Part 25

~Mess~, to interfere unduly. Costermongers refer to police supervision as MESSING. Among sailors, a dead man is said to have lost the number of his MESS.

~Metallician~, a racing bookmaker. Bookmakers use metallic books and pencils.

~Middy~, abbreviation of midshipman.—_Naval._

~Midge net~, a lady’s veil.

~Mike~, an Irish hodman, or general labourer.

~Mike~, to loiter; or “lazy about.” The term probably originated in St. Giles’s, which is thronged with Irish labourers, who rarely or never labour (MIKE being so common a term with them as to become a generic appellation for Irishmen), and who loiter and lean against the public-houses in the “Dials.” It has been said that the term is Old English, MICHE, to skulk, to loiter; Old Norse, MAK, leisure, idleness.

“Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a MICHER?”

_Shakspeare’s Hen. IV._, ii. 4.

Whatever may have been its origin, there can be now no doubt that the word is supposed to have particular reference to the habits of the Irish MIKES, or labourers, though now and again it is borrowed in the interests of others.

~Mild~, second-rate, inferior. _See_ DRAW IT MILD. Also feeble, inefficient, as “a MILD attempt.” Weak young men who keep bulldogs, and dress in a “loud” stable style, from a belief that it is very becoming, are sometimes called “MILD bloaters.”

~Milk~, a term used in connexion with racing; when a horse is entered in a race for which his owner does not intend him to run, or at all events in which he does not intend him to win, and bets against him, the animal is said to “be MILKED.” MILKING, is keeping a horse a favourite, at short odds, for a race in which he has no chance whatever, or in which he will not be allowed to try, for the purpose of laying against him.

~Milky ones~, white linen rags.

~Mill~, a fight, or set to. _Ancient Cant_, MYLL, to rob. Probably from the special opportunities afforded to pickpockets when the ring was a “national institution.”

~Mill~, to fight or beat.

~Mill~, the old Insolvent Debtors’ Court. “To go through the MILL” was equivalent to being “whitewashed.”

~Mill~, the tread-MILL.

~Miller.~ To drown the MILLER is to put too much water in anything. The phrase was originally “to drown the MILLER’S thumb,” or go over the specified mark, _i.e._, the thumb-mark, in adding water to ardent spirits.

~Miller.~ “To give the MILLER” is to engage a person in conversation of an apparently friendly character, when all at once the bystanders surround and pelt him with flour, grease, and filth of various kinds, flour predominating. This mode of punishing spies, informers, and other obnoxious individuals, is used by cabmen, omnibus conductors, _et hoc genus omne_. Eggs are useful missiles in an engagement of this description. If rotten eggs are not obtainable, ordinary ones will do.

~Miller.~ This word is frequently called out when a person relates a stale joke. _See_ JOE.

~Milvader~, to beat.

~Mish~, a shirt, or chemise. From COMMISSION, the ancient cant for a shirt, afterwards shortened to K’MISH or SMISH, and then to MISH. _French_, CHEMISE; _Italian_, CAMICIA.

“With his snowy CAMESE and his shaggy capote.”—_Byron._

~Mitey~, a cheesemonger.

~Mitten.~ “To get the MITTEN” is, in Canadian slang, to be jilted.

~Mittens~, the boxing gloves.

~Mizzle~, a frequentative form of MIST in both senses; as applied to weather, it is used by John Gadbury in his _Ephemeris_ in 1695—MISTY and MIZZLING—to come down as mist; while the other sense may be expressed as to fade away like a mist.

~Mizzle~, to run away, or decamp; to disappear as in a mist. From MIZZLE, a drizzling rain; a Scotch mist.

“And then one MIZZLING Michaelmas night, The Count he MIZZLED too.”—_Hood._

~Mizzler~, or RUM-MIZZLER, a person who is clever at effecting an escape, or getting out of a difficulty.

~Moab~, a name applied to the turban-shaped hat which was some few years back fashionable among ladies, and ladylike swells of the other sex. From the Scripture phrase, “MOAB is my washpot” (Ps. lx. 8), which latter article the hat in question was supposed to resemble.—_University._

~Mob.~ Swift informs us, in his _Art of Polite Conversation_, that MOB was, in his time, the slang abbreviation of “mobility,” just as NOB is of “nobility,” at the present day. _See_ SCHOOL.

“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.”—_Addison’s Spectator._

~Mob~, a thief’s immediate companions, as,—“our own MOB;” MOBSMAN, a dressy swindler or pickpocket.

~Mob~, to hustle, crowd round, and annoy, necessarily the action of a large party against a smaller one, or an individual. Mobbing is generally a concomitant of street robbery.

