Verb. (common).—To trifle; to play; to fool about.
1887. Francis, Saddle & Mocassin, 143. It is just possible that I
may have been monkeying with the cards a little.
1889. Harper’s Mag., lxxix. 465. I hope he’ll fetch money. I’ve had
enough o’ monkeying ’long o’ checks.
Monkey on horseback, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, s.v. Who put that monkey on horseback without tying
his legs? Vulgar wit on a bad horseman.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. monkey.
Monkey on a wheel, subs. phr. (common).—A bicyclist. Fr. un imbécile à
deux roues.
Monkey with a long tail, subs. phr. (legal).—See quot. A monkey up the
chimney = a mortgage on one’s house.
1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. To a lawyer ... a mortgage is a
monkey with a long tail.
To get one’s monkey up, verb. phr. (common).—1. To get angry. Hence,
his monkey is up (or he has a monkey on his back) = he is angry. Fr.
reniquer.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. p. 229. My monkey was up,
and I felt savage.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ix. The mare, like some
women when they get their monkey up, was clean out of her senses.
1891. Lic. Vict. Gazette, 23 Jan. Each man’s monkey was up.
To suck the monkey, verb. phr. (nautical).—1. To drink rum out of
cocoa-nuts, emptied of milk and filled with spirits; (2) to drink
liquor from a cask through a gimlet-hole and a straw (called tapping
the admiral, which see); and (3) to drink from the bottle.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Monkey.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, lvii. I didn’t peach at Barbados, when
the men sucked the monkey.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Black Mousquetaire.’ What the
vulgar call sucking the monkey, Has much less effect on a man when
he’s funky.
1864. Daily Telegraph, 26 July. Behind and in front of the
bourgeois warriors, who, standing or sitting at ease, were smoking
or taking a suck at the monkey, otherwise the whisky flask, there
marched another dress parade.
Monkey with a tin tool, subs. phr. (common).—A phrase expressive of
impudence or self-content: e.g., O, they’re as cocky as monkeys with
tin tools.
Monkey-board, subs. (obsolete).—The conductor’s place on an old-style
omnibus.
1860. Punch, xxxviii. p. 186. I was on the monkey-board behind.
1883. Jas. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, & Co., p. 27. The omnibus
conductors ... the ill-paid and hard-worked drudges of the
monkey-board.
Monkey-boat, subs. (nautical).—A long, narrow, canal boat. Also a small
boat used in the docks.
Monkey-cage, subs. (common).—The grated room in which a convict sees
his friends. Fr. le parloir des singes.
Monkey-coat (or -jacket), subs. (nautical).—A short, close-fitting
jacket: a coat ‘with no more tail than a monkey.’ See Capella.
Monkey-pump, subs. (nautical).—The straw used in ‘sucking the monkey’
(q.v.).
Monkey’s-allowance, subs. (common).—‘More kicks than halfpence.’
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Monkey.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ii. When you get on board you’ll find
monkey’s allowance.
1856. C. Kingsley, Letter [3rd abridged ed. 1879], May. You fellows
worked like bricks, spent money, and got midshipman’s half-pay
(nothing a-day and find yourself) and monkey’s allowance (more
kicks than halfpence).
Monkeyshines (Monkeytricks or Monkeyings), subs. (common).—1. Antics;
and (2) tricks.
1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i. Take care, young woman, you can’t
tell what monkey tricks he may have been up to in foreign parts.
1878. A. R. Grote, Pop. Sci. Monthly, xiii. 435. You may have
noticed bare-footed boys cutting up monkey-shines on trees with
entire safety to themselves.
1887. Lippincotts’ Mag., Aug. ‘A Land of Love,’ p. 231. Such
monkey-shines! It proves that you have no serious interest in
science.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xi. Don’t get up to any
monkey tricks.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 6. Your monkeyings mar every
pageant.
Monkey’s-money, subs. (old).—1. Goods; (2) labour; and (3) words. Fr.
monnaie des singes.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, iv. 3. It was an original by Master
Charles Charmois, principal painter to king Megistus (of France),
paid for in court fashion with monkey’s money.
Monkey’s-tail, subs. (old nautical).—See quot.
1823. Marryat, Peter Simple, p. 28 [ed. 1863]. ‘Youngster, hand me
that monkey’s tail!’ I saw nothing like a monkey’s tail, but I was
so frightened that I snatched up the first thing that I saw which
was a very short bar of iron, and it so happened that it was the
very article wanted.
Monmouth-street finery, subs. phr. (old).—See quot. [Monmouth-Street
(now Dudley-Street) was long a mart for second-hand clothes]. Cf.
Wardour-street English.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., etc. ii. 25. Monmouth-street finery was a
common term to express tawdriness and pretence.
