Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 4.pdf/397

 Murder. See Blue Murder.

The murder is out, phr. (colloquial).—The mystery is displayed.

Murerk, subs. (tramps').—The mistress of the house. See Burerk.

Murkauker, subs. (obsolete).—A monkey. [Jacko Macauco, or Maccacco, was a famous fighting monkey, who used some fifty years ago to display his prowess in the Westminster Pit].

Murphy, subs. (common).—1. A potato: cf. Donovan. Also murph.

English synonyms. Bog-orange; Donovan; Irish apricot; Munster-plum, or orange; murph; ruggin; spud; tatur.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1821. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, 154. Mathews relished the Irish stews and murphies.

1839. Comic Almanack, 199. Having well roasted my murphy, I take him cum grano salis.

1842. Punch, ii. 214, col 2. A story that Raleigh first introduced the potato—meaning the murphy—into this country.

1856. J. Hughes, Tom Brown's School-Days Pt. 1. vi. 'That's our School-house tuck-shop—she bakes such stunning murphies, we'll have a penn' orth each for tea; come along, or they'll all be gone.'

1856. Leisure Hour, 3 Jan., p. 12, col. 2. Past the potato and coal shed, well known to the Irish labourer, who for twopence can get three pounds of murphies.

1869. Thackeray, Peg of Limavaddy. Playing round the fire, which of blazing turf is, Roaring to the pot which bubbles with the murphies.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. Surround him with a stack of bottles of ale and a dish of murphies.

2. (American).—An Irishman.

3. (colloquial).—Morpheus, i.e., sleep.

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random. What time Murphy sends his slipping puppies to the heyes of mortals.

Murphy'S-face, subs. (Irish).—A pig's head.

1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Murphy's Countenance.

Mush (Mush-topper or Mushroom), subs. (common).—1. See quots.

1821. Haggart, Life, 62. In one shop they robbed two mush-topers.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 6, note. Fanciful metaphors contribute largely to the formation of slang. It is upon this principle that the mouth has come to be styled the 'tater-trap'; umbrellas, 'mushrooms' (or, briefly 'mush').

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mush. An umbrella; the mouth, in pugilism.

1870. London Figaro, 15 June. What pretty faces, mush of mine, I've sheltered 'neath thy shade! What jolly walks in 'auld lang syne' Beneath thy ribs I've made!

2. (old).—The mouth.

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

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

1887. Walford, Antiquarian, 252. s.v.

Mush- (or Mushroom-) faker (or mush-topper-faker).—see quot. 1851. Mushfaking = mending umbrellas.

1821. Haggart, Life, 56. Tommy Twenty, a mush-toper-faker.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab., ii. 28. In Umbrellas and Parasols the second-hand traffic is large, but those vended in the streets are nearly