▪ I. mun, n.1 dial. and slang.
Also 7 munne, 7–9 munn, 8–9 mund.
[a. ON. munn-r: see mouth n. Cf. mompyns, munpynnys.]
a. dial. The mouth (see E.D.D.). b. slang. pl. The jaws, ‘chops’, face.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 44 Much maugre his mun, he mot nede suffer. 1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue i. iv, Munns, the Face. 1760 Foote Minor 1 (1767) 31 Why, you jade, you look as rosy this morning, I must have a smack at your muns. 1847 Halliwell s.v., A common cry at Coventry on Good Friday is—One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns, Butter them and sugar them and put them in your muns. 1859 Matsell Vocabulum (Farmer), Mund. The mouth. Munds. The face. |
▪ II. † mun, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
One of a class of street-ruffians in the seventeenth century.
| 1691 Shadwell Scowrers i. i. 3 Why I knew the Hectors, and before them the Muns and the Titire Tu's, they were brave fellows indeed. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 361. |
▪ III. mun, v. north. and midl.
Forms: pres. ind. sing. and pl. 3– mun, 3–6 (9 dial.) mon, mone, 6 monn, moun. pres. subj. 3 mune. pa. tense 3 (Ormin) munnde, 3–5 mund(e, mond(e, (4 muond). See also maun.
[a. ON. monu, munu (1st and 3rd sing. mon, mun, 1st pl. monum, munum; pa. tense munda), a preterite-pres. verb used as an auxiliary of the future tense = shall, will. The prehistoric sense was doubtless ‘to intend’ (Indo-Germanic root men-: mon-: mn- to think: see mind n.); ON. has a slightly differentiated form (inf. mona, muna) with the sense ‘to remember’: see mone v.
In ON. the pres. sing. has a variant man: see maun v. In mod. Eng. dialects the pa. tense appears to be represented by mud, coincident in form with a frequent unstressed variant of the past tense of may v.; the two auxiliaries have therefore partly coalesced in the pa. tense
The combination of mun with a negative has various contracted forms, the most frequent being mon't (məʊnt). See E.D.D. s.vv. Mud, Mun.]
An auxiliary verb, followed by inf. without to. In mod. dialects equivalent to ‘must’; in early use sometimes with the sense ‘shall’ (pa. tense = ‘should’, ‘would’).
| c 1200 Ormin 1967 Forr ȝiff mann mihhte wurrþenn warr Þatt ȝho wiþþ childe wære,..Ȝho munnde affterr þe laȝheboc To dæþe ben istanedd. Ibid. 7927 Forr iwhillc mann birrþ ..beon..offdredd, Þatt all hiss gode dede Ne mune himm nohht beon god inoh To berrȝhenn himm fra pine. a 1300 Cursor M. 1105 Þai thoght þat kynd him mond forbede To haf don suilk an ogli dede. c 1300 Havelok 840, I wene that we deye mone For hunger, þis dere is so strong. a 1350 St. Laurence 231 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 110 Decius þan him umbi-thoght How saint Laurence munde be schent. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxiv, And thou mun pay my rawunsun, Gawan, with thi leue. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 5 For þan I monde make mekull sorow. a 1553 Udall Royster D. 4th Song (Arb.) 87, I mun be maried a Sunday. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. i, Slid a gentleman mun show himselfe like a gentleman. 1688 Shadwell Sq. Alsatia i. i. 5 What will awd Maaster say to this? I mun ne'er see the Face of him I wot. a 1721 Prior Song (1st line), Since, Moggy, I mun bid adieu, How can I help despairing? 1864 Tennyson North. Farmer (Old Style) xvii, An' if I mun doy I mun doy. |
b. with ellipsis of a vb. of motion.
| c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1113 Sir, he said, I trow, she mone To the prynce off Aragon. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 425 Thow mon to Paris to the King. |
▪ IV. mun
dial. var. mon, man: see man n.1 4 e.
▪ V. mun, pron.
(= them, him, it, etc.): see E.D.D.
▪ VI. mun
variant of mone v. Obs., remember.
▪ VII. mun
see mon3, mun.