eathen, where the mischief ’ave you been?

3. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mischief. A man loaded with mischief, i.e., a man with his wife on his back.

Misery, subs. (common).—Gin. For synonyms see Drinks and White Satin.

Misfit, subs. (tailors’).—An awkward man.

Mish, subs. (old).—A shirt or chemise; cf. Camesa. [An abbreviation of commission (q.v.)].

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I. ch. v. p. 48 (1874), s.v.

1712. T. Shirley, Triumph of Wit, ‘The Maunder’s Praise of His Strowling Mort.’ What though I no Togeman wear, Nor Commission, mish or Slate.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 13, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Mishmash, subs. (old).—See quots.

1598. Florio [Halliwell], p. 95. A chaos, a confused lump, a formelesse mass, a mish-mash.

1609. Holland, Ammianus Marcellinus [Nares]. And these are so full of their confused circumlocutions, that a man would thinke he heard Thersites with a frapling and bawling clamor to come out with a mishmash and hotchpotch of most distastfull and unsavorie stuffe.

1638. Sir T. Herbert, Travels in Africa, p. 27. Their language ... [is] a mish-mash of Arabic and Portuguese.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mishmash. A low word. A mingle or hotch-potch.

Mish-topper, subs. (old).—A coat or petticoat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Miss, subs. (old).—1. See quot. 1662.

1662. Evelyn, Diary, 9 Jan. She being taken to be the Earle of Oxford’s misse, as at this time they began to call lewd women.

1675. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Wks. (1725), p. 268. It is mettle carries misses.

1675. The Character of a Town Miss, 3. ‘A miss is a new name which the civility of this age bestows on one that our unmannerly ancestors called whore and strumpet.’

1678. Butler, Hudibras [Johnson]. All women would be of one piece, The virtuous matron and the miss.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Miss, a Whore of quality.

1691–2. Gentlemen’s Journal, Jan. p. 37. As subject to mistake an affected sorrow for a real grief, as our cullies, the fawnings of their misses for a true passion.

d. 1701. Dryden, in Wks. [Johnson]. This gentle cock, for solace of his life, Six misses had besides his lawful wife.

1714. Lucas, Gamesters, 197. Not sufficient to support his extravagancy in keeping several misses.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, i. 174. Then bring the miss for Morning Bliss.

1729. Gay, Polly, i. xix. Abroad after misses most husbands will range.

1775. Ash, Eng. Dict., s.v. Miss ... a strumpet, a prostitute, a concubine.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1786. Burns, The Inventory. I hae nae wife, an’ that my bliss is. An’ ye hae laid nae tax on misses.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

2. (old).—A very young girl.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 2. Madam, you are too severe upon miss; you must not find fault with her pretty simplicity.

1712. Swift, Corinna [Chalmers, English Poets (1810), xi. 386]. She made a song how little miss Was kissed and slobbered by a lad.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Money.

3. (dressmakers’).—A girl from about 10 to 15 years of age. Before and after, a ‘child’ and a ‘young lady’ respectively.

A miss is as good as a mile, phr. (colloquial).—A narrow escape is as good as an easy one.

To miss the cushion, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Armeggiare ... to raue or commit some foolish part, to misse the cushion, or to be wide from the purpose.

To miss one’s tip. See Tip.

To miss the figure. See Combination and Slump.

Miss Brown, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.—Grose (1785).

Miss Laycock, subs. (venery).—See quot. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Miss Laycock. The monosyllable.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Miss-Nancy, subs. (colloquial).—An affectedly prim person: male or female. Hence, Miss-Nancyism = affected nicety; effeminacy.

1883. Philadelphia Times, 2 July. The milksops and Miss-Nancys among the young men, etc.

1886. Harper’s Weekly, 20 March. Ineffable silliness, sneering at the demand for honesty in politics as Miss-Nancyism.

Missus (The), subs. (vulgar).—1. A wife: sometimes written as in quot. 1864; and (2), among servants, a mistress.

1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxv. So he altered these words, bowing to the superior knowledge of his little missis.

1857. Trollope, Barchester Towers, xxxii. Mr. Harding and Mr. Arabin had all quarrelled with missus for having received a letter from Mr. Slope.

1864. Glasgow Herald, 11 Nov. ‘Bankruptcy Examinations.’ I did not buy the property in Crown Street. The Mrs. bought a property in Rosehall Street.

Mist. Scotch mist, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Rain.

Mistake. And no mistake, phr. (colloquial).—Unquestionably; without fail.

Mistress, subs. (old).—The mark in the game of bowls; the jack (q.v., sense 2).

1580. Sidney, Arcadia, p. 281. Zelmane using her own byas, to bowl near the mistresse of her own thoughts.

1600. Weakest goes to the Wall, 4to. G. 3. I hope to be as near the mistresse as any of you all.

1602. Shakspeare, Troilus & Cressida, iii. 2. So, so, rub on, and kiss the mistress.

1632. W. Rowley, Woman Never Vext, ii. 1. Everyone strives to lie nearest the mistress. Ibid. iv. 1. This city bowler has kissed the mistress at first cast.

1653. Brome, Queen and Concubine, ii. 3. Rather than to have my head bowl’d at her, though I were sure it should kiss the mistresse.

1655. Fanshaw, Lusiad, ix. 71. Like one That rubs the mistress when his bowl is gone.

1657. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, ii. 3. There’s three rubs gone, I’ve a clear way to the mistress.

Mistress Roper, subs. phr. (nautical).—A marine. [Because he handles the ropes awkwardly].

Mite (or Mitey), subs. (common).—A cheesemonger; cf. Burncrust, Corks, etc.

1765. Foote, Commissary, iii. 1. There liv’d Miss Cicely Mite, the only daughter of old Mite the cheesemonger.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mitre, subs. (University).—A hat. See Tufts. For synonyms see Golgotha.

Mitten, subs. (common).—1. A hand. For synonyms see Bunch of Fives.—Grose (1823).

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.

2. (pugilistic).—A boxing glove; a muffler (q.v.). Also mitts.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1887. Lic. Vict. Gazette, 2 Dec., 359/2. I’ll get him to put the mittens on vid your friend, and have three rounds.

1888. Greenwood, Odd People in Odd Places, p. 56. You see them two there, sitting on t’other end of the table and eating fried fish and bread. That’s their mittens they’ve got tied up in that hankercher. They’re fighting coves.

Verb. (common).—To jilt. Also to give the mitten. In Devonshire to give one turnips.

1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches [Bartlett]. Young gentlemen that have got the mitten, or young gentlemen who think they are going to get the mitten, always sigh. It makes them feel bad.

1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 43. Here comes Dana, abstractedly loitering along Involved in a paulo-post-future of song Who’ll be going to write what’ll never be written Till the Muse, ere he thinks of it, gives him the mitten.

1855. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Human Nature, p. 90. There is a young lady I have set my heart on; though whether she is a-goin’ to give me hern, or give me the mitten, I ain’t quite satisfied.

1868. O. W. Holmes, Guardian Angel, ch. xxxiii. p. 264 (Rose Lib.). Some said that Susan had given her young man the mitten, meaning thereby that she had signified that his services as a suitor were dispensed with.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v. More ungracefully still, an unfortunate lover, who is simply ‘jilted’ at the North, is more violently ‘kicked’ at the South—a phrase marking most characteristically the contrast between the free and easy manners of our day with those of past days, when the strongest term used for the painful occasion was to give and to get the mitten. The latter word ought, however, always to be mittens, as the phrase is derived from the same use made of the French mitaines, which had to be accepted by the unsuccessful lover instead of the hand, after which he aspired.

1873. Carleton, Farm Ballads, 19. Once, when I was young as you, and not so smart, perhaps, For me she mittened a lawyer, and several other chaps.

1884. Punch, 1 March, p. 108, col. 2. Lifeboat hands who are found shrinking, Or with fear of danger smitten, Get, not medals, but the mitten.

1887. Lippincott’s Magazine, Aug., p. 241. Ah, I see. Popped the question, and got the mitten. Oh, well you mustn’t let that discourage you.

1888. Notes & Queries, 7 S. vi. 126. To get the mitten.... Without doubt the Latin mitto, to send (about your business), to dismiss, is the fons et origo of the word.

1890. E. Bellamy, Dr. Heidenhoff’s Process, p. 42. ‘After all,’ she said, suddenly, ‘that would be taking a good deal of trouble to get a mitten. If you are so anxious for it, I will give it to you now;’ and she held out the glove to him with an inscrutable face.

To handle without mittens, verb. phr. (common).—See quot.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mittens. To handle without mittens. To handle roughly. A low phrase.

Easy as mittens, phr. (common).—Free.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22. The ladies was easy as mittens.

Mitten-mill, subs. (American).—A glove-fight.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Mivvy, subs. (common).—1. A woman: in contempt. Hence (2) a lodging-house landlady; a cat (q.v.).

1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. 111. Talk about stodge! Jest you arsk the old mivvy as caters for me at the crib where I lodge.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 13. Bare-armed old mivvies you meet spread out pink in a theatre stall.

2. (schoolboys’).—A marble.

1856. Notes & Queries, 2 S. i. 283. s.v.

Mix, subs. (colloquial).—A muddle; a mess.

1882. W. D. Howells, A Likely Story iii. What a fatal, fatal mix.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To confuse; and (2) to involve or implicate. Also to mix up (see quot. 1823).

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mix it up—to agree secretly how the parties shall make up a tale, or colour a transaction in order to cheat or deceive another party, as in case of a justice-hearing, of a law-suit, or a cross in a boxing-match for money.

1879. E. Dicey, Victor Emanuel, p. 53. An Italian exile, who in his hot youth had been mixed up, very much against the grain, in an abortive plot for the assassination of the late king.

To mix (or join) giblets. See quots.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Giblets.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mix giblets—to intermarry—naturally or legally.

1887. Notes and Queries, 7 S. iv. 511. To join giblets. This expression may occasionally be heard ... and has a very offensive meaning.

Mixed, adj. (colloquial).—1. Confused; muddled; bewildered.

1880. Punch, 4 Sept., 106. ‘Tomkins’s First Session.’ Rather mixed after twenty-one hours’ continuous sitting.

2. (old: now American).—Foul; bad; inferior.

c. 1280. Havelok the Dane, l. 2533, p. 88 (Roxb. A). Of Cornwayle that was erl, That fole traytour, that mixed cherl.

3. (common).—Slightly drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

1872. Leeds Mercury, 29 Aug. ‘Nottingham Police Report.’ ‘Was defendant drunk?’ ‘No, Sir, he was not drunk, and he wornt sober.’ ‘You say he wasn’t drunk?’ ‘No, Sir, he was mixed.’

Mix-metal, subs. (old).—A silversmith.

1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Mixum, subs. (old).—An apothecary.

1635. Glapthorne, Hollander, i. 1. Sir, I am sent from Mr. Mixum, your apothecary.

Mizmaze, subs. (old).—See quot. 1755.

1706. Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, § 20. Those who are accustomed to reason have got the true key of books, and the clue to lead them through the mizmaze of variety of opinions and authors to truth.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mizmaze. A cant word, formed from maze by reduplication. A maze; a labyrinth.

1875. Parish, Sussex Glossary [Davies]. I was all of a mizmaze—I was all in a bewilderment.

1883. American, viii. 308. Unless he had repeated that verbal miz-maze of the Convention.

Mizzard, subs. (tramps’).—The mouth: cf. Mazzard.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv. If the beds ain’t all made ... and everything fat and lean in the kitchen, they open their mizzards and slam I can tell you.

Mizzle, verb. (common).—To decamp; to amputate (q.v.); to skedaddle (q.v.).

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, ii. 231. He preferred mizzling off to France.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 143, s.v.

1821. Egan, Real Life, i. 224. He tipp’d the slavey a tanner and mizzled.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, p. 6. Tom. That will do—now then Dicky, mizzle!—be scarce!—broom! Prince. Wouldn’t intrude a moment, gentlemen, good morning—order my carriage.

1830. T. Hood, On a Royal Demise. How monarchs die is easily explained, And thus it might upon their tombs be chiselled: As long as George IV. could reign, he reigned, And then he mizzled.

1830. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 74 (ed. 1847). ‘How you run on,’ said Rachael. ‘Run on—nothing to the hours, days, weeks, months, years, when we’re united—run on—they’ll fly on—bolt,—mizzle—steam—engine—thousand-horse-power—nothing to it.’

1840. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Lay of S. Cuthbert). ‘Cut your stick, sir—come, mizzle! be off with you! go!’

1841. Hood, in Comic Almanack, 256. But, oh! pride, pride must have a fall; Her cash he soon got through: And then, one mizzling Mich’lmas day, The Count he mizzled too.

1843. S. Coyne, Binks the Bagman, i. Binks. Sanguinary scoundrel! you have murdered that angelic woman. Begone—abscond—dissolve—mizzle!

1844. Charles Selby, London by Night, i. 1. Jack. Hawkhurst! (Aside.) I’d better mizzle.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, p. 202. Now you may mizzle, Jemmy, and if Mr. Copperfield will take the chair I’ll operate on him.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 154. Of course I mizzled, for fear of a stone or two.

1853. Comic Almanack, p. 52. ‘The Vulture.’ ‘Smith!’ I cried, ‘your horrid smoking, Irritates my cough to choking. Having mentioned it before, Really, you should not compel one—will you mizzle—as before?’ Quoth the Vulture ‘Never more.’

1853. Surtees, Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour, i. Soapey Sponge, as his good natured friends called him, was seen mizzling along Oxford St., wending his way to the west.

1857. New York Herald, 17 June. They say the treasurer has mizzled, and as there is a small sum of a hundred thousand dollars missing, the presumption is not a very violent one.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, iii. 77. ‘How dare you eat it there,’ said Hayes brutally: ‘take it to your own crib: come, mizzle.’ And with that he lent him a contemptuous kick behind.

Mizzler subs. (common).—A fugitive. Rum mizzler = a good hand at dodging or getting off.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 180 (ed. 1864). From the Arch-cove to the needy mizzler.

Moab, subs. (obsolete University).—1. A hat: specifically, the turban-shaped hat fashionable among ladies 1858–9. [From the Scripture phrase, ‘Moab is my washpot’ (Ps. lx. 8)].

1864. Reader, 22 Oct. Moab, a ... hat.... University it is all over. We feel sure we know the undergraduate who coined the expression; he is now a solemn don delivering lectures in Cambridge.

1884. Graphic, 20 Sept., p. 307/2. The third, with his varnished boots, his stiff brown moab of the newest fashion, his well-displayed shirt-cuffs.

2. (Winchester College).—See quot.

1866. Mansfield, School Life, 190. On the west side of School court, a spacious room, nicknamed Moab, has been erected, with numerous marble basins, and an unlimited supply of fresh water.

Moabite, subs. (old).—A bailiff; a philistine (q.v.).—Grose (1785).

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moabite, a constable.

Mob, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. The populace; the crowd. [A contraction of mobile vulgus]. Also mobility and mobocracy.

1686. Durfey, Common. of Women, ‘Dedication.’ The mobile being all poison’d with the pernitious Tenets of a misled, ungrateful Usurper.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia I, in Wks. (1720), iv. 15. This morning your cloaths and liveries will come home, and thou shalt appear rich and splendid like thy self, and the mobile shall worship thee.

1690. Dryden, Don Sebastian, iv. 1. She singled you out with her eyes, as commander-in-chief of the mobility.

1694. Country Conversations [Notes and Queries, 7 S. vi. 126]. ‘I cannot approve of the word mob, in these verses, which though significant enough, yet is a word but of Late Use, and not sufficiently Naturalized to appear in a serious Poem: Besides I esteem it a kind of Burlesque word and unsuitable to the Dignity of Horace.’

1702. Mrs. Centlivre, Beau’s Duel, ii. x. If so, you’ll have both the mob and the law on your side.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. vi. p. 140. The House was surrounded with the mobility, that it look’d like the Welsh-Cow-keepers-camp, consisting of a number of both Sexes, of all sorts and sizes.

1711. Spectator, No. 135. It is perhaps this humour of speaking no more words than we needs must which has so miserably curtailed some of our words, that in familiar writings and conversation they often lose all but their first syllables, as in mob., red., pos., incog., and the like.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, v. 308. Damsel with squire, and mob in the Mire.

1740. North, Examen, p. 574. I may note that the rabble first changed their title, and were called the mob, in the assemblies of this club (the Green Ribbon club 1680–82), first mobile vulgus, then contracted in one syllable.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict. [1815], s.v. Mobility.... In cant language, the populace.

1780. Lee, Chapter of Accidents, ii. 1. Brid. I don’t love to go much among the mobility, neither.

1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ix. The court-yard for the mobility, and the apartments for the nobility.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1878. Green, Short Hist. Eng. People, ch. x. § 1. p. 729. When mobs were roaring themselves hoarse for ‘Wilkes and liberty.’

2. (common).—See quots. and School; Cf. Swell-mob.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., i. p. 234. Some classes of patterers, I may here observe, work in schools or mobs of two, three, or four.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mobs. A number of thieves working together.

3. (Australian).—A number of horses, or cattle; part of a flock of sheep: a flock is the total number of fleeces tended by one shepherd; any portion of it being a mob.

1885. Mrs. Campbell Praed, The Head Station, p. 2. I wonder whether there will be a mob of fat cattle ready for the butcher next month.

4. (common).—A strumpet (also Mab).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Verb. (old: now recognised).—To crowd; to hustle; to annoy. Hence mobbing.

1741. H. Walpole, Letters, No. 9, 12 Nov. The city-shops are full of favours, the streets of marrowbones and cleavers, and the night will be full of mobbing, bonfires, and lights.

1754. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2nd ed. s.v.

1759. Townley, High Life below Stairs, i. 2. Ay, let us begone; for the common people do so stare at us—we shall certainly be mobbed.

1884. Burroughs, Birds and Poets, p. 41. They swarm about him like flies, and literally mob him back into his dusky retreat.

Swell-mob. See Swell-mob.

Mobility, (or Mobocracy). See Mob, subs., sense 1.

Mobsman, subs. (thieves’).—A pickpocket: i.e., a member of the swell-mob (q.v.).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab., iv. 25. Mobsmen, or those who plunder by manual dexterity.

Mockered, adj. (common).—Full of holes: e.g., a ragged handkerchief, or a blotched or pitted face.

Mocteroof, verb. (Covent Garden).—To doctor or fake (q.v.) damaged produce: e.g., pines are washed with a solution of gum; chestnuts shaken in a bag with bees-wax, etc.

Model (The), subs. (old).—See quot.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 113. This is Pentonville Prison, vulgarly known as the model.

Modern Babylon, subs. (common).—London. Modern Athens = Edinburgh.

Modest, adj. and adv.. (colloquial).—A vulgarism expressive of moderation; the reverse of large (q.v.). Hence, modest quencher = a small drink.

Modicum, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1675. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 258. Such knees, such thighs, and such a bum And such a, such a modicum.

Mods, subs. (Oxford University).—The first public examination for degrees. [An abbreviation of ‘Moderations’].

1887. Chambers’ Journal, 14 May, 310. Mods cannot be attempted until the end of one year from matriculation, and need not be tackled until the expiration of two.

Moey, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms see Potato-trap.

2. (American thieves’).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moey, a petition.

Moffling-chete, subs. (old).—See Muffling-cheat.

Mofussil, subs. and adj. (Anglo-Indian).—Any part of India except the three capitals, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras: specifically rural; provincial.

1772. Order of Council of H. E. I. C. in Claim of Roy Rada Churn. 13. 2. In each district shall be established two Courts of Judicature: one by the name of the mofussil Audauler or Provincial Court of Dewannee.

1845. The Mofussilite [Title]. Published in Calcutta.

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, Essay I. p. 11 (1864). ‘The conduct of the Indian government with reference to the Gwalior bungalows, the farming of mofussils to Kansamahs.’

Moggy, subs. (old).—1. A badly-dressed woman; a guy (q.v.).

2. (old).—A calf.

Mogue, verb. (common).—To gammon; to throw dust in one’s eyes.

1870. Bell’s Life, 19 June. If Mr. Milsom means business and not moguing let him cover my deposit.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 60. Sometimes we mogue ’em by pulling ’em a bit, but those bookies are fly to the game.

Mohair, subs. (old).—1. An upholsterer. Cf. Burn-crust.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

2. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Mohair, a man in the civil line, a townsman, or tradesman, a military term, from the mohair buttons worn by persons of those descriptions, or any others not in the army; the buttons of military men being always of metal; this is generally used as a term of contempt.

Mohawk (or Mohock), subs. (old).—A ruffian who infested the streets of London at the beginning of the eighteenth century. At the Restoration, the street bullies were called Muns and Tityre-Tus; then Hectors and Scourers; then, Nickers and Hawcubites; and lastly, Mohocks or Mohawks. Also as verb.

1711. Swift, Journal to Stella, 8 March. Did I tell you of a race of rakes, called the mohawks that play the devil about this town every night?

1712. Steele, Spectator, No. 324. The mohock-club, a name borrowed, it seems, from a sort of cannibals in India, who subsist by plundering and devouring all the nations about them.

1712. Gay, Trivia, iii. 326. Who has not trembled at the mohock’s name?

1717. Prior, Alma, iii. Give him port and potent sack; From a milksop he starts up mohack.

1719. T. Durfey, Pills to Purge, vi. 336. There’s a new set of Rakes, Entitled mohacks, Who infest Her Majesties subjects.

1755. Gentlemen’s Mag., xxv. 65. The mohacks and Hell-Fire-Club, the heroes of the last generation.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, i. ch. viii. Some loitering rascal who has been out a mohawking to-day.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [Dick’s ed.], p. 58. He’s the leader of the mohocks.

1861. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 4 a.m. Par. 9. A Billingsgate fish-fag, was more than a match for a mohock.

1882. Punch, lxxxii. 83. ‘The Mohock Revival.’ That ancient form of ruffianism known as mohockism.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, 7. These were the Muns ... the Hectors ... and the mohocks.

Mohican, subs. (obsolete).—See quot.

1848. Tait’s Mag., 2 S. xv. 309. A mohican, in Cadonian phraseology, is a tremendously heavy man, who rides five or six miles [in an omnibus] for sixpence.

Moiety, subs. (old).—1. See quots.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moiety, fifty.

2. (colloquial).—A wife.

Moisten, verb. (common).—To drink; to lush (q.v.). Also to moisten one’s chaffer (or clay).

Moke, subs. (common).—1. An ass.

English synonyms. Baldwin; cuddy (Scots’); donkey; Dick; Edward; Issachar; Jack; Jenny; Jerusalem; Jerusalem pony; King of Spain’s trumpeter; long-ears; myla; Neddy.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii. 85. I had a good moke, and a tidyish box of a cart.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxx. The one who rides from market on a moke.

1856. Punch, xxxi. 218. We understand that the directors have been actually challenged by a sporting minded costermonger who has offered to back his moke against the fastest engine.

1866. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, iii. As one out of every three Bedouins you meet in the country is mounted on a meek little moke ... I should put down the number of Arab asses at about one million.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, viii. I am regular shook on this old moke, I believe.

1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, 85. I got to go to market, and we ain’t no bloomin’ moke.

1889. Illustrated Bits, 13 July. Billy Skipper once came to Ben Bouncer to ask for the loan of his moke.

1894. Sketch, 28 March, 458, col. 2. ‘’E wants a barrer an’ a moke of ‘is hown,’ said Nan. ‘’E’s tired of a barsket.’

2. (common).—A dolt. See quot. 1871.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v. Moke, possibly a remnant of the obsolete moky, which is related to ‘murky,’ is used in New York to designate an old fogy or any old person, disrespectfully spoken to.

1871. Galveston News, 4 May. See here, my lively moke, said he, you sling on too much style.

3. (theatrical).—A variety artist who plays on several instruments.

4. (American).—A negro; a snowball (q.v.).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 617. s.v.

Moko, subs. (sportsmen’s).—A pheasant shot by mistake before the end of the close time. The tail feathers are pulled out. Cf. Lion, subs. sense 4.

Mole, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms see Creamstick and Prick. See Mowdiwark.

Molecatcher, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Moll, subs. (common).—1. A girl; and (2) a female companion. [From mollesher (q.v.)]

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Molls—are the female companions of low thieves, at bed, board, and business.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

3. (common).—A prostitute; a molly (q.v.). For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. p. 245. She went up to some of the swell streets at the West End to see another moll, a pal of hers.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. Likewise you molls that flash your bubs For swells to spot.

Molled up, adj. phr. (thieves’).—1. See quot.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. etc., i. 336. Furnished cribs let to needys (nightly lodgers) that are molled up (that is to say, associated with women in the sleeping rooms).

2. (colloquial).—Arm-in-arm with, or accompanied by, a woman.

Moll-Blood, subs. (old Scots’).—The gallows. For synonyms see Ladder.

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xx. Three words of your mouth would give the girl the chance to nick moll blood.

Moll-buzzer, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moll ... Moll-buzzer a thief that devotes himself to picking the pockets of women.

Mollie, subs. (nautical).—See quot.

1885. Schley and Soley, Rescue of Greely, p. 183. Whenever the whaling fleet is stopped for a number of days in the ice, it is the practice for the captains to assemble on board one or other of the ships to discuss the prospects of the season’s catch. These interviews are called mollies and are announced by a bucket hoisted as a signal at the fore-royal mast-head.... Generally speaking a mollie means making a night of it.

Mollisher, subs. (thieves’).—A thief’s mistress; a moll (q.v.).

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. etc., i. p. 472. One old mollesher ... brought out 8lbs. of white rags.

Moll Peatley’s Gig, subs. phr. (old).—Copulation. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Moll-sack, subs. (thieves’).—A lady’s hand-bag; a market basket.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Moll-Thompson’s Mark (or M.T.). subs. phr. (old).—Empty packages are said to be so marked: as adj. = empty.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Moll-tooler, subs. (thieves’).—A female pick-pocket. For synonyms see Thieves.

Moll-wire, subs. (thieves’).—See Moll-buzzer. For synonyms see Thieves.

Molly (Miss Molly, or Molly-coddle), subs. (common).—1. An effeminate person; a milk-sop (q.v.).

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxi. You have been bred up as a molly-coddle, Pen, and spoilt by the women.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1860. G. Eliot, Mill on the Floss, ix. Such a thin-legged silly fellow as his uncle Pellet—a molly-coddle in fact.

1864. Hamilton Aïdé, Mr. & Mrs. Faulconbridge, I. 279. You young men are such a set of molly-coddles.

1883. Daily News, 2 July, p. 5, col. 2. Attempts are sometimes made to dismiss as molly-coddles those who protest against the mania for indiscriminate mountaineering.

2. (old).—A prostitute; a moll (q.v.). For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, i. 5. Town follies and cullies, and molleys and Dolleys.

3. (old).—A sodomite; a Mary-Ann (q.v.).—Grose (1785).

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

4. (old).—A country wench.

Molly-coddle, verb. (common).—To pamper. Also moddley-coddley.

1870. Dickens, Mystery of Edwin Drood, ii. Don’t moddley-coddley, there’s a good fellow. I like anything better than being moddley-coddleyed.

1895. Referee, 29 Dec., p. 5, col. 2. Who treats of molly-coddling regulations.

Molly-coddlish, adj. (common).—Effeminate. Also Mollyish.

1801. Dibdin, The Frisk. ‘Jack at the Opera.’ If it wan’t for the petticoat gear, With their squeaking so mollyish, tender, and soft, One should scarcely know ma’am from mounseer.

