1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Muffin-faced—one who has large protruding muscles on his phiz, which is pale withal, is 'a muffin-faced son of a;' mostly cooks, idle gourmands, &c. who delight in fat, soups, and slip-slops, evolve mutton-faces.
Muffing, adj. (common).—Bungling;
clumsy.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., iii. 62. 'You can pick out a good many Punch performers, without getting one so well versed as I am in it; they in general makes such a muffing concern of it.'
Muffin-worry, subs. (common).—A
tea-party.
1864. Derby Day, p. 16. There are men who do not disdain muffin-worries and crumpet-scrambles.
Muffle, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A
boxing-glove. Also muffler.
1755. Connoisseur, No. 52. He has the shape and constitution of a porter, and is sturdy enough to encounter Broughton without mufflers.
1811. Moore, Tom Crib, xix. Chap. 7. . . . shows that the Greeks, for mere exercise of sparring, made use of muffles or gloves.
1819. Byron, Don Juan, ii. 92. For sometimes we must box without the muffle.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Mufflers—gloves with wool stuffed upon the knuckles, for boxers to spar withal, and not hurt each other too much; claret comes sometimes.
1827. Reynolds, The Fancy, 'Stanzas to Kate.' Forgive me—and mufflers I'll carefully pull O'er my knuckles hereafter.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
1891. Licensed Victuallers' Mirror, 30 Jan. p. 7, c. There were few, if any, men of about his height and weight who could stand before him with the mufflers.
2. (pugilistic).—A stunning blow.
3. (thieves').—A crape mask: once a kind of vizard or veil worn by women (Stow, 1539).
1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, ii. 126. The dark lanterns—the mufflers—and the jemmy.
Muffling-cheat, subs. (old).—See
quots.
1573. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v. A mofling chete, a napkin.
1777. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Muffling cheat. . . . a towel.
Mufti, subs. (military colloquial).—See
quots. 1834 and 1836. Fr.
en pékin.
1834. Marryat, Peter Simple, xxxi. The governor's aide-de-camps, all dressed in mufti (i.e., plain clothes).
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ii. The company was composed chiefly of naval and military men, but there was also a sprinkling of civilians, or muftees, to use a West India expression.
1854. Thackeray, Newcomes, vii. He has no mufti-coat, except one sent him out by Messrs. Stulty, to India in the year 1821.
1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, xxxviii. He was dogged at the distance of some thirty yards by an amiable policeman in mufti.
1865. A Son of the Soil, in Macmillan's Mag., March, p. 389. He had still a stolen inclination for mufti and wore his uniform only when a solemn occasion occurred like this, and on grand parade.
1876. Grant, One of Six Hundred, i. I relinquished my gay lancer-trappings, and resumed the less pretentious mufti of the civilian.
1884. Notes and Queries, 6 S. ix. 398. Mufti . . . the well-known title of a Mahommedan high-priest . . . officers in India, on returning from their duties . . . don pyjamas and loose white jackets, and when so arrayed bear a resemblance to the white-robed priests of Islam.
1888. Athenæum, 27 Oct., p. 554, col. 3. An elderly gentleman in mufti.
