1872. Leeds Mercury, 29 Aug. ‘Nottingham Police Report.’ ‘Was
defendant drunk?’ ‘No, Sir, he was not drunk, and he wornt sober.’
‘You say he wasn’t drunk?’ ‘No, Sir, he was mixed.’
Mix-metal, subs. (old).—A silversmith.
1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Mixum, subs. (old).—An apothecary.
1635. Glapthorne, Hollander, i. 1. Sir, I am sent from Mr. Mixum,
your apothecary.
Mizmaze, subs. (old).—See quot. 1755.
1706. Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, § 20. Those who are
accustomed to reason have got the true key of books, and the clue
to lead them through the mizmaze of variety of opinions and authors
to truth.
1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mizmaze. A cant word, formed from
maze by reduplication. A maze; a labyrinth.
1875. Parish, Sussex Glossary [Davies]. I was all of a mizmaze—I
was all in a bewilderment.
1883. American, viii. 308. Unless he had repeated that verbal
miz-maze of the Convention.
Mizzard, subs. (tramps’).—The mouth: cf. Mazzard.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv. If the beds ain’t all made ...
and everything fat and lean in the kitchen, they open their
mizzards and slam I can tell you.
Mizzle, verb. (common).—To decamp; to amputate (q.v.); to skedaddle
(q.v.).
1781. G. Parker, View of Society, ii. 231. He preferred mizzling
off to France.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 143, s.v.
1821. Egan, Real Life, i. 224. He tipp’d the slavey a tanner and
mizzled.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, p. 6. Tom. That will do—now then
Dicky, mizzle!—be scarce!—broom! Prince. Wouldn’t intrude a moment,
gentlemen, good morning—order my carriage.
1830. T. Hood, On a Royal Demise. How monarchs die is easily
explained, And thus it might upon their tombs be chiselled: As long
as George IV. could reign, he reigned, And then he mizzled.
1830. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 74 (ed. 1847). ‘How you run on,’ said
Rachael. ‘Run on—nothing to the hours, days, weeks, months, years,
when we’re united—run on—they’ll fly
on—bolt,—mizzle—steam—engine—thousand-horse-power—nothing to it.’
1840. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Lay of S. Cuthbert). ‘Cut your
stick, sir—come, mizzle! be off with you! go!’
1841. Hood, in Comic Almanack, 256. But, oh! pride, pride must have
a fall; Her cash he soon got through: And then, one mizzling
Mich’lmas day, The Count he mizzled too.
1843. S. Coyne, Binks the Bagman, i. Binks. Sanguinary scoundrel!
you have murdered that angelic woman.
Begone—abscond—dissolve—mizzle!
1844. Charles Selby, London by Night, i. 1. Jack. Hawkhurst!
(Aside.) I’d better mizzle.
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, p. 202. Now you may mizzle,
Jemmy, and if Mr. Copperfield will take the chair I’ll operate on
him.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 154. Of course I mizzled, for
fear of a stone or two.
1853. Comic Almanack, p. 52. ‘The Vulture.’ ‘Smith!’ I cried, ‘your
horrid smoking, Irritates my cough to choking. Having mentioned it
before, Really, you should not compel one—will you mizzle—as
before?’ Quoth the Vulture ‘Never more.’
1853. Surtees, Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour, i. Soapey Sponge, as his
good natured friends called him, was seen mizzling along Oxford
St., wending his way to the west.
1857. New York Herald, 17 June. They say the treasurer has mizzled,
and as there is a small sum of a hundred thousand dollars missing,
the presumption is not a very violent one.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, iii. 77. ‘How dare you eat it there,’
said Hayes brutally: ‘take it to your own crib: come, mizzle.’ And
with that he lent him a contemptuous kick behind.
Mizzler subs. (common).—A fugitive. Rum mizzler = a good hand at
dodging or getting off.
1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 180 (ed. 1864). From the
Arch-cove to the needy mizzler.
Moab, subs. (obsolete University).—1. A hat: specifically, the
turban-shaped hat fashionable among ladies 1858–9. [From the Scripture
phrase, ‘Moab is my washpot’ (Ps. lx. 8)].
1864. Reader, 22 Oct. Moab, a ... hat.... University it is all
over. We feel sure we know the undergraduate who coined the
expression; he is now a solemn don delivering lectures in
Cambridge.
1884. Graphic, 20 Sept., p. 307/2. The third, with his varnished
boots, his stiff brown moab of the newest fashion, his
well-displayed shirt-cuffs.