1883. Referee, 25 March, 7, 4. I daresay to make even such remarks as I have is only the sign of a molly-coddlish mind.

Mollygrubs. See Mulligrubs.

Molly Maguires, subs. (obsolete).—1. An Irish secret society (c. 1843) formed to intimidate bailiffs and process-servers.

1868. Trench, Realities of Irish Life, vi. ‘These molly maguires were generally stout active young men, dressed up in women’s clothes, with faces blackened or otherwise disguised; sometimes they wore crape over their countenances, sometimes they smeared themselves in the most fantastic manner with burnt cork about their eyes, mouth, and cheeks. In this state they used suddenly to surprise the unfortunate grippers, keepers, or process-servers, and either duck them in bog-holes, or beat them in the most unmerciful manner, so that the molly maguires became the terror of all our officials.’

2. (American).—A secret society formed in 1877 in the mining districts of Pennsylvania. The members sought to effect their purpose by intimidation, carried in some cases to murder. Several were brought to justice and executed.

1867. Hepworth Dixon, New America, ii. 28. The judge who tried the murderer was elected by the Molly Maguires; the jurors who assisted him were themselves Molly Maguires. A score of Molly Maguires came forward to swear that the assassin was sixty miles from the spot on which he had been seen to fire at William Dunn ... and the jurors returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

Molly-puff, subs. (old).—A gamblers’ decoy.

1629. Shirley, Wedding, iv. 3. Thou molly-puff, were it not justice to kick thy guts out?

Molly’s-hole, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Molocker, subs. (common).—See quots. Also as adj. and verb.

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, ‘On Things Going,’ Essay v. p. 105 (1864). ’Tis like an old hat that has been molokered, or ironed and greased into a simulacrum of its pristine freshness.

1892. Westminster Gaz., 4 Aug., p. 3. Even our beth customerth—vorking men ath likth a good molocker (molocker, it appears, is the trade term for renovated old chapeaux).

Molrower, subs. (common).—A whoremonger. For synonyms see Mutton-monger.

Molrowing, subs. (common).—1. Whoring. Cf. sense 2. See Greens and Ride.

2. (common).—Caterwauling.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 42. Beats ’Andel’s molrowings a buster.

Mome, subs. (old).—A blockhead. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

c. 1550. Inglelend, Disobedient Child [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 315]. Me her husband, as a stark mome, With knocking and mocking she will handle.

1557–8. Jacob & Esau [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 208]. Or whether Jacob have any, that peakish mome.

1560. Nice Wanton [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 165]. I would sit quaking like a mome for fear.

1562–3. Jack Juggler [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 138]. But if I were a wise woman as I am a mome, I should make myself, as good cheer at home.

b. 1583. Flodden Field [Child, Ballads, vii. 73]. Away with this foolish mome.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iii. 1. 32. Mome, malt-horse, capon ... idiot, patch.

1606. Drayton, Skeltoniad [Chalmers, iv. 428]. Parnassus is not clome By every such mome.

1661. Brome, Songs, p. 105. Words are but wind, but blows come home, A stout-tongu’d lawyer’s but a mome.

Monarch, subs. (thieves’).—1. A name. Also moneker, moniker, monarcher, and monick.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 232. What is your monekeer?

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1879. Macmillan’s Mag., xl. 502. At the station they asked me what my monarch was.

1891. Sporting Life, 1 April. Then came Perrin (otherwise ‘Curley’) and ‘The Pocket Knifton’ (whose real moniker did not transpire).

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 83. I go by the monarcher of North Eye ever since. Ibid. 93. I can’t read or write my monarcher.

1895. Times, 11 Nov., p. 3, col. 5. ‘Silver Robbery’. The van is all right. I have had the monnick taken off.

2. (Eton College).—The ten-oared boat.

3. (old).—Formerly a guinea; now a sovereign. For synonyms see Canary.

Big monarcher (tramps’).—A person of note; a big-bug (q.v.).

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 84. It’s always a bad day for me if a big monarcher preaches.

Monas, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Isle of Man Railway shares.

Monday. See St. Monday.

Monday, subs. (common).—An intensitive. Cf. Awful, Bleeding, Bloody, etc.

1892. Kipling, Barrack-Room-Ballads, ‘Snarleyow.’ An’ if one wheel was juicy, you may lay your monday head ’Twas juicier for the niggers when the case began to spread.

Mondayish (or Mondayfied), adj. (common).—See quots.

1864. Fraser’s Magazine, March, p. 382. Sunday is not a day of rest to him [the clergyman]; it is a day of grateful work, in which many week duties are laid aside; but it is a day of work, the reaction from which has created the clerical slang word mondayish.

1885. Ill. Lon. News, 26 Sept., p. 331. When one feels fagged and wearied, with nerves overstrained, and altogether in that used-up condition that a parson, after a hard Sunday’s work, terms mondayish.

English synonyms. In the Idles; not-up-to-work; run down; seedy; off colour; off it; off the spot; out of it; shilly-shally; soft in the back; stale.

French synonyms. Etre carne (popular); s’engrouillé (popular); s’enrossé (popular); être un Flémard: also avoir la flème or flemme; n’en pas foutre un clou, un coup, or une secousse (= to be superlatively idle); malade du pouce; mou comme une loche; un Saint-lâche (= a mondayish workman).

Mondongo. See Mundungus.

Money, subs. (colloquial).—1. Money’s worth; a way or line of investing money.

1851–61. Mayhew, London Lab., i. 95. I sell dry fruit, sir, in February and March, because I must be doing something, and green fruit’s not my money then.

2. (venery).—See quot. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Money. A girl’s private parts, commonly applied to little children: as: Take care, Miss, or you will show your money.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Eggs for money, subs. phr. (old).—An excuse; a trick.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. Mine honest friend, Will you take eggs for money.

Hard-money, subs. (colloquial).—Coin. Soft money = notes.

1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 1st Ser. vi. I du believe hard coin the stuff, For ’lectioneers to spout on; The people’s ’ollers soft enough. To make hard money out on.

Money makes the mare to go. See Mare.

Pot of money, subs. phr. (common).—A large amount.

Money-bags, subs. (common).—A miser; a usurer; a man of means.

Money-box (Maker, or spinner). The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Money-dropper, subs. (thieves’).—A swindler who lets money drop before some ‘flat’, and, offering to share it with him, passes off counterfeit coin in return for good ‘change’.

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, A rascally money-dropper.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Money-grubber, subs. (colloquial).—A miser.

Mongrel, subs. (old).—See quot. 1785.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mongrel, a hanger on amongst cheats, a spunger; also a child, whose father and mother are of different countries.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Moniker. See Monarch.

Monk, subs. (common).—1. A term of contempt.

2. (printers’).—An over-inked spot in a printed sheet; a dark patch; a blackened or wasted impression. See Friar.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. Monk. Caxton set up his printing press in the scriptorium of Westminster Abbey; and the associations of this place gave rise to the slang expressions monk and friar for black and white defects.

Monkery, subs. (tramps’).—1. The country; daisyville (q.v.).

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.

1820. Egan, Boxiana, iii. 18. Having a snooze and blowing a long one in the monkery.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd. ed.), s.v.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 266. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘I don’t know what this ere monkry will come to, after a bit.’

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, v. ‘Do you belong to the start or the monkery?’ they asked. ‘London,’ says I. Ibid. 58. The boss had training quarters in the monkery for racers and hunters.

2. (tramps’).—Tramps; vagrants: collectively.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 336. The place was well-known to the monkery.

On the monkery, phr. (tramps’).—On tramp.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 344. Thirty years on the monkery.

Monkey, subs. (colloquial).—1. A term of real or affected displeasure. Also, an endearment.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, iv. 1. ‘This is the monkey’s own giving out; She is persuaded that I will marry her.’

1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 206]. My mistress is so sweet ... she never goes to the stool. O she is a most sweet little monkey.

1639. Glapthorne, Wit in a Constable [Pearson (1874), i. 219]. Clar. Grace. Ha, ha, ha. Free. What doe the monkyes laugh at?

1786. Burns, Address to the Deil. The bleezin’, curst, mischievous monkeys.

1879. Ruskin, Letter to Young Girls [Century]. Serve the poor, but, for your lives, you little monkeys, don’t preach to them.

1895. Iota, A Comedy in Spasms, vii. That monkey there might be a countess in her own right.

2. (racing).—Five hundred pounds sterling; also (in America) $500. See Rhino.

1856. The Druid, Post and Paddock. ‘Voltigeur’s Derby-day.’ ‘Our Jim’ is ‘up’, triumphant over surgeon, drugs, and nurse, And he hopes to see Newmarket with a monkey in his purse.

1861. Whyte-Melville, Good for Nothing [Century]. A monkey at least to the credit side of your own book landed in about a minute and a half.

1864. Derby-day, 132. ‘In that case, I’ll lay you two to one in monkeys.’ The Duke took out his book, and made an entry.

1882. Punch, lxxxii. 69. 1. He’ll bet in monkeys, ponies, though he has seldom ready cash.

1883. Graphic, 13 Jan., p. 39, col. 2. Notwithstanding the increase of ‘added’ money from 200 sovs. to a monkey, which, as every one knows, is the turf parlance for 500 sovs.

1885. Daily Chronicle, 3 Feb. The Grand Hurdle Handicap, the added money to which is a monkey.

1890. Globe, 13 Feb., p. 5, col. 5. The amount of the Slavin testimonial subscribed by the sporting public was £500, which was given to him at his wedding breakfast yesterday. Slavin is indeed a lucky fellow to have a monkey and a charming wife presented to him on one day.

1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. Keen, yet honest and business-like, he soon got on, and took a place inside the ring, and worked his way up until he disdained to lay odds to anything under a monkey, and had some £30,000 depending upon the great events of the year.

1892. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 101. He had bought a couple of horses with Lord Mayfield’s monkey, and was preparing them for a selling race.

3. (bricklayers’).—A hod.

4. (prison).—A padlock.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.

5. (military).—A rocket-driving instrument.

6. (nautical).—A vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.

7. (old).—See quot.

1889. Notes & Queries, 7 S. vii. 22 June, p. 498. The monkey was a small ‘bustle’, which in the days of very short waists was worn just below the shoulder blades.

8. (American).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Verb. (common).—To trifle; to play; to fool about.

1887. Francis, Saddle & Mocassin, 143. It is just possible that I may have been monkeying with the cards a little.

1889. Harper’s Mag., lxxix. 465. I hope he’ll fetch money. I’ve had enough o’ monkeying ’long o’ checks.

Monkey on horseback, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, s.v. Who put that monkey on horseback without tying his legs? Vulgar wit on a bad horseman.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. monkey.

Monkey on a wheel, subs. phr. (common).—A bicyclist. Fr. un imbécile à deux roues.

Monkey with a long tail, subs. phr. (legal).—See quot. A monkey up the chimney = a mortgage on one’s house.

1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. To a lawyer ... a mortgage is a monkey with a long tail.

To get one’s monkey up, verb. phr. (common).—1. To get angry. Hence, his monkey is up (or he has a monkey on his back) = he is angry. Fr. reniquer.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. p. 229. My monkey was up, and I felt savage.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ix. The mare, like some women when they get their monkey up, was clean out of her senses.

1891. Lic. Vict. Gazette, 23 Jan. Each man’s monkey was up.

To suck the monkey, verb. phr. (nautical).—1. To drink rum out of cocoa-nuts, emptied of milk and filled with spirits; (2) to drink liquor from a cask through a gimlet-hole and a straw (called tapping the admiral, which see); and (3) to drink from the bottle.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Monkey.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, lvii. I didn’t peach at Barbados, when the men sucked the monkey.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Black Mousquetaire.’ What the vulgar call sucking the monkey, Has much less effect on a man when he’s funky.

1864. Daily Telegraph, 26 July. Behind and in front of the bourgeois warriors, who, standing or sitting at ease, were smoking or taking a suck at the monkey, otherwise the whisky flask, there marched another dress parade.

Monkey with a tin tool, subs. phr. (common).—A phrase expressive of impudence or self-content: e.g., O, they’re as cocky as monkeys with tin tools.

Monkey-board, subs. (obsolete).—The conductor’s place on an old-style omnibus.

1860. Punch, xxxviii. p. 186. I was on the monkey-board behind.

1883. Jas. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, & Co., p. 27. The omnibus conductors ... the ill-paid and hard-worked drudges of the monkey-board.

Monkey-boat, subs. (nautical).—A long, narrow, canal boat. Also a small boat used in the docks.

Monkey-cage, subs. (common).—The grated room in which a convict sees his friends. Fr. le parloir des singes.

Monkey-coat (or -jacket), subs. (nautical).—A short, close-fitting jacket: a coat ‘with no more tail than a monkey.’ See Capella.

Monkey-pump, subs. (nautical).—The straw used in ‘sucking the monkey’ (q.v.).

Monkey’s-allowance, subs. (common).—‘More kicks than halfpence.’

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Monkey.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ii. When you get on board you’ll find monkey’s allowance.

1856. C. Kingsley, Letter [3rd abridged ed. 1879], May. You fellows worked like bricks, spent money, and got midshipman’s half-pay (nothing a-day and find yourself) and monkey’s allowance (more kicks than halfpence).

Monkeyshines (Monkeytricks or Monkeyings), subs. (common).—1. Antics; and (2) tricks.

1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i. Take care, young woman, you can’t tell what monkey tricks he may have been up to in foreign parts.

1878. A. R. Grote, Pop. Sci. Monthly, xiii. 435. You may have noticed bare-footed boys cutting up monkey-shines on trees with entire safety to themselves.

1887. Lippincotts’ Mag., Aug. ‘A Land of Love,’ p. 231. Such monkey-shines! It proves that you have no serious interest in science.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xi. Don’t get up to any monkey tricks.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 6. Your monkeyings mar every pageant.

Monkey’s-money, subs. (old).—1. Goods; (2) labour; and (3) words. Fr. monnaie des singes.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, iv. 3. It was an original by Master Charles Charmois, principal painter to king Megistus (of France), paid for in court fashion with monkey’s money.

Monkey’s-tail, subs. (old nautical).—See quot.

1823. Marryat, Peter Simple, p. 28 [ed. 1863]. ‘Youngster, hand me that monkey’s tail!’ I saw nothing like a monkey’s tail, but I was so frightened that I snatched up the first thing that I saw which was a very short bar of iron, and it so happened that it was the very article wanted.

Monmouth-street finery, subs. phr. (old).—See quot. [Monmouth-Street (now Dudley-Street) was long a mart for second-hand clothes]. Cf. Wardour-street English.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., etc. ii. 25. Monmouth-street finery was a common term to express tawdriness and pretence.

Monniker (or Monick). See Moneker.

Monocular-eyeglass, subs. (common).—The breech. For synonyms see Bum.

Monosyllable, (also Divine Monosyllable) subs. (venery).—The female pudendum; cunt (q.v.).

English synonyms. A.B.C.; Abraham’s bosom (generic); ace; ace of spades; Adam’s own; agility; agreeable ruts of life; alcove; alley; almanack; Alpha and Omega; altar; altar of Hymen; altar of love; altar of pleasure; amulet; antipodes; aphrodisiacal tennis court (Urquhart); arbour; attic; Aunt Maria; axis.

Baby-maker; bag of tricks; bank; basket-maker; bath of birth (Whitman); bazaar; beauty; beauty-spot; bed-fellow; bee-hive; belle chose (Chaucer); Belly Dale; Belly Dingle; belly-entrance; Berkeley-Hunt (rhyming); best (Dorset); best in Christendom (Rochester); best-worst part (Donne); bird’s nest; bit; bite (Grose); bit of fish, of jam, of meat, of mutton, of pork, of rough, or of skate; bit on a fork; Black (Will. Cavendish); Black Bess; black hole; black (or brown, or grey) jock; black ring; blind eye; Bluebeard’s closet; boat; bob-and-hit; bonne-bouche; bore; Botany Bay; book-binder’s wife (‘manufacturing in sheets’: G. A. Stevens); Bottomless Pit; bower; bower of bliss (Carew and Herrick); box; brat-getting place (Florio); breach; breadwinner (prostitutes’); broom; brown madam (Grose); bucket; Buckinger’s boot (Grose); budget; bull’s eye (Rochester); bumbo (negro); bun; bung-hole; busby; Bushey Park; butcher’s shop; butter-boat; button-hole.

Cabbage; cabbage-field, -garden, or -patch; cab-mat; caldron (Ramsay); callibistry (Urquhart); can; candlestick; canister (Burns); Cape Horn; Cape of Good Hope; carnal-trap (Urquhart); case; cat (Durfey); catch-’em-alive-o; cat’s-meat; catherine wheel; cauliflower; cave of harmony; caze (Burton); cellar (R. Brome); cellarage; cellar-door; central furrow (Clelland); central office; centre of attraction; centre-of-bliss; centrique part (Donne); certificate of birth; chat; chink; chum; churn; circle (Shakspeare and Congreve); civet; claff (Lyndsay); clap-trap; cleft of flesh (Clelland); clock; cloth (generic); the clouds; cloven spot (Clelland); cock; Cock-Alley; cockchafer; cock-holder; Cock-Inn; Cock-Lane; cockloft; cockpit; Cockshire; cockshy; coffee-shop; cogie (Scots’); commodity (Shakspeare, etc.); concern; coney; confessional; conjuring-book (Durfey); contrapunctum (Urquhart); conundrum; cookie; copy-hold (Durfey); corner-cupboard; cornucopia; County-Down; coupler; covered way (Sterne); coynte (Burton); coyote; crack; cradle; cranny; cream-jug; crevice; crinkum-crankum; crooked way; crown of sense (Rochester); cuckoo’s nest; cunnie (Durfey); cunnikin; cunny-burrow (Urquhart); cuntkin; cuntlet; Cupid’s-Alley, (-anvil, -arbour, -cave, -cloister, -corner, -cupboard, -highway, -ring, or -pincushion); cushat; cushion; custom-house; custom-house goods (a harlot’s: ‘because fairly entered’: Grose); cut-and-come-again; Cyprian-arbour, -cave, or -strait (Carew).

Daisy; dark, or dark-hole; dearest bodily part (Shakspeare); diddle; diddly-pout; dimple; doodle-case; doodle-sack; dormouse; down bed of beauty (Stevens); Downshire; downstairs; downy-bit; drain; dripping-pan; duck pond; dumb-glutton; dumb-, or hairy-, oracle; dumb-squint; duster; Dutch clock; dyke.

Eel-pot (or -trap); eel-skinner; End of the Sentimental Journey (Sterne); entrance; Et-cetera (Rochester and Clelland); evergreen; everlasting wound; Eve’s custom-house (‘where Adam made the first entry’: Grose); exchequer (Donne); Exeter-hall; eye that weeps most when best pleased (Stevens).

Factotum; fancy bit; Fanny; Fanny-Artful; Fanny-Fair; faucett; fiddle (Burns); fie-for-shame (schoolgirls’); fig; firelock; fireplace; firework; fish (generic); fish-market; flap; flapdoodle; fleshly-idol (Brown); fleshly-part; flower; flower of chivalry; flower-pot; fly-by-night; fly-cage; fly-trap; forecaster; forecastle; fore-hatch; fore-room; forewoman; forge; fort; fortress; fountain of love; free fishery; front-garden; front-gut; front-parlor; fruitful vine (‘which bears flowers every four weeks, and fruit every nine months’: Grose); Fumbler’s-Hall; funniment; furrow (Burns).

Gallimaufry; gap (Durfey); garden; Garden of Eden; gash; Gate of Horn; Gate of Life (Burns); G.C.; gentleman’s pleasure garden; garrison (Crowne); gear (Florio); gigg (Grose); goatmilker; goldfinch’s nest; gravy-giver; greens (generic); green meadow; grotto; Grove of Eglantine (Carew); grummett; gully; gut-entrance; gutter; gymnasium; gyvel (Burns).

Hair-court; Hairyfordshire; hairy ring; half-moon (Killigrew); Hans Carvel’s ring (Urquhart and Prior); happy hunting-grounds; harbour; harbour of hope; hatchway; heaven; hell; hole of content (Florio); hole of holes; Holloway; home-sweet-home; horse-collar; hotel; house under the hill; housewife; hypogastrian cranny (Urquhart).

India (Donne); ineffable; inglenook; intercrural trench (Urquhart); It; itcher; Itching Jenny; Ivory Gate.

Jacob’s Ladder; Jack Straw’s Castle; jam-pot; jelly-bag; jewel; jigger; jock; justum (Urquhart).

Kaze; keifer (generic); kennel (Rochester); kettle (Durfey, etc.); kitchen; Kitty; knick-knack.

Ladder; Lady Berkeley; lady-flower (Whitman); Lady Jane; lady-star (Hall); lamp of love; Lapland; lather-maker; leading article; lea-rigs (generic: Burns); leather (generic: Urquhart, Lyndsay, Burns); Leather-Lane; leavingshop; Life’s Dainty (G. A. Stevens); ling; little sister; little spot where uncle’s doodle goes; living fountain (Herrick); lobster-pot; lock; locker; lock of all locks (Stevens); Love-lane; Love’s harbour (Carew); Love’s Paradise (Marston); Lowlands; Low Countries; lucky-bag.

Machine; maddikin; Madge (Grose); Madge Howlett; magnet; main avenue (Clelland); malkin (Lyndsay); mangle; manhole; man-trap; Marble Arch; mark (Durfey); mark-of-the-beast; Mary-Jane; masterpiece; meat (generic); meat-market; medlar; melting-pot; merkin (R. Fletcher, and A. Smith); Middle Kingdom; Midlands; milker; milking-pail; milk-pan; milt-market; mill (Durfey, Burns, etc.); milliner’s shop; mine of pleasure; miraculous cairn; Miss Brown (Grose); Miss Laycock (Grose); modicum (Cotton); money (Grose); money-box; money-maker; money-spinner; monkey (American); mole-catcher; Molly’s Hole; Mons Meg; mortar; moss-rose; mossy bank; mossy cell; mossy-face; mother of all saints, all souls, or St. Patrick; Mount-Faulcon (Florio); Mount Pleasant; mouse; mouser; mousetrap; mouth thankless; (Old Scots’: Kennedy, Lyndsay, Scott); mouth that says no word about it (G. A. Stevens); muff (Burns); mumble-peg; mushroom; mustard-pot; mutton (generic and universal).

Naggie; name-it-not; nameless; nature; nature’s tufted treasure; naughty; needle-case; nest (American); nest in the bush; nether eye, or lips (Chaucer); never-out; niche; niche-cock; nick-in-the-notch; nonny-nonny; non-such; notch; novelty; Number-Nip; nursery.

Old Ding; old hat (Fielding and Sterne); old woman; omnibus; open C; oracle; orchard; ornament; orifice; open charms (Little); oven; oyster (Killigrew); oyster-catcher.

Palace of pleasure; pancake; parenthesis (Jon Bee); parsley-bed (Durfey); parts of shame (Pope); patch; peculiar river (Shakspeare); penwiper; periwinkle; pfotz (Hall Stevenson); pincushion; pintle-case; pipe; pisser; pit (Herrick); pitcher; pit-mouth; pit of darkness; place; placket-box (Durfey); pleasure-boat; pleasure ground; pleasure’s place (Davis); plum-tree (Cotgrave); p-maker; portal to the bower of bliss (Herrick); postern gate to the Elysian fields (Herrick); pouter; premises; pretty; prick-holder; prick-skinner; prin-cock (Dunbar); privates; privities; privy-hole; privy Paradise; pudend (Urquhart); punse (Yiddish); pulpit (old); purse (Donne); puss (Durfey and Cotton); pulse; pussy-cat.

Quaint; quarry; quaver-case (A. Scott); Queen of Holes (Rochester); quem; queynte (Chaucer and Florio); quim; quimsby; quivive.

Rasp; rattle-ballocks; receipt of custom; red ace; Red-C.; regulator (Burns); rest-and-be-thankful; ring; road to a christening; roasting jack; rob-the-ruffian; rooster; rose; rough-O; rough malkin; rough-and-ready; rough-and-tumble; rufus.

Sack (Durfey); saddle; salt-cellar; sampler; scabbard; scuttle; seal; sear; secret parts (Shakspeare); seed-plot; seminary; sex; shake-bag; sharp-and-blunt (rhyming); sheath; shell (Lyndsay and Dunbar); skin-coat (Urquhart); skin-the-pizzle; slipper; slit; slot; Smock-Alley; snatch (American); snatch-blatch (Motteux); snatch-box; socket (Jonson); solution of continuity (Urquhart); South Pole; spender; sperm-sucker; spit-fire; spinning-jenny; split-apricot; split-fig; split-mutton (generic); spleuchan (Burns); sporran; Sportsman’s Gap; Sportsman’s Hole; spot of Cupid’s archery (Rochester); square push (American); standing room for one; star; star over the garter (Lord Cork); Stream’s Town (Irish: Grose); suck-and-swallow; sugar-basin.

Tail (general); target; teazle (Ramsay); temple of Venus; tench; tenuc (back-slang); that; Thatched House; thing; thingamy; thingumbob; tickler; tickle-Thomas; tickle-toby; tile; tirly-whirly (Burns); tit-mouse; toll-dish (Durfey); tool-chest; touch-’em-up; touch-hole; towdie (Dunbar); tow-wow (A. Smith); towsy-mowsy (Dorset); toy (Etherege); toy-shop; treasure; treasury of love (Clelland); tu quoque (Grose); turnpike; tuzzi-muzzy; twat (Durfey); twachylle; twittle; tunnel.

Under-belongings; under-dimple; under-entrance; under-world; undeniable; Upper Holloway; upright wink; undertaker.

Vacuum; vade-mecum; Venus’s Secret Cell, Highway, Honey pot, or Mark; vessel (Semple); vestry; vineyard.

Wame (Burns); wanton ace; ware; waste-pipe; water-box (Florio); water-gap (Urquhart); water-gate (Durfey); water-mill (Grose); way-in; wayside-fountain; wayside-ditch; weather-gig (Durfey); what-do-you-call-it; whim-wham; wicket; wonderful lamp; workshop.

Yoni; you-know-what; yum-yum.

