▪ I. monger, n.1
(ˈmʌŋgə(r))
Forms: 1 man(c)gere, 2 mangare, 3–5 mongere, 5 mounger, 6–7 munger, 3– monger.
[OE. mangere (= OHG., ON. mangari), agent-n. of mangian mong v.1]
1. A dealer, trader, trafficker. From the 16th c. onwards, chiefly, one who carries on a petty or disreputable ‘traffic’; also, in recent use, in conscious analyses of words like cheesemonger.
| a 975 Canons K. Edgar §14 in Thorpe Laws II. 246 We læraþ þæt preosta ᵹehwilc tiliᵹe him rihtlice & ne beo æniᵹ mangere mid unrihte. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 45 Eft is heofena rice ᵹelic þam mangere þe sohte {thbar} gode mere-grot. c 1150 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 539/31 Mercator, uel negociator, mangare. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1590 Marchandes, Monymakers, Mongers of fyche. 1567–9 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 615 Against these Mongers of Miracles, my God hath armed me. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 485 One rich munger or other, buying vp a commodity,..for to haue the Monopoly of it, raiseth the market. 1639 Ford Lady's Trial i. i, Fvt. I am..no monopolist Of forged Corantos, monger of Gazets. Pie. Monger of courtezans, fine Futelli. 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. vii. 111 Their [the Barbers'] shops are..the Magazines of all Newes..All the Mongers of that kinde come thither for matter and Inspiration. 1812 Religionism 23 Cheese⁓mongers not more like, nor beans, each other; For every monger is a monger's brother. 1841 Syd. Smith in Lady Holland Mem. (1855) II. 445 Mongers who have lived in the midst of cheese. 1874 Ruskin Fors Clav. xxxviii. 33 He would be..more reverend to mortals..as a true monger of sweet fish. 1881 A. J. Duffield Don Quix. I. Pref. 32 Official guardians of the faith and mongers of prayers. |
† b. Used for: whoremonger. Obs.
| 1706 E. Baynard in Sir J. Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. ii. (1709) 282 Some strong young Mongers of good Constitutions, have brushed through such Misfortunes. |
2. Used as a second element in compounds, as cheesemonger, costermonger, fishmonger, fleshmonger, ironmonger. In formations dating from the middle of the 16th c. onwards -monger nearly always implies one who carries on a contemptible or discreditable ‘trade’ or ‘traffic’ in what is denoted by the first element of the compound, as ceremony-monger, fashion-monger, mass-monger, merit-monger, news-monger, pardon-monger, scandal-monger. The more important compounds of this kind are given as main words or under their first element; the following are examples of the occasional formations, the number of which is unlimited.
| 1297 Coram Rege Roll m. 22 dorso (1898) 143 Willelmum le Heymonger. c 1475 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 30, I fand one which hath bene of old a supersedias mounger. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. xviii. Bb vj, Foule priestes,..and holy water mongers dayly peruerting the ignorant people. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 999 The impatient States-Monger Could now contain himself no longer. 1748 Chesterfield Let. to Son 6 Dec., The numerous..tribe of insect-mongers, shell-mongers, and pursuers and driers of butterflies. 1761 Churchill Rosciad 509 The nice punctilio-mongers of this age. 1829 Southey Sir T. More i. v. 109 The humanity-mongers, who deny the necessity and lawfulness of inflicting capital punishment in any case. 1837 Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) I. xix. 276, I must be content to bear the stigma of a fiction monger. 1858 Eclectic Rev. Ser. vi. III. 411 The latter qualification..is notoriously complied with by most of our recent word-mongers. 1863 Kingsley Lett., etc. (1877) II. 181 My only fear is that people will fancy me a verbal-inspiration-monger. 1900 Academy 28 July 73/2 Ah, Mr. Haggard, what an incorrigible hero-monger you are! |
▪ II. † ˈmonger, n.2 Obs.
[Origin obscure; perh. a use of prec.]
A kind of fishing vessel.
| 1561 Eden Arte Nauig. Pref. {fatpara}iv b, Fyshermen that go a trawlyng for fyshe in Catches or mongers. 1570 Act 13 Eliz. c. 11 §3 The Catches, Mongers and Picardes pretendyng to buy fressh Herrynges. |
▪ III. monger, v.
(ˈmʌŋgə(r))
[f. monger n.1]
trans. To deal or traffic in.
| 1928 Observer 5 Feb. 15/1 Both American and British opinion is laughing out of court those who monger their scares about the United States Navy. 1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Aug. 570/3, I laughed at her and told her, that she cannot monger any money out of my pocket. |