▪ I. ‖ mufti1
(ˈmʌftɪ)
Forms: 6 muphtie, 7 muftie, muffty, -ti, mophty, -ti, mufiti, mufty, moufti, 7–8 muphti, 7–9 muftee, 9 mooftee, -ti, 7– mufti.
[Arab. muftī, active pple. of aftā (4th conjug. of fatā) to give a fetwa or decision on a point of law.]
A Muslim priest or expounder of the law; in Turkey restricted to the official head of the religion of the state (formerly often † grand mufti) and to deputies appointed by him in some of the larger cities.
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 631 The muphtie is chiefe of the religion, and looketh unto matters of conscience. 1609 Ro. C. Muley Hamets Rising I 4 b, The chiefest man for iudgement vnder the King [of Barbary] is the Muftie, to whome the partie greeued may appeale from any other ordinary Iudge. 1624 Massinger Renegado i. i, One of their Mufties, We call them Priests at Venice, with a Razor Cutts it of. 1690 Dryden Don Sebast. i. i, I tell thee Mufty, Good feasting is devout: and thou our Head, Hast a Religious ruddy Countenance. 1695 Motteux St. Olon's Morocco 115 The Grand Mufti for Affairs of Religion and Justice. 1775 in Claim of Rada Churn (1776) 13/2 In the Phousdance Audlaulet [sic], the Cauree and Muftee of the district, and two Moulewys, shall sit to expound the Law. 1813 Byron Giaour 491 On her might Muftis gaze, and own That through her eye the Immortal shone. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. xi, Not all the marriage oaths sworn before all the parsons, cardinals,..muftis and rabbins in the world. |
b. transf.
| 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 75 A goodlie number of Popelings, and young little Mufties. 1700 W. King Transactioneer 34 He's the very Muffti, the Oracle of our Club. a 1716 South Serm. (1717) V. 247 The great Mufti of Geneva. 1835 Court Mag. VI. 189/1 ‘Oh, but’, says some she-mufti, in a turban,..‘if you have good introductions,.. then you are welcome everywhere’. ‘Stop, my worthy mufti’, I reply; ‘do you suppose’ [etc.]. |
Hence ˈmuftiship, the office or position of mufti.
| 1690 Dryden Don Sebast. iv. ii, The Iniquity of thirty Years Muftiship converted into Diamonds. |
▪ II. mufti2
(ˈmʌftɪ)
Also mufty, muftee.
[Perh. a facetious use of prec. It has been suggested that the original application may have been to the costume of dressing-gown, smoking-cap, and slippers, suggesting the attire of the ‘mufti’ of the stage.]
1. Plain clothes worn by any one who has a right to wear a uniform; esp. in phr. in mufti. Also transf. and fig.
| 1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master ii. 50 His mufti's off, and now, instead, Qui hi per force assumes the red. 1824 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1825) 479 A lancer in mufty. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xiv, Next morning [I] made my appearance in a suit of mufti. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks xxxix, He knew that..he was dogged at the distance of some thirty yards by an amiable policeman in mufti. 1896 N. Davis Three Men & a God 122 He was made kennel huntsman to the regimental pack, and spent his time, dressed in most disreputable mufti, between the boiling house and kennels. 1930 W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale iv. 52 He looked a little like a dean in mufti on his summer holiday in Switzerland. 1966 Listener 13 Oct. 547/1 Students will observe the tears that, Terry-fashion, the actor (in mufti and communing only with the cameras) cannot hold back in the Deposition scene of Richard II. 1971 Illustr. Weekly India 4 Apr. 23/2 An old man..was nearly killed by a lathi and was carried away by the police in mufti. 1975 A. Christie Curtain xvii. 182 Nurse Craven I saw for the first time in mufti instead of her nurse's uniform. |
| attrib. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes viii, He has no mufticoat, except one sent him out..to India in the year 1821. 1959 Listener 16 Apr. 681/3 A time of extravagance already remote from the mufti sobrieties of the Third Republic. |
2. A civilian; one who wears, or is in, ‘mufti’.
| 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xx, There was also a sprinkling of civilians, or muftees, to use a West India expression. |