moggy
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editUnknown, but probably originally Mog + -y, a Scots or Northern English variant of maggie (“girl”), from Maggie, a diminutive of Margaret and Margery. First attested in reference to mongrel cats in Cockney.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editmoggy (plural moggies)
- (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A domestic cat, especially (depreciative or derogatory) a non-pedigree or unremarkable cat.
- 1911, John William Horsley, I Remember: Memories of a 'Sky Pilot' in the Prison and the Slum, page 254:
- Cockney slang... ‘moggies’ for cats.
- (Scotland and Northern England regional, obsolete) Synonym of girl: a female child or young woman.
- 1699, Edward Ward, The London Spy, volume I, page 15:
- ...in another Hut, a parcel of Scoth Pedlars and their Moggies,
Dancing a Highlanders Jig...
- (Midlands and Northern England regional, derogatory, rare) Synonym of slattern: an unkempt or badly-dressed woman.
- 1886, Robert Eden George Cole, A Glossary of Words Used in South-west Lincolnshire, s.v. "moggy":
- Moggy, a slattern, dressed out untidily: 'She did look a moggy.'
- 1980, Automobile Association, Book of British Villages, page 263:
- At Ickwell Green... the May Queen is accompanied by moggies (raggedly dressed women).
- 1886, Robert Eden George Cole, A Glossary of Words Used in South-west Lincolnshire, s.v. "moggy":
- (Midlands and Northern England regional, rare) Synonym of scarecrow.
- (Midlands regional, rare) Synonym of calf.
- (Yorkshire) A kind of cake made with ginger, treacle, etc.
Coordinate terms
edit- (mongrel cat): mutt (mongrel dog)
Derived terms
editTranslations
editcat (depreciative slang)
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See also
editReferences
edit- “moggie, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2002..
- “moggy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “moggy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
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- en:Cats