Monniker (or Monick). See Moneker.
Monocular-eyeglass, subs. (common).—The breech. For synonyms see Bum.
Monosyllable, (also Divine Monosyllable) subs. (venery).—The female
pudendum; cunt (q.v.).
English synonyms. A.B.C.; Abraham’s bosom (generic); ace; ace of
spades; Adam’s own; agility; agreeable ruts of life; alcove; alley;
almanack; Alpha and Omega; altar; altar of Hymen; altar of love; altar
of pleasure; amulet; antipodes; aphrodisiacal tennis court (Urquhart);
arbour; attic; Aunt Maria; axis.
Baby-maker; bag of tricks; bank; basket-maker; bath of birth (Whitman);
bazaar; beauty; beauty-spot; bed-fellow; bee-hive; belle chose
(Chaucer); Belly Dale; Belly Dingle; belly-entrance; Berkeley-Hunt
(rhyming); best (Dorset); best in Christendom (Rochester); best-worst
part (Donne); bird’s nest; bit; bite (Grose); bit of fish, of jam, of
meat, of mutton, of pork, of rough, or of skate; bit on a fork; Black
(Will. Cavendish); Black Bess; black hole; black (or brown, or grey)
jock; black ring; blind eye; Bluebeard’s closet; boat; bob-and-hit;
bonne-bouche; bore; Botany Bay; book-binder’s wife (‘manufacturing in
sheets’: G. A. Stevens); Bottomless Pit; bower; bower of bliss (Carew
and Herrick); box; brat-getting place (Florio); breach; breadwinner
(prostitutes’); broom; brown madam (Grose); bucket; Buckinger’s boot
(Grose); budget; bull’s eye (Rochester); bumbo (negro); bun; bung-hole;
busby; Bushey Park; butcher’s shop; butter-boat; button-hole.
Cabbage; cabbage-field, -garden, or -patch; cab-mat; caldron (Ramsay);
callibistry (Urquhart); can; candlestick; canister (Burns); Cape Horn;
Cape of Good Hope; carnal-trap (Urquhart); case; cat (Durfey);
catch-’em-alive-o; cat’s-meat; catherine wheel; cauliflower; cave of
harmony; caze (Burton); cellar (R. Brome); cellarage; cellar-door;
central furrow (Clelland); central office; centre of attraction;
centre-of-bliss; centrique part (Donne); certificate of birth; chat;
chink; chum; churn; circle (Shakspeare and Congreve); civet; claff
(Lyndsay); clap-trap; cleft of flesh (Clelland); clock; cloth
(generic); the clouds; cloven spot (Clelland); cock; Cock-Alley;
cockchafer; cock-holder; Cock-Inn; Cock-Lane; cockloft; cockpit;
Cockshire; cockshy; coffee-shop; cogie (Scots’); commodity (Shakspeare,
etc.); concern; coney; confessional; conjuring-book (Durfey);
contrapunctum (Urquhart); conundrum; cookie; copy-hold (Durfey);
corner-cupboard; cornucopia; County-Down; coupler; covered way
(Sterne); coynte (Burton); coyote; crack; cradle; cranny; cream-jug;
crevice; crinkum-crankum; crooked way; crown of sense (Rochester);
cuckoo’s nest; cunnie (Durfey); cunnikin; cunny-burrow (Urquhart);
cuntkin; cuntlet; Cupid’s-Alley, (-anvil, -arbour, -cave, -cloister,
-corner, -cupboard, -highway, -ring, or -pincushion); cushat; cushion;
custom-house; custom-house goods (a harlot’s: ‘because fairly entered’:
Grose); cut-and-come-again; Cyprian-arbour, -cave, or -strait (Carew).
Daisy; dark, or dark-hole; dearest bodily part (Shakspeare); diddle;
diddly-pout; dimple; doodle-case; doodle-sack; dormouse; down bed of
beauty (Stevens); Downshire; downstairs; downy-bit; drain;
dripping-pan; duck pond; dumb-glutton; dumb-, or hairy-, oracle;
dumb-squint; duster; Dutch clock; dyke.
Eel-pot (or -trap); eel-skinner; End of the Sentimental Journey
(Sterne); entrance; Et-cetera (Rochester and Clelland); evergreen;
everlasting wound; Eve’s custom-house (‘where Adam made the first
entry’: Grose); exchequer (Donne); Exeter-hall; eye that weeps most
when best pleased (Stevens).
