Mag

subs. (old).—1.  Talk; chatter; JAW (q.v.). Also a jabberer. Fr. un caquet-bon-bec.

  1778.  BURNEY, Diary, i. 100. If you have any MAG in you, we’ll draw it out.

  1874.  E. L. LINTON, Patricia Kemball, xviii. ‘Don’t be a fool, woman, and hold your MAG on things you don’t understand,’ said Mr. Simpson coarsely.

  1892.  MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 20. Tipped the MAG with as much bellows-blowing as though he’d two tongues in his cheeks.

  2.  (thieves’).—See quots. Also MAKE and MAGPIE. In pl. (in Scotland) = a gratuity expected by servants. Cf. MEG = a guinea.

  1578.  HARMAN, A Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors (1814), p. 65. A MAKE, a halfepenny.

  1610.  ROWLANDS, Martin Mark-all, 39 [Hunterian Club’s Reprint, 1874]. MAKE, an halfpenny.

  1678.  A Warning for House-keepers, 5, ‘Song.’

  c. 1696.  B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. MAKE.

  1748.  T. DYCHE, A New General English Dictionary (5 ed.). MAKE (S.) a cant name for a half-penny.

  1786.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MAKE.

  1789.  G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, p. 124. Bless you eyes and limbs, lay out a MAG with poor chirruping Joe.

  1821.  W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, 6. If any body offers you less nor a MAG, or a duce, vy, you may say with the poet, Who vou’d his farthings bear? ven he himself might his quivetus make vith a bare bodkin.

  1830.  W. T. MONCRIEFF, The Heart of London, ii. 1. I haven’t a MAG.

  1838.  DICKENS, Oliver Twist, viii. ‘But come,’ said the young gentleman, you want grub, and you shall have it. I’m at low-water-mark myself—only a bob and a MAGPIE, but as it goes Ile fork out and stump.’

  1840.  BULWER-LYTTON, Paul Clifford, xvi. You care not a MAG if our party should fall.

  1842.  The Comic Almanack, 29 Aug. ‘La Fontaine’s Mesmeric Exhibition.’

  1843.  W. T. MONCRIEFF, The Scamps of London, ii. 3. I’ll play you three times round the board for a MAG a turn, and a pint to come in—the first five out of nine.

  1852.  DICKENS, Bleak House, ch. liv. p. 451. If he don’t keep such a business as the present as close as possible it can’t be worth a MAG to him.

  1861.  WHYTE-MELVILLE, Good for Nothing, ch. xliv. ‘I’ve kept this safe for many a long day. I’ve held on to it when I hadn’t a MAG in my pocket, nor a crust in my wallet.’

  1864.  Standard, 13 Dec. We do not find the word MAKE (a halfpenny) used by boys in Ireland and extensively among the Irish labouring people settled in London.

  1876.  C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, 63. We should not have taken a ‘MAG,’ as we left the place in the morning.

  3.  (American).—A half-cent.

  1859.  G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

  4.  (shooting).—The same MAGPIE.

  5.  (common).—A magazine.

  1796.  WOLCOT, Peter Pindar, p. 309 [ed. 1830]. And now of Hawkesbury they talked, who wrote in MAGS for hire.

  1837.  The Comic Almanack, 92, ‘A May-day Lay.’

  1869.  Chambers’s Journal, 8 May, p. 303. ‘Why don’t you fellows write something for the MAGS?’ said Tom.

  1882.  MRS. E. R. ALEXANDER, The Freres, 46. He … is on the staff of I don’t know how many papers and MAGS.

  Verb. (old).—1.  To talk.

  1836.  The Comic Almanack, Oct. Just stow your MAGGING, for you’ve piped enough.

  1843.  W. T. MONCRIEFF, The Scamps of London, i. 2. Stow MAGGING—here’s more coves coming.

  1885.  G. A. SALA, in Daily Telegraph, 26 Sept., 5–6. Who hangs for hours about the Piazza Colonna at Rome, chattering and scandal-MAGGING.

  2.  (thieves’).—To steal.

  1818.  SCOTT, The Heart of Mid-lothian, xliii. And loot the carters MAGG the coals.

  3.  (American thieves’).—See quot.

  1859.  G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. MAGGING. Getting money by cheating countrymen with balls, patent safes, etc., etc.

  MAG’S DIVERSION. See MEG.