mommick

English

Etymology

Apparently a variant of mammock.

Verb

mommick (third-person singular simple present mommicks, present participle mommicking, simple past and past participle mommicked)

(dialectal, transitive, including Ocracoke Island North Carolina) To harass or bother (someone or something).
Synonyms: annoy, vex; see also Thesaurus:annoy, Thesaurus:pester
- 1960, Vinnie Williams, Walk Egypt, page 178:
  The big woman wheeled on the tumbling children in the car. "Billie-Dove Newsome, min' you manners. Ramon-Novarro, quit mommicking de dog!" She turned back.
- 2007, Wild Horses of Shackleford Banks, →ISBN:
  Using a bit of Down East vernacular, as if talking about a family member, she adds, “Leo's used to me mommicking [teasing] him—treating him like a baby.”
(dialectal, transitive) To beat up or rough up (someone).
Synonyms: do over, work over
- 1968, William Dean Howells, The Altrurian romances, volume 20, page 430:
  Evelith Strange writes to Mrs. Makely from Altruria: Do you still keep on murdering and divorcing, and drowning and burning, and mommicking, and maiming people by sea and land? Has there been any war since I left?
- 1998, Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence: Readings, page 24:
  "Mommick him up good, because you've got to go to jail anyhow."
- 2014, Richard Chase, American Folk Tales and Songs, →ISBN, page 21:
  "He was too mean for Hell, having people mommicked and gaumed up the way he did.”
- about 1980, Connie McElroy, 'Twas a Night Afore Chistmas, Son: or A Harkers Island Christmas:
  I heard him hollar as he sank out of sight, "My Lord Honey, haint I been momicked this night."
(dialectal, Appalachia, Southern US, chiefly North Carolina) To mess up; to bungle or ruin by bungling.
Synonyms: botch, mess up; see also Thesaurus:spoil
- 1994, Gail Godwin, A Mother and Two Daughters, →ISBN, page 420:
  "I don't fault her for effort," said one man, the oldest at the table, "but she's wanting to do it all by herself, then she mommicks thing up."
- 2009, Peter F. Hamilton, The Neutronium Alchemist, →ISBN:
  And anyway, his presence seemed to mommick up electricity. So he stuck to walking.

Alternative forms

mommuck, mummock

Noun

mommick

(dialectal, Appalachia, Southern US, chiefly North Carolina) A mess, a disorderly state or thing.
- 2010, Julianna Baggott, The Madam: A Novel, →ISBN, page 21:
  As soon as she walks up the porch steps and opens the screen door, she knows that Henry is already home. Amid the noisy mommick, she can sense his humming presence.
- 2012, Christine Blevins, The Turning of Anne Merrick, →ISBN:
  "It's all such an awful mommick..." Anne shrugged. "Trapped on a sinking ship..."
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:mommick.

Related terms

mammock