Farmer’s Slang & Its Analogues. 1890–1909, rev. 2022.
Mute
subs. (old: now recognised).—See quot.
1
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MUTE. An undertaker’s servant, who stands at the door of a person lying in state: so named from being supposed mute with grief.
