M (continued 2)

Montagne du géant, f. (obsolete), gallows, “scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.”

Montant, m. and adj. (thieves’), breeches, “trucks, hams, sit-upons, or kicks.” (Military) Grand —— tropical, riding breeches; petit ——, drawers. (Familiar) Montant, term which is used to denote anything which excites lust.

Montante, f. (thieves’), ladder. Literally a thing to climb up.

Monte-à-regret (thieves’), abbaye de ——, the guillotine. Formerly the gallows. This name was given the scaffold because criminals were attended there by one or more priests, and on account of the natural repugnance of a man for this mode of being put out of his misery. Michel records the fact, that at Sens, one of the streets leading to the market-place, where executions took place, still bore, a few years ago, the name of Monte-à-regret. Chanoine de ——, one sentenced to death. Termed also “grognon,” or grumbler. Monter à l’abbaye de ——, to be guillotined, meant formerly to be hanged, to suffer the extreme penalty of the law on “wry-neck day,” when the criminal before being compelled to put on the “hempen cravat,” would perhaps utter for the edification of the crowd his “tops, or croaks,” that is, his last dying speech. It is curious to note how people of all nations have always striven to disguise the idea of death by the rope by means of some picturesque or grimly comical circumlocution. The popular language is rich in metaphors to describe the act. In the thirteenth century people would express hanging by the term “mettre à la bise;” in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries an executed criminal was spoken of as “vendangeant à l’eschelle, avoir collet rouge, croître d’un demi-pied, faire la longue lettre, tomber du haut mal,” and later on: “Servir de bouchon, faire le saut, faire un saut sur rien, donner un soufflet à une potence, donner le moine par le cou, approcher du ciel à reculons, danser un branle en l’air, avoir la chanterelle au cou, faire le guet à Montfaucon, faire le guet au clair de la lune à la cour des monnoyes.” Also, “monter à la jambe en l’air.” Then a hanged man was “un évêque des champs” (on account of executions taking place in the open country) “qui bénit des pieds,” and hanging itself, “une danse où il n’y a pas de plancher,” which corresponds to the expression, “to dance upon nothing.” The poor wretch was also said to be “branché,” a summary proceeding performed on the nearest tree, and he was made to “tirer la langue d’un demi-pied.” The poet François Villon being in the prison of the Châtelet in 1457, under sentence of death for a robbery supposed to have been committed at Rueil by himself and some companions, several of whom were hanged, but whose fate he luckily did not share, thus alludes with grim humour to his probable execution:—

When Jonathan Wild the Great is about to expiate his numerous crimes, and his career is soon to be terminated at Tyburn, Fielding makes him say: “D—n me, it is only a dance without music; ... a man can die but once.... Zounds! Who’s afraid?” Master Charley Bates, in common with his “pals,” called hanging “scragging”:—

“He’ll come to be scragged, won’t he?” “I don’t know what that means,” replied Oliver. “Something in this way, old feller,” said Charley. As he said it, Master Bates caught up an end of his neckerchief, and holding it erect in the air, dropped his head on his shoulder, and jerked a curious sound through his teeth; thereby intimating, by a lively pantomimic representation, that “scragging” and hanging were one and the same thing.—Dickens, Oliver Twist.

The expression is also to be met with in Lord Lytton’s Paul Clifford:—

“Blow me tight, but that cove is a queer one! and if he does not come to be scragged,” says I, “it will only be because he’ll turn a rusty, and scrag one of his pals!”

Again, the same author puts in the mouth of his hero, Paul Clifford, the accomplished robber, the “Captain Crank,” or chief of a gang of highwaymen, a poetical simile, “to leap from a leafless tree”:—

Penny-a-liners nowadays describe the executed felon as “taking a leap into eternity;” facetious people say that he dies in a “horse’s nightcap,” i.e., a halter, and the vulgar simply declare that he is “stretched.” The dangerous classes, to express that one is being operated upon by Jack Ketch, use the term “to be scragged,” already mentioned, or “to be topped;” and “may I be topped!” is an ejaculation often heard from the mouths of London roughs. Formerly, when the place for execution was at Tyburn, near the N. E. corner of Hyde Park, at the angle formed by the Edgware Road and the top of Oxford Street, the criminal brought here was said to put on the “Tyburn tippet,” i.e., Jack Ketch’s rope. The Latins used to describe one hanged as making the letter I with his body, or the long letter. In Plautus old Staphyla says: “The best thing for me to do, is with the help of a halter, to make with my body the long letter.” Modern Italians say of a man about to be executed, that he is sent to Picardy, “mandato in Picardia.” They also use other circumlocutions, “andare a Longone,” “andare a Fuligno,” “dar de’ calci al vento,” “ballar in campo azurro.” Again, the Italian “truccante” (thief), in his “lingue furbesche” (cant of thieves), says of a criminal who ascends the scaffold, the “sperlunga, or faticosa” (gallows), with the “margherita, or signora” (rope) adjusted on his “guindo” (neck) by the “cataron” (executioner), that he may be considered as “aver la fune al guindo.” The Spanish “azor” (thief, in Germania, or Spanish cant), under sentence of a “tristeza” (sentence of death), when about to be executed left the “angustia” (prison) to go to the gallows, or “balanza,” which is now a thing of the past, having been superseded by the hideous “garote.” The German “broschem-blatter” (thief, in “rothwelsch,” or German cant), when sentenced to death was doomed to the “dolm,” or “nelle,” on which he was ushered out of this world by the “caffler” (German Jack Ketch).

