Mum, subs. (old).—1. in pl. The lips; more frequently muns (q.v.).
Adj. (old).—Silent; also as adv. Mum! as intj. and in phr., Mum's the word! Keep mum! Mum your dubber = Silence! Also mum-chance and mum-budget! See quots. 1611, 1660, and 1811.
1557-8. Jacob & Esau [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 191]. But peace, mum, no more: I see Master Esau.
1563. Appius & Virginius [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 131]. But peace, for man's body! Haphazard be mum.
1567. Edwards, Damon & Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 38]. Bah, mumbudget, for Carisophus I espy.
1588. Jeronimo [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 376]. Peace; no words: I'll get thy pardon: Why, mum, then.
1594. Look About You [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 420]. Mumbudget, not a word, as thou lovest thy life.
1594. Shakspeare, Richard III, iii. 7. Glo. How now, how now? what say the citizens? Buck. Now, by the holy mother our Lord, The citizens are mum, say n a word.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, v. 2. I come to her in white, and cry mum; and she cries butget, and by that we know one another.
1599. Porter, Two Angry Women [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii. 327]. Hush then; mum, mouse in cheese, cat is near.
1607. Puritan, ii. 1. Mum! Mary's a good wench still.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Avoir le bec gelé, to play mumbudget, to be tongue-tyed, to say never a word.
1611. Barry, Ram Alley, iv. Will Small-shanks has your daughter—no word but mum.
1615. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 273. But should another chance to come, Of Mayors not a word, but mum.
1660. Howell, Lexicon, s.v. To play at mum-budget, demurer court, ne sonner mot.
1660. Tatham, The Rump, i. 1. Odd, . . . they are here. I cry mum.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. v. 207. Nor did I ever wince or grudge it, For thy dear sake: quoth she, mum budget.
1664. Wilson, Projectors, i. 1. Farewell! but mum.
1672. W. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii. 2. Mum, mum, make no excuses man; I would not Ranger should have known me for five hundred kicks.
1766. Kenrick, Falstaff's Wedding, i. 1. He stood mumchance, and spoke never a living syllable.
1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. 'I'll just step myself, and show you a piece of the way. (To the Landlord). Mum!'
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 150. Dubber mum'd. To keep your mouth shut, or be obliged to hold your tongue.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mum. An interjection directing silence. Mum for that: I shall be silent as to that. As mute as Mumchance, who was hanged for saying nothing; a friendly reproach to any one who seems low-spirited and silent.
d. 1817. Holman, Abroad and at Home, iii. 2. You know, one should not brag of one's connexions, so mum's the word before my father; I must pass off for a foreign count; so mind your hits, Dicky.
1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xv. 'We grow older every moment we stand idle, and life is too short to be spent in playing mumchance.'
1837. Theodore Hook, Jack Brag, ii. 3. I could tell you such a story—but, mum, for the present.
1847. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Mumbudget, a cant word inplying silence.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxi. The boys are always mum under the eyes of the usher.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mum. Say nothing; nothing to say.
