1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Marking. Observing; taking notice.
Marley-slopper, subs. (street).—See quot.
1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, 252. A marley-slopper is a
splay-footed person. Marley is a corruption of marble.... In
playing it is common for a boy to put his heels together, and turn
out his toes ... to stop an eccentric marble.
Marmalade. True marmalade, subs. phr. (common).—A variant of ‘real jam’
(q.v.).
Marmozet, subs. (old).—An endearment; also in jocular contempt, as
monkey (q.v.).
1607. Puritan, i. 3. Why, do’t now then, marmozet.
Marm-puss, subs. phr. (tailors’).—A wife.
Maroon, verb. (nautical).—See quot. Hence, Maroon, subs. = a man
marooned.
1862. Mayne Reid, The Maroon [Title].
1892. Leisure Hour, Jan., p. 172. Stealing was punished with great
severity, generally by marooning—i.e. abandonment on a desert isle,
with a little powder and shot and a flask of water.
Marplot, subs. (old; now recognised).—An officious bungler; a
spoil-sport (q.v.). [From a character in The Busybody; see quot. 1709].
1709. Centlivre, Busybody, iii. 5. That unlucky dog Marplot ... is
ever doing mischief, and yet (to give him his due) he never designs
it. This is some blundering adventure, wherein he thought to show
his friendship, as he calls it.
1764. A. Murphy, No One’s Enemy but his Own, i. You are the very
sieve of your own intentions; the marplot of your own designs.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1844. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. ii. p. 32. ‘You great blundering
marplot—you silly beggarly brat ... hold your tongue!’
1848. Emerson, Spiritual Laws, ‘Essays,’ 1 S. p. 125. If we will
not be marplots with our miserable interferences, the work ...
would go on far better than now.
Marquis of Granby, subs. (common).—A bald-head; a bladder of lard.
Marquis of Marrowbones. See Marrowbone.
Marriage-music, subs. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Marriage-music, Children’s
Cries.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Married, adj. (old).—Chained or handcuffed together.—Grose (1785).
Married on the carpet and the banns up the chimney, phr.
(common).—Living as man and wife; tally (q.v.).
Married man’s cotillion, subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation. For synonyms
see Greens and Ride.
Marrow, subs. (old).—1. A partner; an equal. Specifically (Old Scots’)
a lover or spouse. Amongst colliers = mate (q.v.).
1513. Gavin Douglas, Virgil, 183, 3. The tyme complete was for
thare jornay grant: Bot sone him warnis Sibylla the sant, His trew
marrow, gan schortly to him say.
1538. Lyndsay, Complaynt to the King [Laing i. 54, 307]. For every
lord, as he thocht best, Brocht in ane bird to fyll the nest; To be
ane wacheman to his marrow.
1578. Whetstone, I Prom. & Cassand, ii. 4. Birds of a fether, best
flye together; Then like partners about your market goe; Marrowes
adew: God send you fayre wether.
1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 57, st. 40, p. 134 (E. D. S.). Yet
chopping and changing I cannot commend, With theefe and his marrow,
for feare of ill end.
1621. Ben Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. Oh, my dear marrows! No shooting
of arrows Or shafts of your wit, Each other to hit.
1630. Drayton, Muses’ Elys. Nym., ii. 1459. Cleon, your doves are
very dainty, Tame pigeons else are very plenty. These may win some
of your marrows, I am not caught with doves and sparrows.
1677. Coles, Eng.-Lat. Dict. The gloves are not marrows; chirotheæ
non sunt pares.
1728. Lindsay of Pitscottie, Hist. of Scotland, p. 78. This Cochran
was so proud in his conceit, that he counted no Lords to be marrows
to him.
1778. Grose, Prov. Glossary, s.v. Marrow, a fellow, or companion.
Exm. This pair of gloves or shoes are not marrows, i.e. are not
fellows. N.
1818. Scott, Rob. Roy, xxxv. He saw that he wasna to get Die Vernon
for his marrow.
1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Marrow. The word is often used for
things of the same kind, and (sic) of which there are two; as of
shoes, gloves, stockings: also eyes, hands, feet, &c. Either from
the French camerade, Angl. camrad (i.e., comrade), socius, sodalis,
by an aphæresis; or from the French mari, Latin maritus in which
sense the word is also taken. Thus Scot, a husband or wife is
called half marrow, and such birds as keep chaste to one another
are called marrows.
1852. Lloyd’s Paper, 31 Oct. ‘Northumberland’. Afraid to face the
angry frowns of their grieving marrows, they determined, like
desperate men, to stay where they were. Great was the consternation
and mourning at Hylton, and, bent on knowing the worst, the
forsaken wives set forth on a voyage in search of the lost
husbands.
2. (venery).—The semen. For synonyms see Spendings, and cf. Marrowbone,
subs. sense 2.
1598. All’s Well etc., ii. 3, 298. Spending his manly marrow in her
arms.
