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 1885. Saturday Review, 7 Nov., p. 615. Old Layce, a moonshiner—that is to say, a maker of untaxed whiskey.

1891. Daily Telegraph, 23 Mar. A desperate and fatal encounter took place early on Saturday morning between a posse of Revenue officers and a party of moonshiners, by which name the illicit distillers of the mountain districts are known.

2. (common).—See quot. and Moon.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Moon-*light wanderers; or 'fly-by-night' persons, who cheat their landlords and run away by night; when 'tis illegal to detain the goods.

Moonshining, subs. (American).—Illicit distilling.

Moonshiny, adj. (common).—Unreal.

Moonshooter. See to shoot the moon.

Moon's-minion, subs. (old).—1. A watchman; a charley (q.v.).

1828. Lytton, Pelham, p. 142, ed. 1864. This action was not committed with impunity; in an instant two of the moon's minions, staffs, lanterns, and all, were measuring their length at the foot of their namesake of royal memory: the remaining Dogberry was however a tougher assailant.

2. (old).—See Moon-man, sense 2.

Moony, subs. (common).—A noodle. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Adj. (common).—1. Silly. Also moonish.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, iii. 2. 430. Being but a moonish youth.

1861. G. Meredith, Evan Harrington, xxv. p. 293 (1885). Rose gave him no time for reflection, or the moony imagining of their raptures lovers love to dwell upon.

1876. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxii. Violent and capricious, or moony and insipid.

1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, xxx. You've seemed preoccupied and absorbed and moony and distracted.

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 16. Mooney young women in grey.

2. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.

Moose-face, subs. (common).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moose-face. A rich ugly-faced man.

Mop, subs. (common).—1. See quots.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Mop, a statute fair for hiring servants.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Mop. A kind of annual fair in the west of England where farmers usually hire their servants.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, i. Many a rustic went to a statute fair or mop, and never came home to tell of his hiring.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1. S. No. xvi. p. 269. 'There are as good servants to be picked up in a mop as out of it; and you get a great deal better choice,' said he. 'My mother has hired many a man and maid at the mop: first-rate servants too.'

2. (common).—A confirmed drunkard; a lushington (q.v.).

3. (common).—A drinking bout: on the mop = on the drink.

c.1860. Newspaper Cutting. 'It was all along of Bill Jones the printer, as keeps comp'ny with me,' she muttered. 'He'd been having a mop, as he called it, because he was on piecework, and the author—oh! he did go on! and call him names such as I shouldn't like to repeat—hadn't sent the copy; whatever that may mean.'

4. (old).—An endearment. Also moppet and mopsy.

c.1388. Townely Mysteries, ut sup, 'Prima Pastorum,' p. 96. Haylle, lytylle, tyne mop.