1607. Tourneur, Revenger’s Trag. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, in hugger-mugger.
1611. Coryat, Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might sometimes have some furtive conversation in hugger mugger.
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, ii., 1. There is no way but to clap up a marriage in hugger-mugger.
1639–61. Rump Songs, i. [1662], 54. They brought me Gold and Plate in Huggar-Muggar.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, i., 3. Where’er th’ in hugger-mugger lurk, I’ll make them rue their handy-work.
1762. Churchill, The Ghost, bk. iii., line 27. It must not, as the Vulgar say, Be done in Hugger Mugger way.
1815. Mirror for Mag., p. 457. For most that most things knew, in hugger-mugger utter’d what they durst.
Hugging, subs. (common).—Garotting (q.v.).
Hugsome, adj. (colloquial).—Carnally attractive; Fuckable (q.v.).
Hulk (Hulky, or Hulking Fellow), subs. (colloquial).—A fat person; a big lout. Generally, ‘great hulk of a fellow.’