Factotum; fancy bit; Fanny; Fanny-Artful; Fanny-Fair; faucett; fiddle
(Burns); fie-for-shame (schoolgirls’); fig; firelock; fireplace;
firework; fish (generic); fish-market; flap; flapdoodle; fleshly-idol
(Brown); fleshly-part; flower; flower of chivalry; flower-pot;
fly-by-night; fly-cage; fly-trap; forecaster; forecastle; fore-hatch;
fore-room; forewoman; forge; fort; fortress; fountain of love; free
fishery; front-garden; front-gut; front-parlor; fruitful vine (‘which
bears flowers every four weeks, and fruit every nine months’: Grose);
Fumbler’s-Hall; funniment; furrow (Burns).
Gallimaufry; gap (Durfey); garden; Garden of Eden; gash; Gate of Horn;
Gate of Life (Burns); G.C.; gentleman’s pleasure garden; garrison
(Crowne); gear (Florio); gigg (Grose); goatmilker; goldfinch’s nest;
gravy-giver; greens (generic); green meadow; grotto; Grove of Eglantine
(Carew); grummett; gully; gut-entrance; gutter; gymnasium; gyvel
(Burns).
Hair-court; Hairyfordshire; hairy ring; half-moon (Killigrew); Hans
Carvel’s ring (Urquhart and Prior); happy hunting-grounds; harbour;
harbour of hope; hatchway; heaven; hell; hole of content (Florio); hole
of holes; Holloway; home-sweet-home; horse-collar; hotel; house under
the hill; housewife; hypogastrian cranny (Urquhart).
India (Donne); ineffable; inglenook; intercrural trench (Urquhart); It;
itcher; Itching Jenny; Ivory Gate.
Jacob’s Ladder; Jack Straw’s Castle; jam-pot; jelly-bag; jewel; jigger;
jock; justum (Urquhart).
Kaze; keifer (generic); kennel (Rochester); kettle (Durfey, etc.);
kitchen; Kitty; knick-knack.
Ladder; Lady Berkeley; lady-flower (Whitman); Lady Jane; lady-star
(Hall); lamp of love; Lapland; lather-maker; leading article; lea-rigs
(generic: Burns); leather (generic: Urquhart, Lyndsay, Burns);
Leather-Lane; leavingshop; Life’s Dainty (G. A. Stevens); ling; little
sister; little spot where uncle’s doodle goes; living fountain
(Herrick); lobster-pot; lock; locker; lock of all locks (Stevens);
Love-lane; Love’s harbour (Carew); Love’s Paradise (Marston); Lowlands;
Low Countries; lucky-bag.
Machine; maddikin; Madge (Grose); Madge Howlett; magnet; main avenue
(Clelland); malkin (Lyndsay); mangle; manhole; man-trap; Marble Arch;
mark (Durfey); mark-of-the-beast; Mary-Jane; masterpiece; meat
(generic); meat-market; medlar; melting-pot; merkin (R. Fletcher, and
A. Smith); Middle Kingdom; Midlands; milker; milking-pail; milk-pan;
milt-market; mill (Durfey, Burns, etc.); milliner’s shop; mine of
pleasure; miraculous cairn; Miss Brown (Grose); Miss Laycock (Grose);
modicum (Cotton); money (Grose); money-box; money-maker; money-spinner;
monkey (American); mole-catcher; Molly’s Hole; Mons Meg; mortar;
moss-rose; mossy bank; mossy cell; mossy-face; mother of all saints,
all souls, or St. Patrick; Mount-Faulcon (Florio); Mount Pleasant;
mouse; mouser; mousetrap; mouth thankless; (Old Scots’: Kennedy,
Lyndsay, Scott); mouth that says no word about it (G. A. Stevens); muff
(Burns); mumble-peg; mushroom; mustard-pot; mutton (generic and
universal).
Naggie; name-it-not; nameless; nature; nature’s tufted treasure;
naughty; needle-case; nest (American); nest in the bush; nether eye, or
lips (Chaucer); never-out; niche; niche-cock; nick-in-the-notch;
nonny-nonny; non-such; notch; novelty; Number-Nip; nursery.
Old Ding; old hat (Fielding and Sterne); old woman; omnibus; open C;
oracle; orchard; ornament; orifice; open charms (Little); oven; oyster
(Killigrew); oyster-catcher.
Palace of pleasure; pancake; parenthesis (Jon Bee); parsley-bed
(Durfey); parts of shame (Pope); patch; peculiar river (Shakspeare);
penwiper; periwinkle; pfotz (Hall Stevenson); pincushion; pintle-case;
pipe; pisser; pit (Herrick); pitcher; pit-mouth; pit of darkness;
place; placket-box (Durfey); pleasure-boat; pleasure ground; pleasure’s
place (Davis); plum-tree (Cotgrave); p-maker; portal to the bower of
bliss (Herrick); postern gate to the Elysian fields (Herrick); pouter;
premises; pretty; prick-holder; prick-skinner; prin-cock (Dunbar);
privates; privities; privy-hole; privy Paradise; pudend (Urquhart);
punse (Yiddish); pulpit (old); purse (Donne); puss (Durfey and Cotton);
pulse; pussy-cat.
