Angel, ch. xxxiii. p. 264 (Rose Lib.). Some said that Susan had given her young man the mitten, meaning thereby that she had signified that his services as a suitor were dispensed with.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v. More ungracefully still, an unfortunate lover, who is simply 'jilted' at the North, is more violently 'kicked' at the South—a phrase marking most characteristically the contrast between the free and easy manners of our day with those of past days, when the strongest term used for the painful occasion was to give and to get the mitten. The latter word ought, however, always to be mittens, as the phrase is derived from the same use made of the French mitaines, which had to be accepted by the unsuccessful lover instead of the hand, after which he aspired.
1873. Carleton, Farm Ballads, 19. Once, when I was young as you, and not so smart, perhaps, For me she mittened a lawyer, and several other chaps.
1884. Punch, 1 March, p. 108, col. 2. Lifeboat hands who are found shrinking, Or with fear of danger smitten, Get, not medals, but the mitten.
1887. Lippincott's Magazine, Aug., p. 241. Ah, I see. Popped the question, and got the mitten. Oh, well you musn't let that discourage you.
1888. Notes & Queries, 7 S. vi. 126. To get the mitten. . . . Without doubt the Latin mitto, to send (about your business), to dismiss, is the fons et origo of the word.
1890. E. Bellamy, Dr. Heidenhoff's Process, p. 42. 'After all,' she said, suddenly, 'that would be taking a good deal of trouble to get a mitten. If you are so anxious for it, I will give it to you now;' and she held out the glove to him with an inscrutable face.
To handle without mittens, verb. phr. (common).—See quot.
1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Mittens. To handle without mittens. To handle roughly. A low phrase.
Easy as mittens, phr. (common).—Free.
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 22. The ladies was easy as mittens.
Mitten-mill, subs. (American).—A
glove-fight.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Mivvy, subs. (common).—1. A woman:
in contempt. Hence (2) a
lodging-house landlady; a cat
(q.v.).
1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. 111. Talk about stodge! Jest you arsk the old mivvy as caters for me at the crib where I lodge.
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 13. Bare-armed old mivvies you meet spread out pink in a theatre stall.
2. (schoolboys').—A marble.
1856. Notes & Queries, 2 S. i. 283. s.v.
Mix, subs. (colloquial).—A muddle;
a mess.
1882. W. D. Howells, A Likely Story, iii. What a fatal, fatal mix.
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To confuse; and (2) to involve or implicate. Also to mix up (see quot. 1823).
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mix it up—to agree secretly how the parties shall make up a tale, or colour a transaction in order to cheat or deceive another party, as in case of a justice-hearing, of a law-suit, or a cross in a boxing-match for money.
1879. E. Dicey, Victor Emanuel, p. 53. An Italian exile, who in his hot youth had been mixed up, very much against the grain, in an abortive plot for the assassination of the late king.
To mix (or join) giblets. See quots.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Giblets.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mix giblets—to intermarry—naturally or legally.
1887. Notes and Queries, 7 S. iv. 511. To join giblets. This expression may occasionally be heard . . . and has a very offensive meaning.
