Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 4.pdf/312

 Metal-rule, subs. (printers').—An oath; an obscenity. 'You be metal-ruled' = 'You be damned.' [From the use of '—' in print].

Mettle, subs. (venery).—The semen. For synonyms see Cream and Spendings. Mettled = amorous.

1612. Field, Woman is a Weather-*cock, i. 2. What a sin were it in me to marry a man that wants the mettle of generation.

1649. Davenant, Love & Honour, ii. 1. I must provide her broths That may stir mettle in her I find Her no more fit for the business of increase Than I am to be a nun.

1672. Howard, All Mistaken, iii. The very same, my mettled female.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To fetch mettle, verb. phr. (venery).—To masturbate.—Grose (1785). For synonyms see Frig.

Mettlesome, adj. (old: now recognised).—Bold; spirited.—Grose (1785). [Cf. Mettle].

Mew-mew! intj. (tailors').—In sarcasm: 'tell that to the marines' (q.v.).

Mice-feet. To make mice-feet o', verb. phr. (old Scots').—To destroy wholly.

Mich, Micher, Michery, Miching. See Mike, Miker, Mikery, and Miking.

Michael, subs. (old).—A man.

1647. Fletcher, Woman's Prize, I. 4. There are more maids than Maudlin. And more men than Michael.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Michael. Hip, Michael, your head's on fire. See Hyp.

Mick (Mike or Micky), subs. (American).—1. An Irishman. Cf. Miker.

1869. S. L. Clemens ('Mark Twain'), Innocents at Home, 22. The micks got to throwing stones.

2. (Australian).—A young wild bull.

1881. Grant, Bush-life, i. 227. There were two or three mickies and wild heifers.

Mid (or Middy), subs. (common).—A midshipman.

1812. Southey, Letters [ed. Warter, 1856], ii. 315. I have written to Bedford to learn what mids of the Victory fell in that action.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, xii. The purser and doctor, and three of the middies forward, Thomas Cringle, gent., pulling the stroke-oar.

1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. II. ch. 1. Percival was meant for the navy, and even served as a mid for a year or so.

Midden, subs. (Scots').—A foul slattern; a heap (q.v.). [Midden = dunghill].

An eating midden, subs. phr. (Scots').—A glutton; a belly-god.

Middies, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Midland Railway Ordinary Stock.

Middle, subs. (venery).—1. The waist.

1640. Wit's Recr. [Hotten], 136. I care not, let my friend go fiddle; Let him mark her end, I'll mark her middle.

1719. T. Durfey, Pills to Purge, v. 79. In troth sweet Robin, I cannot, He hath got me about the middle.—Ibid. vi. 31. He took her by the middle, and taught her by the flute.

2. (Fleet St.).—See quot.

1887. Walford's Antiquarian, Ap., 283. The writer of social, literary and scientific articles for the press is said to be a writer of middles, or a Middleman.