Chapter Mugwump Press to Mundilfori of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

reduced to poverty by alchemy, adding: “Lo, such advantage is't to multiply.” (Prologue to Chanouncs Tale.)

Multitudes Dame Juliana Berners, in her Booke of St. Albans, says, in designating companies we must not use the
names of multitudes promiscuously, and examples her remark thus:-

“ `We say a congregacyon of people, a hoost of men, a felyshyppynge of jomen, and a bevy of ladyes; we must speak of a herde of dere, swannys, cranys, or wrenys, a sege of herons or bytourys, a muster of pecockes, a watche of nyghtyngales, a fllyghte of doves, a claterynge of choughes, a pryde of lyons, a slewthe of beeres, a gagle of geys, a skulke of foxes, a sculle of frerys; a pontificalitye of prestys, and a superfluyte of nonnes.' ”- Booke of St. Albans (1486).

She adds, that a strict regard to these niceties better distinguishes “gentylmen from ungentylmen,” than regard to the rules of grammar, or even to the moral law. (See Numbers.)

Multum in Parvo (Latin). Much [information] condensed into few words or into a small compass.

Mum A strong beer made in Brunswick; so called from Christian Mummer, by whom it was first brewed.
   Mum (a mask), hence mummer.
   Mum's the word. Keep what is told you a profound secret. (See Mumchance.)

“Seal up your lips, and give no words but- mum.” Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., i. 2.

Mumbo Jumbo A bogie or bugbear in the Mandingo towns of Africa. As the Kaffirs have many wives, it not unfrequently happens that the house becomes quite unbearable. In such a case, either the husband or an agent dresses himself in disguise, and at dusk approaches the unruly house with a following, and makes the most hideous noises possible. When the women have been sufficiently scared, “Mumbo” seizes the chief offender, ties her to a tree, and scourges her with Mumbo's rod, amidst the derision of all present. Mumbo is not an idol, any more than the American Lynch, but one disguised to punish unruly wives. (See Mungo Park: Travels in the Interior of Africa.)

Mumchance Silence, Mumchance was a game of chance with dice, in which silence was indispensable. (Mum is connected with mumble; German, mumme, a muffle; Danish, mumle, to mumble.)

“And for `mumchance,' howe'er the cehane may fall,
You must be mum for fear of spoiling all.”
Machiavell's Dogg.

Mummy is the Egyptian word mum, wax; from the custom of anointing the body with wax and wrapping it in cerecloth. (Persian, momia, wax; Italian, mummia; French, momie.) (See Beaten .)

Mummy Wheat Wheat said to have been taken from some of the Egyptian mummies, and sown in British soil. It is, however, a delusion to suppose that seed would preserve its vitality for some hundreds of years. No seed will do so, and what is called mummy wheat is a species of corn commonly grown on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.

Mumpers Beggars, Leland calls it a gipsy word. In Norwich, Christmas waits used to be called “Mumpers.” In Lincolnshire, “Boxing-day” is called Mumping-day (q.v.). To mump is to beg. Beggars are called the “Mumping Society.”

“A parcel of wretches hopping about by the assistance of their crutches, like so many Lincoln's Inn Fields mumpers, drawing into a body to attack [infest or beset] the coach of some charitable lord.”- Ned Ward: The London Spy, part v.

Mumping Day St. Thomas's Day, December 21. A day on which the poor used to go about begging, or, as it was called, “going a-gooding,” that is, getting gifts to procure good things for Christmas (mump, to beg).
    In Warwickshire the term used was “going a-corning,” i.e. getting gifts of corn. In Staffordshire the custom is spoken of simply as “a-gooding.” (See Mumpers.)

Munchausen (Baron). The hero of a volume of travels, who meets with the most marvellous adventures. The incidents have been compiled from various sources, and the name is said to have pointed to Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, a German officer in the Russian army, noted for his marvellous stories (1720-1797). It is a satire either on Baron de Tott, or on Bruce, whose Travels in Abyssinia were looked