▪ I. mumming, vbl. n.
(ˈmʌmɪŋ)
Also 5 mommyng(e, 5–6 mummynge, 6 mumminge, Sc. muming, 7 moming.
[f. mum v. + -ing1.]
† 1. Inarticulate murmuring; indistinct speech.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 348/2 Mummynge, mussacio, vel mussatus. 1573 Twyne æneid xi. H h ij b, Scarse had the legates done, when mumblynge mumminge [orig. varius fremor] much doth rise. |
2. The action of disguising oneself; spec. the action of taking part in the representation of a mummers' play. Chiefly in phr. to go a mumming. Also, a performance of mummers.
| c 1465 Eng. Chron. (Camden) 20 The erlle of Salisbury, the erl of Gloucestre and othir mo of thair assent were accordid to make a mommyng to the Kyng. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. v. ii. 100 b, The disguising and muming that is vsed in Christemas tyme..came oute of the feaste of Pallas. 1648 Gage West Ind. 152 A goodly mumming and silent stage play. 1725 Bourne in Brand Pop. Antiq. xvi. (1777) 191 There is another Custom observed at this Time, which is called among us Mumming. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iii. vi. 222 A sport common among the ancients..consisted in mummings and disguisements. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 309 While the children thus went a-mumming..the fathers took to drinking. |
| attrib. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xi, How I am to convey her out of this crowd..in such a mumming habit. |
b. transf. and fig. Often with contemptuous reference to religious ceremonial.
| 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 69 b, They thinke that they have done abundauntly ynough for God..yif they be present once in a daye at soch mummynge. 1565 Stapleton Fortr. Faith 132 They..practise in consecrated places their schismaticall mumming. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. i. 168 'Tis no time for mumming. |
c. (Cf. mummer n. 2.)
| 1861 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 139/2 We call strolling acting ‘mumming’, and the actors ‘mummers’. All spouting is mumming. |
† 3. to make a mumming of: to treat with levity or contempt. Obs.
| 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 200 Men of suche maters make but a mummynge. |
▪ II. mumming, ppl. a.
(ˈmʌmɪŋ)
[f. mum v. + -ing2.]
That ‘mums’ in various senses of the verb.
| 1582 T. Watson Centurie of Loue l, Fortune..Who like a mumming mate so throwes the Dice. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii. (Arb.) 56 And all the grisly sprights of griping hell, With mumming looke hath dogd thee since thy birth. 1851 Judd Margaret i. xvi. (1874) 144 She enacted sundry grimaces, uttered mumming sentences. 1879 McCarthy Own Times I. xiii. 313 Their wild mumming way. |