Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und., also mackarel, macquerella) a madam, a procuress.

1426		Lydgate (trans.) Guillaume de Guileville’s Pilgrimage 13478: Glotonye: Yiff thow me calle [...] Lyk as I am, A Bocheresse, Or in ffrench [...] I am callyd a Makerel, Whos offyce [...] Ys in ynglysshe bauderye.
1483		W. Caxton Cato Magnus n.p.: Nighe his house dwellyd a maquerel or bawde [F&H].
1513		G. Douglas Eneados ‘Prologe’ Bk IV (1553) lxxiiii: Of brokaris and sic baudry hou suid I write [...] Sic pode makrellis, for Lucifer bene leche.
c.1578		T. Churchyard Queenes Entertainment in Nichols Progresses II 195: Venus was no strumpet [but] in French a Macreau.
1608		J. Day Law Tricks IV ii: The fishermen that rid betweene Douer and Calis tooke red spurlin and she Mackerell in the midst of the Exchange; which made mutton so cheepe and stale that it is thought the better halfe of the townsmen will run horne mad about it.
1615		T. Overbury New and Choise Characters n.p.: A Maquerela, in plain English, a Bawd, Is an old Char-cole that hath beene burnt her selfe, and therefore is able to kindle a whole greene Coppice.
c.1620		J. Hall Discovery of New World Bk 2 174: Here indeed (saith hee) dwell the Cocatrices, the Roffianes, the Makquerells, and all those ancient fish wiues.
c.1620		Fletcher Women Pleased III ii: I have a pack of wry-mouth’d mackrell Ladies.
1630		J. Taylor ‘Great Eater of Kent’ in Hindley Works (1872) 8: Some get their living by their tounges [...] some by tails, as Maquerellaes, Concubines, Curtezans, or in plaine English, Whores.
1650		H. Nevile Newes from the New Exchange 13: The famous Mrs. Porter (who of late plaies the Macquerela in the behalf of her owne Son).
1659		Greene & Lodge Lady Alimony II iii: The only safe way for these gamesom Macquerellas is to antidate their Conception before their separation.
1674		T. Duffet Epilogue Spoken by Heccate and Three Witches 31: Where’s Mack’rel back and Jilting Sue.
1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk IV 333: Macreon signifies in Greek an old man, or one much stricken in years [...] I believe the name of mackerel (that’s a Bawd in French) was derived from it; for procuring is the province of the old, as buttock-riggling is that of the young.
a.1712		N. Ward Merry Observations in Miscellaneous Writings III 68: [Whores] will make their Sex so cheap a Commodity, that, like May-Crill six a Groat, no Men of any Fashion will think ’em worth their purchasing.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Mackerel c. a Bawd.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1740		‘Roger Pheuquewell’ Description of Merryland (1741) 23: I have indeed heard of a Mackarel being found here.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. (later US Und.) a pimp.

c.1540		J. Bellenden (trans.) Boece V: Fidlaris, bordellaris, makerellis ... and siclike men of vile estimatioun.
1621		Middleton Anything for a Quiet Life V i: Yes Pander, Wittoll, Macrio, basest of knaves, thou Boulster-bawd to thine own infamy!
1622		J. Howell Familiar Letters (1737) II 5 Mar. 114: He treated with a Pandar to procure him a Courtesan [...] The Pandar did his Office, but brought him a Citizen clad in Damoisell’s apparell, so she and her Maquerell were paid accordingly.
1624		T. Heywood Captives I i: Who? the Neapolitan signor? the man-makarel and marchant of madens-fleshe that deals altogether in flawed ware and crackt commodityes?
1867		Public ledger (Memphis, TN) 3 Oct. 3/5: Dan Driscoll, aged seventeen, is one of the most notorious mackerels in the city.
1915		O.O. McIntyre Day by Day in New York 4 June [synd. col.] In some of the cabarets you see bunches of French maquereaux applauding songs in French [...] they are said to be all the tobasco.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 52: mac, mack, mackerel, n. A pimp.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 35: It is something of a mystery how ‘mackerel’ ever became associated with pimps. A few informants referred to the odor of the female sexual parts as bearing some resemblance to that of fish. One informant even told a joke about how a man’s wife was stolen by a pimp, and the man was delayed in discovering his loss by a few mackerel the pimp had left in the wife’s place. A similar story tells of the blind man who, in passing by a fish market, tipped his hat and said, ‘Good evening, ladies.’ [...] It seems likely that the term originated from the French maquereau, a pimp. Probably the evolution of this term occurred in New Orleans, one of the origin cities of Black pimping in America, where French language influences remain strong.
1997		Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: mackerel n. Pimp. (Unusually, a fish word not referring to the vagina).

3. a prostitute.

1630

J. Taylor ‘Lover’s Stratagem’ in Works n.p.: Some get their living by their tounges [...] some by tayles, as maquerelles, concubines, curtezanes, or in plaine English whores [N].

4. (US, also mackeral) a worthless or stupid man.

1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 386: Why, you sprat, you mackeral, you maggot!
1863		H.T. Johns Letter in Life with the 49th Mass. Volunteers (1864) 95: There is a company here belonging to the Third New York Merchants’ Brigade. We call them ‘mackerels.’ They are a disgrace [...] the refuse of Five Points.
1898		‘R. Andom’ Martha and I 205: I became a ‘measley mackerel’ on the spot.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Aug. 8/2: In fact, Sydney theatre-goers may now be regarded as ‘suffering mackerel,’ and that part of it which is ‘some gal’ has got the infection most badly.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 51: Effie’s most important Occupation was to employ the Time provided by Joe in learning to be so Intellectual and Artistic that her Husband looked like a Mackerel alongside of her.
1929		Dayton Herald (OH) 18 Apr. 28/1: ‘Wow,’ cried Stewie. ‘Forgot all about you, Eddie, ol’ mackerel’.
1961		F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 48: The word among the kookes is the lifeguards are nothing but plain mackerels, an expression you will find in your Webster and because it is archaic you can write it down without having to blush afterward.

5. a hanger-on, a parasite.

2000

J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 13: They have a loada mackerels hanging round to make them feel good about it, to feel a bit superior.