Maître d’école, m. (horsebreakers’), well-trained horse harnessed with a young horse which is being broken in.
[Maîtresse], f. (popular), de maison, mistress of a brothel; —— de piano, old or ugly woman who acts as a kind of factotum to cocottes.
Major, m. (familiar), de table d’hôte, elderly man with a military appearance, who acts as a protector to low gaming-house proprietors; (Ecole Polytechnique) first on the list; —— de queue, last on the list.
Mal (popular), blanchi, negro, “darky, or snowball.” Un —— à gauche, a clumsy fellow. Une —— peignée, a dissolute girl. (Thieves’) Mal sucré, perjured witness. (Military) Avoir —— aux pieds, to wear canvas gaiters. (Familiar) Avoir —— aux cheveux, to have a headache caused by prolonged potations, especially when one is “stale drunk,” which generally occurs after the “jolly dog” has taken too many hairs of the other dog. (Theatrical) Avoir —— au genou, to be pregnant.
Malade, m. and adj. (thieves’), in prison, “put away.” When the prisoner leaves the “hôpital,” or prison, he is pronounced “guéri,” or free; (popular) —— du pouce, idle, or “Mondayish;” stingy, or “clunch fist.” With a bad thumb, of course, it is difficult to “fork out, to down with the dust, to sport the rhino, to tip the brads, or even to stump the pewter.”
Maladie, f. (familiar and popular), de neuf mois, pregnancy, or “white swelling.” The allusion is obvious. (Popular) Maladie! an ejaculation of disgust which may be rendered by “rot!” (Thieves’) Maladie, imprisonment, the convict being an inmate of “l’hôpital,” or prison.
Maladroits, m. pl. (cavalry), sonnerie des ——, trumpet call for infantry drill.
Malaisée, f. (popular), faire danser la —— à quelqu’un, to thrash one, “to lead one a dance.” For synonyms see [Voie].
Malandreux, adj. (popular), ill, “seedy, or hipped;” ill at ease.
Malapatte, m. (popular), clumsy man, “cripple.” Literally mal à la patte.