moggy en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈmɑ.ɡi/ (US)
- (Australia) audio
- /ˈmɒ.ɡi/ (UK)
Etymology
Unknown, 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.
Meanings
-
(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) A domestic cat, especially (depreciative or derogatory) a non-pedigree or unremarkable cat.
Cockney slang... ‘moggies’ for cats.
1911, John William Horsley, I Remember: Memories of a 'Sky Pilot' in the Prison and the Slum, page 254:
-
(Northern-England, Scotland, obsolete, regional) Synonym of girl: a female child or young woman.
...expect not so fair an enemy as Cromwel, nor such fair quarter as now is given thee: Jockey, Jemmy, and Moggy thy she-souldier, must than all to the sword...
1648, William Lilly, An Astrologicall Prediction of the Occurrances in England, Part of the Yeers 1648, 1649, 1650, page 60:...in another Hut, a parcel of Scoth Pedlars and their Moggies, Dancing a Highlanders Jig...
1699, Edward Ward, The London Spy, volume I, page 15:
-
(Midlands, Northern-England, derogatory, rare, regional) Synonym of slattern: an unkempt or badly-dressed woman.
At Ickwell Green... the May Queen is accompanied by moggies (raggedly dressed women).
1980, Automobile Association, Book of British Villages, page 263:Moggy, a slattern, dressed out untidily: 'She did look a moggy.'
1886, Robert Eden George Cole, A Glossary of Words Used in South-west Lincolnshire, s.v. "moggy"
- (Midlands, Northern-England, rare, regional) Synonym of scarecrow.
- (Midlands, rare, regional) Synonym of calf.
- (East-Midlands, dated) A mouse.
- (Yorkshire) A kind of cake made with ginger, treacle, etc.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| moggies | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| moggie | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
mutt (mongrel cat)
Deriveds
Synonyms
calf · scarecrow · girl · slattern
Translations (10)
de Katzenvieh (cat (depreciative slang)) · io katacho (cat (depreciative slang)) · ga caitín (cat (depreciative slang)) · hu macs (cat (depreciative slang)) · eo kataĉo (cat (depreciative slang)) · hu macsek (cat (depreciative slang)) · cmn 雜種貓 /杂种猫 (cat (depreciative slang)) · fr chat de gouttière (cat (depreciative slang)) · fi katti (cat (depreciative slang)) · ga peata cait (cat (depreciative slang))