subs. (common).—1. See quots.
1787. GROSE, A Provincial Glossary, etc. MOP, a statute fair for hiring servants.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. MOP. A kind of annual fair in the west of England, where farmers usually hire their servants.
1860. 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. E. WOOD, Johnny Ludlow, i. 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. Towneley Mysteries, ut sup, ‘Prima Pastorum,’ p. 96. Haylle, lytylle, tyne MOP!
1589. PUTTENHAM, Art of English Poesie, p. 184. As in our Triumphals, calling familiarly upon our muse, I called her MOPPE,
| But will you weet, | |
| My little muse, my prettie MOPPE, | |
| If we shall algates change our stoppe, | |
| Chose me a sweet. |
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Pupo, … a daintie MOP, a playing babie.
1680. DRYDEN, The Spanish Friar, i.
| With a globe in one hand, and a scepter in t’ other? | |
| A very pretty MOPPET! |
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v.
1706. WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, x.
| These mix’d with brewers, and their MOPSIES, | |
| Half dead with timpanies and dropsies. |
1706. VANBRUGH, The Mistake, iv. 1. Jacin. Ah woman! foolish, foolish woman! San. Very foolish, indeed. Jacin. But don’t expect I’ll follow her example. San. You would, MOPSY, if I ’d let you.
5. (old).—A grimace.
1609. SHAKESPEARE, Tempest, iv. 1.
| Each one, tripping on his toe, | |
| Will be here with MOP and mowe. |
1621. FLETCHER, The Pilgrim, iv. 2. What MOPS and mows it makes!
6. (old).—A fool.
c. 1399. On the Deposition of Richard II. [WRIGHT (1838), 24].
| Daunsinge to pipis, | |
| in myrthe with MOPPIS, | |
| myrrours of synne. |
c. 1430. York Plays, 299.
| i Dux. This MOP meynes þat he may marke men to þer mede, | |
| He makis many maistries and mervayles emange. |
Verb. (common).—1. See quot. 1811. Also MOP UP.
1675. COTTON, Burlesque upon Burlesque: or, The Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 261.
| I’ll stand or lie as thou dost pray me, | |
| And MOPPE too, if thou’lt not betray me. |
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. TO MOP UP. To drink up. To empty a glass or pot.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, iii. 260. I have seen the youngest MOP UP his half-quartern as well as I did.
1868. WHYTE-MELVILLE, The White Rose, xxix. He MOPPED UP his champagne, though, pretty freely. Do you suppose, now, he could have been drunk?
2. (colloquial).—To collect. Also MOP UP.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, iii. 203. If I gets inside, I’ll MOP UP 1s. if it’s good company, or perhaps 3d. or 4d., and always plenty to drink.
TO MOP UP, verb. phr. (common).—1. See verb., senses 1 and 2.
2. (common).—See quot.
1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, 252. MOP UP means ‘stop your talk,’ and is another form of ‘dry up.’
TO MOP (or WIPE) THE FLOOR (GROUND, or EARTH) WITH ONE, verb. phr. (common).—To knock one down.
1887. W. E. HENLEY and R. L. STEVENSON, Deacon Brodie, I. iii. 1. Muck that’s my opinion of him … I’ll MOP THE FLOOR UP with him any day.
1888. Detroit Free Press, 25 Aug. ‘I told him that I could MOP THE EARTH with him, but had been careful not to use provoking language!’
TO BE MOPPED (or WIPED) OUT, verb. phr. (common).—To be ruined; FLOORED (q.v.); or killed.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 53. They say he’s MOPPED OUT; I dunnow.
1828. P. EGAN, Finish to Tom and Jerry, 135. Jerry declared himself to be quite MOPS AND BROOMS.
1840. H. COCKTON, Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist, xviii. He did mix, but scarcely took the rawness off the brandy…. ‘The governor’s GETTING MOPS AND BROOMS,’ whispered Horace to his amiable spouse.
1858. C. W. SHIRLEY BROOKS, The Gordian Knot, p. 173. If I had married a wife, I don’t think I should go home to her in a state of MOPS AND BROOMS, after offering to fight a fishmonger in the Haymarket because he had arranged his lobsters and prawns in a way displeasing to my bewildered eye.
IN THE MOPS, adv. phr. (common).—Sulky.