~Mobility~, the populace; or, according to Burke, the “great unwashed.” Johnson calls it a cant term, although Swift notices it as a proper expression.

~Mockered~, holey, marked unpleasantly. A ragged handkerchief and a blotched or pitted face are both said to be MOCKERED.

~Modest quencher~, a glass of spirits and water. Dick Swiveller was fond of a MODEST QUENCHER.

~Moey~, the mouth.—_Gipsy_ and _Hindoo_. Shakspeare has MOE, to make mouths.

~Mofussilite~, an inhabitant of an up-country district.—_Anglo-Indian._

~Moisten your chaffer~, a slang phrase equivalent to “take something to drink.” Also “moisten your clay,” originally applied to smokers, now general, and supposed to have reference to the human clay.

~Moke~, a donkey.—_Gipsy_, but now general to all the lower orders. A “coster” and his “moke” are almost inseparable terms. Probably derived originally from the Arabic _al mocreve_, a carrier.

~Moko~, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake during September, before the pheasant-shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert that they are no pheasants at all, but MOKOS.

~Moll~, a girl; nickname for Mary.—_Old Cant._

~Molled~, followed, or accompanied by a woman. When a costermonger sees a friend walking with a woman he does not know, he says on the first opportunity afterwards, “I see yer the other night when yer was MOLLED up and too proud to speak.”

~Mollisher~, a low girl or woman; generally a female cohabiting with a man who gets his living by thieving.

~Mollsack~, a reticule, or market basket.

~Moll Thomson’s mark~, that is, M. T.—empty; as, “Take away this bottle, it has MOLL THOMSON’S MARK on it.” _See_ M. T.

~Moll-tooler~, a female pickpocket.

~Mollycoddle~, an effeminate man; one who “coddles” amongst the women, or does their work.

~Mollygrubs~, or MULLIGRUBS, stomach ache, or sorrow—which to the costermonger is much the same, as he believes, like the ancients, that the viscera is the seat of all feeling. Costermongers are not alone, even in the present day, in this belief.

~Molrowing~, “out on the spree,” in company with so-called “gay women.” In allusion to the amatory serenadings of the London cats. Another form of this is, “out on the tiles.”

~Mondayish~, or Mondayfied, disinclined for work. “St. Monday” is a great institution among artizans and small tradesmen.

~Monk~, a term of contempt; probably an abbreviation of MONKEY.

~Monkey~, spirit or ill temper; “to get one’s MONKEY up,” to rouse his passion. A man is said to have his MONKEY up or the MONKEY on his back, when he is “riled,” or out of temper; this is old, and was probably in allusion originally to the evil spirit which was supposed to be always present with a man; also under similar circumstances a man is said to have his back or hump up.

~Monkey~, the instrument which drives a rocket.—_Army._

~Monkey~, 500_l._-_-Sporting Slang._

~Monkey~, the vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.—_Sea._

~Monkey-board~, the place or step attached to an omnibus, on which the conductor stands.

~Monkey-boat~, a peculiar, long, narrow, canal boat.

~Monkey with a long tail~, a mortgage.—_Legal._

~Monkey’s allowance~, to get blows instead of alms, more kicks than halfpence.

~Monkery~, the country, or rural districts. Originally an old word for a quiet or monastic life.—_Hall._

~Monniker~, a person’s name or signature.

~Month of Sundays~, an indefinite period, a long time.

~Mooch~, to sponge; to obtrude oneself upon friends just when they are about to sit down to dinner, or other lucky time—of course quite accidentally. Compare HULK. To slink away, and allow your friend to pay for the entertainment. In Wiltshire, TO MOOCH is to shuffle. _See_ the following.

~Mooching~, or ON THE MOOCH, on the look-out for any articles or circumstances which may be turned to a profitable account; watching in the streets for odd jobs, horses to hold, &c.; also scraps of food, drinks, old clothes, &c.

~Moon~, a month; generally used to express the length of time a person has been sentenced by the magistrate; thus “one MOON” is one month of four weeks. A calendar month is known as a “callingder” or long MOON. A “lunar MOON,” ridiculous as the phrase may seem, is of constant use among those who affect slang of this description.

~Mooney~, intoxicated, a name for a silly fellow.

~Mooning~, loitering, wandering about in a purposeless manner.

~Moonlight~, or MOONSHINE, smuggled spirits. From the night-work of smugglers.

~Moon-raker~, a native of Wiltshire; because it is said that some men of that county, seeing the reflection of the moon in a pond, took it to be a cheese, and endeavoured to pull it out with a rake.

