or moucher, moocher, subs. (common).—A skulker; a petty thief; a beggar. Also, a truant. Also MICH and MICHER. See quots. passim. For synonyms, see LOAFER.
1360. CHAUCER, The Romaunt of the Rose [SKEAT (1894), i. 241. 6541]. Unnethe that he nis a MICHER.
1450–1500. Gesta Romanorum, I. ch. 28, 94. The firste [duty] is to wake in goode werkes, when oþere men slepithe in synne, & for to slepe, when oþere men wakithe, as dothe thevis & MYCHERS.
149[?]. Towneley Mysteries [Surtees Society’s Publication (1835), p. 216]. Thefes and MYCHERS keyn.
15[?]. Babees Booke [E.E.T.S.], 401.
| Chyld, be þou lyer noþer no theffe; | |
| Be þou no MECHER for myfcheffe. |
c. 1520. Hickscorner (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i. 164). Wanton wenches, and also MICHERS.
1590. GREENE, Mourning Garment [GROSART (1881–6), ix. 133]. If Aristotle had still, like a MICHER been stewed up in Stagyra.
1592. NASHE, Summer’s Last Will [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, viii. 57]. I know thou art but a MICHER, and dar’st not stand me.
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Pillucone, a sot, a coxcombe, a dodger, a wrangler, a MICHER.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV, ii. 4. Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a MICHER and eat blackberries?
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. Caqueraffe, a base MICHER, scurvie hagler, lowsie dodger, etc.
1755. JOHNSON, A Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. MICHER. A lazy loiterer, who skulks about in corners and by-places, and keeps out of sight; a hedge-creeper. Mich or mick is still retained in the cant language for an indolent, lazy fellow. It is used in the western counties for a truant boy.
1775. ASH, English Dictionary, s.v. MICH (a local word). An indolent lazy fellow.
1847. HALLIWELL, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc., s.v. MICH. MICHER … may be explained, a sly thief, one who steals things of small value, or more usually, a truant or skulking fellow…. It was often used as a term of contempt; Hollyband gives it as the translation of Caignard, and Cotgrave has, ‘Chiche-face, a chichiface, MICHER, sneake-bill, wretched fellow.’
1867. London Herald, 23 March, p. 221. If … asked … what he was doing, he would have said he was ON THE MOUCH, which being interpreted—French, mouchard, a spy; English MOUCHER, to be on the look-out for something.
1888. Indoor Paupers, 33. Another and about as numerous a class of Ins and Outs, whose members come and go and come again even more frequently than the tiptop-spree fellows, are the MOUCHERS or cadgers.
1888. Cornhill Magazine, Feb., p. 182. It has been already remarked that the poacher is nothing if not a specialist. As yet we have spoken only of the MOUCHER, who directs his attention to fur.
1888. Daily Telegraph, 27 Nov. [A MICHER is] one who lives a semi-vagabond life, selling watercresses, wild flowers, blackberries, and other things that may be obtained in country places for the gathering. He is a vendor, too, of dandelion leaves, parsley, sow-thistle, clover, and so forth, as food for the myriads of tame rabbits kept in towns.