Monter (popular), d’un cran, to obtain an appointment superior to that one possesses already; to be promoted; —— à l’arbre, or à l’échelle, to be fooled. Alluding to a bear at the Zoological Gardens being induced to climb the pole by the prospect of some dainty bit which is not thrown to him after all. Also to get angry, “to get one’s monkey up;” —— en graine, to grow old. Literally to run to seed; —— des couleurs, le Job, or un schtosse, to deceive one by false representations, “to bamboozle;” —— une gamme, to scold, “to bully-rag;” —— un coup, to find a pretext; to lay a trap for one.

C’est des daims huppés qui veulent monter un coup à un ennemi.—E. Sue.

Monter le coup, or un battage, to deceive one by misleading statements. Ça ne prend pas, tu ne me monteras pas le coup, “No go,” I am aware of your practices and “twig” your manœuvre, or “don’t come the old soldier over me.” Faire —— à l’échelle, to make one angry, “to make one lose his shirt.” Se —— le bourrichon, or le baluchon, to fly into a passion about some alleged injustice. Also to be too sanguine, to form illusions about one’s abilities, or about the success of some project.

Oh! je ne me monte pas le bourrichon, je sais que je ne ferai pas de vieux os.—Zola, L’Assommoir.

Se —— le coup, se —— le verre en fleurs, to form illusions. Essayer de —— un bateau à quelqu’un, to seek to deceive one, “to come the old soldier” over one. (Thieves’) Monter un arcat, to swindle, “to bite;” —— un gandin, to deceive, “to stick, or to best;” —— un chopin, to make all necessary preparations for a robbery, “to lay a plant;” —— à la butte, to be guillotined.

Un jour, j’ai pris mon surin pour le refroidir. Après tout, mon rêve c’est de monter à la butte.—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.

Monter sur la table, to make a clean breast of it; to inform against one, “to blow the gaff.” It also means to tell a secret, “to split.”

(Theatrical) Monter une partie, to get together a small number of actors to give out of Paris one or two performances; (military) —— en ballon, practical joke at the expense of a new-comer. During the night, to both ends of the bed of the victim are fixed two running nooses, the ropes being attached high up on a partition by the side of the bed. At a given signal the ropes being pulled, the occupant of the bed finds himself lifted in the air, with his couch upside down occasionally.

Monteur, m. (theatrical), de partie, an actor whose spécialité is to get together a few brother actors for the purpose of performing out of town; (popular) —— de coups, or de godans, swindler; one who is fond of hoaxing people; one who imposes on others, “humbug.” Concerning the latter term the Slang Dictionary says: “A very expressive but slang word, synonymous at one time with hum and haw. Lexicographers for a long time objected to the adoption of this term. Richardson uses it frequently to express the meaning of other words, but, strange to say, omits it in the alphabetical arrangement as unworthy of recognition! In the first edition of this work, 1785 was given as the earliest date at which the word could be found in a printed book. Since then ‘humbug’ has been traced half a century further back, on the title-page of a singular old jest-book, ‘The Universal Jester, or a pocket companion for the Wits: being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and humbugs, by Ferdinando Killigrew.’ London, about 1735–40. The notorious orator Henley was known to the mob as Orator Humbug. The fact may be learned from an illustration in that exceedingly curious little collection of caricatures published in 1757, many of which were sketched by Lord Bolingbroke, Horace Walpole filling in the names and explanations. Haliwell describes humbug as ‘a person who hums,’ and cites Dean Milles’s MS., which was written about 1760. In the last century the game now known as double-dummy was termed humbug. Lookup, a notorious gambler, was struck down by apoplexy when playing at this game. On the circumstance being reported to Foote, the wit said, ‘Ah, I always thought he would be humbugged out of the world at last!’ It has been stated that the word is a corruption of Hamburg, from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century. ‘Oh, that is Hamburg (or Humbug),’ was the answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of improbability. Grose mentions it in his Dictionary, 1785; and in a little printed squib, published in 1808, entitled Bath Characters, by T. Goosequill, humbug is thus mentioned in a comical couplet on the title-page:—

Gradually from this time the word began to assume a place in periodical literature, and in novels written by not over-precise authors. In the preface to a flat, and most likely unprofitable poem, entitled The Reign of Humbug, a Satire, 8vo, 1836, the author thus apologizes for the use of the word: ‘I have used the term humbug to designate this principle (wretched sophistry of life generally), considering that it is now adopted into our language as much as the words dunce, jockey, cheat, swindler, &c., which were formerly only colloquial terms.’ A correspondent, who in a number of Adversaria ingeniously traced bombast to the inflated Doctor Paracelsus Bombast, considers that humbug may, in like manner, be derived from Homberg, the distinguished chemist of the Court of the Duke of Orleans, who, according to the following passage from Bishop Berkeley’s Siris, was an ardent and successful seeker after the philosopher’s stone:—

Of this there cannot be a better proof than the experiment of Monsieur Homberg, who made gold of mercury by introducing light into its pores, but at such trouble and expense that, I suppose, nobody will try the experiment for profit. By this injunction of light and mercury, both bodies became finer, and produced a third different to either, to wit, real gold. For the truth of which fact I refer to the memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences.—Berkeley, Works.”

The Supplementary English Glossary gives the word “humbugs” as the North-country term for certain lumps of toffy, well flavoured with peppermint. (Roughs’) Monter à cheval, to be suffering from a tumour in the groin, a consequence of venereal disease, and termed poulain, foal, hence the jeu de mots; (wine retailers’) —— sur le tonneau, to add water to a cask of wine, “to christen” it. Adding too much water to an alcoholic liquor is termed by lovers of the “tipple” in its pure state, “to drown the miller.”

