2. (old).—A whore.
172[?]. Street Robberies Considered, 25. I had the clever'st maux in town.
Mawley. See Mauley.
Maw-wallop, subs. (old).—A filthy
composition, sufficient to provoke
vomiting.—Grose (1785).
Mawworm, subs. (common).—A
hypocrite. [From Bickerstaff's
play, The Hypocrite]. Also as adj.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.
1866. Sala, Trip to Barbary, p. 130. There was a sanctified mawworm expression, too, about this fellow, which filled you with a strong desire to fling him overboard.
1871. G. Eliot, Middlemarch, Bk. I. ch. ii. A man naturally likes to look forward to having the best. He would be the very mawworm of bachelors who pretended not to expect it.
1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 17 April. Superintendent S— is no mawworm, And it must have gone very much against the grain.
Mawpus. See Mopus.
Mawther, subs. (old).—1. A girl
(Jonson); and (2), an old drudge
(Dickens).
Max, subs. (old).—Gin. For synonyms
see Drinks and White
Satin. [From maxime and so
properly applied only to the best
quality spirit].
1823. Byron, Don Juan, C. xi. st. 16. The dying man cried, 'Hold! I've got my gruel, Oh! for a glass of max.'
1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Bagman's Dog). Who, doffing their coronets, collars, and ermines, treat Boxers to max at the Old Inn in Jermyn Street.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lon. Poor, v. 8, i. p. 168. The stimulant of a 'flash of lightning,' a 'go of rum,' or a 'glass of max,'—for so a dram of neat spirit was then called.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Verb. (United States military).—At West Point to gain the maximum of marks; hence, to do well.
May, subs. (Cambridge University).—The
Easter Term examination.
1852. Bristed, Five Years etc., 70. As the may approached I began to feel nervous.
May-gathering, subs. (thieves').—Sheep-stealing;
fleecy clamming
(q.v.); bleat-marching
(q.v.).
Mazarine, subs. (common).—1. A
Common Councilman of the City of
London. [From the robe of mazarine
blue].
1761. Chronicle, 'Annual Reg.' 238. I had procured a ticket through the interest of Mr. who was one of the committee for managing the entertainment, and a mazarine.
2. (theatrical).—A platform under the stage.
Mazzard (Mazard, or Mazer),
subs. (common).—The head; the
face.
1602-3. Shakspeare, Hamlet, v. 1. Ham. Chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade.
1602. Dekker, Honest Whore [Dodsley, Old Plays, iii. 329]. Break but his pate, or so; only his mazer, Because I'll have his head in a cloth as well as mine.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, iv. 1. But in thy amorous conquests, at the last, Some wound will slice your mazer
1639. Fletcher, Wit Without Money, ii. 3. The pint-pot has so belaboured you with wit, your brave acquaintance, that gives you ale, so fortified your mazard, that now there's no talking to you.