Quaint; quarry; quaver-case (A. Scott); Queen of Holes (Rochester);
quem; queynte (Chaucer and Florio); quim; quimsby; quivive.
Rasp; rattle-ballocks; receipt of custom; red ace; Red-C.; regulator
(Burns); rest-and-be-thankful; ring; road to a christening; roasting
jack; rob-the-ruffian; rooster; rose; rough-O; rough malkin;
rough-and-ready; rough-and-tumble; rufus.
Sack (Durfey); saddle; salt-cellar; sampler; scabbard; scuttle; seal;
sear; secret parts (Shakspeare); seed-plot; seminary; sex; shake-bag;
sharp-and-blunt (rhyming); sheath; shell (Lyndsay and Dunbar);
skin-coat (Urquhart); skin-the-pizzle; slipper; slit; slot;
Smock-Alley; snatch (American); snatch-blatch (Motteux); snatch-box;
socket (Jonson); solution of continuity (Urquhart); South Pole;
spender; sperm-sucker; spit-fire; spinning-jenny; split-apricot;
split-fig; split-mutton (generic); spleuchan (Burns); sporran;
Sportsman’s Gap; Sportsman’s Hole; spot of Cupid’s archery (Rochester);
square push (American); standing room for one; star; star over the
garter (Lord Cork); Stream’s Town (Irish: Grose); suck-and-swallow;
sugar-basin.
Tail (general); target; teazle (Ramsay); temple of Venus; tench; tenuc
(back-slang); that; Thatched House; thing; thingamy; thingumbob;
tickler; tickle-Thomas; tickle-toby; tile; tirly-whirly (Burns);
tit-mouse; toll-dish (Durfey); tool-chest; touch-’em-up; touch-hole;
towdie (Dunbar); tow-wow (A. Smith); towsy-mowsy (Dorset); toy
(Etherege); toy-shop; treasure; treasury of love (Clelland); tu quoque
(Grose); turnpike; tuzzi-muzzy; twat (Durfey); twachylle; twittle;
tunnel.
Under-belongings; under-dimple; under-entrance; under-world;
undeniable; Upper Holloway; upright wink; undertaker.
Vacuum; vade-mecum; Venus’s Secret Cell, Highway, Honey pot, or Mark;
vessel (Semple); vestry; vineyard.
Wame (Burns); wanton ace; ware; waste-pipe; water-box (Florio);
water-gap (Urquhart); water-gate (Durfey); water-mill (Grose); way-in;
wayside-fountain; wayside-ditch; weather-gig (Durfey);
what-do-you-call-it; whim-wham; wicket; wonderful lamp; workshop.
Yoni; you-know-what; yum-yum.
French synonyms. L’abricot de la jardinière (common: also abricot fendu
= split-apricot); l’affaire (conventional = thing, q.v.); l’amarris (O.
Fr. = matrix. Also l’amatrix); l’angora (common = cat, q.v.); l’animal
(= the beast); l’anneau (common = ring, q.v. Also l’anneau d’Hans
Carvel = Hans Carvel’s ring, q.v.); l’antre or l’antre à Priape
(conventional: = Priapus’ lair); les appas (= charms); l’argument (=
oracle); l’atelier (common = workshop, q.v. Also l’atelier de Vénus);
l’armoyre (= cupboard); l’autel (conventional = the altar: also l’autel
de Vénus and l’autel velu); l’autre or l’autre chose (= thing or
thingamy); l’avec (= the wherewithal); le bagage; la bague (common =
ring, q.v.); le bahut (common: = cupboard); le baquet (common: =
pissing-tub); le bas (conventional = the under-world or -entrance); la
basse-cour (= courtyard); les basses-marches (common = the
bottom-steps); le bassin (= the dock); la batterie; la baudrière
équinoxiale (= the equinoctial belt); le bedon (= drum); le belouse; le
beauvoire (= beauty-spot: also beauvoire de Vénus); le bénitier (common
= font); le bidault; le bijou (literary = the jewel); le biribi; le bis
(= Miss Brown); le bissac (common = wallet); le blanc; la blouse
(billiard players’ = pocket); la boîte d’amourette (= Love’s casket);
le bonnet (common = cap, q.v. Also le bonnet à poils = hair-cap; and le
bonnet de grenadier = busby); la bouche d’en bas (common =
under-mouth); la bourse à vits (Rabelais = prick-purse); la boussole (=
compass); la bouteille (= bottle); la boutique (common = shop); le
bouton; la boutonnière (general = button-hole); le brasier (common =
melting-pot); la brèche (common = breach); le brelingot; le bréviaire,
cf. Conjuring Book; le but d’amour (common = Love’s bull’s-eye: also le
but de désir and le but mignon de fouterie); Ça (conventional = that,
q.v.); le cabinet (common = the W.C.); le cadran (= Love’s dial); la
cage (common = cage, q.v.); le canal (= drain); le canichon (common =
poodle); le calendrier (common = almanack); le callibistri (Rabelais);
le calibre (= bore); le carimara; le carrefour; le cas (= hole); le cas
du devant (= forehatch); la casemate; le caudet; la cave (common =
cellar); la caverne (= Bottomless pit, q.v.); ce (= that); ceci
(conventional = this: cf. that); cela (= that, q.v.); le Céleste-empire
(literary = Celestial empire); celui qui a perdu; celui de l’argent (=
money); celui qui regarde; celui qui contrebas; le centre (common =
centrebit); le centre de délices (= centre of bliss); la chambre; la
chambre défendue (= Bluebeard’s closet); le champ (common = garden); le
champ de bataille (= battle-field); le champ de Vénus (= Venus’s
garden); le chandelier (common = candlestick); le chapeau (common: cf.