French synonyms. L’abricot de la jardinière (common: also abricot fendu = split-apricot); l’affaire (conventional = thing, q.v.); l’amarris (O. Fr. = matrix. Also l’amatrix); l’angora (common = cat, q.v.); l’animal (= the beast); l’anneau (common = ring, q.v. Also l’anneau d’Hans Carvel = Hans Carvel’s ring, q.v.); l’antre or l’antre à Priape (conventional: = Priapus’ lair); les appas (= charms); l’argument (= oracle); l’atelier (common = workshop, q.v. Also l’atelier de Vénus); l’armoyre (= cupboard); l’autel (conventional = the altar: also l’autel de Vénus and l’autel velu); l’autre or l’autre chose (= thing or thingamy); l’avec (= the wherewithal); le bagage; la bague (common = ring, q.v.); le bahut (common: = cupboard); le baquet (common: = pissing-tub); le bas (conventional = the under-world or -entrance); la basse-cour (= courtyard); les basses-marches (common = the bottom-steps); le bassin (= the dock); la batterie; la baudrière équinoxiale (= the equinoctial belt); le bedon (= drum); le belouse; le beauvoire (= beauty-spot: also beauvoire de Vénus); le bénitier (common = font); le bidault; le bijou (literary = the jewel); le biribi; le bis (= Miss Brown); le bissac (common = wallet); le blanc; la blouse (billiard players’ = pocket); la boîte d’amourette (= Love’s casket); le bonnet (common = cap, q.v. Also le bonnet à poils = hair-cap; and le bonnet de grenadier = busby); la bouche d’en bas (common = under-mouth); la bourse à vits (Rabelais = prick-purse); la boussole (= compass); la bouteille (= bottle); la boutique (common = shop); le bouton; la boutonnière (general = button-hole); le brasier (common = melting-pot); la brèche (common = breach); le brelingot; le bréviaire, cf. Conjuring Book; le but d’amour (common = Love’s bull’s-eye: also le but de désir and le but mignon de fouterie); Ça (conventional = that, q.v.); le cabinet (common = the W.C.); le cadran (= Love’s dial); la cage (common = cage, q.v.); le canal (= drain); le canichon (common = poodle); le calendrier (common = almanack); le callibistri (Rabelais); le calibre (= bore); le carimara; le carrefour; le cas (= hole); le cas du devant (= forehatch); la casemate; le caudet; la cave (common = cellar); la caverne (= Bottomless pit, q.v.); ce (= that); ceci (conventional = this: cf. that); cela (= that, q.v.); le Céleste-empire (literary = Celestial empire); celui qui a perdu; celui de l’argent (= money); celui qui regarde; celui qui contrebas; le centre (common = centrebit); le centre de délices (= centre of bliss); la chambre; la chambre défendue (= Bluebeard’s closet); le champ (common = garden); le champ de bataille (= battle-field); le champ de Vénus (= Venus’s garden); le chandelier (common = candlestick); le chapeau (common: cf. old hat and le bonnet); la chapelle (common: cf. Holy of Holies); les charmes; le charmier (= charmer); le chat (common = puss); le château de gaillardin (= Wanton Castle); la divine cicatrice (literary = divine scar); le chaudet; le chaudron (common = kettle); le chemin de Paradis (literary = the road to heaven, q.v.); la cheminée (= chimney); la chose (conventional = thing, q.v.); la citadelle (= fort); la cité d’amour (literary = City of Love); le clapier (= warren: cf. Cunnyborough); le cloître (= cloister); le cœur (O. Fr.); la coiffe (common = cap); le coin (= nook); le combien (prostitutes’ = ‘how much?’ cf. breadwinner); le comment-à-nom (= What’s-its-name); le con (old and common = cunt, q.v.: other forms, diminutive or familiar, are concon, conil = cunny, conillon = cuntlet, connin, conneau, connasse = bushel-cunt, and connichon = cunnikin, conibert, connaud); le concentrique (= centrique part); le cornet; le cornichon (common); le corps-de-garde (= guard-room); la coquille (= shell); le corbillon (= basket); le corridor d’amour (literary: cf. Cupid’s Alley); le creuset (common = melting-pot); le creux (= chasm); la crevasse (= chink, or cranny); le crot; le crot à faire bon-bon; la cuisine (= kitchen); le crypsimen; le cul (popular: specifically, the rectum); le cymbe; le custodinos; le dé; le dédale (common = maze); le dedans (cf. Holy of Holies); le drôle; le devant (common: cf. front-parlour); le dévorant (common: cf. dumb-glutton); l’écaille (= shell); l’écoutille (nautical = scuttle); l’écu; l’écrevisse; l’écuelle (common); l’empire du Milieu (literary = Middle Kingdom: cf. l’empire Céleste); l’emplâtre; l’enclume (= anvil); l’endroit (= the Place); enfer (= Hell); l’engin (= tool); l’ennemi (= the enemy); l’entrée; l’entonnoir (= funnel); l’entre-deux (popular: also l’entremise and l’entre-sol); l’essaim; l’estré; l’étable; l’évier (= sink); l’éteignoir (common = the extinguisher); l’éternelle cicatrice (literary = the everlasting scar); l’étoffe à faire la pauvreté (common); l’étui (= needle-case, (q.v.); le faquin; le faucon; la fendasse (military = gash); le fenil (= cockloft); la fente (common = slit); la feuille de sauge; la fève; la figue (common = fig); la fiquatelle; le fita; la fontaine (common = fountain); la fontenelle; le formulaire; la forêt de bois-mort; le fort (= fort); la forteresse (= stronghold); la fosse (cf. hole); le fossé (= ditch); le four (common = oven); la fourche (= fork); la fournaise (= furnace); le fracte; la fressure (Old Fr.); le frippe-lippe; le front; le fruit d’amour (general); la gaîne (= sheath); le gardon; la garenne (cf. Cunnyborough); la gauffrière; le gnomon; le golfe (common: cf. bottomless pit); le gouffre secret; la gouttière (= gutter); la grange (common); le grenier (= cockloft); la grille; le grobis; la guérite (common = sentry-box: cf. standing room for one); hæc; la hariquoque; le harnois (general: cf. horse-collar); le haubert; l’hérisson (general = urchin); l’hiatus (common = gap: also l’hiatus divin); l’histoire (general: also = specifically the penis); l’honneur; le huihot; le huis; l’huître (= oyster); l’humanité; l’ignominie (cf. fie-for-shame); il (= it); l’instrument (also = penis); l’intersection du corps; le jardin (= garden: common to most languages: also le jardin d’amour); la jolie, or belle chose (= pretty: conventional); la jointe; la jointure; le jouet (= toy); le jou-jou (common: cf. toy); le joyau (common); la (= that); le labyrinthe de concupiscence (Rabelais); la lampe amoureuse; la lampe merveilleuse (= wonderful lamp); la lanterne (common); le lapin (= coney); le leidesche (Rabelais); la latrine (general: cf. privy-hole); le lieu; l’autre lieu; lieu sacré; le limosin; le lure; la machine (common); le maljoint (common); le mallier; le manchon (common: cf. muff); la marchandise (common: cf. gear or ware); la marmite, or marmotte; le maroquin (cf. leather); le masteau; le membre; le ménage; la métaire; le messire Noc (literary and anagrammatic: Noc = Con); le mignon d’amourette (= Love’s darling); le milieu (common); le minon (= pussy); la mirely; le mirliton (general); la mitaine (= mitten); le mont-fendu; le morceau (= bit); le morel; la mortaise; le mortier (common); le mosel; le moule à pine (common = pintle-mould); le moulin-à-eau (common: cf. water-mill); la moniche, or monique (thieves’); la nacelle (= boat); la nature (conventional); la navire; le noc (anagram of con: cf. tenuc); le noir (common: cf. black, black-hole and Miss Brown); l’object (common = concern); la petite oie; l’osière; l’outil (= tool); l’ouverture divine (literary: cf. Holy of Holies); l’ouvroir (= workshop); l’ovale; le panier; le Paradis (= Paradise); le parchemin; les parties honteuses (= parts of shame); le passage; les Pays Bas (common: cf. Lowlands or Low Countries); le pelisson; la pènillière (= cock-holder); le pertuia (Balzac); la petiote délectation; le petit je-ne-sais-quoi (= little What’s-its-name); le petit centre (common); le petit lapin (common: cf. coney); le petit trou (common); le petit vase (common); la pièce du milieu (common: cf. centrebit); la pissette (common = pisser: cf. water-works); la place; la plaie (= the wound); le point conjugal; le pôle; le portail (= front-entrance); la porte (also porte du devant = front-door); le port de Cythère (literary); la poste; le pot (= piss-pot); les pudendes; le puits d’amour; le quartier; Quasi-modo; quelque chose de chaud (= a bit of hot); la queue (common = tail); le quoniam bonus (literary); la raie; la ratoire; le réduit (common); le reste; la rivière; la rose (conventional); le sac (cf. bag of tricks); le saint (= patron saint); le salon du plaisir (cf. pleasure-place, -garden, and -ground); le sanctuaire (= Holy of Holies); le sadinet (Villon); le seau (= pail); le Sénégal (military: cf. India); la serrure (common: cf. lock); la solution de continuité (Rabelais); la souris (= mouse); le tabernacle (literary = ark); la table; le tapecul; le temple de Cypris (literary); la terre; le terrier; la tesnière; le théâtre de la nature (common: cf. Nature’s workshop); le thermomètre; le tirelire (common: cf. money-box); la toison (= fleece); la tonsure; la tranchée (= trench); la trappe (= trap-door); le trône du plaisir (literary); le trou (common = Hole: also, le trou de service, le petit trou, le trou charnel, le trou-madame, le trou mignon, le trou par où la femme pisse, and le trou velu); tu-autem; l’un; l’ustensile; le vagin (conventional); le vaisseau (cf. boat); le vaisseau charnel; la vallée paphienne (= Paphian vale); le vallon; le vase; le velu; le ventre (= wame); le petit ventre; Vénus; la viande du devant (= fore-meat); la vigne du seigneur; le zin-zin; le verger de Cypris (literary = the Cyprian orchard).

German synonyms. Busche (Hebrew = modesty); Haartruhe (Old. Ger. truhe = Hair trunk); Kuttoch (also = pocket handkerchief, pocket, and sweetheart); Pfotze; Schmu; Schema; Schmalle; Schummel (also = hawker); Schwesterlein (= little sister); Weiberscham (= Privities): Weiblichescham or Weiblichkeit (= womanhood).

Italian synonyms. Bisti; or bistolfo (Fr. bis); baschiera; becchina (Torriano-Florio: = ‘a woman’s quaint or gear’: bacchi = ‘certain blazing stars all shaggie, compassed with a long main or hairy fringe’); bella bellina (cf. pretty); cioncia (Florio: = ‘a woman’s free quaint’); carnafau (Florio: = ‘the brat-getting place, or hole of content’); cioncia (Florio); cionno (Torriano-Florio: = ‘gullish, silly-witted’; cf. Bit of Foolishness); connino (cf. Cunny); conno (Florio: = ‘a woman’s privy parts, or quaint, as Chaucer calls it.’); cotale (= What’s-its-name); cotalina (= Thingamy); facende; ferne; ferale; femora (Florio); fessa (= cleft); fica (= a fig); firiende; forame; fregna or fringa; gabbia, or gaggia (= a cage); golfo di fetalio (Florio: = ‘a rugged and bristlie gulf’); grignapolla (used of both sexes); horto de venere (Venus’ garden); malforo (Florio: = ‘a mischievous hole’); menchia (= sport: cf. Funny Bit); mentole (used of both sexes); monina (= monkey); monte di Venere (= Venus’ Hill); monte di ficcule (Torriano-Florio: = ‘a woman’s Mount-falcon’); mortaio (= mortar); mozza (Florio: = ‘a wench, a lass, a girl. Also a woman’s gear or cunnie’); moneta (= Money); natura (Florio: = ‘the privie parts of man, woman, or beast’); pettinale (Florio: = ‘the privities that have haires upon them’); pinca (feminine of pinco = prick); porcile di venere (Venus’ Pigsty); potta (Florio: = ‘a woman’s commodity’; whence, potissiare = ‘to use or play with’—idem ‘roundlie’); pottaccia (Florio: = ‘a filthy great cunt’); San Giovanni Bocca d’Oro (used of both sexes); sermolina; serpolina; val cava (Boccaccio: = a cave); val costura; valle di Acheronte (cf. Bottomless pit); valle satalio (Florio: = ‘a brizlie, buskie, brackish, hairie, gloomie, cloudie, duskie place; Boccace doth use it for a woman’s privie parts’); vergogne (cf. Parts of shame).

Spanish synonyms. Aceitero (= oil-flask); aduana (= custom-house); camino oscuro (= covered-way); camino real (= highway); changa (= joke); Chocho (common); chumino (rare); cicople (= cyclope); ciega (= blind woman); cimenterio (= churchyard); conejera (= rabbit-warren); Conejo; confesionario (= confessional); coño or coña (classic); cosquillosa (= Miss Ticklish); Cuba (cf. India and la Sénégal); Do bemol (= C. flat); Doña Fulana de Tal (= Mrs. What’s-her-name); espondeo (= spondee i.e. two longs); la fachada (= façade); foco de vida (= Life’s focus); fogón (= touch-hole); fortaleza; greta (= crack); grieta (= rift); guerica; huerfana (= orphan); jopo; Juana la loca (= Crazy Jane); lesma; lonja (Exchange); Madre Eterna (= Eternal Mother); Madre Soledad (= Mother Lonely); mata (= bush); miriñaque (= toy); mocosa (= snotty); mofa (= flirt); ostra; paca; Paises Bajos (= Low Countries or Les Pays Bas); pan; papo; periquito; perra (= bitch); piadosa (= Miss Primsy); posada general (= common inn); pozo nupcial (= nuptial well); propriedad; raja (= slit); regalona (= pet); Señora López (cf. Miss Brown); semana santa (= holy week); sierra (= mountain: cf. Mount Pleasant and le mont fendu); superiora (= abbess); tienda (= shop); tranvía (= tram-car); tronera (= loophole); vaina (= scabbard); vasija morena (= brown jug).

Portuguese synonyms. Abbadessa (= abbess); aranha caranguegeira; as (= ace); asbeiras; assoadouro do caralho; boceta (classical); cabra (= goat); cadinho (= melting-pot or crucible); lagea; lanha; mata dos chatos (= crab-walk: also = motte); papudo (of a stout woman); passarinho; pinto; poço sem fundo (= Bottomless pit); registro de bacalháo (cf. Fishmarket).

Various. Kut (Dutch); gatte (Walloon).

1714. Lucas, Gamesters, 186. They [girls] all at once set up a laughing ... occasion’d by some silly naughty word they have got by the end; perhaps a bawdy monosyllable, such as boys write upon walls.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1786. Pinkerton, Ancient Scottish Poems, 384. Addison, the best instructor of the small morals who ever lived, yet thought nothing, in papers designed for the breakfast table, and the ladies, as he says himself, to tell us that a monosyllable was his delight.

1788. G. A. Stevens, Songs Comic & Satyricall, p. 88. But why from this round-about phrase must be guessed, What in one single syllable’s better expressed; That syllable then I my sentiment call, So here’s to that word, which is one word for all.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Monosyllable. A woman’s commodity.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Monosyllable—(the); feminine only, and described by Nat Bailey as pudenda muliebris. Of all the thousand monosyllables in our language, this one only is designated by the definite article—the monosyllable; therefore do some men call it ‘the article,’ ‘my article,’ and ‘her article,’ as the case may be.

Mons, subs. (Winchester College).—A crowd. Also as verb: e.g., ‘Square round there, don’t mons.’—Notions.

Mons Meg, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Monstrous, adv.. (colloquial).—A general intensitive. See Awful, Bloody, Large etc.

1619. Fletcher, Wild-Goose Chase, ii. 2. She is monstrous proud, then?

1635. Glapthorne, Hollander, ii. 1. The very scraping of our Galley-pots performes more monstrous wonders.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, iv. 4. O monstrous filthy fellow.

1843. Maj. Jones Courtship, viii. That makes mother monstrous jealous.

Mons Veneris, subs. phr. (venery).—See quot. Cf. Mount Pleasant.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict. (1778), s.v. Mons veneris is that plump part of the female privities which covers the os pubis.

Montem, subs. (Eton College).—An Eton custom up to 1847, which consisted in the scholars going in procession on the Whit-Tuesday of every third year to a mound (Lat. ad montem), near the Bath Road, and exacting a gratuity from persons present or passing by. The collection was given to the captain or senior scholar, and helped to defray his expenses at the University.

Month, subs. (old conventional).—In pl. = menses. For synonyms see Flag. Also monthlies.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Moneth.... Woemens moneths, Menstruæ, les mois des femmes.

1617. Minsheu, Guide into Tongues, s.v. A Woman’s monthes, or Monthlie Termes. Vide Flowers.

1664. Pepys, Diary (1894), 27 Sept. So home, where my wife having ... her months upon her is gone to bed.

A bad attack of the end of the month, phr. (common).—Impecuniosity.

Month-of-Sundays, subs. (common).—An indefinitely long time: cf. Greek Kalends.

1850. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, xxvii. I haven’t heard more fluent or passionate English this month of sundays.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xl. ‘I ain’t been out of this blessed hole,’ he says, ‘for a month of sundays.’

1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, Sc. 2. p. 7. A month of sundays.

Month’s mind, subs. phr. (old colloquial).—Longing. [From the cravings of pregnant women].

1596. Hall, Satires, B. 4. s. 4. And sets a month’s mind upon smiling May.

1598. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, i. 2. I see you have a month’s mind to them.

1605. London Prodigal, i. 2. He hath a month’s mind here to Mistress Frances.

1636. Davenant, Platonic Lovers, ii. 1. Belike then, you have a month’s mind to her.

1655. Fuller, Church Hist., B. 4. § 23. The king had more than a month’s mind to procure the pope to canonize Henry VI for a saint.

1663–78. Butler, Hudibras [quoted by Johnson]. For if a trumpet sound, or drum beat, Who has not a month’s mind to combat?

1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 171]. To have a month’s mind to a thing.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 1. She has a month’s mind; but I know Mr. Mirabell can’t abide her.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Month’s-mind ... a strong inclination. A common phrase in our early dramatists, and still in use.

Mooch. See Mike.

Moocher. See Miker.

Mooching. See Miking.

Mooer, subs. (common).—A cow; a wet-un. Also moo-cow.

1810. Combe, Dr. Syntax, i. 14. The moo-cow low’d, and Grizzle neigh’d.

Moon, subs. (common).—1. A month: specifically (thieves’) a term of imprisonment, e.g., one, two, or three moons; long moon = a calendar month or callingder. See Drag.

1823. J. F. Cooper, Pilot, iv. If you wait, sir, till the land-breeze fills your sails, you will wait another moon, I believe.

1830. W. T. Moncrieff, The Heart of London, ii. 1. Mr. S.—Excuse my freedom but his modesty wouldn’t permit him to tell you himself—he’s been working on the mace—doing it up very blue, and so they’ve lumbered him for a few moons, that’s all.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, 22. They would return to their village, and spend a moon relating their achievements.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moon. One month; thirty days’ imprisonment.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl. 501. I went on all straight the first few moons (months) at costering.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 48. The quilts have to be changed once a moon.

2. (American).—A large, round biscuit.

1883. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, 460. I spent my last ten cents for two moons and cheese.

3. (old).—A wig. Also half-moon.

1608. Middleton, Mad World, iii. 3. To wear half-moons made of another’s hair.

1663. Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), xiv. 456]. Score a Sack of Score in the half-moon [Note, i.e., put a quart of sack into your head at my expense].

Verb. (colloquial).—To wander or lounge as in a dream.

1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, xxi. ‘There! that bet is lost!’ exclaimed Larkins. ‘I laid Hill half-a-crown that you would not see me when you were mooning over your verses!’

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, i. 39. The silence continued till it was broken by—a fish out of water. An undergraduate in spectacles came mooning along all out of his element.

1871. Standard, 14 April. ‘Italy.’ The press in vain raised its voice against this tomfoolery, which gives us an excuse for indulgence in our favourite occupation of mooning at street corners, and of losing as much time as we can.

1871. London Figaro, 6 Mar. ‘French Refugees in London.’ Some of the Frenchmen still look wretched. The other day I saw two of them in blouses, mopingly mooning along Broad-street.

1873. Black, Princess of Thule, xxvii. Spend their time in mooning up in that island of theirs.

1877. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, xvi. I might have mooned away the afternoon in the Park and dined at the club.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, xiii. All this hoping and moping and mooning has made your heart too battered a thing to offer to the next peerless creature ye may happen to light on.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xli. Well, I kept dark, you be sure, and mooned about.

1889. Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xliv. He went mooning along with his head down in dull and hopeless despondency.

To make believe the moon is made of green cheese, verb. phr. (common).—To hoax.

1562–3. Jack Juggler [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 154]. To believe and say the moon is made of a green cheese Or else have great harm, and percase their life lese.

1640. Wit’s Recr. [Hotten], 114. The way to make a Welch-man thirst for blisse, ... Is, to perswade him, that most certain ’tis, The moon is made of nothing but green cheese.

1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 171]. Tell me the moon’s made of green cheese.

1846. T. Mildenhall, Sister and I, sc. ii. Aye, you’d better ask why the moon is made of green cheese?

A blue moon, subs. phr. (common).—An indefinite time; never; Greek kalends (q.v.); Tib’s eve (q.v.).

1528. Roy and Barlow, Rede me and Be nott Wroth, p. 114. Yf they saye the mone is belewe, We must beleve that it is true, Admittynge their interpretacion.

1876. B. H. Buxton, Jennie of the Prince’s, ii. 140. ‘Does he often come of an evening?’ asks Jennie. ‘Oh, just once in a blue moon, and then always with a friend.’

Minions of the moon. See Moonman.

Man in the moon. See Man.

To shoot (or bolt) the moon, verb. phr. (general).—To clear a house by night to evade distraint or payment of rent; to do a moonlight flitting. Hence moonshooters.

1825. Universal Songster, i. 70. She wished to gammon her landlord, and likewise bolt the moon.

1842. Comic Almanack, 18 June. Now prepare for lunar shooting, and hunt out Huntley’s vans. Convert your intimate friends after dark into light porters of household furniture.

1885. Sporting Times, 23 May. ‘The Chorister’s Promise.’ The landlady woke next day at noon, And was thinking of getting her rent full soon, When she found that her lodger had shot the moon And gone with the chips she owed.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 27 Mar. It was proved that the goods were removed after eleven o’clock on the nights of the 2nd and 3rd of March—a process described as shooting the moon.

1892. Globe, 2 April, p. 1, c. 5. The moon-shooters sometimes have lodgers in their abodes. Not always do they think it worth while to inform them of their intended journeying, and this may be awkward for the lodger. Ibid. Who shall say that our popular phraseology is not occasionally picturesque when we describe the flight of impecunious tenants as shooting the moon, or ‘a midnight flit?’

To cry for the moon, verb. phr. (common).—To crave for the impossible. Fr. Vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents.

To cast beyond the moon, verb. phr. (common).—To make extravagant conjectures.

1606. Wily Beguiled [Orig. Eng. Drama, iii. 329]. Why, master gripe, he casts beyond the moon.

To level at the moon, verb. phr. (common).—To be very ambitious.

To find an elephant in the moon, verb. phr. (old).—To find a mare’s nest. [Sir Paul Neal, a seventeenth century virtuoso, gave out that he had discovered an elephant in the moon. It turned out that a mouse had crept into his telescope. See Butler, The Elephant in the Moon].

Moon-calf, subs. (old).—1. A monster.

1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, ii. 2. How, now, moon-calf? how does thine ague.

1620. Ben Jonson, News from the New World, Print. O, ay, moon-calves! what monster is that, I pray you? 2 Her. Monster! none at all, a very familiar thing, like our fool here on earth.

2. (old).—A false conception.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Mola, ... Also a lump of flesh in women’s bellies which they call a tympanie or a moone calfe.

1601. Holland, Pliny, viii. ch. 15. A false conception, called mola, i.e., a moonecalfe.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie.... A moonecalfe, a hard swelling or shapelesse peece of flesh in the wombe which makes women beleeve they are with child when they are not.

3. (colloquial).—A blockhead. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head. Also as adj. mooncalfy.

1693. Dryden, Journal, vi. 798. The sotted moon-calf gapes, and staring on, Sees his own bus’ness by another done.

1858. Dickens, Great Expectations, vii. 29–30. ‘And Lor-a-mussy me!’ cried my sister, casting off her bonnet in sudden desperation, ‘here I stand talking to mere mooncalfs, with Uncle Pumblechook waiting.’

1891. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 44. ‘No,’ said the poor moon-calf, changing his tune at once.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, 4. Look at the moon-calfy mash.

Moon-curser, subs. (old).—A link-boy; a glim-jack. [His services were not required on moon-light nights].

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

c. 1750. [quoted in Ashton’s Eighteenth Cent. Waifs, 1887, p. 234]. Otherwise call’d Glym Jack from his having been a moon curser, or Link Boy.

1786. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1881. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mooner, subs. (common).—An idler; a gape-seed (q.v.).

Moon-eyed, adj. (old).—See quots.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moon-eyed hen. A squinting wench.

1792. A. Young, Travels in France (1787–9), p. 75. The English mare that carries me ... is going rapidly blind. She is moon-eyed.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moon-eyed hen. A squinting prostitute.

Moonflaw. Moonflaw in the brain, verb. phr. (old).—An idiosyncrasy; a craze. See Bee in the Bonnet.

1659. Brome, Queen and Concubine. I fear she has a moonflaw in her brains; She chides and fights that none can look upon her.

Moonlight (or Moonshine), subs. (old).—1. Smuggled spirits. [From the night-work of smugglers].

Verb. (Irish).—See quot.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 21 Nov. Colletty, the rent-warner, was a witness of a very unsatisfactory sort, and after he had deposed to his experience of being moonlighted in the thigh—Moonlighters, it appears, generally giving a grain or two, as another witness put it, in the legs of their victims.

Moonlight on the lake, subs. phr. (American).—Sarsaparilla. See Drinks.

A rush for moonlight, subs. phr. (American University).—An attempt at the prize for elocution.

Moonlighter, subs. (common).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.

2. in pl. (Irish).—Men (c. 1880) enforcing the decrees of secret societies by violence. Their action was chiefly confined to the western counties, and their raids were nocturnal, whence the name. Their notices were signed ‘Captain Moonlight.’

1882. Saturday Review, 30 Sep., p. 422. Taking moonlighters under his direct protection.

3. The same as Moonshiner (q.v.).

Moonlight-flitting, subs. (common). See shooting the moon (q.v.). Also London-flitting.

1802. Campbell, Journey, ii. 1. He made what is termed a moon-light flitting.

1892. Cassell’s Sat. Jl., 28 Sep., p. 26, col. 3. He had done what is known in Lancashire as a moonleet flit, or, in other words, removed quietly in the dead of night, that nobody knew where he had gone.

Moonlighting, subs. (Irish).—Playing the moonlighter (q.v.).

1888. Daily Chronicle, 17 Jan. The prisoners, with two other men, were arrested on a charge of moonlighting in county Clare.

Moon-man, subs. (old).—See quots.

1603–8. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, viii. A mooneman signifies in English a madman.... By a by-name they are called gypsies, they call themselves Egiptians, others in mockery call them moonemen.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moon-men. Gypsies.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

3. (old).—A nocturnal robber. Also minions of the moon.

1597. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV, i. 2. The fortune of us that are moon’s men doth ebb and flow like the sea.

Moon-raker, subs. (nautical).—1. An imaginary sail above the sky-scraper (q.v.); a moon-sail (q.v.).

2. (common).—A Wiltshire man. [See quots.]. Hence, a smuggler.

1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 223], s.v.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary (1811), p. 93. Wiltshire moon-rakers. Some Wiltshire rustics, as the story goes, seeing the figure of the moon in a pond, attempted to rake it out.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1865. Ouida, Strathmore, ch. xiv. ‘It was fine moonlight, last night, my dear fellow, and Hampshire moonrakers do go fishing after contraband goods, au clair de la lune, but I didn’t know you belonged to the fraternity!’

1887. Jas. Payn, Glow-Worm Tales, i. 182. In Wiltshire we are not fond of strangers; we are a simple race—some people even call us moon-rakers.

1889. Hunter, Ency. Dict., s.v. Moon raker. Another version is, that some countrymen, raking for kegs of smuggled spirits which had been sunk in a pond, on being questioned by a revenue-officer, told him they were trying to rake that great cheese (the reflection of the moon) out of the water.

3. (common).—A blockhead. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Moon-raking, subs. (common).—Wool-gathering.