Monteur de coups, m. (popular), story-teller; cheat.

Monteuse de coups, f. (popular), deceitful woman; one who “bamboozles” her lover or lovers.

Montparno (thieves’), Montparnasse. See Ménilmonte.

Montrer (theatrical), la couture de ses bas, to break off a stage engagement by the simple process of leaving the theatre; (familiar and popular) —— toute sa boutique, to expose one’s person.

Ah! non ... remettez votre camisole. Vous savez, je n’aime pas les indécences. Pendant que vous y êtes, montrez toute votre boutique.—Zola.

Montre-tout, m. (popular), short jacket. Termed also “ne te gêne pas dans le parc.” (Prostitutes’) Aller à ——, to go to the medical examination, a periodical and compulsory one, for registered prostitutes, those who shirk it being sent to the prison of Saint-Lazare.

Monu, m. (cads’), one-sou cigar.

Monument, m. (popular), tall hat, or “stove-pipe.”

Monzu, or mouzu, m. (old cant), woman’s breasts. Termed, in other varieties of jargon, “avant-postes, avant-scènes, œufs sur le plat, oranges sur l’étagère,” and in the English slang, “dairies, bubbies, or Charlies.”

Morasse, f. (printers’), proof taken before the forme is finally arranged; —— final proof of a newspaper article. Also workman who remains to correct such a proof, or the time employed in the work. (Thieves’) Morasse, uneasiness; remorse. Battre ——, to make a hue and cry, “to romboyle,” in old cant, or “to whiddle beef.”

Morassier, m. (printers’), one who prints off the last proof of a newspaper article.

Morbaque, m. (popular), disagreeable child. See Morbec.

Morbec, m. (popular), a variety of vermin which clings tenaciously to certain parts of the human body.

Morceau, m. (freemasons’), d’architecture, speech; (popular) —— de gruyère, pockmarked face, “cribbage-face;” —— de salé, fat woman. Un ——, a slatternly girl. (Thieves’) Manger le ——, to peach, “to blow the gaff.”

(Literary) Morceau de pâte ferme, heavy, dull production. (Artists’) Faire le ——, to paint details skilfully. (Military) Le beau temps tombe par morceaux, it rains.

Mord (familiar and popular), ça ne —— pas, it’s no use; no go.

Mordante, f. (thieves’), file; saw. The allusion is obvious.

Mordre (popular), se faire ——, to be reprimanded, “to get a wigging;” to get thrashed, or “wolloped.”

Moresque, f. (thieves’), danger.

Morfe, f. (thieves’), meal; victuals, or “toke.”

Veux-tu venir prendre de la morfe et piausser avec mézière en une des pioles que tu m’as rouscaillée?—Le Jargon de l’Argot.

Morfiante, f. (thieves’), plate.

Morfigner, morfiler (thieves’), to do; to eat. From the old word morfier. Rabelais uses the word morfialler with the signification of to eat, to gorge oneself.

La, la, la, c’est morfiallé cela.—Rabelais, Gargantua.

Morfiler, or morfiller (thieves’), to eat, “to yam.”

Un vieux fagot qui s’était fait raille pour morfiller.—Vidocq. (An old convict who had turned spy to get a living.)

Termed also morfier. Compare with morfire, or morfizzare, to eat, in the lingue furbesche, or Italian cant. Se —— le dardant, to fret. Dardant, heart.

Morgane, f. (old cant), salt.

C’est des oranges, si tu demandais du sel ... de la morgane! mon fils, ça coûte pas cher.—Vidocq. (Here are some potatoes; just you ask for salt, my boy; it’s cheap enough.)

Morganer (roughs’ and thieves’), to bite. Morgane le gonse et chair dure! Bite the cove! pitch into him!

Moricaud, m. (thieves’), coal; wine-dealer’s wooden pitcher.

Mori-larve, f. (thieves’), sunburnt face.

Morlingue, m. (thieves’), money; purse, “skin.” Faire le ——, to steal a purse, “to fake a skin.”

Mornante, f. (thieves’), sheepfold. From morne, sheep.

Morne, f. and adj. (thieves’), sheep, or “wool-bird.” Termed “bleating cheat” by English vagabonds. Courbe de ——, shoulder of mutton. Morne, stupid; stupid man, “go along.”

Mornée, f. (thieves’), mouthful.

Mornier, morneux, or marmier, m. (thieves’), shepherd.

Morniffer (popular), to slap one’s face, “to fetch a bang,” or “to give a biff,” as the Americans have it. Termed to give a “clo,” at Winchester School.

Mornifle, f. (thieves’), money, or “blunt.”

Mornifle tarte, spurious coin, or “queer bit.” Refiler de la —— tarte, to pass off bad coin; to be a “snide pitcher, or smasher.” Properly mornifle has the signification of cuff on the face.

Mornifleur tarte, m. (thieves’), coiner, or “queer-bit faker.”

Morningue, or morlingue, m. (thieves’), money, or “pieces;” purse. Faire le ——, to pick a pocket. In the old English cant “to fang” a pocket.

Termed in modern English cant “to fake a cly,” a pickpocket being called, according to Lord Lytton, a “buzz gloak”:—

The “eminent hand” ended with—“He who surreptitiously accumulates bustle, is, in fact, nothing better than a buzz gloak.—Paul Clifford.

Porte ——, purse, “skin, or poge.”