old hat and le bonnet); la chapelle (common: cf. Holy of Holies); les
charmes; le charmier (= charmer); le chat (common = puss); le château
de gaillardin (= Wanton Castle); la divine cicatrice (literary = divine
scar); le chaudet; le chaudron (common = kettle); le chemin de Paradis
(literary = the road to heaven, q.v.); la cheminée (= chimney); la
chose (conventional = thing, q.v.); la citadelle (= fort); la cité
d’amour (literary = City of Love); le clapier (= warren: cf.
Cunnyborough); le cloître (= cloister); le cœur (O. Fr.); la coiffe
(common = cap); le coin (= nook); le combien (prostitutes’ = ‘how
much?’ cf. breadwinner); le comment-à-nom (= What’s-its-name); le con
(old and common = cunt, q.v.: other forms, diminutive or familiar, are
concon, conil = cunny, conillon = cuntlet, connin, conneau, connasse =
bushel-cunt, and connichon = cunnikin, conibert, connaud); le
concentrique (= centrique part); le cornet; le cornichon (common); le
corps-de-garde (= guard-room); la coquille (= shell); le corbillon (=
basket); le corridor d’amour (literary: cf. Cupid’s Alley); le creuset
(common = melting-pot); le creux (= chasm); la crevasse (= chink, or
cranny); le crot; le crot à faire bon-bon; la cuisine (= kitchen); le
crypsimen; le cul (popular: specifically, the rectum); le cymbe; le
custodinos; le dé; le dédale (common = maze); le dedans (cf. Holy of
Holies); le drôle; le devant (common: cf. front-parlour); le dévorant
(common: cf. dumb-glutton); l’écaille (= shell); l’écoutille (nautical
= scuttle); l’écu; l’écrevisse; l’écuelle (common); l’empire du Milieu
(literary = Middle Kingdom: cf. l’empire Céleste); l’emplâtre;
l’enclume (= anvil); l’endroit (= the Place); enfer (= Hell); l’engin
(= tool); l’ennemi (= the enemy); l’entrée; l’entonnoir (= funnel);
l’entre-deux (popular: also l’entremise and l’entre-sol); l’essaim;
l’estré; l’étable; l’évier (= sink); l’éteignoir (common = the
extinguisher); l’éternelle cicatrice (literary = the everlasting scar);
l’étoffe à faire la pauvreté (common); l’étui (= needle-case, (q.v.);
le faquin; le faucon; la fendasse (military = gash); le fenil (=
cockloft); la fente (common = slit); la feuille de sauge; la fève; la
figue (common = fig); la fiquatelle; le fita; la fontaine (common =
fountain); la fontenelle; le formulaire; la forêt de bois-mort; le fort
(= fort); la forteresse (= stronghold); la fosse (cf. hole); le fossé
(= ditch); le four (common = oven); la fourche (= fork); la fournaise
(= furnace); le fracte; la fressure (Old Fr.); le frippe-lippe; le
front; le fruit d’amour (general); la gaîne (= sheath); le gardon; la
garenne (cf. Cunnyborough); la gauffrière; le gnomon; le golfe (common:
cf. bottomless pit); le gouffre secret; la gouttière (= gutter); la
grange (common); le grenier (= cockloft); la grille; le grobis; la
guérite (common = sentry-box: cf. standing room for one); hæc; la
hariquoque; le harnois (general: cf. horse-collar); le haubert;
l’hérisson (general = urchin); l’hiatus (common = gap: also l’hiatus
divin); l’histoire (general: also = specifically the penis); l’honneur;
le huihot; le huis; l’huître (= oyster); l’humanité; l’ignominie (cf.
