MOBILITY. The mob: a sort of opposite to nobility. 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, meaning a bourgeois, tradesman, or mechanic. MOIETY. Half, but vulgarly used to signify a share or portion: as, He will come in for a small moiety. MOLL. A whore. MOLL PEATLY'S GIG. A rogering bout. MOLL THOMPSON'S MARK. M. T. i. e. empty: as, Take away this bottle, it has Moll Thompson's mark upon it. MOLLY. A Miss Molly; an effeminate fellow, a sodomite. MONDAY. Saint Monday. See SAINT. MONEY. A girl's private parts, commonly applied to little children: as, Take care, Miss, or you will shew your money. MONEY DROPPERS. Cheats who drop money, which they pretend to find just before some country lad; and by way of giving him a share of their good luck, entice him into a public house, where they and their confederates cheat or rob him of what money he has about him. MONGREL. A hanger on among cheats, a spunger; also a child whose father and mother are of different countries. MONKS AND FRIARS. Terms used by printers: monks are sheets where the letters are blotted, or printed too black; friars, those letters where the ink has failed touching the type, which are therefore white or faint. MONKEY. To suck the monkey; to suck or draw wine, or MOON-EYED HEN. A squinting wench. MOON RAKERS. Wiltshire men: because it is said that some men of that county, seeing the reflection of the moon in a pond, endeavoured to pull it out with a rake. MOONSHINE. A matter or mouthful of moonshine; a trifle, K 2 nothing. nothing. The white brandy smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, and the gin in the north of Yorkshire, are also called moonshine. Mor. A kind of annual fair in the west of England, where farmers usually hire their servants. To Mop ur. To drink up. To empty a glass or pot. MOPSQUEEZER. A maid servant, particularly a housemaid. MORGLAG. A brown bill, or kind of halbert, formerly carried by watchmen ; corruption of more, great or broad, and glave, blade. MORNING DROP. The gallows. He napped the king's pardon and escaped the morning drop; he was pardoned, and was not hanged. MORRIS. Come, morris off; dance off, or get you gone: allusion to morris, i. e. morisco, or Moorish dancing. MORT. A woman or wench; also a yeoman's daughter. To be taken all-a mort; to be confounded, surprised, or motionless through fear. MOSES. To stand 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. Moss. A cant term for lead, because both are found on the tops of buildings. MOSSY FACE. The mother of all saints. MOT. A girl, or wench. See MORT. MOTHER, OF THE MOTHER. A bawd. Mother abbess; the same. Mother midnight; a midwife. Mother in law's bit; a small piece, mothers in law being supposed not apt to overload the stomachs of their husband's children. MOUCHETS. Small patches worn by ladies: from the French word mouches. MOVEABLES. Rings, watches, or any toys of value. MOUSE. To speak like a mouse in a cheese ; i. e. faintly or indistinctly. MOUSETRAP. The parson's mousetrap; the state of matri mony. MOUTH. A noisy fellow. Mouth half cocked; ore gaping and staring at every thing he sees. To make any one laugh laugh on the wrong, or t'other side of his mouth; to make him cry or grieve. MOUTH. A silly fellow. A dupe. To stand mouth; i. e. to be duped. To Mow. A Scotch word for the act of copulation. MOW HEATER. A drover: from their frequent sleeping on hay mows. Cant. MOWER. A cow. Muck. Money; also dung. MUCKWORM. A miser. MUCKINDER. A child's handkerchief tied to the side. MUD. A fool, or thick-sculled fellow; also, among printers the same as dung among journeymen taylors. See DUNG. 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 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. Analehouse where beggars are harbour ed. 1 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. MUTTON MONGER. A man addicted to wenching. MUTTON. In her mutton, i. e. having carnal knowledge of a woman. MUZZLE. A beard. MUZZLER. A violent blow on the mouth. The milling cove tipped the cull a muzzler; the boxer gave the fellow a blow on the mouth. MYNT. See MINT. MYRMIDONS. The constable's assistants, watchmen, &c. ~ NAB NAB, or NAB CHEAT. A hat. Penthouse nab; a large hat. To NAB. To seize, or catch unawares. To nab the teaze; to be privately whipped. To nab the stoop; to stand in 3 the the pillory. To nab the rust; a jockey term for a horse that becomes restive. To nab the snow: to steal linen left out to bleach or dry. Cant. To NAB GIRDER, or NOB GIRDER. A bridle. NACK. To have a nack; to be ready at any thing, to have a turn for it. NACKY. Ingenious. NAILED. Secured, fixed. He offered me a decus, and I nailed him; he offered me a crown, and I struck or fixed him. NANNY HOUSE. A brothel. To NAP. To cheat at dice by to catch the venereal disease. fected. securing one chance. Also NAPPING. To take any one napping; i. e. to come upon him unexpectedly, to find him asleep: as, He caught him napping, as Morse caught his mare. NAPPER. The head; also a cheat or thief. NAPPER OF NAPS. A sheep stealer. Cant. NASK, OF NASKIN. A prison or bridewell. The new nask; NATION. An abbreviation of damnation: a vulgar term used in Kent, Sussex, and the adjacent counties, for very. Nation good; very good. A nation long way; a very long way. NATTY LADS. Young thieves or pickpockets. Cant. NAVY OFFICE, The Fleet prison. Commander of the NAY WORD. A bye-word, proverb. NAZARENE FOR ETOP. The foretop of a wig made in imitation of Christ's head of hair, as represented by the painters and sculptors. NAZY. Drunken. Nazy cove or mort; a drunken rogue NEB, or NIB. The bill of a bird, and the slit of a pen. Fi- script A |