~Moonshee~, a learned man, professor, or teacher.—_Anglo-Indian._

~Moonshine~, palaver, deception, humbug.

~Mop~, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are often “about to be taken” to put down these assemblies, which have been proved to be greatly detrimental to the morality of the poor. They are supposed to contribute largely to the bastardy percentages.

~Mop~, an habitual drunkard. Also a period of intoxication. “To be on the MOP” is to be on the drink from day to day—to be perpetually “stale drunk.”

~Mop up~, to drink, or empty a glass.—_Old Sea term._

~Mops and brooms~, intoxicated. Supposed by an imaginative person to be the appearance presented by the world to a very drunken man. Possibly the term was first used to express sea-sickness.

~Mopusses~, money; “MOPUSSES ran taper,” money ran short.

~Moral~, a forthcoming result which appears certain—originally MORAL certainty. This is racing slang, as, “The race is a MORAL for Cremorne.” These MORALS are often, however, of very uncertain tenure.

~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.”

~Morris~, to decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient MORESCO, of MORRIS-DANCE. _See Shakspeare._

~Mortar-board~, a square college cap.

~Mortgage-deed~, a pawnbroker’s duplicate.

~Moskeneer~, to pawn with a view to obtaining more than the actual value of an article. There are, in various parts of the country, men who make MOSKENEERING a profession—that is, they buy jewellery which, though fairly good, is not so good as it seems, and pawn it as opportunity occurs. It is notorious that some men can obtain a much larger sum on a given article than others can; though the smallest of these professionals generally manage to get good livings, which does not say much for the judgment of those constant inspectors of personal property—pawnbrokers’ assistants.

~Mot~, a girl of indifferent character. Formerly, _Mort_. _Dutch_, MOTT-KAST, a harlotry. MOT-CART, _see_ LOOSE-BOX.

~Mouchey~, a Jew.

~Mouldy~, grey-headed. Servants wearing hair-powder are usually termed MOULDY-PATES by street boys.

~Mouldy-grubs~, travelling showmen, mountebanks who perform in the open air without tent or covering. Doing this is called MOULDY-GRUBBING.

~Mount~, a saddle-horse. According to quality, “a good MOUNT,” or “a bad MOUNT.”

~Mount~, in theatrical parlance, to prepare for production on the stage. “The piece was excellently MOUNTED.”

~Mounter~, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes men used to MOUNT, or dress in, when going to swear for a consideration.

~Mountain-dew~, whisky, advertised as from the Highlands.

~Mountain-pecker~, a sheep’s head. _See_ JEMMY.

~Mourning~, “a full suit of MOURNING,” two black eyes; HALF-MOURNING, one black eye.

~Mouse~, a black eye. By a façon de parler, any one with “a MOUSE” is supposed to have been to Blackwall.

~Mouth-almighty~, a noisy, talkative person.

~Mouthpiece~, a lawyer, or counsel. Thieves and their associates always speak of a counsel as a MOUTHPIECE.

~Move~, a “dodge,” or cunning trick; “up to a MOVE or two,” acquainted with tricks. Probably derived from the game of chess.

~M.P.~, member of the police, one of the slang titles of the Force.

~Mrs. Grundy~, the representative of the censorious world, “What will MRS. GRUNDY say?” Originally a character in the comedy of _Speed the Plough_.

~Mrs. Harris~ and ~Mrs. Gamp~, nicknames of the _Morning Herald_ and _Standard_ newspapers, while united under the proprietorship of Mr. Baldwin. MRS. GAMP, a monthly nurse, was a character in Charles Dickens’s popular novel of _Martin Chuzzlewit_, who continually quoted an imaginary MRS. HARRIS in attestation of the superiority of her qualifications, and the infallibility of her opinions; and thus afforded a parallel to the two newspapers, which appealed to each other as independent authorities, being all the while the production of the same editorial staff. _See_ introductory article.

~Mrs. Jones~, the house of office, a water-closet.

~M.T.~, railway slang used by porters and pointsmen for empties, or empty carriages. _See_ MOLL THOMSON’S MARK.

~Much of a muchness~, alike, very much the same thing.

~Muck~, to beat, or excel. “It’s no use, his luck’s dead in; he’d MUCK a thousand;” “he MUCKED me clean out,” &c. To RUN A MUCK, or GO A MUCKER, to rush headlong into certain ruin. From a certain religious frenzy, or intoxication caused by bhang, which is common among the Malays, and which now and again causes an enthusiast, kreese in hand, to dash into a crowd and devote every one he meets to death until he is himself killed, or falls from exhaustion.—_Malay_, AMOK, slaughter.