1869. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xvii. It irked me much that any one should take advantage of me; yet everybody did so as soon as ever it was known that my wits were gone moon-raking.

Moonshine, subs. (common).—1. Anything unreal or unsubstantial; humbug (q.v.); rot (q.v.).

1593. Harvey, Pierces Superer. [Grosart (1884), ii. 63]. You may discourse ... I wott not what marvelous egges in moonshine.

d. 1667. Jer. Taylor [in Wks. (1835), ii. 126]. Labouring for nothings, and preaching all day for shadows and moonshine.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moonshine. A matter or mouthful of moonshine, a trifle, nothing.

2. (common).—See quots.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moonshine. The white brandy smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, and the gin in the north of Yorkshire, are also called moonshine.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor [Saunders Moonshine, a smuggler].

1884. Notes & Queries, 24 May, p. 401. Moonshine signifies smuggled spirits, which were placed in holes or pits and removed at night. Ibid. At Piddinghoe they dig for moonshine.

3. (old).—A month.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, i. 2. 5. I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother.

4. (old).—A dish of poached eggs served with a sauce.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, ii. 2. 35. Draw, you rogue; for, though it be night, yet the moon shines; I’ll make a sop o’ th’ moonshine of you.

Adj. (colloquial).—1. Nocturnal; (2) empty; and (3) trivial.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, v. 5. 42. You moonshine revellers.

Gilded moonshine, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Gilded Moonshine—sham bills of exchange; ‘no effects.’

Moon-shiner, subs. (American).—1. See quots.

1877. N.Y. Evening Post, 16 June. Nelson County, Kentucky, is the home of the moonshiner; that is, the manufacturer of illicit whiskey.... The moonshiner regards the revenue officer as a being to be extinguished, and favorable opportunity is the only thing he asks for putting his belief into practice.

1885. Saturday Review, 7 Nov., p. 615. Old Layce, a moonshiner—that is to say, a maker of untaxed whiskey.

1891. Daily Telegraph, 23 Mar. A desperate and fatal encounter took place early on Saturday morning between a posse of Revenue officers and a party of moonshiners, by which name the illicit distillers of the mountain districts are known.

2. (common).—See quot. and Moon.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Moonlight wanderers; or ‘fly-by-night’ persons, who cheat their landlords and run away by night; when ’tis illegal to detain the goods.

Moonshining, subs. (American).—Illicit distilling.

Moonshiny, adj. (common).—Unreal.

Moonshooter. See to shoot the moon.

Moon’s-minion, subs. (old).—1. A watchman; a charley (q.v.).

1828. Lytton, Pelham, p. 142, ed. 1864. This action was not committed with impunity; in an instant two of the moon’s minions, staffs, lanterns, and all, were measuring their length at the foot of their namesake of royal memory: the remaining Dogberry was however a tougher assailant.

2. (old).—See Moon-man, sense 2.

Moony, subs. (common).—A noodle. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Adj. (common).—1. Silly. Also moonish.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, iii. 2. 430. Being but a moonish youth.

1861. G. Meredith, Evan Harrington, xxv. p. 293 (1885). Rose gave him no time for reflection, or the moony imagining of their raptures lovers love to dwell upon.

1876. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxii. Violent and capricious, or moony and insipid.

1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, xxx. You’ve seemed preoccupied and absorbed and moony and distracted.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 16. Mooney young women in grey.

2. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

Moose-face, subs. (common).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moose-face. A rich ugly-faced man.

Mop, subs. (common).—1. See quots.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Mop, a statute fair for hiring servants.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mop. A kind of annual fair in the west of England where farmers usually hire their servants.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, i. Many a rustic went to a statute fair or mop, and never came home to tell of his hiring.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1. S. No. xvi. p. 269. ‘There are as good servants to be picked up in a mop as out of it; and you get a great deal better choice,’ said he. ‘My mother has hired many a man and maid at the mop: first-rate servants too.’

2. (common).—A confirmed drunkard; a lushington (q.v.).

3. (common).—A drinking bout: on the mop = on the drink.

c. 1860. Newspaper Cutting. ‘It was all along of Bill Jones the printer, as keeps comp’ny with me,’ she muttered. ‘He’d been having a mop, as he called it, because he was on piecework, and the author—oh! he did go on! and call him names such as I shouldn’t like to repeat—hadn’t sent the copy; whatever that may mean.’

4. (old).—An endearment. Also moppet and mopsy.

c. 1388. Townely Mysteries, ut sup, ‘Prima Pastorum,’ p. 96. Haylle, lytylle, tyne mop.

1589. Puttenham, Arte of Engl. Poes., p. 184. As in our triumphals, calling familiarly upon our muse, I called her moppe, But will you weet, My little muse, my prettie moppe, If we shall algates change our stoppe, Chose me a sweet. Understanding by this word moppe a little pretty lady, or tender young thing.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Pupo, ... a daintie mop, a playing babie.

1680. Dryden, Spanish Friar, i. 1. A globe in one hand, and a sceptre in t’other? A very pretty moppet!

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1706. Hudibras Redivivus, x. These mix’d with brewers, and their mopsies, Half dead with timpanies and dropsies.

1706. Vanbrugh, The Mistake. Leon. Ah woman! foolish, foolish woman! San. Very foolish indeed. Jacin. But don’t expect I’ll follow her example. San. You would, mopsie, if I’d let you.

5. (old).—A grimace.

1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, iv. 1. Each one, tripping on his toe, Will be here with mop and mow.

1621. Fletcher, Pilgrim, iv. 2. What mops and mows it makes!

6. (old).—A fool.

c. 1399. Depos. Richard II [Wright (1838), 24]. Daunsinge to pipis, In myrthe with moppis, myrrours of sin.

c. 1430. York Plays, 299. This mop meynes that he may marke men to ther mede He makis many maistries and mervayles emange.

Verb. (common).—1. See quot. 1811. Also mop up.

1675. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 261. I’ll stand, or lie as thou dost pray me, And moppe too, if thou’lt not betray me.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. To mop up. To drink up. To empty a glass or pot.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 260. I have seen the youngest mop up his half-quartern as well as I did.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, xxix. He mopped up his champagne, though, pretty freely. Do you suppose now, he could have been drunk?

2. (colloquial).—To collect. Also mop up.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 213. If I gets inside, I’ll mop up 1/- if it’s good company, or perhaps 3d. or 4d., and always plenty to drink.

To mop up, verb. phr. (common).—1. See verb., senses 1 and 2.

2. (common).—See quot.

1887. Walford, Antiquarian, April, 250. Mop up means ‘Stop your talk,’ and is another form of ‘dry up.’

To mop (or wipe) the floor (ground, or earth) with one, verb. phr. (common).—To knock one down.

1887. Henley & Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, I. iii. 1. Muck that’s my opinion of him ... I’ll mop the floor up with him any day.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 25 Aug. ‘I told him that I could mop the earth with him, but had been careful not to use provoking language!’

To be mopped (or wiped) out, verb. phr. (common).—To be ruined; floored (q.v.); or killed.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, 53. They say he’s mopped out; I dunnow.

Mops and brooms, adj. phr. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

1828. Egan, Finish to Tom and Jerry, 135. Jerry declared himself to be quite mops and brooms.

1840. H. Cockton, Valentine Ven, xviii. He did mix, but scarcely took the rawness off the brandy.... ‘The governor’s getting mops and brooms,’ whispered Horace to his amiable spouse.

1858. Shirley Brooks, The Gordian Knot, p. 173. If I had married a wife, I don’t think I should go home to her in a state of mops and brooms, after offering to fight a fishmonger in the Haymarket because he had arranged his lobsters and prawns in a way displeasing to my bewildered eye.

In the mops, adv. phr. (common).—Sulky.

Mope, subs. (colloquial).—1. A dullard. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., 149. ‘They will be scoffing, insulting over their inferiours, till they have made by their humoring or gulling, ex stulto insanum: a mope, or a noddy.’

1726. Pope, Dunciad, ii. No meagre, Muse-rid mope, adust and thin, In a dun night-gown of his own loose skin.

1861. Dickens, Tom Tiddler’s Ground [Mr. Mopes, a hermit].

2. in pl. (colloquial).—Low spirits; the hump (q.v.); the blues (q.v.).

Verb. (colloquial).—To despond.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii. 4. 81. Or but a sickly part of one true sense. Could not so mope.

1635. Quarles, Emblems, i. 8. One’s mop’d, the other’s mad.

1667. Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 485. Moping melancholy and moon-struck madness.

1749. Gray, Elegy. The moping owl doth to the moon complain.

d. 1792. Horne, Works, v. 23. It directs him not to shut himself up in a cloister, alone, there to mope and moan away his life.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, li. You’d better think over your situation and don’t mope.

Moped, adj. (colloquial).—See quots. 1690 and 1785. Also mopish, moping and mope-eyed.

1621. Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 3. What a mope-ey’d ass was I.

1640. Wit’s Recr. [Hotten], 465. Mop-ey’d I am, as some have said, Because I’ve liv’d so long a Maid.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Humourous Lieutenant, iv. 6. He is bewitched, or moped, or his brains melted.

d. 1656. Bp. Hall, Spirituale Bedleem, 29. ‘Here one mopishly stupid, and so fixed to his posture, as if he were a breathing statue.’

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Mop-eied, one that can’t see well, by living too long a maid. Ibid. Mop’d, maz’d.

1717. Killinbeck, Sermons, 348. [They are] generally traduced as a sort of mopish and unsociable creatures.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moped. Stupid, melancholy for want of society.

1880. Rhoda Broughton, Second Thoughts, viii. ‘She sits drearily stitching, absently reading, mopingly thinking.’

Moppet. See Mop, subs. sense 4.

Moppy, adj. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

Mop-squeezer, subs. (common).—A housemaid.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Mopsy, subs. (old).—1. A familiar term for a woman: specifically a young girl; a mop (q.v. sense 4).

2. (common).—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mopsey. A dowdy, or homely woman.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mopsy. A short dowdy woman.

Mopus, subs. (old).—See quot. 1755.

d. 1745. Swift, Miscellanies, ‘The Grand Question Debated.’ I’m grown a mere mopus; no company comes But a rabble of tenants.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict. (1814), s.v. Mopus ... a cant word from ‘mope’. A drone, a dreamer.

2. (common).—A small coin. [Said to be a corruption of the name of Sir Giles Mompesson, a monopolist notorious in the reign of James I].

1690. B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1841. Tait’s Edinburgh Rev., viii. 222. Slily to my fob repair, And leave me not a mopus there.

3. in pl. (mopusses).—Money.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mopusses Money.

1824. Egan, Boxiana, iv. 443. Ned not having the mopusses to spare.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, I. ix. p. 55. Then whose inclinations are so uncontrolled as the highwayman’s, so long as the mopuses last?

1842. Punch, ‘Prolusiones Etymoligiere,’ p. 16. He that has the mopusses May buy diamonds and topazes.

1844. Charles Selby, London by Night, ii. 1. Ned. I see an improvement in the financial position—lucky, like myself. Jack. (Aside.) Lots of mopusses.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1883. Punch, 3 Nov., p. 210, col. 1. But what’s that to us, so’s we pull in the mopusses.

Moral, subs. (colloquial).—1. An exact counterpart.

1590. H. Constable, Sonnets, Decade 4. Fooles be they that inveigh ’gainst Mahomet who’s but a morral of loves monarchie.

1726. Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, v. ‘I have seen the moral of my own behaviour very frequent in England.’

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, 385. The long chin is the very moral of the governor’s.

1789. G. Parker, Life’s Painter, ‘The Bunter’s Christening.’ A chopping boy; Which was, as one might say, The moral of his dad, Sir.

1851. Douglas Jerrold, St. Giles and St. James, 110. She’s the very pictur—yes, the very moral of Dick Turpin’s Bess.

1882. Graphic, 9 Dec, p. 643, col. 2. They are, for the most part, very dungeon-like rooms; and the ventilation of the ordinary prison cell—yes, we have tried it—is a moral by comparison.

2. (racing).—See quot. 1869. [Abbreviation of ‘moral certainty:’ see Cert].

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 397. Everything that is highly promising becomes, in the slang of the advertising tipster, a moral.

1877. Belgravia, xxxii. 241. To invest a sovereign or two for her on what they may consider a moral.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Number Forty-seven). ‘Come, Bob,’ said my master, ‘that disposes of your friend Adamson’s having had anything to do with it, which you thought such a moral.’

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, lxxiv. ‘I think that we shall beat Cambridge this year to a moral,’ said Gerald.

1883. Referee, 25 March, p. 1, col. 1. She landed the stake with much ease, and thereby upset what at first appeared one of the biggest coursing morals upon record.

1888. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 178. Lord Mayfield went into ecstasies over him, and said the double looked a moral.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday, 6 July. Cucumber was, to use the words of a sporting friend of Pottle’s, a moral.

1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 3 April. An idea of the strength of the moral may be gathered when it is stated that in a field of fifteen 6 to 4 was freely taken about the Danebury horse.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 62. Hangling isn’t my mark, that’s a moral, and fishermen mostly is fools.

Moral-shocker, subs. (Fleet St.).—A novel dealing with sex. Also hill-topper.

Moray-coach, subs. (Scots’).—See quot.

1808–25. Jamieson, Dict., s.v. Moray-coach, a cart. A cant term, used in ridicule...; like the phrase, a Tyburn coach.

More. See Elbow, Power, Sacks, Seven, Twelve.

More so, adv.. (common).—A general intensitive: see quots.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, viii. But that distant production of Australia, the larikin, is still very much to the fore, as spry, active, and wicked as he ever was, perhaps rather more so.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 38. Pink Dominos style, only more so, but blowed if ’twas up to that mark.

Moreish, adj. (colloquial).—See quots. 1847 and 1864.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (Conv. 1). Lady S. How do you like this tea, Colonel! Col. Well enough, madam, but methinks it is a little morish. Lady S. Oh Colonel, I understand you; Betty, bring the canister.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. & Provin. Words, s.v. Moorish ... wishing for more.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. More-ish. When there is scarcely enough of an eatable or drinkable, it is said to taste more-ish; as, ‘This wine is very good, but it has a slight more-ish flavour.’

Morgan, subs. (American).—A bare-faced imposture.

1826. Weed [in Auto., i. 319]. [In 1826 American masons were accused of murdering Morgan, a renegade. Popular feeling ran high, and a violent anti-masonry crusade resulted, national politics being considerably influenced. Mr. Thurlow Weed, one of the chief figures of the episode, says:—] The election of 1827 elicited an accusation against me, which assumed proportions not dreamed of by those with whom it originated.... Ebenezer Griffin, Esq., one of the council of the ‘kidnappers,’ who was going to Batavia to conduct the examination, observed laughingly to me, ‘After we have proven that the body found at Oak orchard is that of Timothy Monroe, what will you do for a Morgan?’ I replied in the same spirit, ‘That is a good enough Morgan for us until you bring back the one you carried off.’

Mork, subs. (thieves’).—A policeman. For synonyms see Blue.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, 346. To hear if there are any morks or any one in the way.

Morning, subs. (common).—An early dram; an eye-opener (q.v.). Also morning-rouser.

1814. Scott, Waverley, xviii. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had already taken his morning with Donald Bean Lean.

1854. R. W. Van der Kiste, The Dens of London, p. 268. On rising to attend his work, according to his custom, he first went to a certain gin-shop in T—street for his morning.

1872. Globe, 12 Mar. That species of ‘refresher’ which in some parts of our country is known as a morning is also a German institution.

The top of the morning, phr. (Irish).—A cheery greeting.

Morning-drop, subs. (old).—1. The gallows. For synonyms see Nubbing-cheat.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Morning drop. He napped the king’s pardon and escaped the morning drop; he was pardoned, and was not hanged.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Morning-hills, subs. (Winchester College).—See quot.

1866. Mansfield, School Life, 52. On holidays and Remedies we were turned out for a couple of hours on to St. Catherine’s Hill ... once before breakfast, (Morning Hills), and again in the afternoon, (Middle Hills).

Morning-rouser. See Morning.

Morning-sneak, subs. (old).—See quot.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, ‘Glossary,’ s.v. Morning-sneak, going out early to rob private houses or shops by slipping in at the door unperceived, while the servant or shopman is employed in cleaning the steps, windows, etc.

Morning-star, subs. (old).—A weapon used as late as by the London train-bands, temp. Henry VIII. It consisted in a spiked ball chained to a staff. Called also Holy-water Sprinkler.

Morocco-man, subs. (old).—See quot.

1868. Brewer, Phrase & Fable, s.v. Morocco men, agents of lottery assurances. In 1796, the great State lottery employed 7500 morocco men. Their business was to go from house to house among the customers of the assurances, or to attend in the back parlours of public-houses, where the customers came to meet them.

Morpheus. In the arms of Morpheus, phr. (colloquial).—Asleep. See Murphy.

Morris (or Morrice), verb. (old).—To decamp. See quot. 1785.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iii. Tony, I don’t value her resentment the bounce of a cracker; zounds, here they are! Morrice! Prance! (Exit Hastings).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Morris. Come, morris off; dance off or get you gone; allusion to morris, i.e., morisco, or Moorish dancing.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1835. Comic Almanack, 34. Being naturally desirous of recovering his footing, a messenger was morrissed off for a supply.

1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 37 (ed. 1850). Up with you on your pins. There! Now then! Morrice.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1883. Grenville Murray, People I Have Met, p. 69. The fellows dine with them, flirt with them, and morris off to town in spring for better amusement.

Morsel, subs. (old).—1. A person; (2) hence, a harlot, a bit (q.v.), a piece (q.v.).

d. 1529. Dunbar, Woving of the King, in Wks. (Scot. Text Soc., Edinburgh, 1883–4). Scho was ane morsale of delight.

1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, ii. 1. 286. To the perpetual wink for aye might put This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence. Ibid. (1603) Measure for Measure, iii. 2. 57. How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress.

1641. Marmion, Antiquary, iv. ’Tis your own leman, your own dear morsel.

Dearest morsel (or bodily part), subs. phr. (old).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1605. Shakspeare, Cymbeline, i. 5. I have enjoyed the dearest bodily part of your mistress.

Mort, subs. (Old Cant).—1. A woman, chaste or not. See quots. passim. And (2) a yeoman’s daughter. Also Mot. Hence, autem-mort = a married woman; walking (or strolling) mort = a female tramp; kinchin-mort = a little girl; dimber-mort = a pretty wench.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 49. These autem mortes be maried wemen, as there be but a fewe: For Autem in their language is a church, so shee is a wyfe maried at the church, and they be as chaste as a cowe I have, that goeth to bull eury moone, with what bull she careth not. Ibid. ‘Glossary.’ Mortes, harlots.

1597–8. Munday, Downfall of Robert, etc. [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii. 156]. If I can get the girl to go with me Disguis’d in habit like a pedlar’s mort.

1607. Dekker, Jests to Make You Merie, in Wks. (Grosart), ii. 308. He is not worthy of the name of notable theefe among theeues, which is without his mort or punck.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, ‘The Maunder’s Wooing.’ O Ben Coue that may not be, For thou hast an Autum-mort who euer that is she.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl [Dodsley, Old Plays, vi. 110]. Marry, this, my lord, says he: Ben mort (good wench), shall you and I heave a bough, etc.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Belistresse ... a doxie, morte.

1621. B. Jonson, Maske of Gipsies. Male gypsies all, not a mort among them.

1622. Beaumont and Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. Each man shall eat his own stol’n eggs and butter In his own shade, or sun-shine, and enjoy His own dear dell, doxy, or mort at night.

1640. Wit’s Recr. [Hotten], 441. And for the Rome-morts ... They are of the sorts That love the true sports.

1656. Muses Recr. [Hotten], 48. A Lord of this land that lov’d a Bum well, Did lie with this Mort one night in the Strummel.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Morts.... Yeoman’s daughters; also a Wife, Woman, or Wench.

1712. T. Shirley, The Triumph of Wit, ‘The Maunder’s Praise of His Strowling Mort.’ Doxy oh! thy glaziers shine, As Glimmar by the Salomon, No gentry-mort hath parts like thine, No Cove e’er wap’d with such a one.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mort. A woman or wench; also a yeoman’s daughter.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. ‘Tour out,’ said the one ruffian to the other; ‘tour the bien mort twiring at the gentry cove.’

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III. ch. v. Morts, autem-morts, walking morts, dells, doxies, with all the shades and grades of the canting crew, were assembled.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Tip me the clank like a dimber mort, as you are.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1885. Burton, Arabian Nights, iii. 302. Nor mott nor maid from thee my heart shall spell.

2. (colloquial).—A large quantity; a great number.

1694. Plautus made English [Nares]. Then they had a mort of prisoners, with boys and girls.

1740. Richardson, Pamela [quoted by Halliwell]. He gave her a mort of good things at the same time, and bid her wear them in remembrance of her good friend, my lady, his mother.

1775. Sheridan, Rivals, i. 1. Here’s a mort o’ merry-making, hey?

d. 1823. Bloomfield, The Horkey. And sitch a mort of folks began To eat up the good cheer.

All amort. See Amort.

Mortal, adj. (vulgar).—1. Extreme. Cf. Awful, jolly, etc.

1679. Dryden, Ovid, i. 733. The nymph grew pale, and in a mort fright.

d. 1704. Lestrange [quoted by Johnson]. The birds were in a mortal apprehension of the beetles, till the sparrow reasoned them into understanding.

2. (common).—See quot. 1808. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

1808–25. Jamieson, Dict., s.v. Mortal, ... dead drunk.

1889. Stevenson and Osbourne, The Wrong Box, vi. His men were all as mortal as himself.

3. (colloquial).—Expletive and intensitive.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mortal. Extreme, violent. A low word. Ibid. Mortally ... a low ludicrous word.

d. 1832. Scott [quoted in Century]. Six mortal hours did I endure her loquacity.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xviii. Forty-two mortal long hard-working days.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, xiv. I go there a mortal sight of times.

1878. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, 255. They performed a piece ... in five mortal acts.

Adv. (colloquial).—Extremely. Also Mortally.

1625. Bacon, Essays, ‘Of Envy.’ ‘Adrian the Emperour mortally envied poets and painters.’

d. 1735. Granville [quoted by Johnson]. Know all, who would pretend to my good grace, I mortally dislike a damning face.

1838. D. Jerrold, Men of Character, iii. I was mortal certain I should find him here.

1840. Haliburton, Sam Slick, 3, Ser. 102. It was a mortal hot day, and people actually sweated to that degree it laid the dust.

Mortar, subs. (common).—1. The same as Mortar-board (q.v.).

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mortar-board (or Mortar).—The trencher-cap worn at certain public schools and at the Universities.

1600. Kemp, Nine Days’ Wonder, ‘Ded. Ep.’ So that methinkes I could flye to Rome ... with a morter on my head.

d. 1635. Bp. Corbet to T. Coryate. No more shall man with mortar on his head Set forward towards Rome.

1647. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. He ... may now travel to Rome with a mortar on’s head.

1857. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, Pt. II. ch. iii. ‘I don’t mind this ’ere mortar-board, sir,’ remarked the professor of the noble art of self-defence, as he pointed to the academical cap which surmounted his head.

1864. Fun, 21 May, p. 96. Anon I saw a gentle youth (no ‘sub fusc’ under-grad.) ‘Toga virilis’ he had none, no mortar-board he had.

1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life, 147. On admission ... a boy provides himself with a mortar or college-cap.

Mortgage-deed, subs. (common).—A pawnticket. For synonyms see Tomb-stone.

Moses. To stand Moses, verb. phr. (old).—See quots.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie.... Holie Moyses, whose ordinarie counterfeit having on either side of the head an eminence, or luster, arising somewhat in the forme of a horne, hath imboldened a prophane author to stile cuckolds parents de Moyse.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Moses. A man is said to stand Moses when he has another man’s bastard child fathered upon him, and he is obliged by the parish to maintain it.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moses. A man that fathers another man’s child for a consideration.

By the piper that played before Moses, phr. (common).—An oath. Also by the holy jumping mother of Moses. See Oaths.

1855. Strang, Glasgow and Its Clubs, 243. But, holy Moses! what a rear?

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 109. Screw your courage to the sticking place and by the holy-jumping-mother-of-moses—who was my uncle—we’ll not fail.

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! 212. ‘And, by the piper that played before Moses, so they did,’ replied her companion coolly.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 153. ‘Did I spake concerning the stable and a wisp of straw, me boy, for you and your friend? No, by the piper which played before Moses, ye shall have our best bedroom this night to lie in, and be carried up to it also.’

Mosey, verb. (American).—To decamp. For synonyms see Amputate and Skedaddle.

1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, i. If your tongue wasn’t so thick, I’d say you must mosey: but moseying is only to be done when a gemman’s half shot.

18[?]. N.Y. Family Companion [quoted by Bartlett]. After I left you, or rather after you left me, when them fellows told you to mosey off before the boat went to sea.

1848. Bartlett, Americanisms, s.v. Mosey. The following is said to be the origin of the word: A postmaster in Ohio by the name of Moses ran away with a considerable sum of money belonging to the government. To mosey off, or to run away, as Mr. Moses had, then became a by-word in Ohio, and, with its meaning somewhat extended, has spread over the Union.

1857. Louisville Journal, 9 Oct. My friend, let me tell you, if you do not mosey this instant, and clear out for good, you’ll have to pay pretty dear.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v. This mysterious word mosey is, probably correctly, said to be nothing more than a mere variety of the Americanized verb vamose, with the final vowel sounded, and the first syllable lost. It certainly has the same meaning, of leaving suddenly, and generally involuntarily.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 6 Feb. But the bullets and their own fighting began to tell pretty soon, even on grizzlies. First one rolled over and stretched out, then another sat down on his haunches and dropped his head and finally sprawled out, a third moseyed off some distance to sit down and lick his wounds.

To mosey along, verb. phr. (American).—1. To jog along.

18[?]. New York Tribune [quoted by Bartlett]. I’ll get a room nicely furnished, and my wife and I will jes mosey along till the election trouble is over, an’ den dere’ll be a powerful sight of whitewashin’ to be done.

2. (American).—To bustle about.

1885. M. N. Murfree, Prophet of Gt. Smoky Mountains, xiii. Hurry ’long, D’rindy, you-uns ain’t goin’ ter reel a hank ef ye don’t mosey.

Mosh, verb. (thieves’).—To leave a restaurant without paying. A corruption of ‘mouch’ (mike, q.v.).

Moskeneer, verb. (common).—To pawn for more than the pledge is worth: moskers (q.v.) = men who make moskeneering a profession. Also as subs. = the agent.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. Fiddle, or fence, or mace, or mack; Or moskeneer, or flash the drag.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 100. He moskeneers from twenty to thirty supers a week. Ibid. p. 99. As we were talking in came Johnson, a fair moskeneer.

Mosker, subs. (common).—See quot. and Moskeneer.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 July, p. 3, col. 1. The mosker ... is, in slang vernacular, one who makes a living by taking advantage of the business incapacity of persons engaged in the pawnbroking trade, and by subtle wiles and subterfuge imposes on their credulity and weak good nature. [From long article on The Mosker].

Mosque, subs. (old).—A church or chapel.—Parker, Life’s Painter, 120 (1800).

Moss, subs. (thieves’).—1. See quot. and blue pigeon.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Moss. A cant term for lead, because both are found on the tops of buildings.

2. (American).—Money. For synonyms see Actual and Gilt.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Moss-rose, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mossyback, subs. (American).—1. A man hiding in woods or swamps—(‘till the moss grew on his back’)—to escape the conscription for the Southern army. Also Mossback.

