Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a young victim of a confidence trick.

1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 27: Everyone of dose muglets had turned up his pants as far as mine.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 210: It ain’t until about half-past ten nex’ mornin’ that the poor young muglet goes to the bank to stop the cheque.

(Aus.) an unpleasantly conceited, smug person.

1944		L. Glassop We Were the Rats 81: The mug aleck prowls around at four o’clock each morning, looking for cows to milk.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 63: ‘Who was he?’ ‘I don’t remember. Some mug aleck.’.

(US tramp) a (portrait) photographer.

1915

Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 13 June 19/3: Mug artist — Photographer or picture machine operator.

(N.Z. prison) two very close friends.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 120/1: mug and spoon n. two inmates who are close friends and spend much of their time together.

1. (US police/Und., also mug file) a book of pictures used to help police in keeping records of known criminals.

1902		C.L. Cullen More Ex-Tank Tales 85: I’d seen his mush in Byrne’s mug book.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 84: He laughed. ‘You in the pictures, chum?’ ‘Only in the kind they pin up in the post office.’ ‘See you in the mug book,’ he said, and walked away.
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 61: Dave concentrated on the mug book.
1967		R. Conot Rivers of Blood 320: [T]hey were following standard operating procedure of photographing all delinquents [...] and filing their pictures in “mug books”’.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 37: That’s not the problem. It’s the other — your refusal to go through our mug file or view a lineup.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 147: He closed the mug book and pushed it across the table.
1993		K. Scott Monster (1994) 198: A man had been robbed [...] and he had picked De and me out of a mug book as the robbers.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hollywood Fuck Pad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 220: Take Donna Donahue around and show her mug books.

2. a collection of photographs of prominent people.

1935

A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Mug book, a book published for prominent business and professional men who are induced by high pressure solicitors to vividly write about themselves with youthful photographs. They pay well for this blue book privilege.

1. (Aus. prison) one who complains to excess ands thus reveals themselves a poor loser.

1950		‘No 35’ Argot in Simes DAUS 222: The victim who complains bellers (bellows) like a bad mug.
1972		Parramatta Jail Gloss. B. Moore (ed.) (2023) 48: bad mug person who makes mountain out of molehill.
2004		Dly. Teleg. (Sydney) 15 Dec. 97: You did what tennis players do every time they throw a racquet or cuss. You behaved like a bad mug.

2. (N.Z. prison) a sinister character.

1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 251: Mug (n) ... 3. e.g. Bad — . Sinister or evil character.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/1: bad mug n. 1 a sinister or evil character.

3. (N.Z. prison) an inmate who has been targeted for a beating.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 12/1: bad mug n. 2 an inmate targeted for an assault.

(UK Und.) a confidence trickster,, thus n. mug-catching.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 July 18/3: Now, among the London ‘swell mob’ and the ‘mug-catchers’ who infest English racecourses there are many staunch teetotallers and non-smokers.
1894		Mirror of Life 9 June 14/2: Knew How to Work a Mug There are some sporting characters who profess to be adept at mug-catching, and pride' itemselves on their ability.

(Aus.) a police officer, the inference is of ignorance and stolidity.

1922		Age (Melbourne) 10 May 15/3: When the police approached tlio crowd, including defendant, ran away, and one of the number called out, ‘Mug coppers’.
1928		Argus (Melbourne) 24 Apr. 5/8: Do not take any notice of those mug coppers; I’ll fix them up.
1930		Sydney Morn. Herald 16 Dec. 6/4: You are a Rothbury basher and a mug copper.
1949		J. Cleary Long Shadow (1968) V 40: And I’m not going to be chucked out on my neck to let some bloody mug copper move in on it!
1949		Partridge DU 455: mug John. A policeman : Australian: C.20.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 59: Pooh to you, you mug copper.
1968		A. Buzo Norm and Ahmed 31: Mind you, though, if a mug copper ever started pushing me around, I’d job him good and proper, no risk about that.
1978		J. Hepworth His Book 164: Apart from sharing the nationwide constabulary sensitivity to being called ‘mug coppers’ or ‘wallopers’, the Canberra fuzz are particularly touchy about two things.
1996		Sydney City Hub 4 Apr. 5/2: My father was already doing some anticipatory laughing, as Roy went on, ‘and this mug copper comes up, and starts having a go at him.’.

a street photographer.

1933		‘George Orwell’ Down and Out in Complete Works I (1986) 176: These (omitting the ones that everyone knows) are some of the cant words now used in London: [...] A mugfaker – a street photographer.
1935		X. Petulengro Romany Life 230: We were mug-fakirs in the light, buskers in the dark [...] The Romanys were the first people to work the old tin-type photo on the Continent after Daguerre.
2003		(con. 1934) W. Woodruff Beyond Nab End 86: He’d given up his job as a mug-faker.

1. a confidence trickster.

