Mud Lark. A fellow who goes about by
the water side
picking up coals, nails, or other articles
in the mud. Also
a duck.
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.
Muffling cheat. A napkin.
MUGGLETONIANS. The sect or disciples of Lodowick
Muggleton.
MULLIGRUBS. Sick of the mulligrubs with eating
chopped
hay: low-spirited, having an imaginary
sickness.
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.
Mumchance. An ancient game like hazard,
played with
dice: probably so named from the
silence observed in playing
at it.
Mum glass. The monument erected on
Fish-street Hill,
London, in memory of the great fire in
1666.
Mumble A 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.
Mummer. The mouth.
MUMPERS. Originally beggars of the genteel kind,
but
since used for beggars in general.
MUMPERS hall. An alehouse where beggars are harboured.
MUNDUNGUS. Bad or rank tobacco: from mondongo,
a
Spanish word signifying tripes, or the
uncleaned entrails
of a beast, full of filth.
Mung. To beg.
Muns. The face, or rather the mouth:
from the German
word Mund, the mouth. Toute
his muns; look at his face.
Munster plums. Potatoes. Irish.
Munster heifer. An Irish woman.
A woman with
thick legs is said to be like a Munster
heifer; i.e. beef to
the heels.
Murder. He looked like God’s revenge
against murder;
he looked angrily.
MURPHIES. Potatoes.
Mushroom. A person or family suddenly raised
to riches
and eminence: an allusion to that
fungus, which starts up
in a night.
Music. The watch-word among highwaymen,
signifying
the person is a friend, and must pass
unmolested. 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.
Mute. An undertaker’s servant, who
stands at the door of
a person lying in state: so named
from being supposed
mute with grief.