2. (American political).—An extreme conservative in politics.

3. (common).—An old fashioned person; a back-number (q.v.).

Mossy-cell (face or vale), subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum.—Grose. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mossyface (or old mossyface), subs. (common).—The ace of spades.

Most, verb. (American thieves’).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Most. Dining at an eating-house and leaving without making payment.

All there, but the most of you! phr. (venery).—Copulation.

Mot (Mott) or Mort, (q.v.) subs. (old).—1. See quots. 1785, 1851, and Mort.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mot. A girl, or wench.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 266. The mot of the ken (nick-name for matron of the establishment).

2. (common).—See quot. 1819. For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, 189. Mott, a blowen, or woman of the town.

1821. Egan, Life in London, i. 223. The Hon. Tom Dashall ... was in close conversation with his mott.

1828. Maginn, Vidocq Versified. With the mots their ogles throwing.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. A mot’s good night to one and all.

Mot-cart, subs. (common).—1. A brougham; a loose-box (q.v.). (2) A mattress.—Barrère and Leland.

Moth, subs. (common).—A prostitute; a fly-by-night (q.v.). For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Mother, subs. (old).—1. A bawd. Also Mother-abbess, Mother Midnight, and Mother Damnable. See Abbess.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mother, or The Mother, a bawd. Mother Abbess, the same.

2. (common).—A familiar mode of address.

1647. Fletcher, The Chances, i. 8. Good mother.

1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xix. But, mother, I did not come to hear Mr. Rochester’s fortune, I came to hear my own.

3. (old colloquial).—Hysteria.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, ii. 4, 56. O, how this mother swells up toward my heart.

1662. Middleton, Mayor of Queensborough [Dyce (1840), I. 186]. I’m so troubled with the mother too.

1662. Rump Songs, i. 161. From Damnable Members, and fits of the mother, Good Lord, deliver us.

Does your mother know you’re out? phr. (common).—A derisive street catch-phrase. See Does.

1836. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, Misadventures at Margate. He smiled and said, ‘Sir, does your mother know, that you are out?’

1840. Sporting Review, iii. 2. Has he no friends to look after him? ‘Does his mother know he’s out?’

1841. Punch, i. p. 6, col. 2. In this darkling hour of doubt—Does your mother know you’re out?

1844. Puck, 134. Tailors or cobblers, both, I trow, From board or stall ye roam, And do your anxious mothers know That ye are out? Go home!

1895. Chatham & Rochester News, ‘Political News’.... A Voice. Does your mother know you’re out? Ald. Davies. Yes! and next week she’ll know that I’m in as well.

Has your mother sold her mangle? phr. (streets’).—A catch phrase: see Does.

Teach your mother (or grandmother) to roast (or suck) eggs, verb. phr. (common).—A derisive retort upon a piece of information or an offer of help. Fr. les oisons veulent mener les oies paître = the goslings want to drive the geese to pasture.

1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 7]. Teach your father to get children.

He’ll be a man before his mother, phr. (common).—A derisive retort.

Mother-and-daughter, subs. (rhyming).—Water.

Mother-Carey’s Chickens, subs. phr. (nautical).—1. Snow; goose-fluff (q.v.). Fr. les mouches d’hiver.

2. (old).—See quot.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mother Cary’s chickens—to fare alike and pay the same.

Mother-in-law, subs. (common).—A mixture of ‘old’ and ‘bitter’ ales.

1884. Daily Telegraph, 3 July, p. 5, col. 4. Others incline towards mother-in-law, otherwise ‘old-and-bitter.’

Mother-in-law’s bit, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mother. Mother in law’s bit; a small piece, mothers-in-law being supposed not apt to overload the stomachs of their husband’s children.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mother-midnight, subs. (common).—1. A midwife; a fingersmith (q.v.) and (2) a bawd.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Mother-midnight, a midwife (often a Bawd).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mother.

Mother Morey. I’ll tell you a story of old Mother Morey, phr. (American).—In derision of an inconsequent yarn. [In allusion to the nursery rhyme].

Mother-of-all-Saints (All souls, masons, St. Patrick), subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1785. G. A. Stevens, Songs Comic and Satyrical, p. 88. Lads pour out libations from bottles and bowls, The mother of all saints is drunk by all souls.

1788. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mother of all Saints. The Monosyllable. Ibid. Mother of all Souls. The same. Irish. Ibid. Mother of St. Patrick. The same. Irish.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mother of masons—a toast—not among their secrets in lodge, whatever it be at home.

Mother-of-the-maids, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mother of the Maids. A bawd.

Mother’s-milk, subs. (common).—Gin. For synonyms see Drinks and White-satin. Also = spirits of any kind (quot. 1860).

1823. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, iii. 3. Log. What, my lily! here, take a drop of mother’s milk. (Gives black child gin out of measure he has received from Landlord).

1860. Dion Boucicault, Colleen Bawn, i. 3. Sheelah. Here’s the hot water. Myles. Lave it there till I brew Father Tom a pint of mother’s milk.

Mother’s-son, subs. (old colloquial).—A man.

[?]. M.S. Cantab. Ff. v. 48. f. 127 [Halliwell]. Woundyt many a modur sone, and xij he slew that day.

[?]. M.S. Linc. A. i. 17. f. 19 [Halliwell]. Perischte ilk a moder sone, and drownede in the water.

Motte, subs. (venery).—The mons veneris. See Fleece and Monosyllable.

Motting, subs. (venery).—Wenching; also grousing (q.v.). For synonyms see Greens and Ride.

Mottob, subs. (back slang).—Bottom.

Mouch. See Mike.

Moucher. See Miker.

Mouchey, subs. (common).—A Jew. For synonyms see Yid.

Mouching. See Miking.

Moulder, subs. (pugilists’).—See quot.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Moulder—a lumbering boxer, one who fights as if he were moulding clay.

Mouldy, subs. (nautical).—A purser’s steward.

Adj. (common).—1. Grey-headed. Mouldy-pate = a lackey in powder.

2. (colloquial).—Worthless: e.g., a mouldy offer.

Mouldy-grubs, subs. (common).—Travelling showmen; mountebanks who work in the open without tent or covering. Mouldy-grubbing = working as described.

Mouldy-’un, subs. (common).—A copper.

Mounch-present, subs. (old).—1. See quot.; (2) a glutton; and (3) one who takes bribes. Also munch-present.

1530. Palsgrave, Maunche present, briffault.

1560–1. Awdley, Fraternitye of Vacabondes. Mounch present is he that is a great gentleman, for when his mayster sendeth him with a present, he wil take a tast thereof by the way. This is a bold knave, that sometyme will eate the best and leave the worst for his mayster.

Mounseer, subs. (colloquial).—A Frenchman.

1627. Drayton, Battle of Agincourt. A shoeless soldier there a man might meet Leading his mounseer by the arms fast bound.

1719. Durfey, Pills, i. 98. The next a Nymph who to be Queen Her Monsieur was engaging.

1755. Gent. Mag., xxv. 229. And now, thus ballasted—what course to steer! Shall I again to sea—and bang mounseer.

1887. W. S. Gilbert, Savoy Songs, p. 14. Though he’s only a darned mounseer, d’ye see?

Mount, subs. (common).—1. A saddle-horse.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, i. We ride many an impetuous steed in safety and comfort that a man would find a dangerous and uncontrollable mount.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, vi. ‘His horses would certainly carry me: I wonder would he give me a mount now and then.’

2. (venery).—1. A wife or mistress; and (2) an act of coition. [Cf. Mrs. Mount in Richard Feverel].

3. (Old Cant).—A bridge.

Verb. (common).—1. To wear; to carry as an equipment.

1822. Moore, Life, 26 Mar. Weather like midsummer: the dandies all mounting their white trousers.

1847. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, viii. One is bound to speak the truth as far as one knows it, whether one mounts a cap and bells or a shovel-hat.

2. (theatrical).—To prepare for representation on the stage.

1880. Athenæum, 6 March, p. 322. As regards mounting and general decorations the revival is superior to any previous performance of As You Like It.

3. (old).—To swear falsely; to give false evidence: for money.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 159, s.v.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Mount, to swear, or give evidence falsely for the sake of a gratuity. To mount for a person is also synonymous with bonnetting for him.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mount. To give false testimony.

4. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.

1593. Shakspeare, Venus and Adonis. Her champion mounted for the hot encounter.... He will not manage her although he mount her.

1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, v. 4. A woman may be honest according to the English print, when she’s a whore in the Latin; so much for marriage and logic: I’ll love her for her wit. I’ll pick out my runts there; and for my mountains, I’ll mount—[So in original, but the play on words is clear].

1629. Jonson, The New Inn [Cunningham, ii. 344], i. 1. Instead of backing the brave steed o’ mornings, My copy has, to mount the chambermaid.

1662. Rump Songs, i. p. 358. He caught a Foal and mounted her (O base!) below the crupper.

1668. Etherege, She Would if She Could, iii. 2. How she’d curvet and frisk, If a man were once mounted upon her.

1715. pennecuik, Poems (1815), p. 363. To see old Cuff upon young Helen mounted.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. & Prov. Words, s.v. Mount. Futuo.

To mount the ass, verb. phr. (old).—To go bankrupt. [In France it was customary to mount a bankrupt on an ass, face to tail, and ride him through the streets].

Mountain-dew, subs. (common).—Scotch whiskey. [From the secret hill-side stills]. For synonyms see Drinks and Old man’s milk.

1821. Edinburgh Evening Courant, 22 Jan. Bread, cheese, and mountain-dew were liberally provided.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, xxviii. Nor quit the land where whiskey grew, To wear King George’s button, Take vinegar for mountain dew, And toads for mountain mutton.

Mountain-pecker, subs. (common).—A sheep’s head. See Jemmy.

Mounter, subs. (old).—See quot. 1859.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, 11. 23, s.v.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mount.... Mounter. Men who give false bail; or who, for a consideration, will swear to anything required. Fellows who hire clothes to wear for a particular occasion; those who wear second-hand clothes.

Mount-faulcon, subs. (venery).—See quot. 1850. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1593. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v.

1850. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Mountfalcon. The female pudendum. Apparently from the Italian. It occurs in Florio and is still in use.

Mount of Venus, subs. phr. (venery).—The mons veneris; the motte (q.v.).

1750. Struan, Poems, ‘Horace,’ iii. 13. By this lov’d spot*, I’d live and die with thee. [* Note. Clapping her hand on the mount of Venus].

Mount-Pleasant, subs. phr. (venery).—The mons veneris. Cf. Shooters-hill. For synonyms see Motte.

Mounts-of-lilies, subs. (old).—The paps. For synonyms see Dairy.

1694. Crowne, Married Beau, iii. 1. Who would not, to ascend these mounts of lilies, Leave for a while religion at the bottom.

Mourner, subs. (American).—One taking a drink; a spreester (q.v.).

1847. Porter, Quarter Race etc., p. 126. The cards were dropt instanter ... and the mourners were soon distributed in knots upon the promenade deck.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 110. By common consent the mourners settled themselves down into comparative quiet.

Mourning. Full mourning, subs. phr. (pugilists’).—Two black eyes: half-mourning = one black eye or a mouse. Fr. œufs sur le plat; yeux au beurre noir; yeux pochés.

Adj. (old).—Bruised. Also in mourning.

1708. Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy-Body, i. 1. Mar. I would give ten guineas, I say, to be ranked in his acquaintance. But, pr’ythee, introduce me. Chas. Well on condition you’ll give us a true account how you came by that mourning nose, I will.

1820. Reynolds, The Fancy, ‘King Tims’. Her eyes were all sweetly in mourning.

1821. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, 67. Never again would he put the ogles of the ring in mourning.

1828. Bee, Living Picture of London, 283. To send him before his betters with his peepers in mourning.

1837. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, xii. His left eye was sent into deep mourning, which threatened to last for some weeks.

Mourning-shirt, subs. (old).—An unlaundered shirt: cf. Biled-rag.

1650. Fuller, Pisgah Sights, 98. We say mourning shirts, it being customary for men in sadnesse to spare the pains of their laundresses.

Mouse, subs. (pugilistic).—1. See quots. 1860 and 1895. Cf. Blackwall.

1857. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. ii. ch. iv. ‘That’ll raise a tidy mouse on your ogle, my lad!’

1860. W. E. Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast Table, xi. 354. Mouse is a technical term for a bluish, oblong rounded elevation occasioned by running one’s forehead or eyebrow against another’s knuckles.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. His dexter ogle has a mouse; His conk’s devoid of bark.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. Bringing his right into play with extreme force, caused a mouse to appear on his opponent’s left peeper.

1895. Westminster Gazette,... A black eye in true cockney slang is known as a mouse, and this accounts for the fact that a cockney near his platform on Sunday shouted out, ‘Jack, where is your rat-trap?’ Mr. Burns was rather astounded. ‘Why a rat-trap?’ he said, thinking vaguely of ‘black-legs’ and Liberal Unionists. ‘For that big mouse on yer eye,’ cried the delighted cockney.

2. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms see Creamstick, and Prick. Cf. Mouser.

3. (old).—A term of endearment.

1593. Alleyn, ... [in Collier, Memoirs, 25]. My good, sweete mouse [of his wife].

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Lab. Lost, v. 2. What’s your dark meaning, mouse?

1594. Look About You [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 463]. Sweet mouse, the hermit bids you stay here.

1611. Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of the Burning Pestle, i. 2. Wife. Stay ... till I question my husband. Cit. What is it, mouse.

1656. Muses Recr. [Hotten], p. 33. Even Mopsa, prety mouse.

4. (common).—The face.

5. (old).—The mouth. Also as verb. = to bite. Cf. mousle.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie [E. E. T. S. 91, 38, 3]. If foxes mouse them, then watch or house them.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, ii. 1. line 354. And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of kings.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, ii. 1. He told me none but naughty women sat there whom they tous’d and mous’d.

6. (common).—The same as mouse-piece (q.v.).

1888. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 223. He’s turned mouse, has he?

Verb. (American).—To go mouse-like: i.e., as in depreciation of one’s self. [A variant of mouch].

1871. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Screamers. The poor blunderer mouses among the sublime creations of the old masters.

Intj. (old).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mouse. Be quiet; be still; talk low; whisper; step light; softly.

To speak like a mouse in a cheese, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mouse. To speak like a mouse in a cheese; i.e., faintly or indistinctly.

As drunk as a mouse, phr. (old).—Very drunk. See Drinks and Screwed.

c. 1508[?]. Colin Blowboll’s Testament, line 141. Oft hath made me dronke as any mouse.

153[?]. Doctour Doubble Ale [quoted by Halliwell]. Then seke another house, This is not worth a louse; As dronken as a mouse.

Mouse-digger, subs. (Winchester College).—See quot.

1866. Mansfield, School Life, 150. Plying the mouse digger (a kind of diminutive pick-axe) in search of mice.

Mouser, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum; the cat (q.v.). For synonyms see Monosyllable. Cf. Mouse, subs. sense 2.

Mouse-foot, subs. (old).—An oath.

1563. Appius & Virginius [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 151]. Yet, by the mouse-foot, I am not content.

1601. A. Dent, Pathway, 142. I know a man that will never sweare but by Cocke, or Pie, or mouse foot. I hope you will not say these be oathes.

1605. London Prodigal, ii. 2. I’ll come and visit you: by the mouse-foot I will.

Mouse-hunt, subs. (old colloquial).—A wencher; a grouser (q.v.).

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo & Juliet, iv. 4. Aye, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time, But I will watch you from such watching now.

Mousepiece (Mouse-buttock, or Mouse), subs. (colloquial).—A piece of beef or mutton below the round; the part immediately above the knee joint.

1591. Lyly, Sappho and Phaon, i. 3. Aptly understood, a mouse of beef.

Mousetrap, subs. (common).—1. The mouth; the potato-trap (q.v.).

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable. Cf. Mouse, subs. sense 2.

3. (common).—A sovereign; a canary (q.v.). [From a fancied resemblance of the crown and shield to a set trap].

The parson’s mousetrap, subs. phr. (common).—See quot. 1785.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mousetrap. The parson’s mousetrap; the state of matrimony.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mousle, verb. (old).—1. To nibble. Hence (2) to tongue a woman: cf. Mouse, sense 5; to tip the velvet (q.v.).

1672. Marvell, Rehearsal [Grosart (1873), iii. 152]. The poor word is sure to be mumpled and mowsled to purpose.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, v. 1. He put the lip of his tongue between my lips, and so mousled me—and I said I’d bite it.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 4. Ben’s a brisk boy ... he’ll touzle her and mouzle her; ... if he shou’d not stay for saying grace ... but fall to without the help of a parson, ha?

1762. Wilson, The Cheats, ii. 4. I.I. Dear Mopus! [He hugs her]. Mr. Mop. Away, Captain! You do so mousle one.

Mouth, subs. (common).—1. See quots. Also mouth-almighty. For synonyms see Clack-box and Furioso.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, ii. 1, line 397. Large mouth indeed!

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) Mouth (S.) ... also a cant word for a noisy, silly, ignorant, prating, scolding fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mouth. A noisy fellow. Mouth half cocked; one gaping and staring at every thing he sees.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mouth. A noisy fellow; a silly fellow.

2. (old).—See quot.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, 34. Another shall look out for a mouth that has a horse to sell or change.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mouth. A silly fellow. A dupe. To stand mouth; i.e., to be duped.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Mouth, a foolish silly person; a man who does a very imprudent act, is said to be a rank mouth.

3. See Cheek.

4. (common).—The after-effects of a debauch; hot coppers (q.v.).

Verb. (colloquial).—To rant.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii. 2. If you mouth it as many of your players do.

1759. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxi. I hate to hear an actor mouthing trifles.

1871. Lowell, Study Windows, 180. In his pompous, mouthing way of saying it.

To give mouth, verb. phr. (common).—1. To put into words; and (2) to speak loudly and distinctly. Also mouth it. It. dar la bocca.

1840. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, lxv. ‘What I say in respect to the speeches always is, Give it mouth. That’s my maxim. Give it mouth.’

1850. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mouth it. Speak loudly.

1861. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. ii. ch. vii. ‘I have an opinion of you, sir, to which it is not easy to give mouth.’

1883. Daily Telegraph, 4 Sep., p. 2, col. 2. ‘Black Bess,’ they said, was nothing unless you gave it mouth, and the two remaining verses, with the chorus, were rendered with unabated vigour.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 42. Give it mouth!

Down in the mouth, verb. phr. (common).—Dejected.

1608–11. Bishop Hall, Epistles, i. 6. The Roman orator was down in the mouth; finding himself thus cheated by the money-changer.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, iv. 9. Sir. J. Witt. Now am I slapdash down in the mouth, and have not one word to say!

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, xlix. He ... told the physician that he was like the root of the tongue, as being cursedly down in the mouth.

1864. Edmund Yates, Broken to Harness, x. What won’t do? asked Prescott, with flaming face. Why, this Kate Mellon business, Jim. It’s on hot and strong, I know. You’ve been down in the mouth all the time she was away.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, xlvii. I’m sorry you’re so down in the mouth. Why don’t you try again?

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xxxiii. Poor Old Jim looks dreadful down in the mouth.

1894. George Moore, Esther Waters, xxx. I’m a bit down in the mouth.

To laugh on the wrong (or other) side of one’s mouth (or face), subs. phr. (colloquial).—To cry.

1714. Lucas, Gamesters, 65. But tho’ he laugh; ’twas on the wrong side or his mouth.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Laugh.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Laugh.

1826. Buckstone, Death Fetch, i. 4. Snapsch. (Aside.) And have a pretty family of them about my ears the first time I’m left alone in the dark, who would soon make me laugh on the other side of my mouth, I fancy.

1837. Carlyle, Diamond Necklace, iii. By and bye thou wilt laugh on the wrong side of thy face.

Mouth that says no words about it (or cannot bite), subs. phr. (old).—The female pudendum.

1719. Durfey, Pills etc., iv. 71. That feeds the mouth that cannot bite.

See also, All mouth; big-mouth; bone; cat; silver-spoon; lion; water.

Mouth-bet, subs. (racing).—A verbal bet.

Mouther, subs. (pugilists’).—A blow on the mouth.

1821. The Fancy, Vol. I. p. 254. The Jew brought first blood by a mouther.

Mouth-glue, subs. (old).—Speech.

160[?] Davies of Hereford, Wittes Pilgrimage (Grosart, 1878, ii. h). ‘In Praise of Poesie.’ And Iudgement ioyne them fast with Art’s Mouth-glue.

1688. Crowne, City Politics, ii. 1. As for marriage-promises, they are but church mouth-glue, they won’t hold a couple together three days.

Mouthing, subs. (common).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mouthing. Crying.

Mouthpiece, subs. (thieves’).—See quot. Fr. un lessiveur (thieves’ = whitewasher); un médecin (= doctor: cf. malade = prisoner; l’hôpital = prison); un parrain.

1888. Greenwood, Old People etc., 18. It was for the benefit of a man, whose name I needn’t mention, who was ‘in trouble’ and in need of a bit of money, the card said, to procure him a mouthpiece,—which, perhaps you might not be aware, is another word for a defending counsel among those sort of characters.

Mouth-Thankless, subs. phr. (Old Scots’).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1460–1505. Kennedy, Ane Aigit Man (Bannantyne MSS. Hunt. Soc. Publications, p. 780–82). That ewir I scherwit mowth thankless.

d. 1555. Lyndsay, Answer to the King’s Flyting, in Wks. (Edinburgh, 1873), I. 106, l. 33. Sae sair I rew That ewir I did mouth-thankless so persew.

15?–15?. A. Scott, Of May, in Wks. (Edinburgh, 1826). For helth of body now have e Nocht oft to mell with thankless mowth.

Move, subs. (common).—See quots. To be up (or fly) to a move or two (or every move on the board) = to be wide-awake.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Move, any action or operation in life; the secret spring by which any project is conducted, as, There is a move in that business which you are not down to. To be flash to every move upon the board, is to have a general knowledge of the world, and all its numerous deceptions.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, xiii. The champion glared ... putting in play all the different manœuvres of the King, which the initiated call moves.

1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 16 Jan. He said he had as good as given me a fortune, for he had made me a tip-top player, put me up to every move upon the board, and the next time I played I should sweep it clean.

Moveables, subs. (thieves’).—1. Furniture; and (2) see quots.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V. ii. 8. 50. Look to my chattels and my movables.

1607. middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, iii. 1. He’s rich in money, movables, and land.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Moveables.... We bit all the Cull’s cole and moveables, we won all the man’s money, rings, watches etc.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moveables. Rings, watches, or any toys of value.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Moved, adv. (American thieves’).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moved. Bowed to.

Mow, verb. (American).—1. To kiss.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mow. To kiss.

2. (venery).—See quots. For synonyms see Greens and Ride. Also Mowe.

d. 1554. Lyndsay, Kitteis Confessioun, l. 16. Quod scho, Will Leno mowit me.

1597–8. Haughton, A Woman will have her Will [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), x. 493]. I am no meat for his mowing.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, v. 18. For when at her Daddy’s Ise gang to Bed, Ise mow’d her without any more to do.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To Mow. A Scotch word for the act of copulation.

1793. Burns, (In Title) Poor Bodies do Nothing but mow. May the deil in her arse Ram a huge prick of brass, An’ damn her to hell wi’ a mow.

1808–25. Jamieson, Dict., s.v. Mow ... to copulate.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1850. Halliwell, Archaic & Provincial Words, s.v. Mow.... Futuo.

Mowdiwort (or Mowdiwark), subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms see Creamstick and Prick.

17[?]. Old Song [quoted by Burns in Merry Muses], ‘The Modiewark.’ The Modiwark has done me ill, And under my apron has biggit a hill.

Mower, subs. (Old Cant).—A cow.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mower.... Cant.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mow- (or moo-) heater, subs. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mow Heater. A drover: from their frequent sleeping on hay mows. Cant.

1870. All the Year Round, 5 Mar. ‘Bye-gone Cant,’ s.v.

Mozzy, subs. (showmen’s).—Judy. Swatchell = Mr. Punch.

M. P., subs. phr. (common).—A policeman. For synonyms see Beak.

Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Knap, Mr. Nash, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Pullen. See Ferguson, Knap, Nash, Palm, and Pull.

Mrs. Goff, subs. phr. (American University).—A woman. For synonyms see Petticoat.

Mrs. Grundy, subs. phr. (common).—A personification of respectability. See quots. 1849 and 1855. [From a character in Speed the Plough, see quot. 1798].

1798. J. Morton, Speed the Plough, i. 1. Be quiet woolye? always ding, dinging Dame Grundy into my ears—What will Mrs. Grundy say? What will Mrs. Grundy think?

1849. Lytton, Caxtons, Pt. xv. ch. iii. I have hit upon a mode of satisfying the curiosity of our friend Mrs. Grundy—that is, ‘the World’—without injury to any one.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, li. ‘What will Richmond, what will society, what will Mrs. Grundy in general say to such atrocious behaviour?’

1891. Tales from Town Topics, ‘How a Shell Broke the Ice,’ p. 39. Come in; Mrs. Grundy has run away from Paris long ago.

Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Gamp, subs. phr. (Fleet St.).—The Morning Herald and The Standard under the proprietorship of Mr. Baldwin. [Cf. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, passim].

1846. Punch, x. p. 11. It is a fact—and as the evening Mrs. Harris says, we will stake our reputation upon it—that Mrs. Gamp of the Herald did, one day last week, write, that is scold, a leader about Lord John Russell, and did not quote Sydney Smith!

1885. Punch, 8 August. The Standard figures as ‘Sairey Gamp’ scolding—in allusion to a recent article in the S. abusing Lord Randolph Churchill.

Mrs. Jones, subs. phr. (common).—A water-closet.

English synonyms. Bog; bog-shop (or -house); cacatorium; chapel (or chapel-of-ease); coffee-shop (or -house); colfabias; crapping-castle (-case, -casa, -house, or -ken); draught-chapel; dunnakin; Forty-two; fourth; gong; House of Commons; house-of-office; jakes; letter-box; the Long (University); my aunt’s; necessary-house; quaker’s burying-ground; place (or house)-of-ease; rear; shit-house; Sir Harry; the West Central; where the Queen goes on foot (or sends nobody).

French synonyms. Madame Bernard (cf. Mrs. Jones); le buen-retiro (popular); chez Jules; le goguenau (gogueno or goguenot—military); le gras (thieves’: cf. Bog); le longchamps (cf. Long); la mousserie (thieves’); le numbro cent (popular: a play on sent); le restaurant à l’envers (common); la sacristie (cf. chapel).

Mrs. Lukey Props, subs. (tramps’).—A bawd.

Mrs. Partington, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A personification of impotent and senile prejudice. Also, a kind of Malaprop.

1831. Sydney Smith, ‘Speech at Taunton.’ I do not mean to be disrespectful; but the attempt of the lords to stop the progress of reform reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town; the tide rose to an incredible height; the waves rushed in upon the houses; and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused; Mrs. Partington’s spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or puddle, but should never have meddled with a tempest.

1872. Besant and Rice, Ready-Money Mortiboy, xxx. As Mrs. Partington would say, they might all three have been twins.

Mr. Speaker, subs. (America).—A revolver. For synonyms see Meat-in-the-pot.

Mrs. Suds, subs. (common).—A laundress.

1757. Foote, Author, i. Mrs. Suds, your washerwoman, makes the three half crowns.

M’s and W’s. To make M’s and W’s, verb. phr. (printers’).—To be drunk.

