muns, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

muns n.

also munds, munns

[dial. mun, the face; thus mid-19C street cry ‘One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns, / Butter them and sugar them and put them in your muns’; Grose (1785) traces it to Ger. mund, mouth]

1. the mouth, the jaws, the face, the lips.

1665

1700175018001850

1864

1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 50: Munns, The Face.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
1688		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 215: The Face Muns.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Muns c. the Face. Toute his Muns, c. note well his Phis, or mark his Face well.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit (5 edn) 195: Tout thro’ the Wicker, and see where the Gully pikes with the Gentry-mort, whose Muns is the rummest I ever touched before [Look thro’ the Window, and see where the Man walks with the Gentlewoman, whose Face is the best I ever saw before].
1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 14: She [...] call’d out furiously, Stop Thief; whereupon they cross’d the Way, that she should not have an Opportunity to rap their Muns.
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: Chive his Muns; cut his Face.
1760		Foote The Minor 39: Why, you jade, you look as rosy this morning, I must have a smack at your muns.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 139: The first thing that was done, sir, / Was handling round the kid, / That all might smack his muns, sir.
1792		C. Dibdin ‘Dicky Ditto’ Buck’s Delight 74: Noodle, nooble, ugly muns!
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		N.Y. Morning Post 3 Apr. 2/4: An honest Hibernian standing hard by, [...] gave poor Cato such a dig in his munns, that he was no longer able to tell what he wanted.
1819		T. Moore ‘The Milling Match’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 87: His faithful pals the done-up Dares bore / Back to his home with tottering gams, sunk heart, / And muns and noddle pink’d in every part.
1828		Lytton Pelham III 291: Ah, Bess, my covess, strike me blind if my sees don’t tout your bingo muns in spite of the darkmans.
1833		‘Her Muns with a Grin’ Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 50: Her muns vith a grin, vhich no velvet could vin.
1840		‘May Day Morning’ in Capt. Morris’s Songs in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 222: Then Moll she began for to row, / And a lick in the muns gave him warning.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

2. in ext. use, the whole person.

1764

Bloody Register III 169: Jenny [...] gives the hint to her companions to bulk the Muns forward (that is, push).

In phrases

black muns (n.)

hoods and scarves made of lutestring (a glossy silk fabric) or alamode (a thin, light, glossy black silk).

c.1698

1700171017201730174017501760177017801790

1796

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Black-Muns, hoods and scarves of a-la-mode and luststrings.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) [as cit. c.1698].
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

rum muns (n.)

a handsome man.

1741

Ordinary of Newgate Account 18 Mar. 🌐 She observ’d a Gentleman who was a very Rum Muns, (that is, a great Beau).

suck one’s muns (v.)

see suck one’s face under suck v.¹