mullar, a ‘muller’, a stone with a flat base, held in the hand and used, in conjunction with a grinding-stone or slab, in grinding painters’ colours. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, p. 136. F. moulleur, a grinder (Cotgr.); deriv. of OF. moldre, L. molere, to grind.
mullet, the rowel of a spur; a mullet, in heraldry. Shirley, Love in a Maze, i. 1 (Simple). F. molette d’esperon, the rowel of a spur (Cotgr.).
mullets, pincers or tweezers. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Amorphus). F. mollette, ‘a mullet, a nipper, a pincer’ (Cotgr.).
mullipuff, mollipuff, the puff-ball, or fuzz-ball. Shirley, St. Patrick, v. 1 (2 Soldier). See NED. (s.v. Mullipuff), and EDD. (s.v. Mully-puff). ‘Mully’ in Norfolk is used for mouldy, powdery, see EDD. (s.v. Mull, sb.1 1). Norw. dial. moll, mould (Aasen), Swed. mull (Widegren).
mullwine, mulled wine. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 3. 9. See Dict. (s.v. Mulled).
mumbudget, a word used to insist upon silence; ‘I cry . . . mum; she cries budget’, Merry Wives, v. 2. 6; ‘Quoth she, Mum budget’, Butler, Hud. i. 3. 208; ‘Mumbudget, not a word!’, Look about You, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 420.
mumchance, the name of a game, both at dice and at cards. Westward Ho, ii. 2 (with allusion to bones, i.e. dice); B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 2 (Subtle); Barth. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). Played in silence; whence the name.
mumchance, one who has nothing to say, a ‘dummy’. Plautus made English (Nares). In prov. use in many parts of England, esp. in the west country, for a stupid, silent, stolid person.
mummia, mummy, a preparation used in medicine, chiefly from the substance with which Egyptian mummies were preserved. Webster, White Devil (beginning, Gasparo), ed. Dyce, p. 5; id. (Isabella), p. 15; Beaumont and Fl., iii. 1 (Galoshio). See Dict. (s.v. Mummy), and Stanford (s.v. Mummia).
mump, to overreach, to cheat; ‘Mump your proud players’, Buckingham, The Rehearsal, ii. 2 (Bayes); ‘Mump’d of his snip’ (i.e. cheated of his portion), Wycherley, Love in a Wood, i. 2 (Ranger); Gent. Dancing-master, iv. 1 (Mrs. Caution). In prov. use in the west country, see EDD. (s.v. Mump, vb.1 10). Du. mompen, ‘to mump, cheat’ (Sewel).