5. (Winchester College).—1. To study: e.g., I mugged all the morning,
and shall thoke this afternoon; and (2) to take pains; e.g. ‘He has
mugged his study, and made it quite cud.’
1866. Mansfield, School Life, 122. The præfects would ... set to
work mugging.
1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, xxiv. ‘Miss Knyvett,’ and he
paused with his brush upturned, ‘you’re a sight too clever for me
to talk to.’ ‘Not clever,’ Iris corrected; ‘only well read. I’ve
mugged it up out of books, that’s all.’ Ibid. ii. Instead of
reading her ‘Odyssey’ and her ‘Lucretius,’ and mugging up amusing
works on conic sections.
To cut mugs, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To grimace.
To mug oneself, verb. phr. (common).—1. To get drunk.