1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in Works, v. 280. Wherwith Peters
successour was so in his mulliegrums that he had thought to have
buffeted him, and cursed him with bell book and candle.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Mulligrubs (S.) a pretended
or counterfeit sullenness, a resolute, and fixed, and artificial
displeasure, in order to gain some point desired.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. A. Scott, Poems, p. 19. Waes me, the mulligrumphs she’s ta’en
An’ toss’d him wi’ a vengeful wap Frae out her silk-saft downy lap.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxi. Repeating as the rich cordial
trickled forth in a smooth oily stream—‘Right Rosa Solis,’ as ever
washed mulligrubs out of a moody brain
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.
1895. H. B. Marriott-Watson, in New Review, July, p. 6. But what’s
gone is gone, and to curl up with the mullygrubs because the milk
is a trifle sour, is neither to your credit nor to mine. And that’s
plain, I says.
Mullingar heifer, subs. phr. (Irish).—A girl with thick ankles.
Multicattivo, phr. (theatrical).—Very bad. [Italian, molto cattivo].
1887. Sat. Review, 14 May, p. 700. To theatrical slang belong a
good many terms that are now either introduced into familiar and
slangy talk or are familiar; we know how to make the ghost walk
when biz is rumbo, and what it is that makes the company
multicattivo.
Multy, adj. (common).—An expletive. Cf. Monday, etc.
1887. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. How do you melt the multy
swag? Booze and the blowens cop the lot.
Mum, subs. (old).—1. in pl. The lips; more frequently muns (q.v.).
Adj. (old).—Silent; also as adv. Mum! as intj. and in phr., Mum’s the
word! Keep mum! Mum your dubber = Silence! Also mum-chance and
mum-budget! See quots. 1611, 1660, and 1811.
1557–8. Jacob & Esau [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 191]. But
peace, mum, no more: I see Master Esau.
1563. Appius & Virginius [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 131]. But
peace, for man’s body! Haphazard be mum.
1567. Edwards, Damon & Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 38].
Bah, mumbudget, for Carisophus I espy.
1588. Jeronimo [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 376]. Peace; no
words: I’ll get thy pardon: Why, mum, then.
1594. Look About You [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 420].
Mumbudget, not a word, as thou lovest thy life.
1594. Shakspeare, Richard III, iii. 7. Glo. How now, how now? what
say the citizens? Buck. Now, by the holy mother of our Lord, The
citizens are mum, say not a word.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, v. 2. I come to her in white, and
cry mum; and she cries butget, and by that we know one another.
1599. Porter, Two Angry Women [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii.
327]. Hush then; mum, mouse in cheese, cat is near.
1607. Puritan, ii. 1. Mum! Mary’s a good wench still.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Avoir le bec gelé, to play
mumbudget, to be tongue-tyed, to say never a word.
1611. Barry, Ram Alley, iv. Will Small-shanks has your daughter—no
word but mum.
1615. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 273. But should
another chance to come, Of Mavors not a word, but mum.
1660. Howell, Lexicon, s.v. To play at mum-budget, demurer court,
ne sonner mot.
1660. Tatham, The Rump, i. 1. Odd, ... they are here. I cry mum.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. v. 207. Nor did I ever wince or
grudge it, For thy dear sake: quoth she, mum budget.
1664. Wilson, Projectors, i. 1. Farewell! but mum.
1672. W. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii. 2. Mum, mum, make no
excuses man; I would not Ranger should have known me for five
hundred kicks.
1766. Kenrick, Falstaff’s Wedding, i. 1. He stood mumchance, and
spoke never a living syllable.
1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. ‘I’ll just step
myself, and show you a piece of the way. (To the Landlord). Mum!’
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Dubber mum’d. To keep
your mouth shut, or be obliged to hold your tongue.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mum. An interjection directing silence. Mum
for that: I shall be silent as to that. As mute as Mumchance, who
was hanged for saying nothing; a friendly reproach to any one who
seems low-spirited and silent.
d.1817. Holman, Abroad and at Home, iii. 2. You know, one should
not brag of one’s connexions, so mum’s the word before my father; I
must pass off for a foreign count; so mind your hits, Dicky.
1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xv. ‘We grow older every moment we
stand idle, and life is too short to be spent in playing
mumchance.’
1837. Theodore Hook, Jack Brag, ii. 3. I could tell you such a
story—but, mum, for the present.
1847. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Mumbudget, a
cant word implying silence.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxi. The boys are always mum under the
eyes of the usher.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mum. Say nothing; nothing to say.
1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. vi. This man could talk to
her and amuse her, when he sat mumchance.
1869. C. Reade, Foul Play, ch. 1. To use her own words, she was one
as couldn’t abide to sit mumchance.
1893. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 35. A fig for sech mumchance old
mivvies.
1895. H. B. Marriott-Watson, in New Review, July, p. 4. But when
the Law says mum, why I says mum, too, as in duty bound.
Verb. (theatrical).—To act.
1569. Preston, Cambyses [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 231].
Running at tilt, justing, with running at the ring, Masquing and
mumming, with each kind of thing.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, Mascarare, to maske ... to mum, to
cloke, to hide.
1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 190].
And all the grisly sprights of griping hell With mumming look hath
dogg’d thee since thy birth.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., iii. 149. We call strolling acting,
mumming and the actors mummers.
Mumble-crust, subs. (old).—A toothless man or woman.
1623. Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gypsy, ii. 1. Farewell, old
greybeard;—adieu mother mumble-crust.
Mumble-matins, subs. (old).—A priest.
d. 1576. Bishop Pilkington, Wks., 26. How can they be learned
having none to teach them but Sir John Mumble-matins?
Mumble-news, subs. (old colloquial).—A tale-bearer.
1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour Lost, v. 2. Some mumble-news, some
trencher-knight, some Dick.
Mumblepeg, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.
Mumble-Sparrow, subs. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mumble Sparrow. A cruel sport
practised at wakes and fairs, in the following manner: A cock
sparrow whose wings are clipped, is put into the crown of a hat; a
man having his arms tied behind him, attempts to bite off the
sparrow’s head, but is generally obliged to desist, by the many
pecks and pinches he receives from the enraged bird.
Mumbo-Jumbo, subs. (common).—1. An African deity.
1831. T. Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, p. 137, ed. 1858. So likewise a
day comes when the Runic Thor with his Eddas, must withdraw into
dimness and many an African Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawaw be utterly
abolished.
1864. The Times, 2 Nov. And Mumbo-Jumbo will not be put off with
inferior articles—the slightest blemish in colour or inferiority in
cloth is instantly detected and rejected by these semi-savages,
hence the greatest care is necessary in catering for their wants.