M. T., subs. phr. (railway).—1. Empties, or empty carriages: see Moll Thompson’s mark.

2. (common).—An empty bottle; a dead-man (q.v.).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Mubblefubbles, subs. (Old Cant).—Low spirits. Cf. Mulligrubs.

1592. Lyly, Mydas, v. 2. Melancholy is the creast of courtiers armes, and now every base companion, being in his mublefubles, says he is melancholy.

1654. Gayton, Festiv. Notes, 46. Whether Jupiter was not joviall, nor Sol in his mubblefubbles, that is long clouded, or in a total eclipse. Ibid. 145. Our Mary Gutierez, when she was in the mubblefubles, do you think I was mad for it?

[?] Misc. Antiq. Angl. in X. Prince, 55. And when your brayne feeles any payne, With cares of state and troubles, We’ll come in kindnesse to put your highnesse Out of your mumble-fubbles.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic ... Words, s.v. Mubble-fubbles ... depressed in spirits without any serious cause. A cant term.

Much, subs. (colloquial).—An expression of quality, e.g., ‘Not much of a lawyer’ = not a very good lawyer.

Much of a muchness, phr. (colloquial).—Very much the same thing.

1837. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, xxi. ‘The people I want are very, very poor!’ ‘Oh! oh! oh! I’m thinking they’re all much of a muchness for the matter of that, about here,’ he replied.

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3. S. ii. It is much of a muchness, sir,—six of one, and half a dozen of the other.

1860. Punch, v. 28, p. 135. The two are much of a muchness.

1870. Dickens, Mystery Ed. Drood, iv. p. 27. ‘Surely this key is the heaviest of the three,’ ‘You’ll find ’em much of a muchness, I expect,’ says Durdles. ‘They all belong to monuments.’

1876. G. Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxxi. Gentle or simple, they’re much of a muchness.

1891. Sportsman, 2 April. The sport was much of a muchness with that usually seen there of recent years.

Not much! (or not muchly!), adv. (colloquial).—Not likely; certainly not! in derision.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. What with two points on your shoulder? Much!

1599. Jonson, Ev. Man Out of His Humour, i. 3. To charge me bring my grain into the markets, Aye, much! when I have neither barn nor garner.

Much cry and little wool. See Cry.

Muchly, adv.. (common).—A great deal.

[?]. M. S. Bibl. Reg., 17 B, 15 [Halliwell]. Went gravelie dight to entertaine the dame, They muchlie lov’d, and honour’d in her name.

Muck, subs. (old: now colloquial).—1. A dripping, or oozing, mass of filth. Hence, muck-cheap = very cheap; muck-heap, or muck-scutcheon = a foul sloven: cf. Midden; muck-grubber = a miser; muck-hill = a dunghill; muck-spout = a foul-mouthed talker; muck-suckle = a filthy woman; mucky-white = sallow in complexion; muck of sweat = a violent perspiration, etc.

1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ix. She was all of a muck of sweat.

2. (common).—Anything vile.

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, I. iii. 1. Muck: that’s my opinion of him.

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. ‘Yuss,’ quoth somebody else, ‘and a precious little luck he’ll get a drinking sech like muck.’

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 28. Up to now it’s bin muck and no error, fit only for fishes.

3. (old).—Money. For synonyms see Actual and Gilt.

1393. Gower, Confessio Amantis, v. ‘For to pinche, and for to spare, Of worlds mucke to gette encres.’

1587. Turberville, Tragicall Tales [Nares]. Not one in all Ravenna might compare With him for wealth, or match him for his muck.

1592. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii. 29]. St. Francis a holy saint and never had any money. It is madness to doat upon muck.

1603. Davies of Hereford, Microcosmos [Grosart (1878), i. c], 70. Our mucke and Earthly Mammon’s continent.

1611. Davies, Scourge of Folly [Nares]. He married her for mucke, she him for lust; The motives fowle, then fowlly live they must.

1624. Massinger, Bondman, i. 3. Do you prize your muck Above your liberties.

1655. Massinger, Guardian, v. 4. Deliver such coin as you are furnish’d with.... Dur. When we have thrown down our muck, what follows? Sev. Liberty, with a safe convoy, To any place you choose.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed). Muck (S.) ... also a cant name or money hoarded up.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., s.v. Muck ... pelf, which a miser scrades.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

4. (common).—A heavy fall. Also Mucker.

5. (common).—A coarse brute.

Verb. (common).—1. To spend; and (2) to ruin.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 20. He’d muck a thousand!

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 75. Wot mucks me, old man. Ibid. p. 70. I’m mucked, that’s a moral.

2. (racing).—See quot.

1865. Sporting Gazette, 1 April. If this letter had not already reached a considerable length, I would discourse upon the probability that to run a muck, and to go a mucker, which Mr. Hotten treats as synonymous, are in reality unconnected. The meaning and derivation of to run a muck are no doubt correctly given; but to go a mucker as men frequently do on the Turf, seems to be connected with muck, to clean out, and perhaps with muckinger, a pocket handkerchief.

To go (or run) a muck (or a mucker), verb. phr. (common).—To go headlong; also to be recklessly extravagant; to run amok (q.v.). [Stanford Dict. The homicidal frenzy (of a Malay), used originally in Port. forms amouca, amuco; hence, in a homicidal frenzy, furiously, viciously; metaphorically, headlong. Rare as adv.. except with ‘run.’ Sometimes used as if it were the indef. art. ‘a’ with subs. ‘muck’].

1588. J. Hickock, Tr. C. Frederick’s Voyage, fol. 13, r8. This King of Cochine ... hath a great number of gentlemen which he calleth Amochy, and some are called Nayry; these two sorts of men esteeme not their lives any thing. They will thrust themselves forward in every danger, although they knowe they shall dye.

1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage [1626], ii. 557. There are also certaine people called Amorichi, otherwise Chiani, which perceiving the end of their life approach, lay hold on their weapons ... and going forth kill every man they meet with, till somebody (by killing them) make an end of their killing.

1665. Head, English Rogue, Sig. Hhh, 2 vo. A great crew of Indians and Chineses ... fell upon them, killing whom they could, not directing their revenge on any particular person, (which they call a muck).

1684. J. P., Tr. Tavernier’s Travels, I. ii. iii. 202. Which the Java lords seeing.... Cried a mocca on the English, killing a great number of them.

1687. Dryden, Hind and Pauth, iii. 1188. He scours the streets And runs an Indian muck at all he meets.

1754. Smollett, Ferd. Ct. Fathom, l. The Malays never run a muck, but in consequence of misery and despair.

1821. De Quincey, Confessions (1823), ii. 135. Brought other Malays with him ... that ran amuck at me.

1866. Lowell, Biglow Papers, viii. The late muck which the country has been running.

To go a muck (or mucker), verb. phr. (common).—To go to smash. Also, to risk one’s all; to put on one’s shirt (q.v.).

1877. C. Kingsley, Life, 275. Only four more doing it and one receiving a mucker.

To muck about, verb. phr. (coster).—To fondle; to mess about (q.v.).

Muckcook, verb. (common).—To laugh behind one’s back.

Muckender (Muckinder, Muckinger, or Mucketer), subs. (Old Cant).—A handkerchief. [From Sp. mocadero, (influenced by muck) from muco = mucus]. For synonyms see Wipe.

1468. Cov. Mysteries, ‘Christ in the Temple’ p. 190. Goo hom lytyl babe, and sytte on the moderes lappe And put a mokador upon thi brest: And pray thi modyr to fede the with the pappe.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Bavaro, a bib or muckender.

1600. Weakest goes to Wall, sign. I. 2 b. Onely upon his muckiter and band he had an F, By which I did suppose his name was Ferdinand.

1607. Marston, What You Will, ii. 1. Wipe your nose: fie on your sleeve! where’s your muckender your grandmother gave you?

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, iv. 5. One must wipe his mouth for him with a muckinder.

1612. Chapman, Widow’s Tears, iv. 1, p. 327 (Plays, 1874). To which all the Paphian widows shall after their husbands’ funerals offer their wet muckinders, for monuments of the danger they have passed.

1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1. Take my muckinder, And dry thine eyes.

1658. On Dr. Corbet’s Marriage [Nares]. You knew her little, and when her Apron was but a muckender.

1668. Wilkins, Real Char. Alph. Dict. Mucketer, wiping thing.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, v. 220.... And now and then with a greasy muckender wipe away the dripping that bastes their foreheads.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1830. C. Lamb, Pawnbroker’s Daughter, i. 2. Scarce three clean muckingers a week Would dry the brine that dew’d my cheek.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. & Prov. Words, s.v. muckinder.... The term is still in use, but generally applied to a dirtied handkerchief.

Mucker, subs. (common).—See to go a muck: also to come a cropper.

2. (common).—See muck, sense 4.

3. (military).—A commissariat officer.

Verb. (colloquial).—To blunder badly; to come to grief; to fail.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xiv. Welter has muckered ... but worse than that, they say that Charles Marston’s classical first is fishy.

Muckerer (or Mokerer), subs. (old).—A miser.

c. 1381. Chaucer, Boethius, Bk. ii. Auarice maketh alwaie muckerers to be hated.

Muck-fork, subs. (common).—A hand; a finger.

Muckibus, adj. (old).—See quot. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

1756. Walpole, Letters, i. 498. She said in a very vulgar accent, if she drank any more she should be muckibus. ‘Lord,’ said Lady Mary Coke, ‘what is that?’ ‘Oh, it is Irish for sentimental!’

Muckingtogs (or Muckintogs).—A mackintosh.

1851–61. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ii. 137. With a carpet-swab and muckingtogs.

Muckrake, subs. (American).—See quot.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v. Muckrakes, a slang term in politics for persons who ‘fish in troubled waters,’ from the idea of their raking up the muck to see what valuable waifs and strays they may find in it. The term is generally used in the form of muckrakes and placemongers.

Mucks. See mux.

Muck-snipe, subs. (common).—A ruined gambler. Cf. Muck, verb., sense 2.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lon. Poor, i. 279. I was a muck-snipe when I was there—why, a muck-snipe, sir, is a man regularly done up, coopered, and humped altogether.

Muck-train, subs. (military).—A commissariat train.

Muck-worm, subs. (old).—A miser; [Cf. Muck = money]. Also an upstart.

1665. Howard, The Committee, ii. Come, pr’y thee let’s go; these muckworms will have earth enough to stop their mouths with one day.

1670. J. Eachard, Contempt of the Clergy [Arber, Garner, Vol. vii. p. 298]. It is a great hazard if he be not counted a caterpillar! a muckworm! a very earthly minded man!

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 1. ’Oons, whose son are you? how were you engendered, muckworm?

1748. Thomson, Castle of Indolence, i. 50. Here you a muckworm of the town might see.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1795. R. Cumberland, The Jew, i. Here comes one that supersedes all other visitors—old Sheva, the rich Jew, the merest muck-worm in the city of London.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1895. H. B. Marriott-Watson, in New Review, July, p. 7. ‘You muckworm, you——I’ll slit your gizzard, you——.’

Mud, subs. (old).—1. See quots. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 13. Mud, a Fool, or Thick-scull Fellow.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Mud(s) ... also a dull, heavy-headed fellow is called a mud.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mud—a stupid twaddling fellow. ‘And his name is mud!’ ejaculated upon the conclusion of a silly oration, or of a leader in the Courier.

1836. W. H. Smith, The Individual, ‘The Thieves’ Chaunt.’ There is a nook in the boozing-ken, Where many a mud I fog.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

2. (printers’).—A non-society man; dung (q.v.).

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

As clear as mud, phr. (common).—Very obscure. Also the reverse: as plain as may be.

1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 480 (ed. 1862). Well, I get her to set down and go over it all ever so slow, and explain it all as clear as mud, and then she says,—Now do you see, Sam, ain’t it horrid pretty?

1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, vi. I’ll explain the whole thing to you, as clear as mud, in half a second.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 75. Clear as mud, my dear feller.

His name is mud! phr. (American political).—Said in cases of utter defeat; sent up Salt River (q.v.).

Mud-cat, subs. (American).—A Mississippi man.

Mudcrusher, subs. (military).—An infantryman. Fr. pousse-caillou.

English synonyms. Beetle-crusher (or -squasher); blanket-boy (a volunteer); boiled lobster; brother-blade; caterpillar; cat-shooter (volunteer); coolie; flat-foot; fly-slicer (a cavalryman); grabby; jolly gravel-grinder (a marine, see Royal Jolly); leatherneck; light-bob; lobster; mud-major (q.v.); mud-plunger; plunger; prancer (a cavalryman); Q.H.B. (= Queen’s Hard Bargain = a malingerer); raw lobster (see lobster); red-coat; red-herring; Saturday-soldier (a volunteer); scarlet-runner; skid; snoddy; swaddy; tame jolly (see jolly); toe-footer (or bloody toe-footer); Tommy Atkins; tow-pow; wobbler; worm-crusher (or -squasher).

French synonyms. Un allumeur de gaz (= a lancer: in allusion to the weapon and a lamp-lighter’s rod); un barbe-à-poux (= a sapper: they wear long beards); un bibi (popular); un biffin, or bifin (the knapsack is likened to a rag-picker’s basket); un bouffeur de kilomètres (the Chasseurs de Vincennes; a picked corps of skirmishers and scouts); un briscard (= an old soldier with long-service stripes); un cabillot (sailors’); un camisard (a military convict who serves his time in Africa: also un camisard en bordée); un centrier or centripète (popular); un chacal (= a Zouave); une citrouille or un citrouillard (= a dragoon); les clous (the infantry en masse); un court-à-pattes (a foot artilleryman); un cul rouge (in allusion to the red trousers: cf. cherry-bum); Dumanet (= Tommy Atkins: from a character in a play); une écrevisse de rempart (cavalrymen’s); un fiferlin (popular); un fiffot (popular); un griffeton or grivier (popular); un homard (= a spahi: cf. lobster); un hussard à quatre roues (= an army-service man); un lascar (= a malingerer); un lignard (= a linesman); un marche à terre (cf. mud-crusher); une marionette (popular); un méfiant (military); un mousse-caillou (popular); les mutilés (= soldiers drafted to Africa for self-mutilation); officier de guérite (military); un Parisien (military: a crack soldier); un pied de banc (= a sergeant); un pousse-caillou (popular = gravel-grinder).

Italian synonyms. Burasco; formigotto; foco or fuoco.

Mudding-face, subs. (common).—A fool; a muff or muffin-face (q.v.).

Muddle, subs. (colloquial).—A state of confusion.

1854. Dickens, Hard Times, passim.

1882. E. J. Worboise, Sissie, xxv. ‘There is no management in our house; there is nothing but muddle.’

Verb. (common).—1. To stupefy with liquor. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull [Ency. Dict.]. ‘I was for five years often drunk, always muddled.’

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, iii. ii. I must not muddle my brain with any more Pharaoh.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 5 Jan. ‘The Clerical Scandal.’ The vicar had a pocket handkerchief in his hand, and was wiping his face. He appeared to be muddled.

2. (colloquial).—To bungle.

3. (old Scots’).—To copulate. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.

To muddle away, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To squander aimlessly; to waste one knows not how.

Muddle-head, subs. (common).—A fool. Hence muddle-headed, adj. (colloquial).—Doltish.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxx. What a precious muddle-headed chap you are.

1856. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, vi. They are muddle-heads.

Muddler, subs. (racing).—A clumsy horse.

Mud-fog Association, subs. phr. (obsolete).—See quots.

1838. Dickens in Bentley’s Mag., iv. 209–227. Full Report of the Second Meeting of the Mudfog Association for the Advancement of Everything [Title].

1886. C. Dickens, Junior, in Household Words, 1 May, p. 13. Many critics have derided as a gross exaggeration a very early skit of my father’s which satirised the proceedings of a certain Mudfog Association, but some recent meetings of the Social Science Association were quite as ridiculous.

Mudge, subs. (thieves’).—See quot. For synonyms see Golgotha.

1888. Sportsman, 22 Dec. The judge said that he had noticed that one of the witnesses had referred to the hat as a mudge, a word which he had not heard of before. One had always to learn, and for the future he should be able to add mudge to his vocabulary. The gangs of Liverpool are clever at ‘bashing mudges,’ ‘slipping wipes,’ and ‘catching a Waterbury wind-for-ever.’

Mudger, subs. (old).—A milk-sop.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, xxii. Ah, he was a fellow! none of your girl-faced mudgers, who make love to ladies, forsooth—a pretty woman need not look far for a kiss when he was in the room, I warrant, however coarse her duds might be.

Mud-hen, subs. (American Stock Exchange).—A female gambler.

1876. San Francisco Post, Nov. The average mud-hen is middle-aged, rather stout in person, as voluble in conversation as a stump-speaker, and possessed of an inordinate desire to become a ‘stock-sharp.’ She has a wonderful amount of gossip and ‘dead-sure points’ to communicate, and is by no means unwilling to reveal all she knows to any one who is supposed to have information relative to any stock, and in return can give her a point.

Mud-hole, subs. (whalers’).—A salt-water lagoon in which whales are captured.

Mud-honey, subs. (common).—Mud; street slush.

Mud-hook, subs. (nautical).—An anchor.

Mud-lark, subs. (common).—1. See quots.

1796. Colquhoun, Police of the Metropolis, p. 60. These aquatic plunderers ... practise another device, by connecting themselves with men and boys, known by the name of mud-larks, who prowl about, and watch under the ship when the tide will permit, and to whom they throw small parcels of sugar, coffee, and other articles of plunder, which are conveyed to the receivers by the mud-larks, who generally have a certain share of the booty.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mudlarks—fellows who scratch about in gutters for horsenails, and other fragments of scrap-iron; also women who go into the Thames, at low-water, to pick from the mud bits of coal, which are spilled from the barges along-shore.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii. 173. There is another class who may be termed riverfinders, although their occupation is connected only with the shore; they are commonly known by the name of mud-larks, from being compelled, in order to obtain the articles they seek, to wade sometimes up to their middle through the mud left on the shore by the retiring tide. The mud-larks collect whatever they happen to find, such as coals, bits of old-iron, rope, bones, and copper nails that drop from ships while lying or repairing along shore.

1871. Daily News, 26 Dec. ‘Workhouse Xmas. Depravity.’ Why, there’s Jemima Ann ... has ... been bleeding me of a fiver to send to some Christmas Dinner Fund for juvenile mudlarks.

2. (old).—A duck.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

3. (City).—Any one with outdoor duties.

4. (common).—A street-Arab (q.v.).

5. (old).—A hog.—Grose (1785).

Mud-major, subs. (military).—An infantry major: i.e., one who, on parade, commands a company on foot.

Mud-picker, subs. (military).—A garrison policeman.

Mud-player, subs. (cricketers’).—A batsman partial to a soft wicket.

Mud-plunging, subs. (tramps’).—Tramping through slush in search of sympathy.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 8 Feb., p. 3, col. I. ‘The bitterest sort of weather is their [cadgers’] weather, and it doesn’t matter if it’s house-to-house work or chanting, or mud-plunging, it’s cold work.’

Mud-salad Market, subs. phr. (common).—Covent Garden.

1880. Punch, 14 Aug., p. 71. Mud-salad Market belongs to His Grace the Duke of Mudford. It was once a tranquil Convent Garden.

Mud-sill, subs. (American).—1. A low-born, ignorant, contemptible wretch.

2. (obsolete American).—A Southerner: circa 1861–4.

Mud-slinger, subs. (common).—A slanderer.

Mud-student, subs. (see def.).—A student at the Agricultural College, Cirencester.

1856. Notes & Queries, 2 S. ii. 198. A young friend of mine ... a mud-student.

Muff, subs. (old).—1. A milksop; a bungler; a dolt. See quots. 1598, 1648, 1862 and 1879. Also muffin.

1586–1606. Warner, Albion’s England. ‘Those stiles to him were strange, but thay Did feofe them on the bace-borne muffe, and him as king obay.’

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Pupo, a pigsneye, a sweet-hart, a prettie muffe, a daintie mop etc. Ibid. Stiti-cozzie, swearing or swaggring muffs or dutchmen.

c. 1610. Chamberlain, Letters, 159. More than beseemed the King to give to such muffes.

1648. Travels of Sir John Reresby [quoted in Notes and Queries, 2 S. ix. 402]. The Low Dutch call the High muffes, that is étourdis as the French have it, or blockheads.

1830. W. T. Moncrieff, The Heart of London, act. ii. sc. i. A visitor? hurrah: some muffin, I daresay.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 437. If any young man, though a snubb’d younger brother When told of her faults by his father or mother Runs restive, and goes off to sea in a huff, Depend on’t, my friends, that young man’s a muff!

1843. W. T. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, ii. sc. 1. I’m a ruined homo—a muff.

1845. Disraeli, Sybil, p. 146 [ed. 1863]. ‘I came about him. I wished to know whether he were alive, and that you have been able to inform me and where he was; and that you have not been able to inform me.’ ‘Why you’re a regular muff!’

1849. Thackeray, Hoggarty Diamond, xi. Another called me a muff (which means, in the slang language, a very silly fellow).

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, 26. ‘Put on the gloves!’ repeated I; ‘how do you mean?—what has that to do with Lawless?’ ‘Oh, you muff! don’t you understand?—of course, I mean the boxing-gloves.’

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingston, xii. I heard him growl out, ‘That there muff’s enough to spile one’s taste for a fortnit.’

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. Awful muff! Can’t pull two strokes without catching as many crabs; he’d upset the veriest tub on the river.

1862. Notes and Queries, 3 S. i. 56. Muff is the nickname applied by the natives of the Low Countries to all foreigners ... the term will have passed the Channel with the motley troops of William III.

1866. Mansfield, School Life, 136. I must now proceed to football, a game I like ... far more than cricket. The reason is simple: I was a tolerably good hand at the former, and rather a muff at the latter.

1869. Daily Telegraph, 2 Sept. Boys do not generally like to be considered muffs. What but a muff—a muff of the most hopeless, helpless sort—is a young fellow who cannot manage, by motions which Nature herself almost indicates in such a crisis, to keep himself afloat?

1879. Notes and Queries, 5 S. xii. 16. Muff = a stupid person may have been introduced into England from the Netherlands, probably in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In Dutch, Mof = (1) a clown, a boor; (2) as a nickname, a German and particularly a Westphalian. Moffenland = Germany, Westphalia. This muf (2) occurs in Marlowe, Tamburlane, i. 1. Sclavonians.... Muffs and Danes.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xliii. What a muff Sir Ferdinand must be.

2. (common).—Anything badly bungled.

3. (old).—See quot. 1607.

1607. Dekker, Northward Ho, iv. 3. Marry, muff, sing thou better, for I’ll go sleep my old sleeps. [Dyce in note in Webster’s Wks., p. 274 (1859) says:—‘A not uncommon expression in our old writers (equivalent, I believe, to stuff, nonsense).’]

1620. Shelton, Don Quixote, Pt. II. x. Marry, muff (quoth the Countrey-Wench), I care much for your courting.

4. (venery).—See quot. 1785. [Cf. the old equivocal wheeze:—‘Lost, lost, and can’t be found; A lady’s thing with hair all round.’]

c. 1720. Ballad [Brit. Mus. Cat. 11621, i. 1. 75]. I heard the merry wagg protest, The muff between her haunches, Resembled most a Mag-pies nest, Between two lofty branches.

17[?]. Old Ballad [quoted by Burns in Merry Muses], ‘Duncan Davidson.’ Meg had a muff, and it was rough, ’Twas black without and red within.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Muff, the private parts of a woman; to the well wearing of your muff, mort; to the happy consummation of your marriage, girl, a health.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

5. (old).—See quot.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Muff, an epithet synonymous with mouth. Ibid. s.v. Mouth, a foolish silly person.

Verb. (common).—1. To bungle: e.g., to muff a catch.

1857. G. H. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, vi. I don’t see why you should have muffed that shot.

2. (Eton College).—To fail in an examination; to be spun (q.v.) or plucked (q.v.); to skip a cog (q.v.).

1884. Julian Sturgis, in Longm. Mag., III. 617. Freddy and Tommy and Dicky have all muffed for the army. It’s really dreadful!

Muffin, subs. (American).—1. See quot.

1870. John White, Sketches from America [Bartlett]. When a man, availing himself of the custom of the country, has secured a young lady for the season, to share with him his sleigh-driving and other of the national amusements, in Canadian phrase she is called his muffin. Her status is a sort of temporary wifehood, limited, of course, by many obvious restrictions, but resembling wifehood in this, that, though a close and continuous relationship, it has nothing in it which shocks, and much in it which allures, the Canadian mind. Among the British commodities exported to our colonies, ‘la pruderie Anglaise’ does not find a place. The origin of the term muffin seems to be wrapped in obscurity.

2. See muff, subs. sense 1.

Cold muffin, phr. (common).—Poor; of no account.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 36. I thought the theayter cold muffin.

Muffin-baker, subs. (rhyming).—A quaker (q.v.).

Muffin- (or Muff-)cap, subs. (common).—The flat woollen cap worn by charity-boys.

1837. R. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 9. Mr. Peters, though now a wealthy man, had received a liberal education at a charity-school and was apt to recur to the days of his muffin-cap and leathers.

1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, vi. His jealousy was roused by seeing the new boy promoted to the black stick and hatband, while he, the old one, remained stationary in the muffin-cap and leathers.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 4 July. The Americans, indeed, appear to have a peculiar fondness for the ‘busby’ and the muff-cap as items of military head-gear, distinctly preferring them to the helmet.

Muffin-face, adj. and subs. (common).—A hairless countenance. See quot. 1823.

1777. Isaac Jackman, All the World’s a Stage, i. 2. Master Charles, who is that gentleman? He’s acting, isn’t he? Has he a muffin-face?

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Muffin-faced—one who has large protruding muscles on his phiz, which is pale withal, is ‘a muffin-faced son of a ——;’ mostly cooks, idle gourmands, &c. who delight in fat, soups, and slip-slops, evolve mutton-faces.

Muffing, adj. (common).—Bungling; clumsy.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 62. ‘You can pick out a good many Punch performers, without getting one so well versed as I am in it; they in general makes such a muffing concern of it.’

Muffin-worry, subs. (common).—A tea-party.

1864. Derby Day, p. 16. There are men who do not disdain muffin-worries and crumpet-scrambles.

Muffle, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A boxing-glove. Also muffler.

1755. Connoisseur, No. 52. He has the shape and constitution of a porter, and is sturdy enough to encounter Broughton without mufflers.

1811. Moore, Tom Crib, xix. Chap. 7. ... shows that the Greeks, for mere exercise of sparring, made use of muffles or gloves.

1819. Byron, Don Juan, ii. 92. For sometimes we must box without the muffle.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mufflers—gloves with wool stuffed upon the knuckles, for boxers to spar withal, and not hurt each other too much; claret comes sometimes.

1827. Reynolds, The Fancy, ‘Stanzas to Kate.’ Forgive me—and mufflers I’ll carefully pull O’er my knuckles hereafter.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, 30 Jan. p. 7, c. There were few, if any, men of about his height and weight who could stand before him with the mufflers.

2. (pugilistic).—A stunning blow.

3. (thieves’).—A crape mask: once a kind of vizard or veil worn by women (Stow, 1539).

1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, ii. 126. The dark lanterns—the mufflers—and the jemmy.

Muffling-cheat, subs. (old).—See quots.

1573. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v. A mofling chete, a napkin.

1777. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Muffling cheat ... a towel.

