maumet Obs. exc. arch. and dial.
(ˈmɔːmɛt)
Forms: α. 3 mahimet, (pl. mawmez, -ex, maumez), 3–4 maumete, 3–5 mawmete, 4 -med, -mat, maunmet, 4–5 maummet, mamet, maumett, 4–6 mawmette, 5 mowmet(te, mawȝmette, 6 maumette, mawmot, mammot, 6–7 mawmett, 9 mom(m)et, mammelt, 4– mammet, mawmet, 3– maumet. β. 4 momenet(te, mamenet, (pl. momenes), 4–6 maument, 4–6, 9 mawment, 5 mamnet, mamente, mawmente, -mentt, 6 mamant.
[a. OF. mahumet idol; a use of Mahumet Mahomet, due to the common mediæval notion that Muhammad was worshipped as a god.]
† 1. a. A false god, or an image of one; an idol. Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 14585 And bilæue þe hahȝe godd, & luuie heore mahimet. Ibid. 29221 Þer inne he hafde his maumet, þa he heold for his god. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 190, 192 She shal noght to any be sette Withoutyn leue of my maumette. The munke seyd he graunted weyl Aftyr hys maumette to do euery deyl. 1340 Ayenb. 6 Þe ilke þet worssipeþ þe momenes. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xix. 86 Þe kirke..es mykill and faire and full of ymagery of þaire mawmets. 14.. Sir Beues 488 Wheþure were strenger god in hevyn Or all the mawȝmettes. 1513 Douglas æneis x. Prol. 153 Lat Virgyll hald his mawmentis till hym self; I wirschip noder idoll, stok, nor elf. a 1529 Skelton Speke, Parrot 395 Moloc, that mawmett, there darre no man withsay. 1529 More Dialoge i. Wks. 119/2 The ydolles and mammettes of the paganes. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 99 And mamantis als he hes gart mak also, Of Phebus, Diane, and of Apollo. 1608 Willet Hexapla Gen. 326 Such images and mammetts were found in Iacobs house. 1647 Trapp Comm. Acts xix. 25 Wealth is the worldlings god, which he prizeth as Micah did his mawmet. [a 1654: see maumetry 1.] |
† b. transf. A person or thing that usurps the place of God in the human affections. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xcvi. 7 Sum has syluyre his mawmet. 138. Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 38 Lovynge moore vicis þan virtues, and so þei serven mawmetis. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. 749 Euery floryn in his cofre is his Mawmet. |
† c. Applied by Protestants to the images of Christ and the saints. Obs.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 309 If those Mawmettes, and signes of Sainctes, be erected in their churches for none other ende, but to put the beholders in remembraunce of the Saincts themselves [etc.]. 1650 Trapp Comm. Deut. vii. 5 Those mawmets and monuments of idolatry, the Rood of grace, the blood of Hales, &c. |
2. a. An image, dressed-up figure; a doll, puppet; also, a person of grotesque appearance or costume, a ‘guy’. Now only dial.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 554 The cytie of Roan..made them a mamet of a fatte & vnwyldely as. 1530 Palsgr. 244/1 Maument, marmoset; poupee. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 75 Mawmets of rags and cloutes compact together. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 95 This is no world To play with Mammets. 1597–8 Yorks. Arch. & Topogr. Jrnl. xxxiii. 186 note, These havyng folowed theire vanitie al the night in sekynge there maumet, commonly called the floure of thwell, would nedes bringe the same on a barrow into ye churche in prayer times. 1600 Lyly Maydes Metam. ii. ii. 60 Io. What Mawmets are these? Fris. O they be the Fayries that haunt these woods. a 1608 Dee Relat. Spir. i. (1659) 11 There stand a great many of Mawmets, little ugly fellows at the top of the hill. 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. v. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Julius Cæsar, acted by the Mammets. 1642 Fuller Answ. Ferne 2 Hee..sets up..a Mawmet of his owne dressing. 1892 S. Hewett Peasant Sp. Devon 15 It was at one time customary for village children to canvass the neighbourhood for subscriptions for materials to make a Guy Fawkes' ‘momet’. |
† b. fig. A person who is the ‘tool’ or ‘puppet’ of another; a ‘man of straw’. Obs.
| 1460 Paston Lett. I. 514, I knowe wele the Juge, W. Wayte his mawment. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII (1809) 462 Wherefore she [the duchess] sent Perkyn Werbeck, her new inuented Mawmet first into Portyngall. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 141 Nash,..Greene,..Euphues,..the three famous mammets of the presse. |
c. A baby, child. dial.
| 1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm v. 69 Far from those that loves her and cowdled her in their bosoms when she was a mommet. 1949 Antiquity XXIII. 42 The poor mommet whose father was ‘in trade’ is discernible even on its tomb as ‘a really vulgar babe’. |
3. Applied to a person as a term of abuse or contempt. Now dial.
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche 170 Thou murrionn, thow mawment, Thou fals stynkyng serpent. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 186 A wretched puling foole, A whining mammet. 1600 Look About You L 3 b, Downe stubborne Queene,..Downe, Mammet. 1608 Machin Dumb Knt. iii. F 4, O God that euer any man should looke Vpon this maumet and not laugh at him. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. v. iii, 'Slight you are a Mammet! O, I could touse you, now. 1630 Massinger Picture i. i, How the mammet twitters! 1891 Hardy Tess xlii, What a mommet of a maid! |
† 4. A kind of pigeon; = Mahomet 5. Obs.
| 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornithol. 182 Mawmets, called (as I take it) from Mahomet. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 244/2 Of Pigeons..Mawmets..exceed all others..from their great black eyes. 1735 etc. [see Mahomet]. 1835 P. J. Selby Nat. Hist. Pigeons 164 Turkish or Mawmet Pigeon. Columba Turcica. |
† 5. attrib. and Comb., as maumet god, maumet house, maumet place, maumet wood, maumet worshipper.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Kings xviii. 4 He..hewȝ doun the mawmett wodis [Vulg. lucos]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 231/2 A Mawment place (A. A Mawment howse); jdolium. Ibid. 232/1 A Mawment wyrscheper, idolatra. 1618 Fletcher Isl. Princess iv. v, Where I meet your maumet Gods I'le swing 'em. |