fie-for-shame); il (= it); l’instrument (also = penis); l’intersection
du corps; le jardin (= garden: common to most languages: also le jardin
d’amour); la jolie, or belle chose (= pretty: conventional); la jointe;
la jointure; le jouet (= toy); le jou-jou (common: cf. toy); le joyau
(common); la (= that); le labyrinthe de concupiscence (Rabelais); la
lampe amoureuse; la lampe merveilleuse (= wonderful lamp); la lanterne
(common); le lapin (= coney); le leidesche (Rabelais); la latrine
(general: cf. privy-hole); le lieu; l’autre lieu; lieu sacré; le
limosin; le lure; la machine (common); le maljoint (common); le
mallier; le manchon (common: cf. muff); la marchandise (common: cf.
gear or ware); la marmite, or marmotte; le maroquin (cf. leather); le
masteau; le membre; le ménage; la métaire; le messire Noc (literary and
anagrammatic: Noc = Con); le mignon d’amourette (= Love’s darling); le
milieu (common); le minon (= pussy); la mirely; le mirliton (general);
la mitaine (= mitten); le mont-fendu; le morceau (= bit); le morel; la
mortaise; le mortier (common); le mosel; le moule à pine (common =
pintle-mould); le moulin-à-eau (common: cf. water-mill); la moniche, or
monique (thieves’); la nacelle (= boat); la nature (conventional); la
navire; le noc (anagram of con: cf. tenuc); le noir (common: cf. black,
black-hole and Miss Brown); l’object (common = concern); la petite oie;
l’osière; l’outil (= tool); l’ouverture divine (literary: cf. Holy of
Holies); l’ouvroir (= workshop); l’ovale; le panier; le Paradis (=
Paradise); le parchemin; les parties honteuses (= parts of shame); le
passage; les Pays Bas (common: cf. Lowlands or Low Countries); le
pelisson; la pènillière (= cock-holder); le pertuia (Balzac); la
petiote délectation; le petit je-ne-sais-quoi (= little
What’s-its-name); le petit centre (common); le petit lapin (common: cf.
coney); le petit trou (common); le petit vase (common); la pièce du
milieu (common: cf. centrebit); la pissette (common = pisser: cf.
water-works); la place; la plaie (= the wound); le point conjugal; le
pôle; le portail (= front-entrance); la porte (also porte du devant =
front-door); le port de Cythère (literary); la poste; le pot (=
piss-pot); les pudendes; le puits d’amour; le quartier; Quasi-modo;
quelque chose de chaud (= a bit of hot); la queue (common = tail); le
quoniam bonus (literary); la raie; la ratoire; le réduit (common); le
reste; la rivière; la rose (conventional); le sac (cf. bag of tricks);
le saint (= patron saint); le salon du plaisir (cf. pleasure-place,
-garden, and -ground); le sanctuaire (= Holy of Holies); le sadinet
(Villon); le seau (= pail); le Sénégal (military: cf. India); la
serrure (common: cf. lock); la solution de continuité (Rabelais); la
souris (= mouse); le tabernacle (literary = ark); la table; le tapecul;
le temple de Cypris (literary); la terre; le terrier; la tesnière; le
théâtre de la nature (common: cf. Nature’s workshop); le thermomètre;
le tirelire (common: cf. money-box); la toison (= fleece); la tonsure;
la tranchée (= trench); la trappe (= trap-door); le trône du plaisir
(literary); le trou (common = Hole: also, le trou de service, le petit
trou, le trou charnel, le trou-madame, le trou mignon, le trou par où
la femme pisse, and le trou velu); tu-autem; l’un; l’ustensile; le
vagin (conventional); le vaisseau (cf. boat); le vaisseau charnel; la
vallée paphienne (= Paphian vale); le vallon; le vase; le velu; le
ventre (= wame); le petit ventre; Vénus; la viande du devant (=
fore-meat); la vigne du seigneur; le zin-zin; le verger de Cypris
(literary = the Cyprian orchard).
German synonyms. Busche (Hebrew = modesty); Haartruhe (Old. Ger. truhe
= Hair trunk); Kuttoch (also = pocket handkerchief, pocket, and
sweetheart); Pfotze; Schmu; Schema; Schmalle; Schummel (also = hawker);
Schwesterlein (= little sister); Weiberscham (= Privities):
Weiblichescham or Weiblichkeit (= womanhood).