Mornos, m. (thieves’), mouth, “bone-box, or muns.” Probably from morne, mutton, the mouth’s most important function being to receive food.

Morpion, m. (popular), strong expression of contempt; despicable man, or “snot.” Literally crab-louse. Also a bore, one who clings to you as the vermin alluded to.

Morpionner (popular), is said of a bore that you cannot get rid of.

Morse (Breton cant), barley bread.

Mort, f. and adj. (popular), marchand de —— subite, physician, “pill.”

C’est bien sûr le médecin en chef ... tous les marchands de mort subite vous ont de ces regards-là.—Zola.

Lampe à ——, confirmed drunkard whose thirst cannot be slaked. (Familiar and popular) Un corps ——, an empty bottle. The English say, when a bottle has been emptied, “Take away this bottle; it has ‘Moll Thompson’s’ mark on it,” that is, it is M. T. An empty bottle is also termed a “marine, or marine recruit.” “This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of Marines,” says the Slang Dictionary, “he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until someone adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was: one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again.” (Popular) Eau de ——, brandy. See Tord-boyaux. (Thieves’) Etre ——, to be sentenced, “booked.” Hirondelle de la ——, gendarme on duty at executions. (Military school of Saint-Cyr) Se faire porter élève-mort is to get placed on the sick list. (Gamesters’) Mort, stakes which have been increased by a cheat, who slily lays additional money the moment the game is in his favour.

Morte paye sur mer, f. (thieves’), the hulks (obsolete).

Morue, f. (popular), dirty, disgusting woman.

Vous voyez, Françoise, ce panier de fraises qu’on vous fait trois francs; j’en offre un franc, moi, et la marchande m’appelle ... Oui, madame, elle vous appelle ... morue!—Gavarni.

Also prostitute. See Gadoue. Grande —— dessalée, expression of the utmost contempt applied to a woman. Pedlars formerly termed “morue,” manuscripts, for the printing of which they formed an association, “clubbed” together.

Morviau, m. (popular), nose. Termed also “pif, bourbon, piton, pivase, bouteille, caillou, trompe, truffe, tubercule, trompette, nazareth;” and, in English slang, “conk, boko, nob, snorter, handle, post-horn, and smeller.” Lécher le ——, to kiss. The expression is old.

Lécher le morveau, manière de parler ironique, qui signifie caresser une femme, la courtiser, la servir, faire l’amour. Dit de même que lécher le grouin, baiser, être assidu et attaché à une personne.—Le Roux, Dict. Comique.

The term “snorter” of the English jargon has the corresponding equivalent “soffiante” in Italian cant.

Morviot, m. (popular), secretion from the mucous membrane of the nose, “snot.”

Morviot, term of contempt, not quite so forcible as the English expression “snot,” which has the signification of contemptible individual. Petit ——, little scamp.

Moscou, m. (military), faire brûler ——, to mix a vast bowl of punch. Alluding to the burning down of Moscow by the Russians themselves in 1812.

Mossieu à tubard, m. (popular), well-dressed man, a “swell cove.” Tubard is a silk hat.

Mot, m. (popular), casser un ——, to have a chat, or “chin music.”

Motte, f. (general), pudenda mulierum. Termed also “chat,” and formerly by the poets “le verger de Cypris.” Le Roux, concerning the expression, says:—

La motte de la nature d’une femme, c’est proprement le petit bois touffu qui garnit le penil d’une femme.—Dict. Comique.

Formerly the false hair for those parts was termed in English “merkin.” (Thieves’) Motte, central prison, or house of correction. Dégringoler de la ——, to come from such a place of confinement. The synonyms of prison in different varieties of slang are: “castue, caruche, hôpital, mitre, chetard or jetard, collège, grosse boîte, l’ours, le violon, le bloc, boîte aux cailloux, tuneçon, austo, mazaro, lycée, château, lazaro.” In the English lingo: “stir, clinch, bastile, steel, sturrabin, jigger, Irish theatre, stone-jug, mill,” the last-named being an abbreviation of treadmill, and signifying by analogy prison. The word is mentioned by Dickens:—

“Was you never on the mill?” “What mill,” inquired Oliver. “What mill? why the mill,—the mill as takes up so little room that it’ll work inside a stone-jug.—Oliver Twist.

In Yorkshire a prison goes by the appellation of “Toll-shop,” as shown by this verse of a song popular at fairs in the East Riding:—

This “toll-shop” is but a variation of the Scottish “tolbooth.” The general term “quod” to denote a prison originates from the universities. Quod is really a shortening of quadrangle; so to be quodded is to be within four walls (Slang Dict.).

Motus dans l’entrepont! (sailors’), silence! “put a clapper to your mug,” or “mum’s the word.”

Mou, m. (popular), avoir le —— enflé, to be pregnant, or “lumpy.”

Mouchailler (popular and thieves’), to scan, “to stag;” to look at, “to pipe;” to see.

J’itre mouchaillé le babillard ... je n’y itre mouchaillé floutière de vain.—Le Jargon de l’Argot.

Mouchard, m. (popular), portrait hung in a room; (popular and thieves’) —— à becs, lamp-post, the inconvenient luminary being compared to a spy. Mouchard, properly spy, one who goes busily about like a fly. It formerly had the signification of dandy.

A la fin du xviiᵉ siècle, on donnait encore ce nom aux petits-maîtres qui fréquentaient les Tuileries pour voir autant que pour être vus; C’est sur ce fameux théâtre des Tuileries, dit un écrivain de l’époque, qu’une beauté naissante fait sa première entrée au monde. Bientôt les “mouchars” de la grande allée sont en campagne au bruit d’un visage nouveau; chacun court en repaître ses yeux.—Michel.

