Green’s Dictionary of Slang

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

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: To Mop Up. To drink up. To empty a glass or pot.
1820		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.
1836		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.
1844		Tom Cladpole’s Jurney to Lunnun 11: I [...] mopp’d up de beer.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 64: MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass.
1861		(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.
1868		G.J. Whyte-Melville White Rose II 120: He mopped up his champagne, though, pretty freely.
1874		H. Mayhew London Characters 420: [as cit. 1861].
1892		‘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!
1900		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.
c.1900		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Coster’s Christening 🎵 [O]l’ Mother Brown was moppin’ up the gin.
1908		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.
1912		Truth (Sydney) 15 Dec. 7/6: And the way she mopped tho wittals, / It were just a pertect treat.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 4 Jan. 13/2: They Say [...] That Harry W. is still on the ‘Mop it up and have one more’ hit.
1914		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.
1919		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.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 197: ‘Shifting a bit.’ ‘I beg your pardon?’ ‘Mopping up the stuff to some extent.’.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 32: As soon as we got into a boozer we started mopping up the beer.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 164: How anyone can mop it [i.e. alcohol] up, as you do, for pleasure beats me.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act IV: I could smoke Sweet Caporals, and mop up a couple of beers.
1951		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?
1962		B. McGhee Cut and Run (1963) 158: It’s no’ ma fau’t you’re runnin’ aboot wi’ an aul’ wine-moppin’ bun.
1999		Indep. Rev. 6 Nov. 8: I set about mopping up my pint.
2001		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.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 203/1: If I gets inside, I’ll mop up 1s.
1885		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.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Sept. 14/4: The capitalist will mop up their property and build big estates.
1926		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’.
1931		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.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 134: I thought that time and inflation and the new demographics would have mopped him up by now.

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

1898		T. Troubridge in Morgan ‘House’ on Sport 393: The birds [...] come over in one’s and two’s, and are ‘mopped up’ [OED].
1900		Marvel XIV:364 Oct. 2: We can mop up our crowd any day if they turn rusty!
1918		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.
1918		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.
1919		Exter & Plymouth Gaz. 8 Oct. 4/6: His company had been detailed to mop up the village of Ponchaux.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 163: ‘Mopping up, ain’t you, Rico?’ [...] ‘Well, Arnie was double-crossing me.’.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 61: Biff Glasson is out right now moppin’ up the details.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 97: It took under ten minutes to mop up the whole of the copse.
1935		Peters & Sklar Stevedore III ii: Listen to that coon! Shut up, nigger. Let’s mop ’em up.
1946		C.S. Montanye ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in Thrilling Detective May 🌐 ‘Who—’ ‘Mopped him up? Frankly, I wouldn’t know.’.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 235: They figure some Army to mop up the rest.
1964		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.
1985		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.

1904		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.
1933		Hecht & Fowler Great Magoo 175: A guy who can spiel a gut-ache! We’ll mop up.
2001		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.

1929

(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.