1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Maggot, a whimsicall Fellow,
full of strange Fancies and Caprichio’s. Maggotty, Freakish.
1725. N. Bailey, Erasmus, 177. You were as great a maggot as any in
the world.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) Maggot (S.) ... also a
whimsical fellow that is full of strange freakish fancies.
Maggot-boiler, subs. (old).—A tallow chandler.—Grose (1796).
Maggoty (Maggot-headed or -pated), adj. (common).—Fanciful; eccentric;
full of whimsies.
1687. Bishop, Marrow of Astrology, 60. A fantastick man wholly bent
to fool his time and estate away in ... maggot-pated whimsies, to
no purpose.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Maggot.
1706. Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, ii. 2. I should have some rogue
of a builder ... transform my noble oaks and elms into cornices,
portals, sashes ... to adorn some magotty, new-fashioned bauble
upon the Thames.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.), s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
1817–26. Kirby and Spence, Int. to Entomology, 85. The common
saying that a whimsical person is maggoty, or has got maggots in
his head, perhaps arose from the freaks the sheep have been
observed to exhibit when infested by bots.
1882. Rev. J. Pickford, in Notes and Queries, 6. S.v. 238. Be it
observed that maggoty is a Cheshire provincialism for ‘crotchety’,
like the expression used in other parts, ‘a bee in the bottom.’
Magistrand, subs. (Aberdeen University).—A student in arts of the last
year: cf. Bejan.
Magistrate, subs. (Scots’).—A herring. For synonyms see Glasgow
magistrate.
Magnet, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.
Magnificent, subs. (colloquial).—High and mighty. In pl. = a state of
dignified resentment.
1886. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xxvii. Nevertheless, Jack
walked his first watch in the magnificents, as all middies do when
they cannot go on shore, and turned in at twelve o’clock, with the
resolution of sticking to his purpose, and quitting his Majesty’s
service.
Magnify. It doesn’t magnify, phr. (common).—‘It doesn’t signify.’
Magnum, subs. (colloquial).—A double quart. Cf. Jeroboam, Rehoboam etc.
1796. Burns, Election Ballads, vi. High-wav’d his magnum-bonum
round With Cyclopean fury.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Magnum Bonum. A bottle containing two quarts
of wine. See Scotch pint.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxxvi. Discussing the landlord’s
bottle, which was, of course, a magnum.
1829. Edinburgh Review, xl. 378. Daily washing down turtle and
venison with quarts of sherry and magnums of claret.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick, xix. They ... ordered a glass of brandy
and water ... with a magnum of extra strength.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxi. They had a magnum of claret at
dinner at the club that day.
1888. Athenæum, 21 April, 449. 1. Your noble magnum of Lafitte,
E’en Rothschild would have deemed a treat.
Magpie, subs. (old).—1. A bishop. [From his vestments of black and
white].
1663. Killigrew, Parson’s Wedding [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), xiv.
459]. In pure charity laid with him, and was delivered, of a magpie
... for the midwife cried out ’twas born a bishop, with tippet and
white sleeves.
1707. F. Brown, Works, i. 107. Let not those silkworms and magpies
have dominion over us.