Moucharde, f. (thieves’), moon, “parish lantern, or Oliver.”

La —— se débine, the moon disappears, “Oliver is sleepy.”

Mouche, f., adj., and verb (general), police, or police officer; detective. Compare with the “mücke,” or spy, of German cant; (thieves’) muslin; (students’) —— à miel, candidate to the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, a great engineering school. Alluding to the bee embroidered in gold on their caps. (Popular) Mouche, bad, or “snide;” ugly; stupid. C’est bon pour qui qu’est ——, it is only fit for “flats.” Mouche, weak.

Il a reparu, l’ami soleil. Bravo! encore bien débile, bien pâlot, bien “mouche,” dirait Gavroche.—Richepin.

Non, c’est q’ j’ me ——, ironical negative expression meant to be strongly affirmative. Synonymous of “non, c’est q’ je tousse!” Vous n’avez rien fait? Non, c’est q’ j’ me ——, you did nothing? oh! didn’t I, just!

Moucher (popular), le quinquet, to kill, “to do” for one; to strike, to give a “wipe.”

Allons, mouche-lui le quinquet, ça l’esbrouffera.—Th. Gautier.

Moucher la chandelle, to give oneself up to solitary practices; to act according to the principles of Malthus with a view of not begetting children. For further explanation the reader may be referred to a work entitled The Fruits of Philosophy; —— sa chandelle, to die, “to snuff it.” For synonyms see Pipe. Se —— dans ses doigts (obsolete), to be clever, resolute. Se faire —— le quinquet, to get one’s head punched. (Gamesters’) Se ——, is said of attendants who, while pretending to make use of their handkerchiefs, purloin a coin or two from the gaming-table. It is said of such an attendant, who on the sly abstracts a gold piece from the stakes laid out on the table, il s’est “mouché” d’un louis.

Moucheron, m. (popular), waiter at a wine-shop; child, or “kid.”

Mouches, f. pl. (popular), d’hiver, snow-flakes. Tuer les ——, to emit a bad smell, capable of killing even flies. Termed also tuer les —— à quinze pas. (Theatrical) Envoyer des coups de pied aux ——, to lead a disorderly life.

Mouchettes, f. pl. (popular), pocket-handkerchief, “snottinger, or wipe.” Termed “madam, or stook,” by English thieves. Des ——! equivalent to du flan! des navets! des nèfles, &c., forcible expression of refusal; may be rendered by “Don’t you wish you may get it!” or, as the Americans say, “Yes, in a horn.”

Moucheur de chandelles, m. (popular). See Moucher.

Mouchique, adj. (popular and thieves’), base, worthless, bad, “snide.”

The English cant has the old word “queer,” signifying base, roguish, or worthless—the opposite of “rum,” which signified good and genuine. “Queer, in all probability,” says the Slang Dictionary, “is immediately derived from the cant language. It has been mooted that it came into use from a ‘quære’ (?) being set before a man’s name; but it is more than probable that it was brought into this country by the gipsies from Germany, where quer signifies cross, or crooked.” (Thieves’) Etre —— à sa section, or à la sec, to be noted as a bad character at the police office of one’s district. The word “mouchique,” says Michel, is derived from “mujik,” a Russian peasant, which must have become familiar in 1815 to the inhabitants of the parts of the country invaded by the Russians.

Mouchoir, m. (popular), d’Adam, the fingers, used by some people as a natural handkerchief, “forks;” —— de bœuf, meadow. Termed thus on account of oxen having their noses in the grass when grazing; —— de poche, pistol, or “pops.” (Familiar and popular) Faire le ——, to steal pocket-handkerchiefs, “to draw a wipe.” Coup de —— (obsolete), a box on the ear, a “wipe in the chaps.”

Voyez le train qu’a m’ fait pour un coup de mouchoir que j’lui ai donné.—Pompigny, 1783.

(Theatrical) Faire le ——, to pirate another author’s productions.

Mouchouar-godel (Breton cant), pistol.

Moudre (popular), or —— un air, to ply a street organ.

Mouf (popular), abbreviation of Mouffetard, the name of a street almost wholly tenanted by rag-pickers, and situate in one of the lowest quarters of Paris. Quartier —— mouf, the Quartier Mouffetard. La tribu des Beni Mouf-mouf, inhabitants of the Quartier Mouffetard. Champagne ——, or Champagne Mouffetard, a liquid manufactured by rag-pickers with rotten oranges picked out of the refuse at the Halles. The fruit, after being washed, is thrown into a cask of water and allowed to ferment for a few days, after which some brown sugar being added, the liquid is bottled up, and does duty as champagne. It is the Cliquot of poor people.

Moufflanté, adj. (popular), comfortably, warmly clad.

Moufflet, m. (popular), child, or “kid;” urchin; apprentice.

Moufion, m. (popular), pocket-handkerchief, “snottinger, or wipe.”

Moufionner (popular), to blow one’s nose. (Thieves’) Se —— dans le son, to be guillotined. Literally to blow one’s nose in the bran. An allusion to an executed convict’s head, which falls into a basket full of sawdust. Termed also “éternuer dans le son, or le sac.” See Fauché.

Mouget, m. (roughs’), a swell, or “gorger.” Des péniches à la ——, fashionable boots, as now worn, with pointed toes and large square heels.

Mouillante, f. (thieves’), cod; (popular) soup.

