d.1680. Rochester, Epitaph on Chas. II. Here lies our mutton-eating
king, Whose word no man relies on; He never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one.
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, iv. 6. You don’t love mutton, you
Magdalen unconverted?
1697. Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife, iv. And I hope your punks will
give you sauce to your mutton.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mutton. In her mutton, i.e., having carnal
knowledge of a woman.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Mutton. In that class of English
society which does not lay any claim to refinement, a fond lover is
often spoken of as being ‘fond of his mutton,’ which, by the way,
in this place does not mean the woman so much as something else.
3. in pl. (Stock Exchange).—The Turkish loans of 1865 and 1873. [From
being in part secured on the sheep-tax].