or laced mutton.—1. A loose woman. Generic for the sex.
1569. BRACTON, De Legibus, ii. Courtisans … oves.
1578. WHETSTONE, Promos and Cassandra, 6, pl. i. p. 14. And I smealt he loved LASE MUTTON well.
1594. GREENE, Friar Bacon, in Works (GROSART), xiii. 94. The old lecher hath gotton holy MUTTON to him, a Nunne my lord.
1595. SHAKESPEARE, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1. Ay, sir: I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a LAC’D MUTTON; and she, a LAC’D MUTTON, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour.
1596. NASHE, Have with You to Saffron-Walden [GROSART (1885), iii. 61]. He that wold not stick so to extoll stale rotten LAC’D MUTTON, will … sucke figges out of an asses fundament.
1599. BRETON, Wil of Wit [GROSART (1879), ii. c. 62/1. 18]. If your stomache stande to flesh, eate of a little warme MUTTON, but take heede it be not LACED.
1602. MIDDLETON, Blurt, Master-Constable, sign. B. Laz. Pilcher, Cupid hath got me a stomacke, and I long for LAC’D MUTTON. Pil. Plaine MUTTON without a lace would serve.
1602. DEKKER, The Honest Whore [DODSLEY, Old Plays, iii. 365]. Baa! lamb, there you lie; for I am MUTTON.
1604. MARLOWE, Doctor Faustus [NARES]. I am one that loves an inch of raw MUTTON, better than an ell of dride stockfish; and the first letter of my name begins with letchery.
1606. The Return from Parnassus, iv., 1 [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, ix. 180]. But there’s no pleasure always to be tied to a piece of MUTTON.… For mine own part … I am well-provided of three bouncing wenches.
1608. L. MACHIN, The Dumb Knight [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, x. 134]. ‘She is meat for your master.’ ‘And your man, sir, may lick your foul trencher.’ ‘Ay, but not eat of his MUTTON.’
1614. J. COOKE, Green’s Tu Quoque, or the Cittie Gallant [DODSLEY, Old Plays (1874), xi. 279]. More villany? there’s another goodly MUTTON going.
1620. MIDDLETON, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, ii.
| I’ll tender her a husband; | |
| I keep of purpose two or three gulls in pickle | |
| To eat such MUTTON with, and she shall choose one. |
1624. JONSON, Masque of Neptune’s Triumph [CUNNINGHAM, iii.].
| Cook. O whom for mutton, or kid? | |
| Child. A fine LAC’D MUTTON | |
| Or two; and either has her frisking husband. |
1633. ROWLEY, A Match at Midnight, ii. 1.
| Sim. Young? say she be young, young MUTTON’S sweet, | |
| Content is above gold; | |
| If, like an old cock, he with young MUTTON meet, | |
| He feeds like a cuckold. |
1640. RAWLINS, The Rebellion, iv., 1 [DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 61]. Capt. No more, I say, it is a parcel of excellent MUTTON: I’ll cut it up myself.
1640. HEYWOOD, Love’s Mistress, ii. [Cupid described as] Lord of lamentations, and Monsieur of MUTTON-LAC’D.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v.
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, i. 353.
| I’m a loyn of MUTTON plainly dress’d, | |
| And those nice volk, love all their MUTTON LAC’D. |
1725. A New Canting Dictionary, s.v.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. LACED MUTTON. A prostitute.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. LACED MUTTON. A common woman.
2. (venery).—See quots. 1811 and 1864. For synonyms, see MONOSYLLABLE.
d. 1680. ROCHESTER, Epitaph on Charles II.
| Here lies our MUTTON-eating king, | |
| Whose word no man relies on; | |
| He never said a foolish thing, | |
| And never did a wise one. |
1693. CONGREVE, The Old Batchelor, iv. 6. You don’t love MUTTON, you Magdalen unconverted?
1697. VANBRUGH, The Provoked Wife, iv. And I hope your punks will give you sauce to your MUTTON.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. MUTTON. In her MUTTON, i.e., having carnal knowledge of a woman.
1864. HOTTEN, The Slang Dictionary, s.v. MUTTON. In that class of English society which does not lay any claim to refinement, a fond lover is often spoken of as being ‘fond of his MUTTON,’ which, by the way, in this place does not mean the woman so much as something else.
3. In pl. (stock exchange).—The Turkish loans of 1865 and 1873. [From being in part secured on the sheep-tax.]
4. (colloquial).—A sheep.
1595. SHAKESPEARE, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1. 106. Here’s too small a pasture for such store of MUTTONS. Ibid. (1598), Merchant of Venice, i. 3. Flesh of MUTTONS, beefs, or goats.
d. 1626. BACON [quoted by JOHNSON]. The flesh of MUTTONS is better tasted where the sheep feed upon wild thyme and wholesome herbs.
d. 1627. HAYWARD [quoted by JOHNSON]. Within a few days were brought out of the country two thousand MUTTONS.
1755. JOHNSON, A Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. MUTTON, (2) A sheep. Now only in ludicrous language.
1860. THACKERAY, The Adventures of Philip, ch. xx. The appetites of those little ones were frightful, the temper of Madame la Générale was almost intolerable, but Charlotte was an angel, and the General was a MUTTON—a true MUTTON.… The brave are often MUTTONS at home.
BOW-WOW MUTTON. See BOW-WOW.
TO CUT ONE’S MUTTON, verb. phr. (common).—To dine.
DEAD AS MUTTON, phr. (common).—See DEAD.
1835. C. SELBY, The Widow’s Victim. I’m caught in a trap—DEAD AS MUTTON!
MUTTON DRESSED LAMB-FASHION, subs. phr. (common).—An old woman dressed young.
TO RETURN TO ONE’S MUTTONS, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hark back to the point at issue.
1868. BREWER, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, s.v. MOUTONS. Revenons à nos moutons. Return we to our subject. The phrase is taken from an old French play, called L’Avocat, by Patelin, in which a woollen-draper charges a shepherd with stealing sheep. In telling his grievance he kept for ever running away from his subject; and to throw discredit on the defendant’s attorney, accused him of stealing a piece of cloth. The judge had to pull him up every moment with ‘Mais, mon ami, REVENONS À NOS MOUTONS’ (what about the sheep, tell me about the sheep, now return to the story of the sheep).
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 8 Nov., p. 2, col. 1. ‘Now to RETURN TO OUR MUTTONS. Here is a drawer full of M.P.’s, Liberals, Radicals, Conservatives.’
1890. GRANT ALLEN, The Tents of Shem, chap. xi. I desire to live and die a humble Christian, in complete ignorance of that hard-hearted science. Let’s RETURN TO OUR MUTTONS.
WHO STOLE THE MUTTON, phr. (obsolete).—See quot.
1880. BREWER, The Reader’s Handbook, etc., s.v. MUTTON. Mutton (Who Stole the)? This was a common street jeer flung on policemen when the force was first organized, and rose thus: The first case the force had to deal with was the theft of a leg of mutton; but they wholly failed to detect the thief, and the laugh turned against them.
