1607. Dekker, Northward Ho, iv. 3. Marry, muff, sing thou better,
for I’ll go sleep my old sleeps. [Dyce in note in Webster’s Wks.,
p. 274 (1859) says:—‘A not uncommon expression in our old writers
(equivalent, I believe, to stuff, nonsense).’]
1620. Shelton, Don Quixote, Pt. II. x. Marry, muff (quoth the
Countrey-Wench), I care much for your courting.
4. (venery).—See quot. 1785. [Cf. the old equivocal wheeze:—‘Lost,
lost, and can’t be found; A lady’s thing with hair all round.’]
c. 1720. Ballad [Brit. Mus. Cat. 11621, i. 1. 75]. I heard the
merry wagg protest, The muff between her haunches, Resembled most a
Mag-pies nest, Between two lofty branches.
17[?]. Old Ballad [quoted by Burns in Merry Muses], ‘Duncan
Davidson.’ Meg had a muff, and it was rough, ’Twas black without
and red within.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Muff, the private parts of a woman;
to the well wearing of your muff, mort; to the happy consummation
of your marriage, girl, a health.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.