Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also ikey-meh) a derog. term for a Jew; thus the various stereotypes.

1820		‘Poor Little Mo’ in Cossack Songster 2: And they von’t spend a farding mit poor little Mo.
1822		D. Carey Life in Paris 2: The elderly gentleman winces at the importunities of Moses, who has a strong Israelitish itch to finger his bank-notes.
1825		‘Isaac Mo’ Universal Songster I 19/2: A Jew they call’d him Isaac Mo.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 66: ‘What are you muttering about?’ said the Jew, sternly. ‘Something that would cure your cough, Moses,’ answered the youth, pertly.
1867		J. Greenwood Unsentimental Journeys 84: Moses and Isaac, while they despise the great Christian festival, were not above making a shilling out of it.
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 191: Moses Jacobs alias Ugly Mo.
1877		Grantham Jrnl 1 Dec. 7/1: Landlord: ‘How do I know how far you’ve come?’ Ikey Mo: ’How far? Vy, from Jerusalem’.
1879		London Life 4/2: Let Moses look after his coin.
1884		Cheshire Obs. 27 Dec. 2/1: A number of my chums in misfortune, including [...] Ikey Mo, and above all, Jinks.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 7 June 45: [caption: a Jew in the dock] The fin(d)ing of Moses.
1884		Sporting Times 15 Nov. 7/2: He says he has known a great many Mo’s but they were no gulls.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 21 June 58/3: To play at cards with Ikey Mo, / It really isn’t worth your while.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 4 Oct. 12/1: A rorty way, a boozy smile, / By Moses dressed, the latest style.
1892		Morning Call (San Francisco) 21 Aug. 11/4: The Jew was also saluted as ‘Ikey Mo’.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Nov. 4/7: The punting crowd just name him loud / The welshing Mo who will not weigh out.
1904		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 6 Mar. 1/3: ‘In all modern professions wanting skill an’ brains Ikey Mo is in a front seat’.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 7 Jan. 4/8: Leave the yell of Isaac Moses and the clamor of the car.
1906		N.Z. Truth 29 Sept. 3/5: He was a regular Ikey Mo.
1908		Sun. Times (Perth) 8 Mar. 4/8: In a month or two their last and only shirts / Will meander round to Mithter Ikey Moses.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 441: Three cheers for Ikey Mo!
1927		(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 21: He cocked his head up and grinned up at the Jew. ‘Moses [...] wot d’yer tike me for?’.
c.1939		B. Bennett ‘Me and a Spade’ in Billy Bennett’s Fifth Budget 13: There were Esquimaux, half a mo’s, Ikey mo’s too.
1961		(con. c.1935) R. Poole London E1 (2012) 22: Jeering shouts of ‘Ikey Moses’ and ‘Big-’ead’.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 33: Go back to Israel yourself . . . you Ikey Mo!!!
1973		H. Leonard Da (1981) Act II: We used to yell Ikey Meh at him when the tram went past.

2. one of the stereotypes of a Jewish occupation: receiver, moneylender, pawnbroker, peddle, bookmaker.

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 283: We used to lay Moses and his fellow smouches under a constant contribution.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Aug. 4/2: The magistracy of Melbourne now includes nearly all the money lenders of that city. Two more of the fraternity were pitchforked on the Bench last week. One, Moses, brother-in-law of the celebrated Aaron of that ilk.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 12/1: Christmas nearly ‘boshed up’ the Harmy. Half the soldiers went on the bust – 250 pawned their uniforms; bassoons and trombones were also freely offered to ‘Moshish.’.
1901		A. Binstead More Gal’s Gossip 91: Why not offer the garment to Mr and Mrs Iky Mo, who daily advertise that they have ‘private customers’ [...] ‘waiting to be supplied’.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 9 Mar. 1/2: The ‘Mo’ who would offer such odds would be regarded as a freak by his brethren [and] no bookmaker could stand such risks.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 21 Sept. 1/2: , Moses olTered to lay 2 to I that she bad been beaten, and Moses isn’t mug enough to offer to chuck quids away in that manner if he thought she had won.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 21 Sept. 8/7: Ikey Moses [i.e. a bookmaker] was the man of the hour.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Sept. 10/1: Why doth the Tribe of Ikey Mo / Refuse the land a loan.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 30: Ikey Mo: A disparaging remark used to describe a member of the Jewish race. In its generality it means a moneylender.

3. (Aus./UK, also ikey) a bookmaker.

1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 24 May 25: [caption] Iky Mo’s last words to Ally were — ‘Give anything to one, as long as you pot the stake’.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 15 July 1/5: Nosey Mosey! To the fray! /Comes a joker ‘on the lay’ / [...] Lay the field! A tenner? Done!
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Mar. 10/3: The place [...] / Is peopled now by men of sin / Who talk about the lamb they skin, / And jugginses who hope to win / Mere earthly crowns from Ikey.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 May 24/1: Every time tote is hinted in Parliament Mo gets his cash-lubricated influence to work and the thing is squelched in embryo. [Ibid.] It is many a day since Ikey Mo pulled such a long face as he did at Rosehill (Sydney) when Abedare, Foley, Cast Iron and Alix, all favourites, got home in succession.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Oct. 24/2: The lucre I let drop on Epsom and Metrop.; / Oh, where, and oh where, is that hardly-earned tin; / It snugly reposes in keeping of Moses, / In case I’d be tempted to waste it in sin.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Nov. 4/8: Rob the Bookie wasn’t there / With his waistcoat debonair / For he’s pencilling in Melbourne as the Groper Ikey Mo.
1911		Truth (Brisbane) 22 Jan. 6/6: [He] forgets to give utterance to the bookmakers' grace, which is ‘God bless the /mugs.’ And much scandal to his children, to the small ‘Ikey Mo.,’ is caused thereby.

4. (Aus.) a mean person.

1982

N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 99: Mum’s mother meant no actual prejudice or offence when she referred to her mean neighbour as a real ‘ikey mo’, ‘mean as Moses’ or, even-handedly, ‘stingy as a Scotsman’.