1888. Daily Telegraph, 15 Nov. An impecunious fellow who was always
on the mash.
1892. Idler, June, p. 550. I loves to see ’im cuttin’ of a dash, A
walkin’ down our alley on the mash.
Verb. (common).—To court; to ogle; to lay oneself out for the practical
approval of the other sex.
1883. Referee, 30 Sept., p. 2, col. 4. And looks so handsome that
were he not so wicked he would be likely to mash all the ladies who
see him.
1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. But only fancy what a fellow with
my taste for seeing life and mashing the girls must have suffered!
1892. Illustrated Bits, 22 Oct., p. 4, col. 2. Successfully mash a
girl by reciting poetry to her.
Mashed, adj. (common).—Amorous; spoony (q.v.).
1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 287, col. 3. There is always a certain
amount of flirtation carried on at the half-crown ball.... There
are nooks and passages which give sufficient cover for the smitten
(or the mashed, as, alas! the current slang is) to exchange their
confidences, as they flatter themselves unobserved.
Mashed-on, adj. phr. (common).—In love.
1886. Philadelphia Times, 19 Febr. He was mashed on fair Finette.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 66. Bell Bonsor is mashed on me.
Masher, subs. (common).—1. See quots. 1883, and—especially—1890. A
species of Don Juan in a small way of business: specifically among
choristers and actresses. Hence (2) a dandy.
1883. T. A. Gartham, in Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Oct. The participle
mashed was in use, in America, before the substantive. A person who
was very ‘spooney’ on another was said to be mashed. Then came the
verb to mash, and latterly the noun masher; i.e. he who produces
the effect, or at least who imagines himself a ‘lady-killer.’ Need
I say that men of this calibre are often fops or dandies? Hence,
the word masher as now understood here.
1883. Athenæum, 10 Feb., p. 181, col. 1. One poem, indeed, called
‘A Cry from the Stalls,’ presents our poet in the strange guise of
the laureate of the mashers—we apologize humbly for employing a
detestable phrase with which America has enriched (?) our
vocabulary significatory of the worshippers of actresses.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 10 Oct. The talk around them will fairly
match in mental vigour the ejaculations of the gaming table or the
race-course, or the prattle of the masher between the acts.
1884. A. Lang, Much Darker Days, p. 24. That mass, once a white
hat, had adorned the brows of that masher!
1885. Sporting Times, 23 May, ‘The Chorister’s Promise.’ She sat
disconsolate, musing, sad, ... For times were deucedly awful bad,
As mashers were close with what chips they had (And alas for the
chips she owed!).
1890. Standard, 11 Febr., p. 3, col. 1. There were specimens of
tramps and beggars, of fortune-tellers and hawkers, of village
musicians and mashers, called in Vienna ‘Gigerls,’ which every good
painter or sculptor would be delighted to have as models—better
specimens of the picturesque, in fact, than can be found in Rome or
Naples.
1890. Slang, Jargon, & Cant, s.v. Mash. About the year 1860 mash
was a word found only in theatrical parlance in the United States.
When an actress smiled at ... a friend in the audience she was said
to mash him.... It occurred to the writer [C. G. Leland] that it
must have been derived from the gypsy mash (masher-ava) to allure,
to entice.... Mr. Paluez a well-known impresario said ... he could
confirm [the suggestion] for the term had originated with the C—
family, who were all actors and actresses, of Romany stock, who
spoke gypsy familiarly among themselves.
1895. Sporting Times, 23 Nov. ‘Nothing to Do.’ There’s the masher,
the great unemployed of the day.
Adj. (common).—Smart.
1890. Globe, 7 Feb., p. 1, col. 4. What are umbrellas or masher
canes to students immersed in Mill or Emerson, or the latest
shilling dreadful?
Masherdom, subs. (common).—The world of mashers (q.v.).
1883. Referee, 6 May, p. 7, col. 3. In the smoking-rooms of the
best club, in the haunts of masherdom.
Mash-tub, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A brewer. Hence (Fleet St.) The
Morning mash-tub = The Morning Advertiser.
Maskin, subs. (Old Cant).—Coal.
Mason, subs. (old).—See quot.
1754. Poulter, Discov., p. 30. One who swindled farmers etc. by
giving worthless notes for horses etc. bought by them. The Dealers,
called masons ... giving Notes for Money, and never to pay it.
Verb. (old).—See quot.
1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 9. If we could not get any
Money at the Nobb we would buy a Horse or two, and give our Notes
for our Money, telling our Dealer we lived at a Town where we did
not. This is called masoning.
Masonry, subs. (colloquial).—Secret signs and passwords.
1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. iii. ch. viii. I was one of
them, and know the masonry.
Mason’s-mawn’d, subs. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Mason’s-mawn’d, a Sham sore
above the Elbow, to counterfeit a broken Arm, by a Fall from a
Scaffold, expos’d by subtil Beggers, to move Compassion, and get
Money.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Massacre. See Innocents.
Masse-stapler, subs. (Old Cant).—A rogue disguised as a woman.
Master-can (or more), subs. phr. (Old Scots’).—A
chamber-pot.—Fergusson.
1776. Herd, Collection, ii. 214. She hae dung the bit fish off the
brace, An’ it’s fallen i’ the maister-can.
Master-of-the-black-art, subs. (old).—A beggar. For synonyms see
Cadger.
Master-of-the-Mint, subs. (common).—A gardener. Cf. Burn-crust and
Corks.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Master-of-the-Rolls, subs. (common).—A baker.
1641. H. Peacham, Worth of a Penny, in Arber’s English Gamer, Vol.
vi. p. 272. For a Penny, you may search among the rolls, and withal
give the master good satisfaction. I mean, in a baker’s basket.
c. 1762. Derrick in Foster’s Goldsmith, Bk. iii. ch. vi. p. 167
(5th ed.). ‘No, no,’ whispered Derrick, who knew him to be a
wealthy baker from the city, ‘only for a master of the rolls.’
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1826. The Fancy, i. 123. Martin is the only baker who has appeared
in Chancery Lane lately without insult; but they possess,
generally, so little of the retiring modesty of their Master of the
Rolls, that they deserve all they catch in that way.
English synonyms. Burn-crust; doughy; dough-puncher; crumbs;
fourteen-to-the-dozen.
Master-of-the-Wardrobe, subs. phr. (old).—One who pawns his clothes to
buy liquor.—Grose (1785).
Masterpiece, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.