mortmal, mormal, an inflamed sore, esp. on the leg; ‘The old mortmal on his shin’, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2 (Maudlin); ‘Mormall, a sore, loup’, Palsgrave. ME. mormale, ‘malum mortuum’ (Prompt.). OF. mortmal; cp. Med. L. malum mortuum, ‘morbi genus pedum et tibiarum’ (Ducange). See [marmoll].
mort-pays, the taking of the King’s pay by a captain in service for men who were dead or discharged; ‘The severe punishing of mort-pays’, Bacon, Hist. Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 93). See [dead pay].
most an end, generally, usually; continually. Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 1 (Merchant). Honest (addressing Greatheart): ‘Knew him! I was a great companion of his; I was with him most an end’; Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Pt. II. In common prov. use from Yorks. to E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Most, 7, 2a).
mot, motte, a word, saying, motto, proverb. Rape of Lucrece, 830; ‘To gull him with a motte’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2 (E. Knowell). F. mot, a word.
mote, a note of a horn or bugle. Morte Arthur, leaf 112. 20 (bk. vii, ch. 8); ‘Mote, blaste of a horne’, Palsgrave; mot, Chevy Chace, 16; mott, Turbervile, Hunting, 86. ME. moote of an horne, blowyng (Prompt. EETS. 294, see note, no. 1431). F. mot, ‘the note winded by an huntsman on his horn’ (Cotgr.).
mote, a pleading in a law-court. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 14, § 7. OE. mōtian, to address a meeting, to discuss, ‘moot a question’ (B. T.). See Dict. (s.v. Moot).
mote, may, must; ‘I mote dye’, Morte Arthur, leaf 34. 9; bk. i, c. 20; ‘Now mote ye understand’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 46. ME. mot, moot, pres. (I or he) may, must; moten, mote, pl.; moste, pt. t. OE. mōt, (I, he) may; mōst, 2 sing.; mōton, pl.; mōste, pt. t.
mother, a young girl. Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, iii. 2 (Franio). See [mauther].
mother, the, hysteria. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront); King Lear, ii. 4. 56.
mothering, the custom of visiting one’s mother, and giving and receiving of presents of food, &c., on Mid-Lent Sunday; ‘Thou go’st a-mothering’, Herrick, To Dianeme, A Ceremonie in Gloucester. See EDD. (s.v. Mothering) for accounts of the customs connected with ‘Mothering Sunday’ (Mid-Lent Sunday) in various parts of England from Yorks. to Devon.