c.1420-80. Henryson, Fables, 'The Fox and the Wolf' l. 5. That durst no more with miching intermell.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii. 2, 147. Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief.
1603. Dekker, Wonderful Yeare, [Grosart (1886), i. 113]. Yet went they (most bitterly) miching and muffled vp and downe.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 115. Sandy Macintosh looked fit for anything, from mouching up to murder, so long as not too much courage was required.
Adj. (common).—1. Skulking; (2) lurking; (3) mean.
15[?]. Songs & Poems on Costume [Percy Soc.], 687. Nothinge so fearde we are of theves Which ofte are layde in jayles, As now we are of myching knaves, That cut off horses tayles.
1616. Beaumont & Fletcher, Scornful Lady, v. 1. Some meeching rascal in her house.
1648. Herrick, Hesp., 11. 67. A cat I keep That plays about my house, Grown fat With eating many a miching mouse.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxiii. To mingle the soul of martial honour with thy thieving, miching, petty-larceny blood.
1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2nd Ser. p. 13. But I ain't o' the meechin' kind, thet sets an' thinks fer weeks The bottom's out o' th'univarse coz their own gill-pot leaks.
1890. S. O. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 159. 'How came the ship to run up a tailor's bill?' 'Why, them's mine,' said the captain, very meeching.
Milch-cow, subs. (colloquial).—See
quot. 1785. Hence any living
source of alms or revenue.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Milch-kine.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Milch-cow. One who is easily tricked out of his property: a term used by gaolers, for prisoners who have money, and bleed freely.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Mild, adj. (common).—Second-rate;
feeble; inefficient.
1885. Sat. Review, 7 Feb., p. 166. Most of us have no wish to cheat railway companies by travelling first class at third-class prices, but there are ingenious adventurers who practise this mild swindle.
Draw it mild! See Draw.
Mild-bloater. See Bloater.
Miler (or Myla), subs. (vagrants').—An
ass. See Moke.
Miles's boy. See Ralph.
Milestone, subs. (old).—A country
booby.—Vaux (1823).
Milestone-monger, subs. (common).—A
tramp.
Milk, subs. (venery).—Spendings
(q.v.).
1669. John Aubrey, MS. Aubr., 21. Her breath is sweet as the rose in June Her skin is as soft as silk And if you tickle her in the flank She'll freely give down her milk.
Verb. (venery).—1. To cause ejaculation. Cf. Milkman.
1610. Jonson, Alchymist, iii. 2. For she must milk his epididimis.
1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, iii. 108. May teach her how to sleep all Night, And take a great deal more Delight, To milk the cows than thee.
2. (old).—To plunder.
d.1536. Tyndall, Workes, p. 365. 'And to ayd the kynge in hys right must the commons be milked till they bleede agayne.'
1605. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1. This three year I have milked their hopes.
1808. Jamieson, Dict. Scot. Lang., s.v. Milk.
3. (old racing).—To bet against a horse, which is one's own pro-
