mummer n.
1. the mouth.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Dict. Sl. and Cant. | ||
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Life in London (1869) 268: I took him such a lick of his mummer. | ||
Modern Flash Dict. | ||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
Vocabulum. | ||
Londres et les Anglais 316/1: mummer, [...] la bouche. |
2. an actor.
Fudge Family in Paris Letter III 28: Some mummers by trade, and the rest amateurs. | ||
, | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. | |
(con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor III 139/2: We call strolling acting ‘mumming,’ and the actors ‘mummers’. | ||
Newark Advertiser 18 Jan. n.p.: A party of mummers visited the towns and villages of North Nots [...] and highly diverted the inhabitants by their dancing, singing of old songs, and the play of the Hobby Horse [F&H]. | ||
Musa Pedestris (1896) 177: Suppose you try a different tack, / [...] / At penny-a-lining make your whack, / Or with the mummers mug and gag? | ‘Villon’s Straight Tip’ in Farmer||
Daily Tel. 30 March, n.p.: The proprietor [...] when the popular comedian went away, [...] said how delighted he should be to see him again, although he was a mummer [F&H]. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Jun. 12/4: Meantime, Kenningham, acting 40 times as well, fell comparatively flat. Mummers should never flaunt their marriage-lines. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Sept. 9/3: Mummers come and mummers go; / Each short season closes ; / Time, that rules the passing show, / Withers all the roses. | ||
Sporting Times 17 Apr. 1/2: We are all of us mummers throughout our brief puff. | ‘Comedians All’||
Dict. Amer. Sl. |
In phrases
see dub v.1