▪ I. † ˈmoppet1 Obs.
Forms: 6 mappatt, moppat(t, moppett.
[? Alteration of mapolt, var. of mapple.]
A mop; a sponge for a cannon.
| 1512 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl. IV. 454 For moppatis to the calfetouris. 1512–13 Ibid. 465 For iiij scheip skynnys to mak moppatis for the tallowyng of the James. 1532 Ibid. VI. 157 For mappattis and tappounis xxs. 1566 Inv. R. Wardr. (1815) 168 Item, nyne moppatis mountit, all serving to sindrie peceis. 1580 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 320 With thre moppettis to serve the saidis peces. |
▪ II. moppet2
(ˈmɒpɪt)
Also 7 mopphet.
[f. mop n.1 + -et1.]
1. a. Used as an endearing appellation for a baby, a girl, etc.; a darling, a favourite. Also used contemptuously (? after sense 2) for a gaily dressed or frivolous woman.
| 1601 Munday & Chettle Death Earl Huntington K 2 b, And, moppet, you were best To take their proffers. 1630 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. iii. xiv. (1670) 460 A simple instinct..according to which Parents love..their children, though deformed..and use them like moppets or little apes. 1713 Rowe Jane Shore iv. Wks. 1792 II. 164 A moppet made of prettiness and pride. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Sat. i. iii. 64 Is he of dwarfish and abortive size? ‘Sweet little moppet’, the fond father cries. 1782 E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman III. 70 I'll..tell father and mother, and Peggy, what a moppet you have made of yourself. 1796 M. Robinson Angelina II. 79, I had rather see her dead, than making such a moppet of herself, as to run about like a vagrant, play-acting. 1801 C. Smith Lett. Solit. Wand. II. 10 While the most insipid moppet that ever looked in a glass is preferred to one of those reasoning damsels. 1973 Houston (Texas) Chron. Mag. People, Places, Pleasures 14 Oct. 6/3 Jane Withers..made a long-delayed transition from movie moppet ‘heavy’ to middle-aged TV pitchlady. 1975 Time Out 10 Jan. 45/2 Watching the well-mannered moppets and well-groomed mums roll up in taxis and Bentleys to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, certainly helped to set the scene. |
b. Contemptuously applied to a man.
| 1707 Cibber Double Gallant 111, He'll think I don't love him else. Poor Moppet! 1766 H. Walpole Lett. 13 Nov., He went to the Lord Mayor's feast, and dragged along with him that wise moppet, Lord Lyttelton. 1781 Ibid. 25 Mar., A moppet in Grosvenor Square has conceived hopes from this rising storm [etc.]. |
† 2. A rag doll. Obs. rare—0.
[Cf. quot. c 1440 s.v. mop n.1 2.]
| 1755 Johnson, Moppet, a puppet made of rags, as a mop is made. |
3. A woolly variety of dog. (Cf. mops2.)
| 1861 Gen. P. Thompson in Bradford Advertiser 7 Dec. 6/1 The curly moppet of the respectable household, whose locks are carved into some absurd suggestion of a lion. |
▪ III. † ˈmoppet3 Obs. rare—1.
[f. mop n.2 + -et1.]
A grimace.
| 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. Prol. 17 And albeit we see them sometimes counterfeit Devotion, yet never did Old Age [? read Ape] make pretty Moppet [orig. onques vieil singe ne fit belle mouë]. |