Mouillé, adj. (popular), être ——, to be drunk, or “tight.” See Pompette. Etre ——, to be known in one’s real character. Alluding to cloths which are soaked in water to ascertain their quality. (Thieves’) Etre ——, to be well known to the police.

Mouiller (popular), se ——, to drink, “to have something damp,” or as the Americans have it, “to smile, to see the man.” The term is old.

Mouillez-vous pour seicher, ou seichez pour mouiller.—Rabelais.

Also to get slightly intoxicated, or “elevated.” (Theatrical) Mouiller à, or dans, to receive a royalty for a play produced on the stage. Se ——, to take pains in one’s acting. (Thieves’) Se —— les pieds, to be transported, “to lump the lighter, or to be lagged.” (Roughs’) En ——, to perform some extraordinary feat with great expenditure of physical strength. Les frères qui en mouillent, acrobats. (Military) Mouiller, to be punished.

Mouise, f. (thieves’), soup.

Vous qui n’avez probablement dans le bauge que la mouise de Tunebée Bicêtre vous devez canner la pégrenne.—Vidocq.

Moukala, m. (military), rifle. From the Arab.

Moukère, or moucaire, f. (popular), ugly woman; girl of indifferent character; (military) mistress. Ma ——, my young “’ooman.” Avoir sa ——, to have won the good graces of a fair one, generally a cook in the case of an infantry soldier, the cavalry having the monopoly of housemaids or ladies’ maids, and sappers showing a great penchant for nursery-maids.

Moulard, m. (popular), superlative of moule, dunce, or “flat.”

Moule, m. and f. (popular), une ——, face, or “mug.” Also a dunce, simpleton, or “muff.”

Foutez-moi la paix! Vous êtes une couenne et une moule!—G. Courteline.

Le —— à blagues, mouth, or “chaffer.” Literally the humbug-box. Un —— à boutons, a twenty-franc piece. Un —— à claques, face with impertinent expression which invites punishment. Termed also —— à croquignoles. Un —— à gaufres, or à pastilles, a face pitted with small-pox marks, “crumpet-face, or cribbage-face.” Un moule à gaufres is properly a waffle-iron. Un —— à poupée (obsolete), a clumsily-built, awkward man.

Ah! ah! ah! C’grand benêt! a-t-il un air jaune ... dis donc eh! c’moule à poupée, qu’ veux-tu faire de cette pique?—Riche-en-gueule.

Un —— à merde, behind, “Nancy.” For synonyms see Vasistas. Also a foul-mouthed person. Un —— de gant, box on the ear, or “bang in the gills.” Un —— de bonnet, head, or “canister.” Un —— de pipe à Gambier, grotesque face, or “knocker face.” Un —— à melon, humpback, or “lord.” (Military) Envoyer chercher le —— aux guillemets, to send a recruit on a fool’s errand, to send him to ask the sergeant-major for the mould for inverted commas, the joke being varied by requesting him to fetch the key of the drill-ground. Corresponds somewhat to sending a greenhorn for pigeon’s milk, or a pennyworth of stirrup-oil.

Mouler (familiar and popular), un sénateur, to ease oneself by evacuation, “to bury a quaker;” (artists’) —— une Vénus, same meaning. Artists term “gazonner,” the act of easing oneself in the fields. See Mouscailler.

Moulin, m. (popular), de la halle (obsolete), the pillory.

Moulin, hairdresser’s shop; —— à café, mitrailleuse. Thus termed on account of the revolving handle used in firing it off, like that of a coffee-mill. Also street organ; —— à merde, slanderer; —— à vent, the behind. See Vasistas. Concerning the expression Le Roux says:—

Moulin à vent, pour cul, derrière. Moulin à vent, parcequ’on donne l’essor à ses vents par cette ouverture-là.—Dict. Comique.

(Thieves’) Moulin, receiver’s, or “fence’s,” house. Termed also “maison du meunier.” Porter du gras-double au ——, to steal lead and take it to a receiver of stolen property, “to do bluey at the fence.” (Police) Passer au —— à café, to transport a prostitute to the colonies.

Moulinage, m. (popular), prattling, “clack.”

Mouliner (popular), to talk nonsense; to prattle. A term specially used in reference to the fair sex, and an allusion to the rapid, regular, and monotonous motion of a mill, or to the noise produced by the paddles of a water-mill, a “tattle-box” being termed moulin à paroles.

Mouloir, m. (thieves’), mouth, “bone-box, or muns;” teeth, “ivories, or grinders.”

Moulure, f. (popular), lump of excrement, or “quaker.” Machine à moulures, breech, or “Nancy.” See Vasistas.”

Mouniche, f. (thieves’), woman’s privities, “merkin,” according to the Slang Dictionary.

Mounin, m. (thieves’), child, or “kid;” apprentice.

Mounine, f. (thieves’), little girl.

Mouquette, f. (popular), cocotte, or “poll.” See Gadoue.

Assez! Taisez vos becs!... à la porte les mouquettes!—P. Mahalin.

Moure, f. (thieves’), pretty face, “dimber mug.”

Mourir (popular), tu t’en ferais ——! is expressive of refusal. Literally if I gave you what you want you would die for joy. See Nèfles.

Mouron, m. (popular), ne plus avoir de —— sur la cage, to be bald, or to sport “a bladder of lard.” For synonymous expressions see Avoir.

Mouscaille, f. (thieves’), excrement, or, as the Irish say, “quaker.”

