Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. in US Und. uses.

2. a departure or dismissal.

1894		Atlantic Monthly Sept. 324: I’s got the mooch out o’ Boston [...] The bulls snared me, ’n’ his Honor told me to crawl.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 222: Get a mooch on, you snipe-nosed galoot.

3. a wander, a saunter.

1889		J.K. Jerome Three Men in a Boat 54: A glass in the evening when you are doing a mouch round the town and looking at the girls is all right enough.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 22 Nov. 2/4: Smiler, who had worked liko a nigger, thought he’d have a mooch round.
1907		Sun (NY) 18 Oct. 11/1: The big ring gumshoes ought to take a mooch around and find out who’s grabbed it all.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘When Love Began’ Sporting Times 8 Feb. 1/3: Tram rides in the suburbs when the summer eves are long, / And a ‘mooch around the ’ouses’ in the winter.
1937		E. Raymond Marsh 157: I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d come out for a mouch round.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 190: I was up in the West End one day having mooch round.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 140/2: Mooch, n. [...] 6. An idler or passerby; a pedestrian; the act of walking around aimlessly.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 20: I had a bit of a mooch around the manor for a while.
1980		(con. 1930s) Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 29: Let’s have a mooch up the boozer for a quick half.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 12: Most of the crew who got on at Upton go off for a mooch.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 108: He just wants a mooch about.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 158: They had a good old mooch through Johnny’s legal papers.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 39: I [...] for a mooch about. I needed a break from Sonny.

4. (also moochie) a sponger, a borrower; a beggar, an idler, thus the mooch, begging.

1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 60: mooch [...] A mendicant, an alms solicitor.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 131: Mooch. – A beggar.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 60: What a crew! Mooches, fags, fourflushers, stool pigeons, bums – unwilling to work, unable to steal, always short of money, always whining for credit.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 106: A ‘mooch’, a ‘dingaloo’, or a ‘touch artist’ is a beggar or crook.
1966		‘Minnesota Fats’ Bank Shot xii: A Broke – A mooch without a quarter.
1978		R. De Christoforo Grease 92: ‘I’ll take one,’ I said. ‘And how about one for later?’‘Cheez, what a mooch!’.
1983		S. King Christine 89: Moochie’s real name was Peter, but the kids all called him Moochie because you always saw him outside of the rock concerts in Pittsburgh, spare-changing odd dimes from the crowd.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 133: You’re such a mooch! Get your own lunch.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 19: Mooch: Freeloader.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 158: You’re a cheap-ass mooch.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 67: By the end ay the mooch, whin the cauld has crept intae yir bones.

5. (US gambling, also moochie) a gullible or naïve person.

1935		Sun (N.Y.) 19 Feb. 28/1: The sucker has many names among the crooks. ‘Lily,’ ‘mug,’ ‘pushover,’ and ‘mooch’ are the most common.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 47: Rita’s got a date with a mooch.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 140/2: Mooch, n. 1. A person with no sales resistance; an easy victim for peddlers of watered stocks and securities, Imperfect diamonds, and other commodities of dubious value. 2. The victim of a swindle.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 109: This guy is no mooch. Six times six is thirty-six to him.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 263: Moochie, that’s the word we used. Suckers.
1981		E. Bunker Little Boy Blue (1995) 77: The mooch was shooting twenty dollars.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 110: I still went to the pool room every day to play house pool and hustled the odd buck whenever I was lucky enough to meet a mooch willing to play for small stakes.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 20: The mooch tumbled his hot date [...] was a rip-off.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Mooch — An especially easy mark.

6. (US drugs) a drug, usu. heroin or opium.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 140/2: Mooch, n. [...] 3. Habit-forming narcotics.
2003		‘Worksheet 9: Self study of drug abuse’ St Alban’s College 🌐 Opiates e.g. [...] morphine (M, [...] mooch, etc.).

7. (drugs) a drug addict; thus kick the mooch around

1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 21: If a carney peddles stuff the law doesn’t like, it’s because the mooches want it, isn’t it?
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 54: A junk mooch, who maintained his habit by trading information to the cops for heroin.

8. a general term of abuse.

1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 47: If you get the right rhythm you can work it out even if the mooch is awake.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 506: Chase that mooch you’ve got in the room and meet me downstairs.
1974		R. Stone Dog Soldiers (1976) 70: I’m off sex. Sex is just a room full of mooches jerking off in their pants.