mulligrubs, n. pl.
(ˈmʌlɪgrʌbz)
Forms: 6 mulliegrums, (7–8 Dicts. mouldy-grubs, 8 ma-lé-grubbles, 9 mulleygrubs), 9 Sc. mulligrumphs, 8–9 mullygrubs, 7–9 mulligrubs.
[A grotesque arbitrary formation.]
1. A state of depression of spirits; a fit of megrims or spleen; in early use in phr. (in) her, his, etc., mulligrubs, sick of the mulligrubs; hence jocularly, stomach-ache or colic.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 55 The yeoman of the mouth..rehearsed this second il successe, wherwith Peters successour was so in his mulliegrums that he had thought to haue buffeted him. 1619 Fletcher M. Thomas ii. ii, Whither goe all these men-menders, these physitians? Whose dog lyes sicke o' th mulligrubs? 1678 Dryden Limberham iv. i, She is in her mulligrubs already. 1720 Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 85 It lulls a wee my mullygrubs, To think upon these bitten scrubs. 1736 Ainsworth Eng.-Lat. Dict., The mouldy grubs, tormina ventris. 1789 in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1876) XXX. 47 We had father ― of ― who rolled and bellowed as if he had the ma-lé-grubbles, or, as many thought, as if he were in liquor. 1802 G. Colman Br. Grins, Knt. & Friar ii. xxxix, His bowels; Where spasms were..Afflicting him with mulligrubs and colic. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 14 Mar., I have scarce stirred to take exercise for four or five days, no wonder I had the mulligrubs. 1827 Ibid. 19 Sept., Surely these mulligrubs belong to the mind more than the body. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green i. viii, Peakyish you feel, don't you, now, with a touch of the mulligrubs in your collywobbles? |
† 2. In sing. form. a. Ludicrously applied to a person. b. A fit of ‘mulligrubs’. Obs. rare.
| 1633 Shirley Gamester iv. i, Command my sword, my lungs, my life, Thou art a puffe, a mulligrube, a Metaphysicall Coxcombe, and I honour you with all my hart. 16.. Middleton Father Hubbard's T. Wks. (Dyce) V. 597 Some Londoner's son..that must hear twice a-week from his mother, or else he will be sick..of a university-mulligrub. |