Mortar-board (or Mortar).—The trencher-cap worn at certain public
schools and at the Universities.
1600. Kemp, Nine Days’ Wonder, ‘Ded. Ep.’ So that methinkes I could
flye to Rome ... with a morter on my head.
d. 1635. Bp. Corbet to T. Coryate. No more shall man with mortar on
his head Set forward towards Rome.
1647. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. He ... may now travel
to Rome with a mortar on’s head.
1857. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, Pt. II. ch. iii. ‘I don’t mind
this ’ere mortar-board, sir,’ remarked the professor of the noble
art of self-defence, as he pointed to the academical cap which
surmounted his head.
1864. Fun, 21 May, p. 96. Anon I saw a gentle youth (no ‘sub fusc’
under-grad.) ‘Toga virilis’ he had none, no mortar-board he had.
1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life, 147. On admission ... a boy provides
himself with a mortar or college-cap.
Mortgage-deed, subs. (common).—A pawnticket. For synonyms see
Tomb-stone.
Moses. To stand Moses, verb. phr. (old).—See quots.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie.... Holie Moyses, whose ordinarie
counterfeit having on either side of the head an eminence, or
luster, arising somewhat in the forme of a horne, hath imboldened a
prophane author to stile cuckolds parents de Moyse.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Moses. A man is said to stand Moses when he
has another man’s bastard child fathered upon him, and he is
obliged by the parish to maintain it.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moses. A man that fathers another
man’s child for a consideration.
By the piper that played before Moses, phr. (common).—An oath. Also by
the holy jumping mother of Moses. See Oaths.
1855. Strang, Glasgow and Its Clubs, 243. But, holy Moses! what a
rear?
1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 109. Screw your
courage to the sticking place and by the
holy-jumping-mother-of-moses—who was my uncle—we’ll not fail.
1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! 212. ‘And, by the piper that played
before Moses, so they did,’ replied her companion coolly.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 153. ‘Did I spake
concerning the stable and a wisp of straw, me boy, for you and your
friend? No, by the piper which played before Moses, ye shall have
our best bedroom this night to lie in, and be carried up to it
also.’
Mosey, verb. (American).—To decamp. For synonyms see Amputate and
Skedaddle.
1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, i. If your tongue wasn’t so thick,
I’d say you must mosey: but moseying is only to be done when a
gemman’s half shot.
18[?]. N.Y. Family Companion [quoted by Bartlett]. After I left
you, or rather after you left me, when them fellows told you to
mosey off before the boat went to sea.
1848. Bartlett, Americanisms, s.v. Mosey. The following is said to
be the origin of the word: A postmaster in Ohio by the name of
Moses ran away with a considerable sum of money belonging to the
government. To mosey off, or to run away, as Mr. Moses had, then
became a by-word in Ohio, and, with its meaning somewhat extended,
has spread over the Union.
1857. Louisville Journal, 9 Oct. My friend, let me tell you, if you
do not mosey this instant, and clear out for good, you’ll have to
pay pretty dear.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v. This mysterious word mosey is,
probably correctly, said to be nothing more than a mere variety of
the Americanized verb vamose, with the final vowel sounded, and the
first syllable lost. It certainly has the same meaning, of leaving
suddenly, and generally involuntarily.
1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 6 Feb. But the bullets and their own
fighting began to tell pretty soon, even on grizzlies. First one
rolled over and stretched out, then another sat down on his
haunches and dropped his head and finally sprawled out, a third
moseyed off some distance to sit down and lick his wounds.
To mosey along, verb. phr. (American).—1. To jog along.
18[?]. New York Tribune [quoted by Bartlett]. I’ll get a room
nicely furnished, and my wife and I will jes mosey along till the
election trouble is over, an’ den dere’ll be a powerful sight of
whitewashin’ to be done.