Nor spare the sportive child."
—Grainger, bk. i.
1883.—"Among rank weeds in deserted Bombay gardens, too, there is a large, speckled, unmusical mosquito, raging and importunate and thirsty, which will give a new idea in pain to any one that visits its haunts."—Tribes on My Frontier, 27.
MOTURPHA, s. Hind. from Ar. muḥtarafa, but according to C. P. B. mu'tarifa; [rather Ar. muḥtarifa, muḥtarif, 'an artizan']. A name technically applied to a number of miscellaneous taxes in Madras and Bombay, such as were called [sayer] (q.v.), in Bengal.
[1813.—"Mohterefa. An artificer. Taxes, personal and professional, on artificers, merchants and others; also on houses, implements of agriculture, looms, &c., a branch of the [sayer]."—Gloss. 5th Report, s.v.
1826.—"... for example, the tax on merchants, manufacturers, &c. (called mohturfa)...."—Grant Duff, H. of the Mahrattas, 3rd ed. 356.]
MOULMEIN, n.p. This is said to be originally a Talaing name Mut-mwoa-lem, syllables which mean (or may be made to mean) 'one-eye-destroyed'; and to account for which a cock-and-bull legend is given (probably invented for the purpose): "Tradition says that the city was founded ... by a king with three eyes, having an extra eye in his forehead, but that by the machinations of a woman, the eye in his forehead was destroyed...." (Mason's Burmah, 2nd ed. p. 18). The Burmese corrupted the name into Mau-la-yaing, whence the foreign (probably Malay) form Maulmain. The place so called is on the opposite side of the estuary of the Salwin R. from [Martaban] (q.v.), and has entirely superseded that once famous port. Moulmein, a mere site, was chosen as the headquarters of the Tenasserim provinces, when those became British in 1826 after the first Burmese War. It has lost political importance since the annexation of Pegu, 26 years later, but is a thriving city which numbered in 1881, 53,107 inhabitants; [in 1891, 55,785].
MOUNT DELY, n.p. (See [DELLY, MOUNT].)
MOUSE-DEER, s. The beautiful little creature, Meminna indica (Gray), [Tragulus meminna, the Indian Chevrotain (Blanford, Mammalia, 555),] found in various parts of India, and weighing under 6 lbs., is so called. But the name is also applied to several pigmy species of the genus Tragulus, found in the Malay regions, [where, according to Mr. Skeat, it takes in popular tradition the place of Brer Rabbit, outwitting even the tiger, elephant, and crocodile.] All belong to the family of Musk-deer.
MUCHÁN, s. Hind. machān, Dekh. manchān, Skt. maṅcha. An elevated platform; such as the floor of huts among the Indo-Chinese races; or a stage or scaffolding erected to watch a tiger, to guard a field, or what not.