Mufti, subs. (military colloquial).—See quots. 1834 and 1836. Fr. en pékin.

1834. Marryat, Peter Simple, xxxi. The governor’s aide-de-camps, all dressed in mufti (i.e., plain clothes).

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ii. The company was composed chiefly of naval and military men, but there was also a sprinkling of civilians, or muftees, to use a West India expression.

1854. Thackeray, Newcomes, vii. He has no mufti-coat, except one sent him out by Messrs. Stulty, to India in the year 1821.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, xxxviii. He was dogged at the distance of some thirty yards by an amiable policeman in mufti.

1865. A Son of the Soil, in Macmillan’s Mag., March, p. 389. He had still a stolen inclination for mufti and wore his uniform only when a solemn occasion occurred like this, and on grand parade.

1876. Grant, One of Six Hundred, i. I relinquished my gay lancer-trappings, and resumed the less pretentious mufti of the civilian.

1884. Notes and Queries, 6 S. ix. 398. Mufti ... the well-known title of a Mahommedan high-priest ... officers in India, on returning from their duties ... don pyjamas and loose white jackets, and when so arrayed bear a resemblance to the white-robed priests of Islam.

1888. Athenæum, 27 Oct., p. 554, col. 3. An elderly gentleman in mufti.

Mug, subs. (common).—1. The face; the mouth.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 166. Face. Mug.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii. 41. A slight tint of the claret appeared upon both their mugs.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 21. ’Twas all dicky with Georgy, his mug hung so dead.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.

1830. W. T. Moncrieff, The Heart of London, ii. 1. But how’s he to disguise his mug from the turnkey?

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 305. ‘And you have said it with your own beautiful mug, Benjie Brail,’ quoth Dennis Donovan.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, lvi. ‘Clive has just inherited the paternal mug.’

1855. Punch, xxix. p. 3. Then I did the meek and lowly, Pullin’ sitch a spoony mug.

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, iii. The smile they carry has a quiet assertion in it, such as the champion of the Heavy Weights ... wears upon what he very inelegantly calls his mug.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1860. Chamber’s Journal, xiii. 348. His face as a whole is termed his mug.

1877. Greenwood, Dick Temple, Downy-looking Cove, the fair ’un; a mug like that ought to be worth a fortune to him.

1883. Referee, 1 April, p. 2, col. 4. He is a low comedian ... and has an awfully funny mug.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 10. The face of a cad with the mug of a terrier pup.

2. (common).—A dolt. Also, a raw, or clumsy hand. See quots. 1851 and 1879.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lon. Poor, iii. p. 203. ‘We sometimes have a greenhorn wants to go out pitching with us—a mug, we calls them.’

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1879. Auto. of Thief, in Macm. Mag., xl. 500. One being a mug at the game.

1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 4. Many eager souls were longing for a chance to plunder such an obvious mug.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 3, col. 1. The method of plucking the mug varies according to circumstances.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 Feb., p. 7, col. 1. ‘Look here,’ said another, ‘if you offer me a tip, do you suppose I’m going to be mug enough to refuse it?’

1891. Morning Advertiser, 30 Mar. There was no doubt that these men stole the orders from the office, and that Woodman and the females had been used as what the police termed mugs in assisting to dispose of the property.

1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. He was stopped by a policeman and asked who the horse belonged to, and he gave the young mug’s name and address.

1895. Pall Mall Gaz., 22 Jan., p. 2, col. 2. He expects the mug to bet on his hand and to win the wager with the last trump.

3. (common).—A cooling drink; a ‘cup’.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 2 July, p. 5, col. 3. Anglo-Indian manuals of domestic economy give the formulas for such beverages as ... cool tankard, or mug, into the composition of which beer as well as wine or spirits enters.

Verb. (common).—1. To strike (or catch it) in the face.

1821. The Fancy, i. p. 261. Madgbury showed game, drove Abbot in a corner, but got well mugg’d.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue, ‘The Leary Man.’ And if you come to fibbery You must mug one or two.

1866. London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 102. ‘Suppose they had mugged you?’ ‘Done what to me?’ ‘Mugged you. Slogged you, you know.’

2. (common).—To grimace.

1762. Collins, Miscellanies, p. 122. Wit hung her blob, ev’n Humour seem’d to mourn, And silently sat mugging o’er his urn.

1857. Dickens, Little Dorrit, i. 20. The low comedian had mugged at him in his richest manner fifty nights for a wager.

1879. Macmillan’s Mag., xl. 479. He [C. J. Mathews] never mugged at the pit, as we once heard him warn Whiskerandos against doing in the second act of The Critic.

3. (common).—To rob; to swindle.

4. See Mug up.

5. (Winchester College).—1. To study: e.g., I mugged all the morning, and shall thoke this afternoon; and (2) to take pains; e.g. ‘He has mugged his study, and made it quite cud.’

1866. Mansfield, School Life, 122. The præfects would ... set to work mugging.

1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, xxiv. ‘Miss Knyvett,’ and he paused with his brush upturned, ‘you’re a sight too clever for me to talk to.’ ‘Not clever,’ Iris corrected; ‘only well read. I’ve mugged it up out of books, that’s all.’ Ibid. ii. Instead of reading her ‘Odyssey’ and her ‘Lucretius,’ and mugging up amusing works on conic sections.

To cut mugs, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To grimace.

To mug oneself, verb. phr. (common).—1. To get drunk.

2. (common).—To make oneself cosy or comfortable.

To mug up, verb. phr. (theatrical).—1. To paint; to make up (q.v.)

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., iii. 203. He underwent the operation of mugging him up with oil-color, paint, black, and not forgetting the lips, red.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 193. He put on the clown’s dress, got mugged up, and went into the ring.

1882. Chambers’s Journal, 19 Aug., p. 530. He drew a long breath and repeated his ejaculation; ‘My eye! How you do mug up, Charley! You might go through this town, ah! if you owed money in every shop, and I don’t believe a soul would know you.’

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 59. You’re mugged up to rights.

2. (common).—To cram for examination. Also to mug.

Muggard, adj. (old).—Sullen; displeased.

Mugger, subs. (provincial).—1. A gipsy.

1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv. 102. ‘A Cumberland Mare’s Nest.’ The scourge of tramp and mugger, he Commanded the intruder to be shown into his snuggery.

1871. London Figaro, 1 April. But the English gipsy is another character; although the members of the Lees, Jones, Hernes, and other families proudly hold their heads as being many grades above the travelling muggers and tramping vagabonds who mend pots and kettles and re-seat old chairs.

2. (public schools’).—See quot.

1883. James Payn, The Canon’s Ward, viii. ‘A mugger, that’s what he is,’ said the other, contemptuously; a mugger—a comprehensive term understood to include all persons with an ambition for University distinction.

3. (theatrical).—A comedian whose best point is grimace. Also mug-faker.

1892. National Observer, 27 Feb., p. 379. None had ever a more expressive viznomy than this prince of muggers. He can say more with his eyebrow than the common tragedian with the full resources of his double-bass.

4. (Anglo-Indian).—A crocodile.

1895. Kipling, Second Jungle Book, ‘The Undertakers,’ 106. The mugger of Ahmedmugger Ghaut.

Muggill, subs. (old).—See quot.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Markall, p. 39 (H. Club’s Repr. 1874). The Muggill, the Beadle.

Mugging, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A thrashing. See Mug, verb., sense 1.

2. (public schools’).—Hard work.

3. (theatrical).—See Mug, verb., sense 2.

1871. London Figaro, 17 Mar. A collection of judicious and injudicious gags might prove as edifying as a selection of good and bad performances; although, on the whole, it is a dangerous custom, and one which is assuredly ‘more honoured in the breach than the observance.’ Judicious mugging is, perhaps, the more harmless of the two.

Muggins, subs. (common).—1. A fool. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

2. (common).—A borough-magnate; a local leader.

Muggled, adj. (thieves’).—A term applied to cheap trash offered for sale as smuggled goods.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii. 44. Another ruse to introduce muggled or ‘duffer’s’ goods.

Muggles, subs. (old).—Restlessness; the fidgets (q.v.).

1750. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 96. Push till the Muggles seize the Fair, And the unruly breaks his Bridle.

Muggy, adj. (common).—1. Tipsy. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (vulgar).—Stifling and damp: of the weather. Also mugginess.

1865. G. F. Berkely, Life etc., ii. 120. I shall never forget a still hot day, or what would vulgarly be called a muggy lazy day in June at the fullest time of the Park.

1871. London Figaro, 27 Jan. Here a north-east aspect means exposure to the keenest winds that blow, to the sharpest frosts that occur, to the most damp and dismal atmosphere whenever the weather happens to be muggy in winter.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xliv. ‘Nice and fresh! Much better than one of those muggy days, when you can hardly breathe!’

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, 30 June p. 647, col. 1. A temperature varying between raw chilliness one day and oppressive mugginess the next.

Mughouse, subs. (old).—An alehouse. For synonyms see Lushing-cub.

1710. Tatler, No. 180. There is a mughouse near Long Acre.

Mug-hunter. See Pot-hunter.

Mugster, subs. (Winchester College).—One who mugs (q.v.). [Notions: Ster is generally the termination of the agent, as in ‘Brockster’, ‘Thokester’, etc. Cf. Harrow termination er as in ‘footer’ = a footballer; loather = one to be loathed. So revolter (q.v.); disguster (q.v.). Cf. Mugger.]

1888. Times, 1 Feb., p. 12. col. 2. Remember the many epithets applied to those who, not content with doing their work, commit the heinous offence of being absorbed in it. Every school, every college has had its choice nickname, for this unfortunate class ... such as a ‘sap’, a ‘smug’, a ‘swot’, a ‘bloke’, a mugster.

Mug-trap, subs. (common).—A fool-catcher.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, 75. The ‘D. T.’ is a regular mug-trap.

Mugwump, subs. (American).—1. A man of consequence. Hence (2) one who sets himself up as better than his fellows; (3) an independent Republican, who, in 1884 openly refused to vote for the party nominee; and (4) a citizen who declines to take any part in politics. See quots. 1887 and 1896.

1840. Great Western, 4 July, ‘Leader’. Then the great mugwump was delivered of a speech which the faithful loudly applauded.

1887. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 626. Mugwump ... is now generally applied to those who profess to study the interests of their country before those of their party.

1888. Norton, Political Americanisms, s.v. After the Independent movement was started, the word was launched on its career of popularity. The Critic of September 6th, 1884, contained a note to the effect that the word was of Algonquin origin, and occurred in Elliott’s Indian Bible, being used to translate such titles as lord, high-captain, chief, great man, leader, or duke. In Matthew vi. 21, it occurs as mukxuomp; and again in Genesis xxxvi. 40–43, and several times in II. Samuel xxiii. As is frequently the case in American politics, the word was used as a term of derision and reproach by one section, and accepted with a half-humorous sense of its aptness by the other.

1896. Morton Frewin, in National Review, Jan., p. 600. A nucleus of pretentious political thinkers who get together to discuss counsels of perfection. These superior beings ... are described in the latest editions of American dictionaries as mugwumps.

Verb. (American).—To abstain from politics.

Also mugwumpery and mugwumpism = the habit of mugwumping.

1896. Morton Frewin, in National Review, Jan., p. 600. I fear, however, that the warm heart of mugwumpery will no longer follow that idol which had been shattered prematurely in 1884 but for this handful of its votaries.

Mule, subs. (colloquial).—1. An obstinate person, male or female.

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, 131. I saw that he was a mule of a man.

2. (colloquial).—An impotent man.

3. (printers’).—A day hand in the composing-room.

To shoe one’s mule, verb. phr. (old).—To embezzle.

1655. History of Francion [Nares]. He had the keeping and disposall of the moneys, and yet shod not his mule at all.

Mull, subs. (old).—1. A cow.

1689. Satyr against Hypocrites [Nares]. Tedious have been our fasts, and long our prayers; To keep the Sabbath such have been our cares, That Cisly durst not milk the gentle mulls, To the great damage of my lord mayor’s fools.

2. (colloquial).—A muddle: a result of mismanagement.

1821. Egan, Real Life, i. 606. Somebody must make a mull.

1839. Charles Dance, Alive & Merry, i. 2. Mr. Patrick Day, it strikes me, with the greatest respect, that you have made a mull of your fortunes.

1844. Puck, p. 14. He tried his dos and ras and mes But floundering in his A’s and B’s He made among his bunch of keys As great a mull as The class of Dons in Trinity With Mr. Hullah’s.

1858. Shirley Brooks, The Gordian Knot, p. 14. If that woman had anything to do with the dinners, one can see what a mull they must have been.

1860. Binney, Church Life in Australia, App. No. viii. 59. The whole thing is a mull.

1874. Jos. Hatton, Clytie, ii. ch. xii. And look what a mull you made of the old Earl business! Why, the examination upon that point damns your whole case.

3. (colloquial).—A simpleton. Generally old mull or regular mull.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To spoil, to muddle; to muff (q.v.).

2. (American thieves’).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mull. To spend money.

Muller. To muller a hat, verb. phr. (obsolete).—To cut down a chimney-pot hat into the low-crowned Muller. [From Müller, who murdered Mr. Briggs on the Brighton Railway, and tried to disguise himself by this means].

1864. Builder, November. One murderer gave us the word ‘burke;’ a second appears likely to add to the vocabulary of trade. In a small shop not far from Sloane-square, Chelsea, may be seen the following tasteful announcement: Hats muller’d here!

Mulligrubs (or Mollygrubs), subs. (colloquial).—1. Colic; the collywobbles (q.v.).

1619. Beaumont and Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, ii. 2. ‘Whose dog lies sick o’ th’ mulligrubs?’

1634. S. Rowley, Noble Souldier, iv. 2. Cor. The Divell lyes sicke of the mulligrubs.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, v. 311. The pox, the mulligrubs.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 1. What! you are sick of the mulligrubs with eating chopt hay?

1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 388 (ed. 1862). It draws the cold out, and keeps it from flyin’ to the stomack, and saves you a fit of the mulligrubs p’raps.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Good-Night. You coppers, narks, and dubs.... Who gave me mumps and mulligrubs.

2. (colloquial).—Mubble-fubbles (q.v.). See quot. 1748.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in Works, v. 280. Wherwith Peters successour was so in his mulliegrums that he had thought to have buffeted him, and cursed him with bell book and candle.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Mulligrubs (S.) a pretended or counterfeit sullenness, a resolute, and fixed, and artificial displeasure, in order to gain some point desired.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. A. Scott, Poems, p. 19. Waes me, the mulligrumphs she’s ta’en An’ toss’d him wi’ a vengeful wap Frae out her silk-saft downy lap.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxi. Repeating as the rich cordial trickled forth in a smooth oily stream—‘Right Rosa Solis,’ as ever washed mulligrubs out of a moody brain

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.

1895. H. B. Marriott-Watson, in New Review, July, p. 6. But what’s gone is gone, and to curl up with the mullygrubs because the milk is a trifle sour, is neither to your credit nor to mine. And that’s plain, I says.

Mullingar heifer, subs. phr. (Irish).—A girl with thick ankles.

Multicattivo, phr. (theatrical).—Very bad. [Italian, molto cattivo].

1887. Sat. Review, 14 May, p. 700. To theatrical slang belong a good many terms that are now either introduced into familiar and slangy talk or are familiar; we know how to make the ghost walk when biz is rumbo, and what it is that makes the company multicattivo.

Multy, adj. (common).—An expletive. Cf. Monday, etc.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. How do you melt the multy swag? Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

Mum, subs. (old).—1. in pl. The lips; more frequently muns (q.v.).

Adj. (old).—Silent; also as adv. Mum! as intj. and in phr., Mum’s the word! Keep mum! Mum your dubber = Silence! Also mum-chance and mum-budget! See quots. 1611, 1660, and 1811.

1557–8. Jacob & Esau [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 191]. But peace, mum, no more: I see Master Esau.

1563. Appius & Virginius [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 131]. But peace, for man’s body! Haphazard be mum.

1567. Edwards, Damon & Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 38]. Bah, mumbudget, for Carisophus I espy.

1588. Jeronimo [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 376]. Peace; no words: I’ll get thy pardon: Why, mum, then.

1594. Look About You [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 420]. Mumbudget, not a word, as thou lovest thy life.

1594. Shakspeare, Richard III, iii. 7. Glo. How now, how now? what say the citizens? Buck. Now, by the holy mother of our Lord, The citizens are mum, say not a word.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, v. 2. I come to her in white, and cry mum; and she cries butget, and by that we know one another.

1599. Porter, Two Angry Women [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 327]. Hush then; mum, mouse in cheese, cat is near.

1607. Puritan, ii. 1. Mum! Mary’s a good wench still.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Avoir le bec gelé, to play mumbudget, to be tongue-tyed, to say never a word.

1611. Barry, Ram Alley, iv. Will Small-shanks has your daughter—no word but mum.

1615. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 273. But should another chance to come, Of Mavors not a word, but mum.

1660. Howell, Lexicon, s.v. To play at mum-budget, demurer court, ne sonner mot.

1660. Tatham, The Rump, i. 1. Odd, ... they are here. I cry mum.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. v. 207. Nor did I ever wince or grudge it, For thy dear sake: quoth she, mum budget.

1664. Wilson, Projectors, i. 1. Farewell! but mum.

1672. W. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii. 2. Mum, mum, make no excuses man; I would not Ranger should have known me for five hundred kicks.

1766. Kenrick, Falstaff’s Wedding, i. 1. He stood mumchance, and spoke never a living syllable.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. ‘I’ll just step myself, and show you a piece of the way. (To the Landlord). Mum!’

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Dubber mum’d. To keep your mouth shut, or be obliged to hold your tongue.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mum. An interjection directing silence. Mum for that: I shall be silent as to that. As mute as Mumchance, who was hanged for saying nothing; a friendly reproach to any one who seems low-spirited and silent.

d.1817. Holman, Abroad and at Home, iii. 2. You know, one should not brag of one’s connexions, so mum’s the word before my father; I must pass off for a foreign count; so mind your hits, Dicky.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xv. ‘We grow older every moment we stand idle, and life is too short to be spent in playing mumchance.’

1837. Theodore Hook, Jack Brag, ii. 3. I could tell you such a story—but, mum, for the present.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Mumbudget, a cant word implying silence.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxi. The boys are always mum under the eyes of the usher.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mum. Say nothing; nothing to say.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. vi. This man could talk to her and amuse her, when he sat mumchance.

1869. C. Reade, Foul Play, ch. 1. To use her own words, she was one as couldn’t abide to sit mumchance.

1893. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 35. A fig for sech mumchance old mivvies.

1895. H. B. Marriott-Watson, in New Review, July, p. 4. But when the Law says mum, why I says mum, too, as in duty bound.

Verb. (theatrical).—To act.

1569. Preston, Cambyses [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 231]. Running at tilt, justing, with running at the ring, Masquing and mumming, with each kind of thing.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, Mascarare, to maske ... to mum, to cloke, to hide.

1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 190]. And all the grisly sprights of griping hell With mumming look hath dogg’d thee since thy birth.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., iii. 149. We call strolling acting, mumming and the actors mummers.

Mumble-crust, subs. (old).—A toothless man or woman.

1623. Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gypsy, ii. 1. Farewell, old greybeard;—adieu mother mumble-crust.

Mumble-matins, subs. (old).—A priest.

d. 1576. Bishop Pilkington, Wks., 26. How can they be learned having none to teach them but Sir John Mumble-matins?

Mumble-news, subs. (old colloquial).—A tale-bearer.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour Lost, v. 2. Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick.

Mumblepeg, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mumble-Sparrow, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mumble Sparrow. A cruel sport practised at wakes and fairs, in the following manner: A cock sparrow whose wings are clipped, is put into the crown of a hat; a man having his arms tied behind him, attempts to bite off the sparrow’s head, but is generally obliged to desist, by the many pecks and pinches he receives from the enraged bird.

Mumbo-Jumbo, subs. (common).—1. An African deity.

1831. T. Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, p. 137, ed. 1858. So likewise a day comes when the Runic Thor with his Eddas, must withdraw into dimness and many an African Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawaw be utterly abolished.

1864. The Times, 2 Nov. And Mumbo-Jumbo will not be put off with inferior articles—the slightest blemish in colour or inferiority in cloth is instantly detected and rejected by these semi-savages, hence the greatest care is necessary in catering for their wants.

2. (colloquial).—Unmeaning jargon.

Mum-budget. See Mum.

Mum-glass, subs. (old).—The Monument on Fish St. Hill.

1760. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mummer, subs. (theatrical).—1. A player.

1599. Solyman and Perseda [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), v. 309]. I was one of the mummers myself, simple as I stand here.

1605. Marston, Insatiate Countesse, iii. Dost make a mummer of me, oxe-head? Make answer gentleman.

1610. Shakspeare, Coriolanus, ii. 1. If you chance to be pinched with the cholick, you make faces like mummers.

1772. Coles, Dict., s.v.

1821. Egan, Tom & Jerry, p. 78.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 141. ‘They talk of strolling actors living so jollily and well, but I never knew it fall to my share. What we call a mummer’s feed is potatoes and herrings.’

1871. Newark Advertiser, 18 Jan. A party of mummers visited the towns and villages of North Notts during the past fortnight, and highly diverted the inhabitants by their dancing, singing of old songs, and the play of the Hobby Horse. The latter play was in existence in the days of the Plantagenets, and probably the song and tune which they sang, viz., ‘When Joan’s ale was new.’

1886. Fun, 4 August, p. 44. Now is the witching hour when country companies are formed, and mummers go on tour.

1893. Daily Telegraph, 30 March. Mr. J. L. Toole has humorously described how at the outset of his career he once took lodgings in a house, the proprietor of which, when the popular comedian went away, cordially shook hands with him, and said how delighted he should be to see him again, although he was a mummer; for, the prudent man added, ‘the last mummers took away the chairs and tables.’

2. (pugilistic).—The mouth. For synonyms see Potato-trap.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii. 559. Then he hit him on the mummer, and on the ropes he dropped.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Mummery-cove, subs. (old).—An actor. For synonyms see Cackling-cove.

Mumming-show, subs. (theatrical).—A travelling entertainment; a strolling company.

1871. London Figaro, 7 Oct. A scenic artist and actor in Theatres Royal at some goodly 3/- per week, and the same in a travelling mumming show, sharing at the drum-head my 4d. per night.

Mummy. To beat to a mummy, verb. phr. (old).—To beat severely.

Mump, verb. (old).—1. To beg.

1624. Massinger, Parliament of Love, ii. 1. And, when she finds she is of all forsaken, Let my lady Pride repent in vain, and mump, And envy others’ markets.

1633. Match at Midnight, ii. 1. Remember that you do not mump, as if you were chewing bacon.

1673. Davenant, Playhouse to Let, v. Of mumping minx would we were fairly out.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie, in Works (1725), Bk. iv. p. 72. Then she begins to mump and smatter.

d. 1680. Rochester, A Dream. To see it mump, and wagg its upper lip.

1728. Bailey, English Dictionary, s.v. Mump ... to spunge upon, to beg.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict. (1814), s.v. Mump. In cant language. To go a begging.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Two Races of Men). To say no to a poor petitionary rogue (your bastard borrower), who, by his mumping visnomy, tells you that he expects nothing better.

1849–61. Macaulay, Hist. Eng. xix. ‘One prince came mumping to them annually with a lamentable story about his distresses.’

1866. Temple Bar, xvii. 183. Having mumped a small shop and several private houses.

1883. G. A. S[ala], Ill. London News, 17 Nov., p. 475, col. 3. Although the tramp when hard pressed solicits alms or food, he is not a mumping or professional beggar.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. Bonnet, or tout, or mump and gag.

2. (old).—To overreach.

1671. Buckingham, Rehearsal, p. 23. I’m resolv’d to mump your proud players.

1673. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing Master, iii. 1. You will mump the poor old father.

Mumper, subs. (old).—See quots. 1665, 1748, 1755, 1785 and 1876.

English synonyms. Abram-man (or -cove); bawdy-basket; Bedlam-beggar; blue-gown (old Scots’); cadator; cadger; canter; croaker; curtail; durry-nacker; dry-land sailor; filer; frater; goose-shearer; Irish toyle; keyhole whistler; master of the black art; maunder; milestone-monger; moucher; mud-plunger; mugger; mumper; munger; needy-mizzler; niffler; overland-mailer (or -man); palliard; paper-worker; pikey; ruffler; scoldrum; shivering James (or Jemmy); shyster; skipper-bird; skitting-dealer; silver-beggar; street-ganger; strolling-mort; sundowner; swag-man; tinkard; Tom of Bedlam; traveller; turn-pike; uhlan; upright man; wash-man; whip-jack.

For foreign synonyms see Shyster.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I. ch. v. p. 50 (1874). Mumpers gentile [genteel] beggars.

1690. Durfey, Collin’s Walk, C. I. p. 27. That even Vagabonds and mumpers, Have from my bounty had full Bumpers.

1690. Crowne, English Friar, ii. 1. My lady is ... rather a mumper; she has begg’d the backhouse, the gardens, to lay herself and her goods in.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor. Lucy. Hang thee—Beggar’s cur!—Thy master is but a mumper in love, lies canting at the gate.

1694. Poor Robin [Nares]. Since the king of beggars was married to the queen of sluts, at Lowzy-hill, near Beggars-bush, being most splendidly attended on by a ragged regiment of mumpers.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. I. p. 7. He is one of those gentile mumpers, we call Cadators; he goes a Circuit round England once a year, and under Pretence of a decay’d gentleman, gets both Money and Entertainment at every good House he comes at.

1705. Hudibras Redivivus, pt. 4. Here, said I, take your mumper’s fee, Let’s see one; thank you, sir, said she.

1712. Spectator, No. 509. The mumpers, the halt, the blind, and the lame.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) Mumpers (S.) among the Gipsy Crew, is called the 47th order of canters or genteel beggars, who will not accept of victuals, but only money or cloaths.

1754. The World, No. 64. I was at his door by nine; where, after the fashion of mumpers, I gave but one single knock for fear of disturbing him.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict. (1814), s.v. Mumper. In cant language. A beggar.

1777. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mumper, a genteel beggar.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mumper, originally beggars of the genteel kind, but since used for beggars in general.

1830. Scott, Doom of Devorgoil, ii. 2. The courtier begs a riband or a star, And like our gentler mumpers, is provided With false certificates of health and fortune Lost in the public service.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 130 (ed. 1864). ‘Ha, ha! Are you there, my old death’s head on a mopstick?’ said Turpin, with a laugh. ‘Ain’t we merry mumpers, eh? Keeping it up in style. Sit down, old Noah; make yourself comfortable, Methusalem.’

1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. A Lincoln’s Inn mumper was a proverb.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1868. Temple Bar, xxiv. 537. When he can’t go on in that racket he’ll turn mumper.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 64. A big mumper, that is a half-bred gipsey.

Mumper’s-hall, subs. (old).—A hedge tavern; a beggar’s alehouse.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Mumping, subs. and adj. (old).—Begging.

1820–33. Lamb, Elia, Works (ed. 1852), p. 389. When they come with their counterfeit looks and mumping tones.

Mumpins, subs. (old).—Alms.

c.1460. Towneley Mysteries, Primus Pastorum, p. 89. 2d Pastor ... let us go foder Our mompyns.

Mumpish, subs. (colloquial).—Dull; dejected.

Mumple-mumper. See Mummer.