Mouscailler (thieves’), to ease oneself by evacuation. The synonyms are “mousser, enterrer son colonel, aller faire une ballade à la lune, mouler un sénateur, mouler une Vénus, gazonner, aller au numéro cent, déponer, fogner, flaquer, écrire à un Juif, déposer une pêche, poser un pépin, un factionnaire, or une sentinelle; envoyer une dépêche à Bismark, flasquer, touser, faire corps neuf, déposer une médaille de papier volant, or des Pays-Bas (obsolete), faire des cordes, mettre une lettre à la poste, faire le grand, faire une commission, débourrer sa pipe, défalquer, tarter, faire une moulure, aller quelque part, aller à ses affaires, aller où le roi va à pied, filer, aller chez Jules, ierchem, aller où le roi n’envoie personne, flaquader, fuser, gâcher du gros, galipoter, pousser son rond, filer le cable de proue, faire un pruneau, aller au buen-retiro, aller voir Bernard, faire ronfler le bourrelet, la chaise percée, or la chaire percée.” In the English slang, “to go to the West Central, to go to Mrs. Jones, or to the crapping-ken, to the bog-house, to the chapel of ease, to Sir Harry; to crap, to go to the crapping-case, to the coffee-shop, to the crapping castle,” and, as the Irish term it, “to bury a quaker.”

Mouscailleur, m. (popular), scavenger employed in emptying cesspools, or “gold-finder.”

Mousquetaire gris, m. (popular), louse, or “grey-backed ’un.”

Moussaillon, m. (sailors’), a ship-boy, or “powder-monkey.” From mousse, ship-boy.

Moussante, f. (popular and thieves’), beer, or “gatter.” Un pot de ——, a “shant of gatter.” A curious slang street melody, known in Seven Dials as Bet the Coaley’s Daughter, mentions the word “gatter”:—

Moussante mouchique, bad, flat beer, “swipes, or belly vengeance.”

Moussard, m. (thieves’), chestnut tree.

Mousse, f. (popular and thieves’), excrement; wine. The word is old. Villon, a poet of the fifteenth century, uses it with the latter signification. For quotation see Jouer du pouce. (Popular) De la ——! nonsense! “all my eye,” or “all my eye and Betty Martin.” Is also expressive of ironical refusal; “yes, in a horn,” as the Americans say.

Moussecailloux, m. (popular), infantry soldier, “wobbler, or beetle-crusher.”

Mousseline, f. (thieves’), white bread, or “pannum,” alluding to a similarity of colour. Also prisoner’s fetters, “darbies.”

Mousser (popular), to ease oneself by evacuation. See Mouscailler. Also to be wroth, “to have one’s monkey up.” Faire —— quelqu’un, to make one angry by “riling” him.

Mousserie, f. (thieves’), privy, “crapping-ken.”

Mousseux, adj. (literary), hyperbolic.

Moussue, f. (thieves’), chestnut.

Moustachu, m. (familiar), man with moustache.

Moustique, m. (popular), avoir un —— dans la boîte au sel, to be “cracked,” “to have a slate off.” For synonymous expressions see Avoir.

Mout, adj. (popular), pretty, handsome.

Moutarde, f. (popular), excrement. Baril à ——, the behind. For synonyms see Vasistas. The expression is old.

Moutardier, m. (popular), breech, or “tochas.” See Vasistas.

Et en face! Je n’ai pas besoin de renifler ton moutardier.—Zola.

Mouton, m. (popular), mattress, or “mot cart;” (general) prisoner who is set to watch a fellow-prisoner, and, by winning his confidence, seeks to extract information from him, a “nark.”

Comme tu seras au violon avant lui, il ne se doutera pas que tu es un mouton.—Vidocq.

Deux sortes de coqueurs sont à la dévotion de la police: les coqueurs libres, et les coqueurs détenus autrement dit moutons.—Mémoires de Canler.

Moutonnaille, f. (popular), crowd. Sheep will form a crowd.

Moutonner (thieves’ and police), to play the spy on fellow-prisoners.

Celui qui est mouton court risque d’être assassiné par les compagnons ... aussi la police parvient-elle rarement à décider les voleurs à moutonner leurs camarades.—Canler.

Moutrot, m. (thieves’), Prefect of police. Le logis du ——, the Préfecture de Police.

Mouvante, f. (thieves’), porridge.

Mouvement, m. (swindlers’), concierge dans le ——, doorkeeper in league with a gang of swindlers, for a description of which see Bande noire.

Mouzu, m. (thieves’), woman’s breasts, “Charlies, or dairies.”

Muche, adj. and m. (prostitutes’), polite, timid young man; (popular) excellent, perfect, “bully, or ripping.”

Muette, f. (Saint-Cyr School), drill exercise in which cadets purposely do not make their muskets ring. This is done to annoy any unpopular instructor. (Thieves’) Muette, conscience. Avoir une puce à la ——, to feel a pang of remorse.

Mufe, or muffle, m. and adj. (thieves’), mason; (familiar and popular) mean fellow; mean.

Son pâtissier s’était montré assez mufe pour menacer de la vendre, lorsqu’elle l’avait quitté.—Zola, Nana.

Mufe, scamp, cad, “bally bounder.”

Elles restaient gaies, jetant simplement un “sale mufe!” derrière le dos des maladroits dont le talon leur arrachait un volant.—Zola, Nana.

Muffée, f. (popular), en avoir une vraie ——, to be completely intoxicated. See Pompette.

Muffeton, muffleton, m. (popular), young scamp; mason’s apprentice.

Muffleman (popular), mean fellow.

