▪ I. mangy, a.
(ˈmeɪndʒɪ)
Also 6 mangye, 6–7 maungy, mangie, 7 maingy, 7, 9 mangey.
[f. mange n. + -y.]
1. Having the mange; of the nature of or caused by the mange. † In 16–17th c. also of human beings or their ailments: Scabby (obs.).
| 1526 Skelton Magnyf. (E.E.T.S.) 1123 Fol. In faythe, there is not a better dogge{ddd}Fan. Ye, but trowest thou that he be not maungey? c 1540 Heywood Four P. P. 629 A goodly thynge for dogges that be mangy. 1571 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 336 Any kynde of mangy cattle or horses infected w{supt}{suph} the glaunders of the chyne. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. xl. 29 If the Mayne be mangie you shall annoynt it with Butter and Brimstone. 1647 Trapp Comm. Jas. i. 25 So shalt thou see thy face..so shamefully sawcy, mangy, pocky and scabbed. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 68 Many Leperous and Mangy Diseases. 1688 Persec. Piedmont 40 By continual lying..these poor People were become so mangy, that their very skin..parted from their Flesh. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide ii. xlix. (1738) 185 Rub the Mangy places gently with a woollen Cloth. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 131 They had a mangey Dog. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 157 In my last communication, I made a few remarks on Dr. Rowley's ox-faced boy; in my present I propose to give a short account of his mangey girl. 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 207 A French poodle,..mangy about the middle. |
| fig. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sinnes vi. (Arb.) 39 And..being rubd with quicksiluer, which they loue because they haue mangy consciences. |
| Comb. 1609 Dekker Guls Horne-bk. i. 8 To shew that you truly loath this polluted and mangy-fisted world. |
2. Squalid, poverty-stricken, shabby, ‘seedy’.
| a 1529 Skelton Dk. Albany 138 Euer to remayne In wretched beggary And maungy misery. 1546 Bale Eng. Votaries i. (1550) 32 He [hauynge] nothynge of them agayne but a mangye monkes cowle and hys buryall in Paules. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 1 Pantofles..mangie at the toes, lyke an Ape about the mouth. 1844 Thackeray Contrib. to Punch Wks. (Biog. ed.) VI. 81 The Royal Palace..resembles Newgate whitewashed and standing on a sort of mangy desert. 1859 Sala Twice round Clock (1861) 172 It is full of bad smells, mangy little shops,..and bad characters. 1860 Mayhew Upp. Rhine ii. §i. 62 The..gardens are little better than a mangey coppice. 1883 Longm. Mag. July 258 A mangy old cloth coat is preferred. 1886 H. F. Lester Under two Fig Trees 177 A sprig or two of mangy grass. |
3. Used as a general term of contempt: Beggarly, mean, ‘lousy’.
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes E vij b, The lorde doth not regarde Your mangy mutterynge. a 1625 Fletcher Woman's Prize iv. i, You have abused me..such a way that shames the name of Husband, Such a malicious-mangy way. a 1653 G. Daniel Idylls iii. 124 If some bolder wakes The Mangie Scribe tells what y⊇ Pigeon speakes. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxvi. (1737) 271 Thou mangy Noddy-peak! 1896 J. K. Snowden Web of Old Weaver x. 127, I cannot see that it much benefits any man to tell him all these mangy quaverings. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 735 We have to be thankful for our mangy cup of tea. Ibid., The old mangy parcel he sent at Xmas. 1930 R. Campbell Poems 10 The poet wags his mangy stump of rhyme. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang § 30/4 Poor; mean; contemptible..mangy. |
▪ II. mangy
obs. form of mange n.1