1868		Sportsman 18 Apr. 4/1: Notes on News [...] ‘[M]ug-hunters,’ whose presence is danger to a ‘flat’ and nuisance to any respectable man the world.
1886		Sporting Times 20 Feb. 7/1: They developed into mere mug-hunters [...] waiting continually for a fresh youngster to show round the town [...] this disreputable band of aristocratic sharps.
1891		Sporting Times 14 Feb. 5/4: A good run is reported from the Piccadilly Mug-hunters. View Halloa was called at the Criterion [etc.].

2. one who tours the streets late at night in search of drunken men who can be robbed.

1887

J.W. Horsley Jottings from Jail 98: A mug-hunter, aged 24, left Millbank last Tuesday, after doing three months for a midnight theft.

(Aus.) a contemptuous description, i.e. a stupid, gullible, flashy show-off.

1944		L. Glassop We Were The Rats 146: Well, they’re singin’ an’ prayin’ an’ hallelujahin’ there for a while an’ a coupler mug lairs starts ter chip ’em.
1948		S.L. Elliott Rusty Bugles 25: You’re a mug lair.
1962		‘David Forrest’ Hollow Woodheap 13: ‘Mug lair!’ yelled the gentleman, ‘You might have killed a bloke!’.
1972		A. Chipper Aussie Swearers Guide 41: Mug Lair. (Also dead lair). A rich Old School description for a flashily dressed ignoramus.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 34: Lair: A flash bastard who plays up like billy-oh and dresses up like a pox doctor’s clerk. Normally anyone who is a lair is called a ‘mug lair.’.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 247: Cumberland [...] was considered in most racing circles a bit of a ponce. He most certainly was the worst type of mug lair.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 147: In the combination mug lair, the primary meaning of stupidity is extended into an insult and in this form the term is still used today.

(Aus.) a list of individuals considered as gullible and exploitable.

1972

J. McNeill Old Familiar Juice (1973) 59: bulla: You surer that now? You wouldn’t put me on yer mug list then?

see sense 4b above.

plain, unattractive.

1915

S. Ford Torchy, Private Sec. 81: While she ain’t what you’d call mug-mapped, she has one of these low-bridge noses and a lot of oily, dark red hair that she does in a weird fashion.

see mug shot n.

a sucker in any game of chance or at a racecourse; also attrib.

1900		Sydney Sportsman Surry Hills, NSW) 5 Dec. 5/1: The mug punter, who makes periodical trips to the course, is the party who supports pony racing. The regular habitue, who lives on the game doesn’t support it at all. He makes the game support him.
1910		Truth (Perth) 12 Feb. 12/6: The bitterness existing against the equine pilot evidently still rankles in the breast of the mug-punters‘ prad-picker, who, on Wednesday, once more brought his troubles under the public gaze by aiming missiles [...] at the prad-pilot as that individual sat on his horse.
1926		Mirror (Perth) 24 July 11/3: The mug punter is so well imbued with his own folly that it would be difficult to persuade him that there was anything foolish about his proceedings.
1935		Sporting Globe (Melbourne) 27 July 6/5: There are a whole lot of things that the ‘mug punter’ doesn’t know—that he doesn’t even suspect. Take ‘doping’ first.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 41: There’ll always be plenty of mug punters to go round. Thank God.
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 21: A nasty little tout invited me to a near-beer joint [...] ‘Keep it for the mug punters, man’.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aus. Gamble 58: For all that the hard-headed businessman was in no danger of developing into a mug punter.
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 18: Sounds like a mug punter to me.
1983		A. Payne ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 14: He’s not up to anything, he’s a mug punter.
1989		R.G. Barratt ‘Barrett’s Gone a-Punting’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] And what could a mug punter like me do but bow to better judgment?
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 45: So Dr William Bland [...] all-round genius and all-round mug-punter, again outlays his entire wippy on Mormon.
1998		Observer Sport 12 Sept. 8: Best that the suits do not continue to bank on the mug punter mentality.
2000		I. McDowall A Study in Death 271: I just wanted to let him know that I knew, see? That I wasn’t some clueless mug punter.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] Streets full of mug punters rolling drunk to the bookie’s.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] Brendan, the deli owner, and an older man in a bus driver’s uniform uniform had discussed which shares were hot. It sounded to Swann like mug punters talking horses.

see mug’s game n.

see separate entry.

see separate entry.

(orig. US) to take a picture of a prisoner for identification; thus mug-shooter n., a police photographer.

1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. Und. Sl. 34: Mug Shooter — Photographer.
1980		in S. Terkel Amer. Dreams (1982) 298: They did fingerprint me and mug-shot me.
1994		P. Baker Blood Posse 249: I was mug-shot and fingerprinted.

see under ticker n.¹

a con-man, one who tricks gullible victims.

1888

‘’Arry on Marriage’ in Punch 29 Sept. 156/1: The ‘D.T.’ is a regular mug-trap.

1. (N.Z. gay) for a male sex worker, a dangerous or potentially violent client.

2010

W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 73: Terms like on-site visuals (personal appearance), stock (lubricant and condoms), and ugly mug (a dangerous or potentially violent client), became part of the [male sex worker] vernacular .

2. see also sense 1b

of a confidence trickster, to ensnare a victim.

