mungaree, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mungaree n.

also mangery, manjary, manjory, mongary, mungare, mungary, mungeary, munjare, munjary, numgare

[Ital. mangiare, to eat; 20C+ use also Aus.; note Downing (1919) has incorrect ety.]

1. food (cf. mongee n.).

1375		J. Barbour The Brus (1489) xx 67: Agayn the day / He gert well for the mangery.
1599		Nashe Praise of the Red Herring 6: Hollanders, Zealanders, Scots, French [...] fetch the best of their viands and mangery from her market.
1808		Jamieson Etymolog. Dict. Scottish Lang. II n.p.: mangery, s. A feast, a banquet .
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 50: Fuzzy stewed it [mutton] in a laggingage, and said it was bona mongary.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 47/2: ‘Yeute munjare’ – no food. ‘Yeute lente’ – no bed. ‘Yeute bivare’ – no drink. [Ibid.] 191: After our ‘mungare’ and ‘buvare’ (that’s what we call eat and drink, and I think it’s broken Italian). [Ibid.] 139/2: We call breakfast, dinner, tea, supper, all of them ‘numgare’ .
1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 9: Mungary ... Something to eat.
1891		Birmingham Dly Post 31 Mar. 3/5: ‘Mungeary,’ pronounced ‘munjary,’ is a term used for food generally. It might' possibly be traced to ‘manger’.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 Apr. 3/3: He never went short of mungaree.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 161: Mungaree: Bread, Food.
1934		P. Allingham Cheapjack 199: Everybody thinks about nothing but munjary at Christmas time.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 40: While I’m waiting for the manjary shall I tell you your life-story?
1941		‘Queen Farida’ in M. Page Kiss Me Goodnight, Sgt.-Major (1973) 72: Mungaree bardin.
1943		Larne Times 4 Mar. 4/5: ‘Manjory’ is food, ‘megrims’ are children, ‘greengages’ are the wages, a ‘bull and cow’ is a row.
1944		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 27 May 14/3: [The] only two which might make the posterity grade are ‘maleesh’ and ‘mungaree’.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 295/1: mungaree, mangare, munjarry, manjarie, manjaree, monjaree, munja, numgare 1. food. 2. to eat.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 74: The Foster-Newman were fond of parping [...] across the munjarry-table.

2. (UK tramp) begging.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 767/2: C.20.

In compounds

mangary box (n.)

(UK Und.) the mouth.

1846

Swell’s Night Guide 77: Twig his gams, and stag his smeller; pipe his cross ogles; twig his mangary box: its like an old louse-trap out of colour – slashing mill to comb the wool of a t—d.

mongary-ken (n.)

(UK Und.) a tavern or inn that sells food.

1846

Swell’s Night Guide 71: These two worthies we touted to a mongary-ken to do their pecking.