Mufflerie, f. (popular), contemptible action; behaviour like a cad’s.

Mufle, m. (thieves’), se casser le ——, to meet with. Termed also “tomber en frime.”

Tel escarpe ou assassin ne commettra pas un crime un vendredi, ou s’il s’est cassé le mufle devant un ratichon (prêtre).—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.

Mufrerie, f. (popular), disparaging epithet; —— de sort! curse my luck!

Muitar, f. (thieves’), être dans la ——, to be in prison, or “in quod.”

Mulet, m. (military), marine artillery man; (printers’) compositor, or “donkey.” “In the days before steam machinery was invented, the men who worked at press,” says the Slang Dictionary, “the pressmen, were so dirty and drunken a body that they earned the name of pigs. In revenge, and for no reason that can be discovered, they christened the compositors “donkeys.’” (Thieves’) Mulet, devil.

Les meusniers, aussi ont une mesme façon de parler que les cousturiers, appelant leur asne le grand Diable, et leur sac, Raison. Et rapportant leur farine à ceux ausquels elle appartient, si on leur demande s’ils en ont point prins plus qu’il ne leur en faut, respondent: Le grand Diable m’emporte, si j’en ay prins que par raison. Mais pour tout cela ils disent qu’ils ne desrobent rien, car on leur donne.—Tabourot.

Muraille (familiar and popular), battre la ——, to be drunk and to reel about, now in the gutter, now against the wall.

Murer (popular), je te vas ——! I’ll knock you down, or I’ll double you up! See Voie.

Là il commença à m’embrasser. Ma foi, comme pour le verre de vin, il n’y avait pas de refus. Il ne me déplaisait pas, cet homme. Il voulut même m’habiller avec une chemise de sa femme. Mais voici qu’il me propose des choses que je ne pouvais accepter, et qu’il me menace de me murer si je dis un mot.—Echo de Paris.

Muron, m. (thieves’), salt.

Muronner (thieves’), to salt.

Muronnière, f. (thieves’), salt-cellar.

Musardine, f. (familiar), name given some forty years ago to a more than fast girl, or to a girl of indifferent character, termed sometimes by English “mashers,” a “blooming tartlet.”

On dit une musardine, comme jadis on disait une lorette.—Albéric Second.

The synonyms corresponding to various epochs are:—Under the Restauration “femme aimable,” a term of little significance. In Louis Philippe’s time, “lorette,” on account of the frail ones mostly dwelling in the Quartier Notre Dame de Lorette. Under the Third Empire “chignon doré” (it was then the fashion, as it still is, for such women to dye their hair a bright gold or auburn tint), or “cocodette,” the feminine of “cocodès,” young dandy. Now-a-days frequenters of the Boulevards use the term “boudinée,” “boudiné, bécarre, or pschutteux,” being the latest appellations for the Parisian “masher.” The term “musardine” must first have been applied to fast girls frequenting the Bals Musard, attended at the time by all the “dashing” elements of Paris. “In English polite society, a fast young lady,” says the Slang Dictionary, “is one who affects mannish habits, or makes herself conspicuous by some unfeminine accomplishment, talks slang, drives about in London, smokes cigarettes, is knowing in dogs and horses, &c.”

Musée, m. (popular), le —— des claqués, the Morgue.

Muselé, m. (popular), dunce, or “flat;” good-for-nothing man. Alluding to a muzzled dog who cannot use his teeth.

Musette, f. (popular), voice. Couper la —— à quelqu’un, to silence one, “to clap a stopper on one’s mug;” to cut one’s throat.

Musicien, m. (thieves’), dictionary; variety of informer, or “snitcher;” (familiar) —— par intimidation, a street melodist who obtains money from people desirous of getting rid of him.

J’y ai retrouvé aussi le “musicien par intimidation,” l’homme à la clarinette, qui s’arrête devant les cafés du boulevard en faisant mine de porter à ses lèvres le bec de son instrument. Les consommateurs épouvantés se hâtent de lui jeter quelque monnaie afin d’éviter l’harmonie.—Elie Frébault, La Vie de Paris.

It, however, occurs occasionally that people annoyed by the harmonists of the street have their revenge whilst getting rid of them without having to pay toll, as in the case of the “musicien par intimidation.” One day a French artist in London, who every day was almost driven mad by the performances of a band of green-coated German musicians, hit upon the following singular stratagem. Placing himself at the window, and facing his tormentors, he applied a lemon to his lips. The effect was instantaneous, as through an association of ideas the mouths of the musicians began to water to such an extent that, unable to proceed with their symphony, they surrendered the battlefield to the triumphant artist. (Popular) Des musiciens, beans, alluding to the wind they generate in the bowels. (Printers’) Des musiciens, large number of corrections made on the margin of pages; unskilled compositors who are unable to proceed with their work.

Musique, f. (popular), second-hand articles; odd pieces of cloth sewn together; kind of penny loaf. Termed also “flûte.” Also what remains in a glass; (thieves’) informing; informers.

La deuxième classe, que les voleurs désignent sous le nom de musique, est composée de tous les malfaiteurs qui, après leur arrestation, se mettent à table (dénoncent).—Canler.

Passer à la ——, to be placed in the presence of informers for identification; (card-sharpers’) swindling at cards.

Musiquer (card-sharpers’), to mark a card with the nail.

Musser (popular), to smell.

Mutilés, m. pl. (military), soldiers of the punishment companies in Africa, who are sent there as a penalty for purposely maiming themselves in order to escape military service.

Mylord, m. (popular), hackney coach, “growler.”