subs. (old).—1. In pl. The lips; more frequently MUNS (q.v.).
Adj. (old).—Silent; also as adv. Mum! as intj. and in phr., MUM’S THE WORD! KEEP MUM! MUM YOUR DUBBER = Silence! Also MUM-CHANCE and MUM-BUDGET! See quots. 1611, 1660, and 1811.
1557–8. Jacob and Esau [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, ii. 191]. But peace, MUM, no more: I see Master Esau.
1563. Appius and Virginia [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, iv. 131]. But peace, for man’s body! Haphazard be MUM.
1572. EDWARDS, Damon and Pithias [DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT) IV. 38]. Bah, MUMBUDGET, for Carisophus I espy.
1588. Jeronimo [DODSLEY, Old Plays (1874), iv. 376]. Peace; no words: I’ll get thy pardon: Why, MUM, then.
1594. Look About You, Sc. 12 [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, vii. 420]. MUMBUDGET, not a word, as thou lovest thy life.
1597. SHAKESPEARE, Richard III., iii. 7.
| Glo. How now, how now? what say the citizens? | |
| Buck. Now, by the holy mother of our Lord, | |
| The citizens are MUM, say not a word. |
1596. SHAKESPEARE, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 2. I come to her in white, and cry MUM; and she cries BUTGET, and by that we know one another.
1599. HENRY PORTER, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii. 327]. Hush then; MUM, mouse in cheese, cat is near.
1607. W. S., The Puritaine, ii. 1. MUM! Mary’s a good wench still.
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. Avoir le bec gelé, to play MUMBUDGET, to be tongue-tyed, to say never a word.
1611. L. BARRY, Ram Alley, iv. Will Small-shanks has your daughter—no word but MUM.
1675. COTTON, Burlesque upon Burlesque: or, The Scoffer Scofft, in Works (1725), p. 273.
| But, should another chance to come, | |
| Of Mavors not a Word, but MUM. |
1660. HOWELL, Lexicon Tetraglotton, s.v. To play at MUMBUDGET; Demurer court, ne sonner mot.
1660. TATHAM, The Rump, i. 1. Wood. Odd, so they are here. I cry MUM.
1663. BUTLER, Hudibras, I. iii. v. 207.
| Nor did I ever wince or grudge it, | |
| For thy dear sake. (Quoth she) MUM-BUDGET. |
1664. J. WILSON, The Projectors, i. 1. Farewell! but MUM.
1672. WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, iii. 2. MUM, MUM, make no excuses man; I would not Ranger should have known me for five hundred kicks.
1766. KENRICK, Falstaff’s Wedding, i. 1. He stood MUMCHANCE, and spoke never a living syllable.
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. I’ll just step myself, and show you a piece of the way. (To the Landlord). MUM!
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1789. G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Dubber MUM’D. To keep your mouth shut, or be obliged to hold your tongue.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. MUM. An interjection directing silence. MUM FOR THAT; I shall be silent as to that. As mute as MUMCHANCE, who was hanged for saying nothing; a friendly reproach to any one who seems low-spirited and silent.
1796. J. G. HOLMAN, Abroad and at Home, iii. 2. You know, one shou’d not brag of one’s connections, so MUM’S THE WORD before my father; I must pass off for a Foreign Count; so mind your hits, Dicky.
1820. SCOTT, The Abbot, ch. xv. ‘We grow older every moment we stand idle, and life is too short to be spent in playing MUMCHANCE.’
1837. T. E. HOOK, Jack Brag, ii. 46. I could tell you such a story!—but, MUM for the present.
1847. HALLIWELL, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc., s.v. MUMBUDGET, a cant wold implying silence.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, xxi. The boys axe always MUM under the eyes of the usher.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. MUM. Say nothing; nothing to say.
1863. H. KINGSLEY, Austin Elliot, ch. vi. This man could talk to her and amuse her, when he sat MUMCHANCE.
1868. C. READE and BOUCICAULT, Foul Play, ch. liii. To use her own words, she was one as could n’t abide to sit MUMCHANCE.
1893. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 35. A fig for sech MUMCHANCE old mivvies.
1895. H. B. MARRIOTT-WATSON, The King’s Treasure, in The New Review, July, p. 4. But when the Law says MUM, why I says MUM, too, as in duty bound.
Verb. (theatrical).—To act.
1569. PRESTON, Cambyses [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, iv. 231].
| Running at tilt, justing, with running at the ring, | |
| Masquing and MUMMING, with each kind of thing. |
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, Mascarare, to maske … to MUM, to cloke, to hide.
1606. The Return from Parnassus, iv., 2 [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, ix., 190].
| And all the grisly sprights of griping hell | |
| With MUMMING look hath dogg’d thee since thy birth. |
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, iii. 149. We call strolling acting, MUMMING and the actors mummers.