1885

Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 13/1: Well, the fact is […] there’s nothin’ to be made ‘on the never’ now; there’s too many on the bloomin’ game. If you cop a mug out of the Metropolitan, and are just a getting him away right, ’bout six of seven in the same line wants to stand in; and that puts the mug fly and chokes him off the push.

to make faces, e.g. of a clown or comedian; thus mug-cutter n.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 357: The dismissal of an underling actor would undoubtedly follow, if he dared to commence his speech before a great comic performer had done ‘cutting of mugs’ [...] I mean making wry faces.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 88: ‘Come, wet t’other eye,’ cried Bob, cutting one of his comical mugs.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

to take a drink.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

see hold one’s gob under gob n.¹

(US campus) to scowl.

2012

Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011.

foolish, treated like a fool.

2011

J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 156: Sonny starts to feel mugged-off [...] a feeling of being obviously blatantly swindled.

(US tramp) to wash one’s face.

1927		W. Edge Main Stem 84: We asked a man in the hall where we could wash up [...] ‘If yer just wants ter polish yer mugs, ye’ll find de toilet down dat hall to yer left.’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 148: Polish the Mug. – To wash the hands and face.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 813: polish the mug -To wash the hands and face.

to throttle.

1853		Chester Chron. 25 June 6/5: When chance throws a half-drunken man in their way, one steals up on him from behind, and places his hand on his mouth, or, what is professionally termed ‘puts the mug’ on him, while another rifles his pockets.
1903		H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 271: I explained how I would ‘put the mug on her’ while my husky pal went through her.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 304: To put the mug on (a mark). To put a strangle-hold on a mark who grows obstreperous after he has been fleeced.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 170/2: Put the mugg on. See Put the arm on.

to be quiet, esp. as imper.

1946

(con. 1912) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 89: Oh, shut your mug for heavens sake.

(UK Und.) a ‘straight’ or (supposedly) guileless face.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 19/2: This was a staggerer to Joe, and turning towards her with a ‘square mug,’ he asked, in surprise, ‘Are you speaking to me, Madam?’.

to run off, to leave quickly; esp. as excl. stall your mug! go away!

1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 23: To stall your mug To go home, or to take shelter.
1859		Hotten Dict. Modern Slang 101: stall your mug, go away; spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 27/1: The garcon, after bringing in our half-dozen of wine, would ‘stall his mug’ into a grocer’s ‘drum’ next door after the ‘slavey’.
1873		Sl. Dict. 308: Stall your mug go away; spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Dec. 6/6: ‘Stall your mug and let a poor traveller be.’ ‘Poor traveller! priggish spinikindosser’.
1889		Barrèrre & Leland Sl., Jargon and cant.

(UK Und.) to let anyone see one’s face, to reveal oneself.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 14/1: I did not want to ‘throw my mug away,’ but in this instance I could not help it.

(US) to betray one’s intentions.

1842

Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 5 Mar. n.p.: Oh lauks! how snug I gulls the greens, vot tips their mugs to twig me.

an excl. used in sporting matches when the winners of the previous game tell the losers to start the next contest or game.

2003		Highlands County Dart Association 🌐 MUGS AWAY: Slang for loser of the game starts the next game.
2003		Markham Dart League 🌐 The Home team must diddle first in the first leg of each game. The team to win the diddle shoots first. The team that lost the diddle must shoot first in the second leg (i.e. Mugs Away).

a cheap tavern.

1709		R. Steele Tatler No. 180 (1804) 346: There is a Mug-House near Long-Acre.
1715		in Killey-Crankeys Garland [song title] 6: The Mug House Song.
1716		Stamford Mercury 27 Sept. 3: By and by the Mob increased, and he heard the People at the Mug-house cry ‘King George for ever’.
1718		Newcastle Courant 1 Nov. 5: Vaughan was at the Head of the Mob with a Club in his hand [...] crying[...] No King George, No Hanoverian, down with the Mughouse.
1791		J. Walker Pronouncing Dict. 350/1: Mughouse, An alehouse, a low house of entertainment.
1835		Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gaz. 25 July 2/1: Mr Hughes held an inquest at the Mug-house, St Cle,ment’s, on the body of [...] the landlord.
1808		(con. 1716) J. Malcolm Anecdotes of Manners and Customs 261: The very focus of those mischiefs were the various mug-houses, as they were politely termed, or in other words Club-taverns.
1850		Hereford Times 5 Jan. 12/1: George Subray deposed that he was at the Mug House in Leominster, on the night on which the robbery [...] was committed.
1871		Liverpool Dly Post 11 May 3/1: [advert] To be let, a Mug House and shop [etc.].
1891		Graphic (London) 14 May 14/1: Well, then, go and be pressed. Put on sailor’s slops and sat in a mug-house in Ratcliffe.
1947		(ref. to early 18C) Western Dly Press 3 Jan. 2/3: A famous london inn has been described [...] as ‘going back to the days of the mug house.’ A mug house was the name given to public houses in the early part of the eighteenth century, where people were served with beer in their own mugs.