▪ I. maggot1
(ˈmægət)
Forms: 4, 6 magotte, 5 magat, maked, 5–6 mag(g)ote, 5–7, 9 magot, 6 mag(g)ette, magot(t)e, 7 magget, 6– maggot.
[Prob. related in some way to the synonymous ME. maðek maddock; but the exact formation is not easy to determine.
The 15th c. form maked (only once, in a glossary) may be a metathetic alteration of maðek, madek; but even if so, it may be only an individual blunder, and in any case it seems unlikely to be the source of the mod. form; more probably it represents an occasional pronunciation of maggot (cf. mod. Somerset macket for maggot2). Possibly the form mak, mawk (a variant of maddock) may have suggested a jocular application of the female nickname Maggot for Margaret (cf. maggot2 and the north midland dial. dick for a louse).]
1. A worm or grub of the kind formerly supposed to be generated by corruption; chiefly applied to the larva of a dipterous fly, esp. those of the cheese-fly and the flesh-fly or ‘blue-bottle’. red maggot: the larva (destructive to corn) of the wheat-midge.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. cxv. (1495) 856 Magottes ben wormes that brede of corrupt and rotyd moysture in flesshe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 321 (s.v. Make) Winchester MS., Magat, may, or math, tarmus, cimex [Phillipps MS. and Pynson c 1500 have magot]. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 767/5 Hic tarinus [read tarmus], hic simax [? = cimex], a maked. 1496 Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 29 In Juyll take..the codworme & maggotes vnto Mighelmas. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 2 His hosen gresy upon his thyes, That place for magottes was very good. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xiii, In High Alemen the chese whiche is full of magotes is called there the best chese. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. iii. 24 Your worm is your onely Emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat vs, and we fat our selfe for Magots. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 1276 But I deny they are the same, More then a Maggot and I am. 1698 G. Thomas Pensilvania (1848) 22 Sheep..are generally free from those infectious Diseases..the Rot, Scab, or Maggots. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 4 Caterpillars may be easily distinguished from worms or maggots, by the number of their feet. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. xiv. (1873) 387 The larva or maggot of a fly, namely the Cecidomyia, producing asexually other larvæ. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 27 Maggots, or gentles, as they are more commonly called by metropolitan anglers. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. xiii. 293, I jumped to the conclusion that these maggots had been spontaneously generated in the meat. 1886 Times 18 Aug. 10/6 The wheat midge..produces the red maggots which so seriously damage the ripening ears of corn. |
| fig. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV ccclxxi, The Maggots of the Court Eate into favour; where they bred, they bite. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 326 Ye pimps..Who fasten without mercy on the fair, And suck, and leave a crawling maggot there. 1809 E. S. Barrett Setting Sun II. 125 The disgusting scene of the maggots of avarice, corruption, and meretricious influence preying on the state. |
2. A whimsical or perverse fancy; a crotchet.
| a 1625 Fletcher Women Pleased iii. iv, Are not you mad, my friend?.. Have not you Maggots in your braines? c 1645 Howell Lett. (1688) II. 328 There's a strange Magot hath got into their Brain. 1678 Dryden Limberham v. i, What new maggot's this; you dare not, sure, be jealous! 1685 S. Wesley (title) Maggots; or Poems on several subjects. 1693 Shadwell Volunteers v. Wks. 1720 IV. 480 Blunt. Ha Fellow! what dost thou mean by a maggot? Hop. Sir, a little concern of mine in my way, a little whim, or so, Sir. 1717 Prior Alma i. 400 Your Horace owns, he various writ, As wild or sober maggots bit. 1784 Burns Common Pl. Bk. August, One who spends the hours..with Ossian, Shakspeare,..&c.; or, as the maggot takes him, a gun, a fiddle, or a song to make or mend. 1802 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Pitt & his Statue Wks. 1812 IV. 501 Soon as a maggot crept into my head I caught a stump of pen and put it down. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxviii, For a' the nonsense maggots that ye whiles take into your head, ye are the maist wise and discreet o' a' our country gentles. 1898 D. C. Murray Tales 255 She's got some maggot in her head about being loved for her own sake. |
† b. Fancifulness.
