Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mongrel n.

1. in UK Und. senses.

(a) an accomplice who helps in a confidence trickster’s pose as a poor scholar.

[UK]Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 5: He that walkes the horses, and hunts dry foote, is cald a Mongrel .

(b) a hanger-on among confidence tricksters, a sponger.

[UK]B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Mongrel c. a Hanger on among the Cheats, a Spunger.
[UK]New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. (also mungrel) a general term of abuse, e.g. you bloody mongrel [despite the synon. of mongrel and half-breed, there appears to be no racial implication].

[Scot]Polwart Invectiues Capitane Allexander Montgomeree and Pollvart in Parkinson Poems (2000) IX line 46: Gleyit gangrell, auld mangrell, to thy hangrell vith pyne.
[UK]Beaumont & Fletcher Scornful Lady II iii: Steward, you are an ass, a measled mongrel.
[UK]Beaumont & Fletcher Love’s Cure II i: Thou Mungril [...] are not you he that was whipt out of Toledo for Perjury?
[UK]S. Colvil Whiggs Supplication Pt II 19: Your cursed Antichristian Rable, Ye Mungrels of the Whore of Babel.
[UK]W. Taverner Maid the Mistress V i: Hark ye, Mungrels, what do you grin at?
[UK]J. Miller Humours of Oxford II i: Why, thou Mungrel, thou thing of the doubtful Gender, how can’st thou have the consummate Impudence, to open thy Mouth.
[UK]Foote Mayor of Garrat in Works (1799) I 171: Is that your manners, you mongrel?
[UK]‘T.B. Junr.’ Pettyfogger Dramatized I i: He is a fellow I don’t much care about; he is an impudent mongrel.
[UK]T. Morton School For Grown Children IV i: Silence, mongrel!
[UK]Mr Mathews’ Comic Annual 14: After threatening to lay hold of the Black mongrel by the gills, and pull him about like a salmon.
[UK]Savile ‘The Snobiad and Gown Row in Cambridge’ in Whibley In Cap and Gown (1889) 145: Oh, curse the mongrel, he’s not worth a groat!
[UK]Gloucester Citizen 16 May 4/2: She accused him of calling her son Israel a ‘mongrel’ and then struck him in the mouth with a dish cloth.
[Aus]J. Furphy Such is Life 10: Go an’ bark up a tree, you mongrel!
[NZ]Truth (Wellington) 26 Oct. 7/1: Campbell, you are a dirty mongrel.
[UK](con. WWI) E. Lynch Somme Mud 37: Suppose you chaps think I’m a bloomin’ mongrel for doing that?
[Ire]Joyce Ulysses 443: Give him ginger. Thrash the mongrel within an inch of his life.
[UK]Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush 244: ‘Wot cheer, mate!’ said one, a ruffianly mongrel.
[Aus]K.S. Prichard Haxby’s Circus 110: There had never been a Haxby like this, he said, such a wailing, puking, miserable little mongrel.
[Aus]K. Tenant ‘A Bargain’ in Mann Coast to Coast 41: Why, you dirty, rotten, bludging, little mongrel!
[US]J.E. Macdonnell Jim Brady 82: ‘You dirty rotten mongrels!’ Jim mouthed.
[Aus]W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 239: You’re worse than bloody dagoes, yuh low mongrels.
[Aus](con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 149: From now on keep that useless mongrel outta my way.
[NZ]G. Johnston Fish Factory 25: Finish off a man’s grog and then destroy his boat! [...] Mongrel!
[US]H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 13: Other prominent representatives of the animal kingdom in this category of insult include: [...] various types of dog, e.g., bitch, cur, mongrel.
[Aus]Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 189: One day he called into a brothel for an empty and, by coincidence, his wife was working there. Yet he still did nothing about it. Weak mongrel.
[Aus] www.thepantsman.com 🌐 The old men were possibly muttering amongst themselves ‘That filthy fucking mongrel – who let him back in?’.
[Aus]N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I had no qualms wrestling a lion cub [...] only for the mongrel to bite me on the bicep and draw blood.
[Aus]A. Nette Orphan Road 153: Christ on a crutch, but there’s one mongrel I can see in this room, thought Hardigan.

3. (N.Z. prison, also Mongreller) a member of the biker and prison gang the Mongrel Mob.

[NZ]G. Newbold Big Huey 145: [T]hey chose the Mongrel Mob. Look at Shane, he could have everything but he gave it all up to be a grotty Mongrel.
[NZ]B. Payne Staunch 145: ‘[T]he Mongrels used to have rallies in their huts, singing Mongrel Mob ditties, stomping the floor, barking like bulldogs, and yelling out, ‘Black Power shit!’.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 118/2: Mongrel n. 1 (also Mongreller) a member of the Mongrel Mob.

In phrases

crack a mongrel (v.)

(Aus.) to achieve erection.

[Aus]C. Bowles G’DAY 87: The bloke is required to crack a fat or crack a mongrel.