Mumps, subs. (common).—Low spirits. See quot. 1754.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in Wks. (Grosart). v. 267. The sunne was so in his mumps vppon it, that it was almost noone before hee could goe to cart that day.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.). Mumps ... flouts, or ill humour.

Mumpsimus, subs. (old).—See quot.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic & Provincial Words, s.v. Mumpsimus. An old error in which men obstinately persevere: taken from a tale of an ignorant monk, who in his breviary had always said mumpsimus instead of sumpsimus, and being told of his mistake, said, ‘I will not change my old mumpsimus for your new sumpsimus’.

Munch-present (or mounch-present), subs. (old).—See ante.

Mund. See Muns.

Mundungus, subs. (old).—Bad tobacco.

c.1633. Lady Alimony, ii. 2. Sir Gregory Shapeless, a mundungo monopolist.

1665. Howard, The Committee, ii. A pipe of the worst mundungus.

1671. Shadwell, Humorists, iii. 41. A glass of Windy-Bottle-Ale in one hand, and a pipe of mundungus in the other.

d.1680. Butler, Remains [1759, ii. 107]. Spoiled the tobacco for it presently became mundungus.

1689. J. Phillips, Satyr against Hypocrites, 13. Now steams of garlick whiffing thro’ the nose Stank worse than Luther’s socks, or foot-boy’s toes. With these mundungos, and a breath that smells Like standing pools in subterranean cells.

1691–2. Gentlemen’s Journal, Mar., p. 10. To nasty mundungus, and heath ’nish small beer.

1703. Ward, London Spy, Part iv. p. 80. The mixtures of scents that arose from mundungus-tobacco.

1755. Johnson, Dict., s.v. Mundungus, n. f. Stinking tobacco. A cant word.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, xxxii. Her jet-black cutty pipe, from which she soon sent such clouds of vile mundungus vapour as must have cleared the premises of Lady Penelope.

Adj. (old).—Stinking.

1750. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 50. To drink mundungus ale.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mondongo. Filthy; full of stench; it stinks beyond the power of endurance.

Mung, subs. (American).—News; mung-news = false news.

1849. New York Express, 17 Feb. As many of our citizens who intend to go to California may base their arrangements upon the mung news of some of the papers, we conceive it to be our duty to state that most of these letters are fictions.

Verb. (tramps’).—See quots.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 265. I sold small articles of Tunbridge ware, perfumery, &c., &c., and by munging (begging) over them—sometimes in Latin—got a better living than I expected, or probably deserved.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mung. To solicit; to beg.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 52. Many’s the time you’ve been waiting on me coming home to give you some of the grub I’ve munged.

Mungarly (Munjari, or Mungare), subs. (strollers’ and tramps’).—See quots.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, iii. 149. We [strolling actors] call breakfast, dinner, tea, supper, all of them mungare.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 170. Help you and your school to some dinarly and mungarly, i.e., money and food.

1889. Answers, 11 May, p. 374. The ‘clobber’ (old clothes) which have been presented by charitable persons are exchanged and sold, broken meat and scraps of bread (‘Bull and Munjari’ they are called) are given out liberally, and the blind men and cripples are the jolliest crowd imaginable.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, x. I ... went to one of my regular padding-kens to sell the mungarly to some of the needies there for nova soldi. Ibid. 12. Chuck it, we’ll go and have a bit of mungarly now.

Mungarly-casa, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.

1864. Times, 18 Oct. Another curious instance of the prevalence of this Lingua Franca is the word Mungarly, as representing bread or food. Mungarly Casa is a baker’s shop, evidently a corruption of some Lingua Franca phrase for an eating-house. The well-known Nix Mangiare stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout ‘Nix Mangiare,’ i.e., ‘Nothing to eat,’ to excite the compassion of the English who land there—an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, mangiare being Italian, and nix an evident importation from Trieste or other Austrian seaport.

Munpin, subs. (old).—In pl. = the teeth. For synonyms see Grinders.

d.1450. Lydgate, Minor Poems, p. 30. Thy mone-pynnes bene lyche old yuong.

Muns, subs. 1. (old).—The mouth. See quot. 1665. Also Mund.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. 1. ch. v. p. 50 (1874). Munns. The Face.

1724. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1760. Foote, Mirror, i. Why, you jade, you look as rosy this morning, I must have a smack at your munns.

1789. G. Parker, Life’s Painter, ‘The Bunter’s Christening’. The first thing that was done, Sir, Was handling round the kid, That all might smack his muns, Sir.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 16. While Sandy’s long arms ... Kept paddling about the poor Porpus’s muns, Till they made him as hot and as cross as lent Buns!

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Muns—the mouth. ‘One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns, If you have no daughters give them to your sons: If you have no sons, stuff them in your muns.’

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mund. The mouth. Ibid. Munds, the face.

2. in sing. (obsolete).—A mohawk (q.v.).

Munster-heifer, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Munster Heifer. An Irish woman. A woman with thick legs is said to be like a Munster heifer; i.e., beef to the heels.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Munster-plums, subs. (common).—Potatoes; murphies (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mur, subs. (back slang).—Rum. Nettock of mur = quartern of rum.

Murder. See Blue Murder.

The murder is out, phr. (colloquial).—The mystery is displayed.

Murerk, subs. (tramps’).—The mistress of the house. See Burerk.

Murkauker, subs. (obsolete).—A monkey. [Jacko Macauco, or Maccacco, was a famous fighting monkey, who used some fifty years ago to display his prowess in the Westminster Pit].

Murphy, subs. (common).—1. A potato: cf. Donovan. Also murph.

English synonyms. Bog-orange; Donovan; Irish apricot; Munster-plum, or orange; murph; ruggin; spud; tatur.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1821. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, 154. Mathews relished the Irish stews and murphies.

1839. Comic Almanack, 199. Having well roasted my murphy, I take him cum grano salis.

1842. Punch, ii. 214, col. 2. A story that Raleigh first introduced the potato—meaning the murphy—into this country.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-Days Pt. 1. vi. ‘That’s our School-house tuck-shop—she bakes such stunning murphies, we’ll have a penn’ orth each for tea; come along, or they’ll all be gone.’

1856. Leisure Hour, 3 Jan., p. 12, col. 2. Past the potato and coal shed, well known to the Irish labourer, who for twopence can get three pounds of murphies.

1869. Thackeray, Peg of Limavaddy. Playing round the fire, which of blazing turf is, Roaring to the pot which bubbles with the murphies.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. Surround him with a stack of bottles of ale and a dish of murphies.

2. (American).—An Irishman.

3. (colloquial).—Morpheus, i.e., sleep.

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random. What time Murphy sends his slipping puppies to the heyes of mortals.

Murphy’s-face, subs. (Irish).—A pig’s head.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Murphy’s Countenance.

Mush (Mush-topper or Mushroom), subs. (common).—1. See quots.

1821. Haggart, Life, 62. In one shop they robbed two mush-topers.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 6, note. Fanciful metaphors contribute largely to the formation of slang. It is upon this principle that the mouth has come to be styled the ‘tater-trap’; ... umbrellas, ‘mushrooms’ (or, briefly ‘mush’).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mush. An umbrella; the mouth, in pugilism.

1870. London Figaro, 15 June. What pretty faces, mush of mine, I’ve sheltered ’neath thy shade! What jolly walks in ‘auld lang syne’ Beneath thy ribs I’ve made!

2. (old).—The mouth.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1887. Walford, Antiquarian, 252. s.v.

Mush- (or Mushroom-) faker (or Mush-topper-faker).—See quot. 1851. Mushfaking = mending umbrellas.

1821. Haggart, Life, 56. Tommy Twenty, a mush-toper-faker.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., ii. 28. In Umbrellas and Parasols the second-hand traffic is large, but those vended in the streets are nearly all ‘done up’ for street-sale by the class known as mush or more properly mushroom fakers. Idem., ii. 127. The umbrella-menders are known by an appellation of an appropriateness not uncommon in street language. They are mushroom-fakers. The form of the expanded umbrella resembles that of a mushroom, and it has the further characteristic of being rapidly or suddenly raised, the mushroom itself springing up and attaining its full size in a very brief space of time. The term, however, like all street or popular terms or phrases, has become very generally condensed among those who carry on the trade—they are now mush-fakers, a word which, to any one who has not heard the term in full, is as meaningless as any in the vocabulary of slang.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 91. My old man ... got his dudder by chinay-faking and mush-faking.

Mushroom, subs. (common).—1. A hat.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

3. (old).—See quots.

1622. Bacon, Nat. Hist. [Enc. Dict.]. Mushrooms come up in a night, and yet they are unsown; and therefore such as are upstarts in state, they call in reproach mushrooms.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mushroom. A person or family suddenly raised to riches and eminence: an allusion to that fungus which starts up in a night.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Music, subs. (American).—1. Fun; frolic.

2. (American).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Music. The verdict of a jury when they find not guilty.

3. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Music. The watchword among highwaymen, signifying the person is a friend, and must pass unmolested.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

4. (old).—See quot.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Music ... is also an Irish term, in tossing up, to express the harp side, or reverse, of a farthing or halfpenny opposed to the head.

To face the music. See face.

Music-box, subs. (common).—A piano.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, i. 178. But just you hear her sing, that is all ... Just smiles and sits down to the music-box.

Musicianer, subs. (American).—A musician.

1848. Burton, Waggeries etc., p. 186. The landlord cursed the musicianer who paid his rent in such uncurrent notes.

Muslin (or a bit of muslin), subs. (common).—A woman. For synonyms see Petticoat.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i. 1. A bit of muslin on the sly.

1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, x. Captain, I see you laugh a great deal, but you mustn’t laugh at our girls, though, there are sume pretty bits o’ muslin there, I can tell you.

1843. W. T. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, i. 1. I came up to town to see life, leaving behind me as pretty a piece of muslin as you’d wish to see.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, l. ‘That was a pretty bit of muslin hanging on your arm—who was she?’

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, 128. One thing more: take my advice, and keep clear of muslin for the next six or seven years. It’s brought as many of your profession to grief as spirits.

Musn’t-mention-ems, subs. (common).—Trousers. For synonyms see Bags and Kicks.

Muss, subs. (American).—1. Confusion; a fuss. See quot. 1859.

1848. Burton, Waggeries etc., p. 25. They soon raised a pretty muss, and kept on tearin’ at each other like a pack o’ wolves.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 138. You’re eternally kicking up a muss with somebody.

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 9. We’re all in a muss now gettin’ ready for the journey.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Muss. A quarrel; a row.

1888. Texas Siftings, 18 Aug. ‘Raw oysters for two, mister.’ ‘Yes, sir—have ’em in the shell?’ ‘Yes, John, if you think you kin open ’em ’thout makin’ a muss.’

2. (old).—A term of endearment. [Probably from mouse].

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, ii. 3. What ails you, sweetheart? Are you not well? Speak, good muss.

Verb. (American).—To confuse; to disorder; to mess-up.

Mussy, adj. (American).—Disordered. Also mussed-up.

1888. Detroit Free Press. Neither of us got two winks of sleep during the night on the car, and Mr. Bowser narrowly escaped coming into deadly conflict with conductor and porter. We reached Chicago in a mussed-up condition.

Mustang, subs. (American).—An officer entering the U. S. navy from the merchant service, after serving through the Civil War.

Mustard-pot, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Mutcher, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.

1862. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab., iv. 282. They loiter about the streets and public-houses to steal from drunken persons, and are called ‘Bug-hunters’ and mutchers.

Mute, subs. (old: now recognised).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mute. An undertaker’s servant, who stands at the door of a person lying in state: so named from being supposed mute with grief.

Mutton (or laced mutton).—1. A loose woman. Generic for the sex.

1569. Bracton, De Legibus, ii. Courtisans ... oves.

1578. Whetstone, Promos and Cas., 6, pl. i. p. 14. And I smealt he loved lase mutton well.

1594. Greene, Frier Bacon, in Wks. (Grosart), xiii. 94. The old lecher hath gotton holy mutton to him, a Nunne my lord.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1. Ay, sir: I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a lac’d mutton; and she, a lac’d mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour.

1596. Nashe, Have with You, [Grosart (1885), iii. 61]. He that wold not stick so to extoll stale rotten lac’d mutton, will ... sucke figges out of an asses fundament.

1599. Breton, Wil of Wit [Grosart (1879), ii. c. 62/1. 18]. If your stomache stande to flesh, eate of a little warme mutton, but take heede it be not laced.

1602. Middleton, Blurt Master Constable, sign. B. Laz. Pilcher, Cupid hath got me a stomacke, and I long for lac’d mutton. Pil. Plaine mutton without a lace would serve.

1602. Dekker, Honest Whore [Dodsley, Old Plays, iii. 365]. Baa, lamb, there you lie, for I am mutton.

1604. Marlow, Doctor Faustus [Nares]. I am one that loves an inch of raw mutton, better than an ell of dride stockfish; and the first letter of my name begins with letchery.

1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 180]. But there’s no pleasure always to be tied to a piece of mutton ... For mine own part ... I am well-provided of three bouncing wenches.

1608. Machin, Dumb Knight [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), x. 134]. ‘She is meat for your master.’ ‘And your man, sir, may lick your foul trencher.’ ‘Ay, but not eat of his mutton.’

1614. Cook, City Gallant [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), xi. 279]. More villany; there’s another goodly mutton going.

1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, ii. I’ll tender her a husband; I keep of purpose two or three gulls in pickle To eat such mutton with, and she shall choose one.

1624. Jonson, Masque of Nep. Triumph [Cunningham, iii]. Cook. O whom for mutton, or kid? Child. A fine lac’d mutton Or two; and either has her frisking husband.

1638. Rowley, Match at Midnight. ii. 1. Say she be young ... If, like an old cock he with young mutton meet He feeds like a cuckold.

1640. Rawlins, The Rebellion, iv. No more, I say, it is a parcel of excellent mutton. I’ll cut it up myself.

1640. T. Heywood, Love’s Mistress, ii. [Cupid described as] Lord of lamentations, and Monsieur of mutton-lac’d.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, i. p. 353. I’m a loyn of mutton plainly dress’d, And those nice volk, love all their mutton lac’d.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Laced Mutton, a prostitute.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Laced Mutton, a common woman.

2. (venery).—See quots. 1811 and 1864. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

d.1680. Rochester, Epitaph on Chas. II. Here lies our mutton-eating king, Whose word no man relies on; He never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, iv. 6. You don’t love mutton, you Magdalen unconverted?

1697. Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife, iv. And I hope your punks will give you sauce to your mutton.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mutton. In her mutton, i.e., having carnal knowledge of a woman.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Mutton. In that class of English society which does not lay any claim to refinement, a fond lover is often spoken of as being ‘fond of his mutton,’ which, by the way, in this place does not mean the woman so much as something else.

3. in pl. (Stock Exchange).—The Turkish loans of 1865 and 1873. [From being in part secured on the sheep-tax].

4. (colloquial).—A sheep.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, i. 1. 106. Here’s too small a pasture for such store of muttons.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i. 3. Flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats.

d.1626. Bacon [quoted by Johnson]. The flesh of muttons is better tasted where the sheep feed upon wild thyme and wholesome herbs.

d.1627. Hayward [quoted by Johnson]. Within a few days were brought out of the country two thousand muttons.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mutton. (2) A sheep. Now only in ludicrous language.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xx. The appetites of those little ones were frightful, the temper of Madame la Générale was almost intolerable, but Charlotte was an angel, and the General was a mutton—a true mutton.... The brave are often muttons at home.

Bow-wow mutton. See Bow-wow.

To cut one’s mutton, verb. phr. (common).—To dine.

Dead as mutton, phr. (common).—See Dead.

1835. C. Selby, The Widow’s Victim. I’m caught in a trap—dead as mutton!

Mutton dressed lamb-fashion, subs. phr. (common).—An old woman dressed young.

To return to one’s muttons, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hark back to the point at issue.

1868. Brewer, Phrase & Fable, s.v. Moutons. The phrase is taken from an old French play, called l’Avocat Pathclin, in which a woollen-draper charges a shepherd with stealing sheep. In telling his grievance he kept for ever running away from his subject; and to throw discredit on the defendant’s attorney, accused him of stealing a piece of cloth. The judge had to pull him up every moment with ‘Mais, mon ami, revenons à nos moutons.’

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 Nov., p. 2, col. 1. ‘Now to return to our muttons. Here is a drawer full of M.P.’s, Liberals, Radicals, Conservatives.’

1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, chap. xi. I desire to live and die a humble Christian, in complete ignorance of that hard-hearted science. Let’s return to our muttons.

Who stole the mutton, phr. (obsolete).—See quot.

1868. Brewer, Phrase & Fable, s.v. Mutton. Mutton (Who Stole the)? This was a common street jeer flung on policemen when the force was first organized, and rose thus: The first case the force had to deal with was the theft of a leg of mutton; but they wholly failed to detect the thief, and the laugh turned against them.

Mutton-chops, subs. (common).—1. A sheep’s head.

2. (common).—See quot. Also mutton-chop whiskers.

1865. Evening Citizen, 28 July. Mr. Steinmetz shaved close, leaving no hair on his face save a short pair of mutton-chop whiskers.

1878. Besant & Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ii. His whiskers, equally white, were cut to the old-fashioned regulation mutton-chop, very much like what has now come into fashion again. They advanced into the middle of the cheek, and were then squared off in a line which met the large stiff collar below at an angle of forty-five.

1880. Life in a Debtor’s Prison, 62. The equally well-trained whiskers, which were of the old military style, known as mutton-chops.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 53. White aprons, and trim mutton-chopper each side.

Mutton-cove, subs. (old).—1. The Coventry-Street end of Windmill Street. [Once a notorious resort of harlots]. Cf. Mutton, senses 1 and 2.

2. (common).—A man addicted to women; a mutton-monger (q.v.). For synonyms see Molrower.

Muttoner, subs. (obsolete Winchester College).—A blow on the knuckles from a cricket-ball.

2. (old).—A mutton-monger (q.v.).

Mutton-eyed. See Sheep’s-eyed.

Mutton-fist (or -hand), subs. (common).—A hand large, bony, and coarse.

1672. C. Cotton, Scarronides, Bk. i. p. 10 (ed. 1725). With woful Heart and blubber’d Eyes, Lifting his mutton-fists to th’ Skies.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, xvi. 45. Will he, who saw the soldier’s mutton-fist, And saw thee maul’d, appear within the list To witness truth?

1706. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, Vol. 1. pt. vii. p. 25. Attended by a Rogue, design’d To guard and vindicate his Jewel With mutton fist and Oaken Towel.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, i. 92. But when plump Ciss got the Ball in her mutton fist, once fretted, she’d hit it farther than any.

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses (‘Punch’s Apotheosis’). See she twists her mutton fists like Molyneux or Beelzebub, And t’other’s clack, who pats her back, is louder far than Bell’s hubbub.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 34. By showing such a fist of mutton, As.... Would take the shine from Speaker Sutton.

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, viii. But Paul, with his shoulder of mutton fist, gave me a very unceremonious rebuff.

1836. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Bagman’s Dog.’ At each twist of her wrist, and her great mutton-fist.

1846. Punch, x. 163. Ruggins of the mutton-fist.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, 190. The big fellow’s mutton-fist dropping him a hot ’un.

Mutton-headed, adj. (old).—Stupid.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Mutton-monger, subs. (old).—A whoremonger.

English synonyms. Ballocks (or ballocker); beard-splitter; belly-bumper; bird (or cock) of the game; bird’s-nester; Bluebeard; bull; bum-faker (-tickler, -ranger, or -worker); button-hole-worker; carrion-hunter; cavaulter; chauvering-cove (or chauverer); chimney-sweep; cock-fighter; Corinthian; Don Juan; fish- (flesh- or meat-) monger; fuckster; gamecock; goat; high priest of Paphos; horseman; hot- (or warm-) member; hot-’un; jumbler; king of clubs; knocker; ladies’ tailor; leather-stretcher; leg-lifter; ling-grappler; miller; molrower; Mormon; Mr. Horner; muttoner; performer; petticoat-merchant; prick-scourer; quim-sticker; rattle-cap; rifle-man; rump-splitter; sharp-shooter; smell-smock; Solomon; sports-man; stallion; striker; thrumster; town- (or parish-) bull; twat-faker; tummy-tickler; wencher; woodman.

French synonyms. Un abatteur de bois (popular); un acteur (general); un ami (prostitutes’) un Anglais; un bébé; un bobosse (common); un boche (popular); un bordelier (general); un boucaneur (popular); un boxonneur (boxon = brothel); un cascadeur (theatrical); un chaud de la pince (popular); un chevaucheur (popular); un courasson or vieux courasson (familiar); un coureur (popular); un cousin; un couvreur; un dénicheur de fauvettes; un enfilé à la rigolade (thieves’); un étalon (= stallion); un fouailleur (popular); un godilleur (popular); un goteur (popular); un gourgandin (popular); un Hercule (common); un homme à femmes (common: also, un homme ardent, and un homme à ressorts); un juponnier; un larcottier (Old French); un leveur de femmes (common); un amant de la lune (popular); un matou (= molrower); un menin (Old French); un miché, michet, or micheton (popular: from michon = money); un milord; un noctambule (popular); un novateur des plaisirs (popular); un paillard (old); un paillasson (= mattress); un porté sur l’article (popular); un roumard (thieves’).

1594. Look About You [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 473]. Ah! old mutton-monger, I believe here’s work.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Feminiére, a whore-monger, a frequenter of women, a mutton monger. Also belonging or pertaining to women.

1600. Sir J. Oldcastle, ii. 1. [Malone, Suppt. ii. 294]. You whorson bawdy priest! You old mutton-monger.

1602. Dekker, Honest Whore [Dodsley, Old Plays, iii. 406]. Is ’t possible that the lord Hipolito, whose face is as civil as the outside of a dedicatory book, should be a mutton-monger?

1611. Chapman, May-day, ii. p. 38. As if you were the only noted mutton-monger in all the city.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. A noteable smel-smocke, or muttonmonger, a cunning solicitor of a wench.

1654. Webster, Appius & Virg. [Ancient Drama, v. 400], iii. Mutton’s mutton now. V. Why, was it not so ever? C. No, madam, the sinners i’ the suburbs had almost ta’en the name quite away from it, ’twas so cheap and common; but now ’tis at a sweet reckoning; the term time is the mutton-monger in the whole calendar.

1677. Coles, Dictionary, s.v. Mutton-monger, scortator.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. & Provin. Words, s.v. Motoner. A wencher.

Muttonous, adj. (common).—Slow; monotonous. Fr. guitare.

Mutton-pies, subs. (rhyming).—The eyes. For synonyms see Peepers.

1887. Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, col. 3. Bright as angels from the skies Were her dark-blue mutton-pies.

Mutton-thumper, subs. (book-binders’).—A bungling workman.

Mutton-walk, subs. (old).—1. The saloon at Drury Lane theatre.

1821. Egan, Real Life, Tally-ho ... had not yet learned to trip it lightly along the mutton-walk.

2. (common).—Any resort frequented by women of the town; specifically Piccadilly; cf. Flesh-market.

Mux, verb. (American).—To muddle.

1869. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, lxii. Nicholas ... had thoroughly muxed up everything.

1872. J. M. Bailey (‘Danbury Newsman’), They all do it, 22. Stop muxin’ that bread! one would think you were a drove of young hogs to see you at the table. You’ve eaten enough for twenty people. I shan’t have you muxing and gauming up the victuals.

Muzz, verb. (common).—1. To intoxicate.

1836. Comic Almanack, 48. While Harlequin half-muzz’d with wine, Don’t care a rush for Columbine.

2. (Westminster School).—To read.

Muzzle, subs. (common).—1. The mouth.

1821. The Fancy, Vol. I. p. 260. He ... got hit anywhere and everywhere, about the muzzle particularly.

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 113. Barbers ... having nought more in view than to plenish the muzzles of bristly handicraftsmen.

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, xiii. With which the worthy lady painted our friend’s face and muzzle in a most ludicrous manner.

2. (old).—A beard.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

Verb. (pugilistic).—1. To strike in the mouth.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 233. Razor George and his moll slept here the day afore Christmas; just out of ‘stir’ (jail), for muzzling a peeler.

2. (common).—To drink.

3. (old).—To kiss. Cf. mousle.

1697. Vanbrugh, The Relapse, i. 2. Ah, you young, hot, lusty thief, let me muzzle you. (Kisses him).

Muzzled bull-dog, subs. phr. (nautical).—See quot.

1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word Book. Bull-dog or muzzled bull-dog, the great gun which stands housed in the officer’s ward-room cabin. General term for main-deck guns.

Muzzler, subs. (pugilists’).—1. See quot. 1811.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Muzzler.... The milling cove tipped the cull a muzzler; the boxer gave the fellow a blow on the mouth.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii. 459. He gave Dick a precious muzzler.

1821. Egan, Real Life, i. 350. He saluted poor Pat with a muzzler.

2. (common).—A dram of spirits; a go (q.v.).

Muzzy, adj. (common).—Half-tipsy; dull with drink. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act I. p. 7 (2nd ed.). Your fellows of colleges are a parcel of sad, muzzy, humdrum, lazy, ignorant, old caterpillars.

1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Picking our teeth, after a damned muzzy dinner at Boodle’s.

1789. G. Parker, Life’s Painter, ‘The Bunter’s Christening.’ Long Ned, and Dust-Cart Chloe, ... With whom came muzzy Tom.

1829. Buckstone, Billy Taylor, i. The constable of the night is at a ball, The keeper of the watchhouse down at Brighton, And all our brethren muzzy.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, v. The captain was not only unaccustomed to tell the truth,—he was unable even to think it—and fact and fiction reeled together in his muzzy, whiskified brain.

1889. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 18 Jan. My little game was very simple—just to sham being muzzy and sulky.

My Aunt (Aunt Jones or Mrs. Jones), subs. phr. (common).—The W.C.; Mrs. Jones (q.v.).

My Bloater. See Bloater.

My eye! intj. (common).—An exclamation of surprise. See All my eye.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib. 36. My eyes! how prettily Tom writes.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. & Prov. Words, s.v.

1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. vii. ‘Such juicy steak, and lots of potato!... My eye, ain’t I hungry!’

1892. F. Anstey, Voces Populi, ‘In the Mall on Drawing-Room Day,’ p. 82. Look at the dimonds all over ’er bloomin’ old nut. My eye!

Myla, subs. (tramps’).—See Miler.

Myll. See Mill.

My Lord. See Lord.

My Nabs. See Nabs.

Mynt. See Mint.

My pippin. See Pippin.

Myrmidon, subs. (old).—See quot. 1811.

1809. Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. ‘When Little’s leadless pistol met his eye And Bow Street myrmidons stood laughing by.’

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. The constable’s assistants, watchmen etc.

My stars and Garters. See Star.

Mystery, subs. (common).—A sausage. Also mystery-bag.

English synonyms. Bags of mystery; chambers of horrors; darbies; dogs (dog’s meat or dog’s body); mystery-bags; Sharps-Alley blood-worms; sore-leg.

1887. Henley, Culture in the Slums. ‘O crikey, Bill!’ she ses to me, she ses. ‘Look sharp,’ ses she, ‘with them there sossiges. Yea! sharp with them there bags of mysteree!’

1889. Sportsman, 2 Feb. But the mystery-bags of Sieur X, if we are to believe the common report, were far from being fragrant. This gentleman has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for ‘making sausages of tainted meat.’

My tulip. See Tulip.

My uncle. See Uncle.

My unconverted friend. See Unconverted friend.

My wig. See Wig.

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