Obs. rare.
| 1701 Collier M. Anton. etc. 257 A handsome young Lady..dress'd like Quality, but not to any degree of Magot or Curiosity. |
c. Proverb.
| 1687 Miege Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., I shall do it, when the magget bites. Je le ferai, quand il m'en prendra envie. |
† d. Used in the names of many dance-tunes.
Obs.| 1716 Dancing-Master (ed. 16) 179 Betty's Maggot. Ibid. 180 Mr. Beveridge's Maggot. Ibid. 191 Huntington's Maggot. Ibid. 203 Drapers Maggot. Ibid. 211 Mr. Lane's Maggot. Ibid. 224 Captain's Maggot. Ibid. 245 My Lord Byron's Maggot. Ibid. 258 Carpenters Maggot. Ibid. 264 George's Maggot [etc.]. 1719 Ibid. II. 75 [ten similar titles]. |
3. A whimsical or capricious person.
| 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 39 (1713) I. 259 Whose britch has most Fire in it, Harry's, or the Maggots and Whigs? a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Maggot, a whimsical Fellow, full of strange Fancies. 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1733) 230 You were as great a Maggot as any in the World when you were at Paris. 1735 Dyche & Pardon Dict., Maggot,..a whimsical Fellow that is full of strange freakish Fancies. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
maggot ostentation;
maggot-eaten, (sense 2)
maggot-headed,
maggot-pated adjs.;
maggot-boiler slang, a tallow-chandler;
maggot-fishing, angling with a maggot for bait;
† maggot-monger, a crotcheteer;
† maggot-pate, a silly whimsical person;
maggot-pimple, a form of acne (
Acne punctata);
maggot-race, a race between maggots or grubs.
| 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar Tongue, *Maggot-boiler, a tallow chandler. |
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (1651) 28 Going barefoot to..our Lady of Lauretts..to creep to those counterfeit and *Maggot-eaten Reliques. |
| 1804 Kentish Angler title-p., Worm, Minnow, Cadis, and *Maggot Fishing. |
| a 1695 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 273 A *maggot-headed person and humourous. |
| 1660 Bibliotheca Fanatica 2 Jeremy Ives, the gifted *Maggot-Monger. |
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 409 These summer flies, Haue blowne me full of *maggot ostentation. |
| 1622 Fletcher Sp. Curate iv. v, Did you thinke, had this man been rich,..He would have chosen such a Wolfe, a Cancker, A *Maggot-pate, to be his whole Executor. |
| 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 39 (1713) I. 259 The *Maggot-pated Whigs, who would..set us all on Fire at Home. 1687 Kirby & Bishop Marrow of Astrol. i. 60 Nice conclusions, and maggot pated whimsies, to no purpose. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Bully-fop, a Maggot-pated, huffing, silly, ratling Fellow. |
| 1822 Good Study Med. II. 292 It is necessary to make the pressure harder than for the discharge of the mucus in the *maggot-pimple. 1856 Mayne Expos. Lex., Maggot Pimple, a common name for the Varus punctatus. |
| 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 28 (1794) I. 400 To run a *maggot-race with Jack Smoaky. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXV. 69 Lost fifty pounds with Jack Frolic on a maggot race. |
▪ II. maggot2 (
ˈmægət)
[A use of Magote (Cursor M. 25455), a. F. Margot, pet name for Marguerite Margaret.] † a. Applied as a proper name to (
a) a magpie; (
b) a sow.
Obs. b. A magpie (see also
maggot-pie). Now
dial.| 1573, etc. [see maggot-pie]. 1608 H. Clapham Errour on Left Hand 49 Maggot my sow. 1791 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Magpie & Robin Wks. 1812 II. 475 All on a sudden, Maggot starts and stares. 1848 Zoologist VI. 2290 The magpie is a ‘maggot’ [in Worcestershire]. |