Chapter Mob to Moloch of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Mob to Moloch

Mob A contraction of the Latin mobile vulgus (the fickle crowd). The term was first applied to the people by the members of the Green-ribbon Club, in the reign of Charles II. (Northern Examiner, p. 574.)

Mob-cap (A). Is a plain cap, from Dutch mob = a cap Probably mop is another form of the same word, and all come from the Latin mappa (a clout), whence our word map (a drawing on cloth), in contradistinction to a cartoon (a drawing on paper).

Mobilise To render soldiers liable to be moved on service out of the town where they live; to call into active service men enrolled but not on the war establishment. (Latin, mobilis.)

Mock-beggar Hall or Manor. A grand, ostentatious house, where no hospitality is afforded, neither is any charity given.

“No times observed, nor charitable lawes,
The poor receive their answer from the dawes,
Who, in their cawing language, call it plaine
Mock-begger Manour, for they come in vaine.”
Taylor: Workes.

Mockery “It will be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.” Thomas, Lord Denman, in his judgment on the case of O'Connell v. The Queen.

Modality in scholastic philosophy, means the mode in which anything exists. Kant divides our judgment into three modalities: (1) Problematic, touching possible events; (2) Assertoric, touching real events; (3) Apodictic, touching necessary events.

Modish (Lady Betty), in The Careless Husband, by Cibber. The name explains the character. This was Mrs. Oldfield's favourite character, and The Tatler (No. 10) accordingly calls this charming actress “Lady Betty Modish.” (See Narcissa .)

Modo The fiend that urges to murder, and one of the five that possessed “Poor Tom.” (See Mahu .) (Shakespeare: King Lear, iv. 1.)

Modred in the romance of The Round Table, is represented as the treacherous knight. He revolted from his Uncle Arthur, whose wife he seduced, was mortally wounded in the battle of Camlan, in Cornwall, and was buried in the island of Avalon.
   Sir Modred. The nephew of King Arthur. He hated Sir Lancelot, sowed discord amongst the Knights of the Round Table, and tampered with the “lords of the White Horse,” the brood that Hengist left. When the king went to chastise Sir Lancelot for tampering with the queen, he left Sir Modred in charge of the kingdom. Modred raised a revolt, and the king was slain in his attempt to quash it. (Tennyson: Idylls of the King; Guinevere.)

Mods In Oxford a contracted form of moderations. The three necessary examinations in Oxford are the Smalls, the Mods, and the Greats. No one can take a class till he has passed the Mods. There are no Mods at Cambridge.

“While I was reading for Mods I was not so unsettled in my mind.”- Grant Allen: The Backslider, part iii.

Modus Operandi (Latin). The mode of operation; the way in which a thing is done or should be done.

Modus Vivendi (A). A mutual arrangement whereby persons not at the time being on friendly terms can be induced to live together in harmony. This may apply to individuals, to societies, or to peoples (as the South Africans and the Boers).

Mofussil (East Indies). The subordinate divisions of a district; the seat of government being called sudder. Provincial.

“To tell a man that fatal charges have been laid against him, and refuse him an opportunity for explanation, this is not even Mofussil justice.” - The Times.

Mogul Cards The best playingcards were so called because the wrapper, or “duty card” (when cards were subject to excise duty) contained the portrait of