Marrowbone, subs. (old).—1. In pl. = the knees. Ital. devoti =
worshippers.
a. 1553. N. Udall, Roister Doister, I. iv. p. 29 (Arber). Couche on
your marrybones whooresons, down to the ground.
1567. Thos. Drant, Horace his Epistles, fo E iiij. Ep. 12. ‘To
Iccius’ Phraates tooke his mace Kneeling upon his marribones, to
Cesar’s aufull grace.
1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller [Grosart, v. 23]. My welbeloued Baron
of double beere got him humbly on his marybones to the King.
1603. Dekker, Wonderful Yeare [Grosart, i. 141]. At these speeches
my tender-hearted hoste, fell downe on his maribones, meaning
indeede to entreate his audience to bee good to him.
1665. Homer à la Mode [Nares]. Some more devout clownes, partly
guessing When he’s almost come to the blessing, Prepare their
staves, and rise at once, Say’ng Amen, off their mary-bones.
1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Markall, ii. Down on your marrow-bones,
and confess the truth.
1672. C. Cotton, Scarronides, Bk. i. p. 36 (ed. 1725). Upon a Stool
set for the nonce, She went to rest her marrow-bones.
1700. Dryden, Wife of Bath Her Tale, l. 192. On her majestic
mary-bones she kneeled.
1714. Spectator, 5 Nov. The mob drank the kings health on their
marrow-bones.
1721. N. Amherst, Terræ Filius, p. 33. The [Oxford] scholars, in
most of their disputes and quarrels with the townsmen or aliens,
usually came off the best at last, and brought their adversaries
down upon their marrowbones to them.
1760. George Colman, Polly Honeycombe, i. 3. I’ll carry her off
to-day, if possible, clap up a marriage at once, and then down upon
our marrow-bones, and ask pardon and blessing of papa and mama.
1777. Isaac Jackman, All the World’s a Stage, i. 2. When I come
down, you are all to fall upon your marrow-bones.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1840. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Merchant of Venice). So down on
your marrowbones, Jew, and ask mercy! Defendant and Plaintiff are
now wisy wersy.
1869. Thackeray, The White Squall. And they call in their emergence
Upon countless saints and virgins; And their marrowbones are bended
And they think the world is ended.
2. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms see Creamstick and Prick. Also
marrowbone-and-cleaver.
Marquess of marrowbones, subs. phr. (old).—A lackey.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart, ii. 33]. Poor scullians,
that, from turning spit in the chimney corner, are on the sodaine
hoisted vp from the Kitchin into the waiting chamber, or made
Barons of the beanes, and marquesses of the mary-boanes.
Marrowbones and cleavers, subs. phr. (common).—Butcher’s music to
new-married couples: formerly there was a regular peal in every parish.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1789. G. Parker, Life’s Painter, ‘The Happy Pair.’ Ye butchers
bring your cleavers too, Likewise your marrow-bones.
1844. J. B. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Of course;
all in honour, church, parson, marrow-bones and cleavers, and all
that! Now, as I’m a man o’ my word, I ask your hand in mattermony.
Marrowbone- (or Marylebone) stage (or coach). To ride in (or go by) the
marrowbone-stage, verb. phr. (common).—To go on foot. See Bayard of ten
toes and Shanks’s mare.
Marrow-pudding, subs. (venery).—The penis. Hence, a belly-full of
marrow-pudding = the condition of pregnancy.
Marrowskying, subs. (general).—At the London University they had a way
of disguising English (described by Albert Smith, in Mr. Ledbury, 1848,
as the ‘Gower-street dialect’), which consisted in transposing the
initials of words: as ‘poke a smipe’ = smoke a pipe; ‘flutter-by’ =
butterfly; ‘stint of pout’ = pint of stout; etc. This is often termed
Marrowskying. See Medical (or Hospital) Greek.
1883. Sala, Living London, p. 491. On the whole, the Kaukneigh
Awlminek seems to consist in pretty equal proportions of the
vocabulary of Tim Bobbin, Josh Billings, Joe Scoap, the ‘Fonetik
Nuz’, and the marrowsky language.
Marshall, subs. (obsolete).—A five pound Bank of England note: cf.
Abraham Newland.
c. 1870. Newspaper Cutting. To the Yankee I’m partial, and those
who see far shall, Impounding each Marshall, so smooth and so
crisp.
Martext, subs. (common).—A clergyman: specifically a blundering or
ignorant preacher. For synonyms see Sky-pilot.
1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, iii. 3, 43. I have been with Sir
Oliver Martext, the vicar of the next parish. Idem v. 1. 5. A most
vile martext.
1663. Killigrew, Parson’s Wedding [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), xiv.
385]. Adieu, heir-apparent to Sir Oliver Martext.
Martin, subs. (old).—1. See quot.
1612. Rowlands, Hist. of Rogues [Century]. I have heard and partly
know a highway lawyer rob a man in the morning, and hath dined with
the martin or honest man so robbed the same day.