~Muckender~, or MUCKENGER, a pocket-handkerchief.—_Old._ _Cf._ SNOTTINGER. The original name of the “Neckinger” in Bermondsey was “the Devil’s Neck-handkerchief.” There is still a Neckinger Road and Messrs. Bevington and Sons’ tannery in Bermondsey bears the name of the Neckinger Mills.

~Mucker~, TO GO A, to go to grief, to ruin one’s prospects.—_Oxford Univ._

~Muck-out~, to clean out; often applied to one utterly ruining an adversary in gambling.

~Muck-snipe~, one who has been “MUCKED OUT,” or beggared, at gambling. _See_ MUCK.

~Mud-crusher~, a word of contempt, used by the cavalry in reference to the infantry.

~Mudfog~, “The British Association for the Advancement of Science.” Term first used by Charles Dickens in _Bentley’s Miscellany_, about 1836.

~Mud-lark~, a man or woman who, with clothes tucked above the knee, grovels through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver or pewter spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any articles of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers. Occasionally applied to those men who cleanse the sewers, and who wear great boots and sou’-wester hats. Those who are employed in banks and counting-houses, in collecting and other out-door duties, have also this appellation.

~Mud-student~, a farming pupil. The name given to the students at the Agricultural College, Cirencester.

~Muff~, a silly or weak-minded person, a duffer; MUFF has been defined to be “a soft thing that holds a lady’s hand without squeezing it.”

~Muffin-cap~, a cap similar to that worn by a charity-boy.

~Muffin-face~, a white, soft, delicate, or whiskerless face.

~Muffin-worry~, an old lady’s tea party.

~Mufti~, the civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off duty.—_Anglo-Indian._ From an Eastern word signifying a clergyman or priest.

~Mug~, the mouth, or face.—_Old._

“‘GOBLET AND MUG.’—Topers should bear in mind that what they quaff from the goblet afterwards appears in the MUG.”

~Mug~, to strike in the face, or fight. Also, to rob or swindle. _Gaelic_, MUIG, to suffocate, oppress; _Irish_, MUGAIM, to kill, destroy.

~Mug~, “to MUG oneself,” to get tipsy.

~Mugging~, a thrashing,—synonymous with “slogging,” both terms of the “ring,” and frequently used by fighting men.

~Muggy~, drunk. Also, as applied to weather, stifling, oppressive.

~Mug-up~, to paint one’s face, or dress specially with a view to impersonation.—_Theatrical._ To “cram” for an examination.—_Army._

~Mull~, “to make a MULL of it,” to spoil anything, or make a fool of oneself.

~Mulligrubs.~ _Vide_ MOLLYGRUBS.

~Mullingar heifer~, a girl with thick ankles.—_Irish._ The story goes that a traveller, passing through Mullingar, was so struck with this local peculiarity in the women, that he determined to accost the next one he met. “May I ask,” said he, “if you wear hay in your shoes?” “Faith an’ I do,” said the girl; “and what then?” “Because,” says the traveller, “that accounts for the calves of your legs coming down to feed on it.”

~Multee kertever~, very bad. _Italian_, MOLTO CATTIVO. Generally used with the affix of bloke when referring to a man. Phrase much used by circus riders.

~Mum~, “to keep MUM,” to hold one’s peace. Hence “MUM’S the word,”—a phrase which implies to all hearers that the matter to which it refers must remain secret.

~Mummer~, a performer at a travelling theatre.—_Ancient._ Rustic performers at Christmas in the West of England.

~Mump~, to beg. In Lincolnshire, Boxing-day is known as MUMPING DAY.

~Mumper~, a beggar. A collector of holiday tribute.

~Mumps~, the miserables. To feel MUMPISH is to be heavy, dull, and stupid.

~Mundungus~, trashy, coarse tobacco. Sometimes used to represent the half-soddened, half-calcined residuum at the bottom of an all-but-smoked-out pipe, which, when knocked out, is vulgarly called the TOPPER, _q.v. Spanish_, MONDONGO, black pudding.

~Mungarly~, bread, food. MUNG is an old word for mixed food, but MUNGARLY is doubtless derived from the _Lingua Franca_, MANGIAR, to eat. _See_ the following.

~Mungarly casa~, a baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of a 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_ (_German_, NICHTS), an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.

~Munging~, or MOUNGING, whining, begging, muttering.—_North._

~Muns~, the mouth. _German_, MUND.—_Old Cant._

~Murerk~, the mistress of the house. _See_ BURERK.