Italian synonyms. Bisti; or bistolfo (Fr. bis); baschiera; becchina
(Torriano-Florio: = ‘a woman’s quaint or gear’: bacchi = ‘certain
blazing stars all shaggie, compassed with a long main or hairy
fringe’); bella bellina (cf. pretty); cioncia (Florio: = ‘a woman’s
free quaint’); carnafau (Florio: = ‘the brat-getting place, or hole of
content’); cioncia (Florio); cionno (Torriano-Florio: = ‘gullish,
silly-witted’; cf. Bit of Foolishness); connino (cf. Cunny); conno
(Florio: = ‘a woman’s privy parts, or quaint, as Chaucer calls it.’);
cotale (= What’s-its-name); cotalina (= Thingamy); facende; ferne;
ferale; femora (Florio); fessa (= cleft); fica (= a fig); firiende;
forame; fregna or fringa; gabbia, or gaggia (= a cage); golfo di
fetalio (Florio: = ‘a rugged and bristlie gulf’); grignapolla (used of
both sexes); horto de venere (Venus’ garden); malforo (Florio: = ‘a
mischievous hole’); menchia (= sport: cf. Funny Bit); mentole (used of
both sexes); monina (= monkey); monte di Venere (= Venus’ Hill); monte
di ficcule (Torriano-Florio: = ‘a woman’s Mount-falcon’); mortaio (=
mortar); mozza (Florio: = ‘a wench, a lass, a girl. Also a woman’s gear
or cunnie’); moneta (= Money); natura (Florio: = ‘the privie parts of
man, woman, or beast’); pettinale (Florio: = ‘the privities that have
haires upon them’); pinca (feminine of pinco = prick); porcile di
venere (Venus’ Pigsty); potta (Florio: = ‘a woman’s commodity’; whence,
potissiare = ‘to use or play with’—idem ‘roundlie’); pottaccia (Florio:
= ‘a filthy great cunt’); San Giovanni Bocca d’Oro (used of both
sexes); sermolina; serpolina; val cava (Boccaccio: = a cave); val
costura; valle di Acheronte (cf. Bottomless pit); valle satalio
(Florio: = ‘a brizlie, buskie, brackish, hairie, gloomie, cloudie,
duskie place; Boccace doth use it for a woman’s privie parts’);
vergogne (cf. Parts of shame).
Spanish synonyms. Aceitero (= oil-flask); aduana (= custom-house);
camino oscuro (= covered-way); camino real (= highway); changa (=
joke); Chocho (common); chumino (rare); cicople (= cyclope); ciega (=
blind woman); cimenterio (= churchyard); conejera (= rabbit-warren);
Conejo; confesionario (= confessional); coño or coña (classic);
cosquillosa (= Miss Ticklish); Cuba (cf. India and la Sénégal); Do
bemol (= C. flat); Doña Fulana de Tal (= Mrs. What’s-her-name);
espondeo (= spondee i.e. two longs); la fachada (= façade); foco de
vida (= Life’s focus); fogón (= touch-hole); fortaleza; greta (=
crack); grieta (= rift); guerica; huerfana (= orphan); jopo; Juana la
loca (= Crazy Jane); lesma; lonja (Exchange); Madre Eterna (= Eternal
Mother); Madre Soledad (= Mother Lonely); mata (= bush); miriñaque (=
toy); mocosa (= snotty); mofa (= flirt); ostra; paca; Paises Bajos (=
Low Countries or Les Pays Bas); pan; papo; periquito; perra (= bitch);
piadosa (= Miss Primsy); posada general (= common inn); pozo nupcial (=
nuptial well); propriedad; raja (= slit); regalona (= pet); Señora
López (cf. Miss Brown); semana santa (= holy week); sierra (= mountain:
cf. Mount Pleasant and le mont fendu); superiora (= abbess); tienda (=
shop); tranvía (= tram-car); tronera (= loophole); vaina (= scabbard);
vasija morena (= brown jug).
Portuguese synonyms. Abbadessa (= abbess); aranha caranguegeira; as (=
ace); asbeiras; assoadouro do caralho; boceta (classical); cabra (=
goat); cadinho (= melting-pot or crucible); lagea; lanha; mata dos
chatos (= crab-walk: also = motte); papudo (of a stout woman);
passarinho; pinto; poço sem fundo (= Bottomless pit); registro de
bacalháo (cf. Fishmarket).
Various. Kut (Dutch); gatte (Walloon).
1714. Lucas, Gamesters, 186. They [girls] all at once set up a
laughing ... occasion’d by some silly naughty word they have got by
the end; perhaps a bawdy monosyllable, such as boys write upon
walls.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1786. Pinkerton, Ancient Scottish Poems, 384. Addison, the best
instructor of the small morals who ever lived, yet thought nothing,
in papers designed for the breakfast table, and the ladies, as he
says himself, to tell us that a monosyllable was his delight.
