Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mop (up) v.

1. to eat greedily, to drink, to empty one’s glass; thus mopped up, drunk.

[UK]Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: To Mop Up. To drink up. To empty a glass or pot.
[UK]Jack Randall’s Diary 34: Bid him not turn ’em up for the rincing [...] tell him, my old one, without any mincing, You mopp’d them out (*drank up the remainder) ere you brought them to him.
[UK]Comic Almanack May 54: First she took a very leetle sup, / He fairly swigged it; / And so between them both, alas! / Lady Macbeth and Banquo mopped it up.
[UK]Tom Cladpole’s Jurney to Lunnun 11: I [...] mopp’d up de beer.
[UK]Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 64: MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass.
[UK](con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 250/1: I have seen the youngest ‘mop up’ his half-quartern as well as I did.
[UK]G.J. Whyte-Melville White Rose II 120: He mopped up his champagne, though, pretty freely.
[UK]H. Mayhew London Characters 420: [as cit. 1861].
[UK]‘F. Anstey’ Voces Populi 234: Ah, she’s got a drop o’ the right stuff in there – see her sniffin at it – it won’t take ’er long to mop up that little lot!
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Dec. 15/2: Was going to throw the stuff out, when two dog-poisoners on the run said they’d mop it up all right; so I gave it to them, and they just did have a jamboree.
[UK]Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Coster’s Christening 🎵 [O]l’ Mother Brown was moppin’ up the gin.
[Aus]E.G. Murphy ‘Pints That I’ve Refused’ in Jarrahland Jingles 80: When Saint Peter up on top My passport has perused, He’ll put me, p’raps, where I may mop The Pints That I’ve Refused.
[Aus]Truth (Sydney) 15 Dec. 7/6: And the way she mopped tho wittals, / It were just a pertect treat.
[Aus]Sport (Adelaide) 4 Jan. 13/2: They Say [...] That Harry W. is still on the ‘Mop it up and have one more’ hit.
[US]Ade ‘The New Fable of What Transpires’ in Ade’s Fables 142: He didn’t see that there was anything for Ferdinand to do except mop up a few Drinks.
[UK]Wodehouse Damsel in Distress (1961) 35: This ’ere one’s bin moppin’ of it up, and the one in the keb’s orf ’is bloomin’ onion.
[UK]Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 197: ‘Shifting a bit.’ ‘I beg your pardon?’ ‘Mopping up the stuff to some extent.’.
[UK](con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 32: As soon as we got into a boozer we started mopping up the beer.
[UK]Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 164: How anyone can mop it [i.e. alcohol] up, as you do, for pleasure beats me.
[US]E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act IV: I could smoke Sweet Caporals, and mop up a couple of beers.
[Aus]Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 331–22: Has a bloke got to stand here and be insulted in his own country, while a bunch of refugees from Pearl Harbour mop up all the beer?
[UK]B. McGhee Cut and Run (1963) 158: It’s no’ ma fau’t you’re runnin’ aboot wi’ an aul’ wine-moppin’ bun.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 6 Nov. 8: I set about mopping up my pint.
[UK]K. Waterhouse Soho 219: Why aren’t you down the New Kismet mopping up the free booze?

2. to absorb, to appropriate, to defeat or win.

[UK](con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 203/1: If I gets inside, I’ll mop up 1s.
[US]Donaldsville Chief (LA) 26 Sept. 1/6: We were the acknowledged champions of the country [...] We made up our minds to mop the earth up with them.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Sept. 14/4: The capitalist will mop up their property and build big estates.
[UK]Yorks. Eve. Post 4 Oct. 7/2: The Connemara Basher [...] picked up a brick, which he threw the window. He said, ‘I will fight the six best men in Huddersfield. I come from Connemara where I mopped the whole town up’.
[US]R.E. Howard ‘Texas Fists’ Fight Stories May 🌐 He knocked out Joe, here, in that ring, but he plumb mopped up [...] Red, which challenged him to a rough-and-tumble brawl with bare fists.
[UK]M. Amis London Fields 134: I thought that time and inflation and the new demographics would have mopped him up by now.
[US]D. Rucker Life’s Too Short 110: We mop up the court with these kids.

3. (orig. milit.) to carry out conclusively, esp. of a gangland or military shooting.

[UK]T. Troubridge in Morgan ‘House’ on Sport 393: The birds [...] come over in one’s and two’s, and are ‘mopped up’ [OED].
[UK]Marvel XIV:364 Oct. 2: We can mop up our crowd any day if they turn rusty!
[Aus]Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 Mar. 5/1: Timothy Hogg was a bold Camelier, / From the land of the setting sun; / And the girls gave Timmy a rousing cheer / When he started to mop up the Hun.
L.N. Smith Lingo of No Man’s Land 54: MOPPING UP Clearing the battlefield after action [...] This includes the hazardous business of cleaning out lurking enemies hidden in dugouts and shell-holes awaiting a chance to strike Tommy in the back.
[UK]Exter & Plymouth Gaz. 8 Oct. 4/6: His company had been detailed to mop up the village of Ponchaux.
[US]W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 163: ‘Mopping up, ain’t you, Rico?’ [...] ‘Well, Arnie was double-crossing me.’.
[US]J. Lait Gangster Girl 61: Biff Glasson is out right now moppin’ up the details.
[Aus](con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 97: It took under ten minutes to mop up the whole of the copse.
[UK]Peters & Sklar Stevedore III ii: Listen to that coon! Shut up, nigger. Let’s mop ’em up.
[US]C.S. Montanye ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in Thrilling Detective May 🌐Who—’ ‘Mopped him up? Frankly, I wouldn’t know.’.
[US]L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 235: They figure some Army to mop up the rest.
[US]H.S. Thompson letter 15 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 469: You were both telling me how Allende was going to mop up in Chile.
[UK]S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 100: You must strike at the top / cut off the head and then the body’s dead / confusion then will spread about / then we mop up.

4. to make a good deal of money.

[Aus]Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Mar. 8/2: When Melba was mopping up boodle in this country it was freely stated in every paper (each one different) what she was nicking out of her Aus. tour.
[US]Hecht & Fowler Great Magoo 175: A guy who can spiel a gut-ache! We’ll mop up.
[US]W.R. Burnett Widow Barony 68: ‘It’s okay, Bert,’ he said. ‘Damned shame though. We could have mopped up here’.
[US]J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 18: She thinks we don’t know half the staff is bangin’ old guys for pin money. That’s why we hire them so young. A smart chick can mop up.

5. to believe, to acknowledge.

[UK](con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 31: We tried to put the wind up him by telling him they were two pretty hard-bitten offenders, and he seemed to mop it up.