~Murkarker~, a monkey,—vulgar Cockney pronunciation of MACAUCO, a species of monkey. Jacko Macauco, or Maccacco, as he was mostly called, was the name of a famous fighting monkey, who used nearly fifty years ago to display his prowess at the Westminster pit, where, after having killed many dogs, he was at last “chawed up” by a bull terrier.

~Murphy~, a potato. Probably from the Irish national liking for potatoes, MURPHY being a surname common amongst the Irish. MURPHIES (edible) are sometimes called DONOVANS.

~Murphy~, “in the arms of MURPHY,” _i.e._, fast asleep. Corruption of MORPHEUS.

~Mush~, an umbrella. Contraction of MUSHROOM.

~Mush~ (or MUSHROOM) ~faker~, an itinerant mender of umbrellas.

~Mushroom~, a hat, shaped like the fungus from which it takes its name, often worn by demure ladies.

~Muslin~, a woman or girl; “he picked up a bit of MUSLIN.”

~Musta~, or MUSTER, a pattern, one of a sort. Anglo-Indian term used in describing the make or pattern of anything. A sample of any kind of merchandize. This word is very generally used in commercial transactions all over the world.

~Mutton~, a contemptuous term for a woman of bad character; sometimes varied to LACED MUTTON. The expression was used as a cant term for a “wild duck” in the reign of James I. As a slang term it was employed by Ben Jonson in his masque of _Neptune’s Triumph_, which was written for display at Court on Twelfth Night, 1623; “a fine LACED MUTTON or two,” are the words applied to wantons. Shakspeare has the term. 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.

~Mutton chops~, a sheep’s-head. A man who has dined off sheep’s-head dignifies his meal by calling it MUTTON CHOPS (chaps).

~Mutton-fist~, an uncomplimentary title for any one having a large and muscular, bony, or coarse hand.

~Mutton-walk~, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre. A vulgar appellation applied to this place early in the last century, still in use in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden, which was formerly the great resort for the gay and giddy of both sexes.

~Muzzle~, the mouth.

~Muzzle~, to fight or thrash; to throttle or garrotte.

~Muzzler~, a blow in the mouth; a dram of spirits.

~Muzzy~, intoxicated.

~My aunt~, AUNT JONES, or MRS. JONES, the closet of decency, or house of office.

~My lord~, a nickname given to a hunchback.

~My tulip~, a term of endearment used by the lower orders to persons and animals; “‘Kim up, MY TULIP,’ as the coster said to his donkey when thrashing him with an ash stick.”

~My uncle~, the pawnbroker,—generally used when any person questions the whereabouts of a domestic article. “Oh! only at MY UNCLE’S” is the reply. “Up the spout” has the same meaning. It is worthy of remark that the French call this useful relative “ma tante,” my aunt.

~Nab~, to catch, to seize; “NAB the rust,” to take offence.—_Ancient_, fourteenth century. _See_ NAP.

~Nab the rust~, to take offence.

~Nabob~, an Eastern prince, a retired Indian official,—hence a slang term for a capitalist. From Nawaub.

~Nabs~, self; my NABS, myself; his NABS, himself.—_North Country Cant._

~Nag~, to persistently talk in a scolding manner, after the manner of Mrs. Caudle. NAGGING is supposed to be persistent, persevering, passionless scolding.

~Nail~, to steal, or capture; “paid on the NAIL,” _i.e._, paid ready money; NAILED, taken up, or caught,—probably in allusion to the practice of NAILING bad money to the counter. We say, “as dead as a door-NAIL;” most possibly because of “apt alliteration.” Shakspeare has the expression in _Henry IV._—

“_Falstaff._ What! is the old king dead?

_Pistol._ As NAIL in door.”

Dickens, in that marvellous little book, _A Christmas Carol_, says:—

“Old Marley was as dead as a DOOR-NAIL.

“Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know of my own knowledge what there is particularly dead about a DOOR-NAIL. I might have been inclined myself to regard a COFFIN-NAIL as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile: and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the country’s done for. You will, therefore, permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a DOOR-NAIL.”

~Nail in one’s coffin~, a dram, “a drop o’ summat’ short,” a jocular, but disrespectful phrase, used by the lower orders to each other at the moment of lifting a glass of spirits to their lips. “Well, good luck! here’s another NAIL IN MY COFFIN.” This is probably in ridicule of teetotal or temperance preachers, and the arguments adduced by them. Another phrase with old topers is “shedding a tear,” also “wiping an eye.”