mammet, a puppet, an odd figure, freq. used as a term of abuse. Romeo, iii. 5. 186; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 3. 95; spelt maumet, Machin, The Dumb Knight, iii. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mommet). ME. maumet, an idol, a false god (Chaucer, C. T. I. 860); OF. mahumet, an idol, orig. Mahomet, who was supposed to be one of the false gods of the Saracens (Ch. Rol. 2590).
mammock, a scrap, shred. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 654; to tear into shreds, Coriolanus, i. 3. 71. ‘Mammock’, a broken piece, scrap, slice of food; to cut into pieces—in prov. use (EDD.).
mammothrept, a spoiled child, weakling. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iv. 1 (Amorphus). Gk. μαμμόθρεπτος, brought up by one’s grandmother.
man, to ‘squire’, or accompany a lady, to escort. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 291); Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 7 (Amaranta).
manable, used of a girl of marriageable age. Middleton, Family of Love, iv. 4 (Gudgeon); ‘She’s manable’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, ii. 1 (Otrante).
manage, management, control. Richard II, iii. 3. 179; Edw. III, iii. 3. 224.
manchet, a small loaf of white bread. Drayton, Pol., Song, xvi. 229; Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Roger). In prov. use in Yorks., Lanc., and in the west country (EDD.). Norm. F. manchette, ‘pain à croûte dure, inégale, fait en forme de couronne’ (Moisy). Prob. the same word as F. manchette, a cuff (Hatzfeld).
manderer; see [maunder].
mandilion, a soldier’s cloak. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, x. 120; Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iv. 3 (Lazarillo). See Nares. Ital. mandiglione, a jacket (Florio), deriv. of Med. L. mantile, cp. Span. mantilla. See Dozy, Glossaire, 299.
mandragora, mandrake. Othello, iii. 3. 330; Ant. and Cl. i. 5. 4. Gk. μανδραγόρας.