1788. G. A. Stevens, Songs Comic & Satyricall, p. 88. But why from
this round-about phrase must be guessed, What in one single
syllable’s better expressed; That syllable then I my sentiment
call, So here’s to that word, which is one word for all.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Monosyllable. A woman’s commodity.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Monosyllable—(the); feminine only, and
described by Nat Bailey as pudenda muliebris. Of all the thousand
monosyllables in our language, this one only is designated by the
definite article—the monosyllable; therefore do some men call it
‘the article,’ ‘my article,’ and ‘her article,’ as the case may be.
Mons, subs. (Winchester College).—A crowd. Also as verb: e.g., ‘Square
round there, don’t mons.’—Notions.
Mons Meg, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.
Monstrous, adv.. (colloquial).—A general intensitive. See Awful,
Bloody, Large etc.
1619. Fletcher, Wild-Goose Chase, ii. 2. She is monstrous proud,
then?
1635. Glapthorne, Hollander, ii. 1. The very scraping of our
Galley-pots performes more monstrous wonders.
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, iv. 4. O monstrous filthy fellow.
1843. Maj. Jones Courtship, viii. That makes mother monstrous
jealous.
Mons Veneris, subs. phr. (venery).—See quot. Cf. Mount Pleasant.
1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict. (1778), s.v. Mons veneris is that plump
part of the female privities which covers the os pubis.
Montem, subs. (Eton College).—An Eton custom up to 1847, which
consisted in the scholars going in procession on the Whit-Tuesday of
every third year to a mound (Lat. ad montem), near the Bath Road, and
exacting a gratuity from persons present or passing by. The collection
was given to the captain or senior scholar, and helped to defray his
expenses at the University.
Month, subs. (old conventional).—In pl. = menses. For synonyms see
Flag. Also monthlies.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Moneth.... Woemens moneths,
Menstruæ, les mois des femmes.
1617. Minsheu, Guide into Tongues, s.v. A Woman’s monthes, or
Monthlie Termes. Vide Flowers.
1664. Pepys, Diary (1894), 27 Sept. So home, where my wife having
... her months upon her is gone to bed.
A bad attack of the end of the month, phr. (common).—Impecuniosity.
Month-of-Sundays, subs. (common).—An indefinitely long time: cf. Greek
Kalends.
1850. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, xxvii. I haven’t heard more fluent
or passionate English this month of sundays.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xl. ‘I ain’t been out of
this blessed hole,’ he says, ‘for a month of sundays.’
1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, Sc. 2. p. 7. A month of
sundays.
Month’s mind, subs. phr. (old colloquial).—Longing. [From the cravings
of pregnant women].
1596. Hall, Satires, B. 4. s. 4. And sets a month’s mind upon
smiling May.
1598. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, i. 2. I see you have a month’s
mind to them.
1605. London Prodigal, i. 2. He hath a month’s mind here to
Mistress Frances.
1636. Davenant, Platonic Lovers, ii. 1. Belike then, you have a
month’s mind to her.
1655. Fuller, Church Hist., B. 4. § 23. The king had more than a
month’s mind to procure the pope to canonize Henry VI for a saint.
1663–78. Butler, Hudibras [quoted by Johnson]. For if a trumpet
sound, or drum beat, Who has not a month’s mind to combat?
1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 171]. To have a month’s mind to a
thing.
1700. Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 1. She has a month’s mind;
but I know Mr. Mirabell can’t abide her.
1847. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Month’s-mind
... a strong inclination. A common phrase in our early dramatists,
and still in use.
Mooch. See Mike.
Moocher. See Miker.
Mooching. See Miking.
Mooer, subs. (common).—A cow; a wet-un. Also moo-cow.
1810. Combe, Dr. Syntax, i. 14. The moo-cow low’d, and Grizzle
neigh’d.
Moon, subs. (common).—1. A month: specifically (thieves’) a term of
imprisonment, e.g., one, two, or three moons; long moon = a calendar
month or callingder. See Drag.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pilot, iv. If you wait, sir, till the
land-breeze fills your sails, you will wait another moon, I
believe.
1830. W. T. Moncrieff, The Heart of London, ii. 1. Mr. S.—Excuse my
freedom but his modesty wouldn’t permit him to tell you
himself—he’s been working on the mace—doing it up very blue, and so
they’ve lumbered him for a few moons, that’s all.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, 22. They would return to their
village, and spend a moon relating their achievements.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moon. One month; thirty days’
imprisonment.
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl. 501. I went on all straight
the first few moons (months) at costering.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, 48. The quilts have to be changed once
a moon.