muggle

See also: Muggle

English

WOTD – 26 June 2020

Pronunciation

A muggle (etymology 1, sense 2) or marijuana cigarette.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɡl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɡ(ə)l/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡəl
• Hyphenation: mug‧gle

Etymology 1

Origin unknown; first known to have come into use in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., in the mid-1920s.

Noun

muggle (countable and uncountable, plural muggles) (originally US, slang, dated)

1. (uncountable, chiefly in the plural) Marijuana. [from mid 1920s]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

   • 1933, Cecil de Lenoir, “Way down South”, in The Hundredth Man: Confessions of a Drug Addict, London: Jarrolds […], →OCLC, page 220:

     But there was a drug in New Orleans, although it took me over nine months to find out anything about it—a drug of a very different and insidious kind! [...] It looked like chopped hay, or dried clover, and was rolled up in a double brown cigarette paper. In short, a "muggles", "weed", or "mootie", cannabis indica, Indian hemp, or, to give it its Mexican name, marijuana, which translated into English just means Mary Jane!

   • 1963, Howard S[aul] Becker, Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, New York, N.Y.: Free Press of Glencoe; London: Collier-Macmillan, →OCLC, page 142:

     The boy said he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends called "muggles," a childish name for marihuana.

   • 2007, Ron Chepesiuk, “The White Mayor”, in Gangsters of Harlem: The Gritty Underworld of New York’s Most Famous Neighborhood, Fort Lee, N.J.: Barricade Books, →ISBN, page 62:

     While marijuana was still legal in New York, businessmen wanted to package Mezz [Mezzrow]'s muggle and turn it into a high-powered criminal enterprise. While tempted, Mezz rejected those efforts, as well.

2. (countable) A marijuana cigarette; a joint. [from mid 1920s]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana cigarette

   • 1931 September 7, “Crime: Muggles”, in Time‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 October 2014:

     Marijuana is a variety of hemp weed (Cannabis sativa) long common in Mexico, lately becoming common in the U. S. Its leaves can be dried, ground and rolled into cigarets, which are bootlegged under the name of "muggles," "reefers," or "Mary Warners." Thinner, shorter than standard cigarets, "muggles" are made from the small delicate leaves of the female marijuana plant.

   • 1933, Cecil de Lenoir, “Way down South”, in The Hundredth Man: Confessions of a Drug Addict, London: Jarrolds […], →OCLC, page 226:

     “[...] Eddie, what is this cigarette? It tastes a bit like opium.” / “It’s a ‘muggles’, kid—Mex marijuana; it won’t hurt you any if you don’t inhale too deeply, but you’ll pass out if you do. [...]”

   • 1933 June 12, “Hot Ambassador”, in Time‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 1 December 2007:

     Windy, muggle-smoking Louis Armstrong has never had patience or skill to build an orchestra of his own. He is happy strutting before any good hot band where he can introduce himself as "The Reverend Satchel Mouth" and proceed to triple-tongue a cornet at incredible speed.

   • 1938 July 1, Mansfield News Journal, Mansfield, Oh.: Mansfield Journal Co., →OCLC:

     But even then "muggle" smoking does not affect along a given pattern. "Afflicted with hallucinations of terrifying extent," [James Skelly] Wright said, "he is liable to run amok, leaving a trail of crime – even murder, in his wake." Case after case in which criminals have admitted smoking "muggles" indicates this is true, according to Wright.

   • 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 51:

     “Ever smoke any muggles?” he asked me. “Man, this is some golden-leaf I brought up from New Orleans, it’ll make you feel good, take a puff.”

Etymology 2

See Muggle. The verb sense (“to deface a geocache”) derives from the fact that people interfering with such items are assumed not to be geocachers: see the noun sense 1.2.1.

Noun

muggle (plural muggles)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Muggle
   1. A person who has no magical abilities.
      • 2005, Christine Wicker, Not in Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America, New York, N.Y.: HarperSanFrancisco, →ISBN, page 194:

        The magical and the muggle are separated by a river, wide and deep. I could see across, but I couldn't get across, [...].

      • 2007 November 11, Lesley Oldfield, “Family break a eureka moment”, in Sunday Sun, Newcastle upon Tyne: Reach plc, →ISSN, →OCLC:

        As it was nearing Halloween, we were able to join a potions class where we could change liquids into myriad colours with the addition of substances like dragon spit (muggle’s lemon juice).

      • 2007 November 21, Gary Thompson, “Dylan divided by six”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer‎^[3], Philadelphia, Pa.: The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC:

        There's another guy playing [Bob] Dylan as a formal poet facing some kind of muggle inquisition, but this is the movie's briefest and least consequential thread.

   2. (by extension) A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; also, a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider.
      • 2005, David Harvie, Ben Trott, Keir Milburn, editors, Shut Them Down!: The G8, Gleneagles 2005 and the Movement of Movements, Leeds, West Yorkshire: Dissent!; Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Autonomedia, →ISBN, page 343:

        Some activists might know little of this ‘exterior’, such is their facility to move between activist spaces and places without having to encounter the ever-increasingly one-dimensional world in which the ‘muggles’ live.

      1. (geocaching, specifically) A person not involved in the pastime of geocaching.

         Antonym: geocacher

         • 2006, Wisconsin Natural Resources, Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 89:

           Try not to let the muggles see you find a Cache.

         • 2010, Paul Gillin, Dana Gillin, “Appendix A: Glossary”, in The Joy of Geocaching […], Fresno, Calif.: Quill Driver Books, →ISBN, page 235:

           Use Stealth. Commonly used in a place with a high muggle-to-geocacher ratio.

         • 2016 February 16, Selina Powell, “The hidden world of geocaching in Marlborough”, in Marlborough Express (reproduced on Stuff)‎^[4], Blenheim, New Zealand: Stuff, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 May 2020:

           Each time we made a find [Teresa] Hinton would check there were no muggles, or non-geocachers, around before taking the container from its hiding place.

         • 2018 February 6, Joseph Smith, “The ‘dead drop’ in Stokes Croft may be more than it appears”, in Bristol Post‎^[5], Bristol, Somerset: Reach plc, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 February 2018:

           Caches can be hidden in a disguised container, or very small package, and one element of difficulty is hiding caches in urban locations, where the hunter will have to avoid being spotted by ‘muggles’ – the name given to those unaware of the sport. Muggles will be surprised at the scale of the secret game taking place under their noses.

Verb

muggle (third-person singular simple present muggles, present participle muggling, simple past and past participle muggled)

1. (transitive, geocaching) To deface, destroy, or remove a geocache.
   • 2010, Katy Grant, chapter 1, in Hide and Seek, 1st trade paperback edition, Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree Publishers, published 2012, →ISBN, page 14:

     Okay, September 3. That was just last Monday—Labor Day—so the geocache had been muggled sometime during the past week.

   • [2012, Allison Bruning, “Geocatching:^{[sic – meaning Geocaching]} A Modern Day Treasure Hunt”, in Reflections: Poems and Essays, [Bloomington, Ind.?]: Mountain Springs House, →ISBN, page 118:

     Stolen or vandalized geocaches are termed "muggled" or "plundered".]

   • 2015 June 29, Dom Joy, “Dom Joly’s family geocaching treasure hunt in Spain and Portugal”, in The Independent‎^[6], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 September 2015:

     We returned the cache to its original place and left it just as we'd found it. If a cache is interfered with, it's deemed to have been "muggled" and this is severely frowned upon by the Geochaching^[sic] community.

Etymology 3

Origin unknown; attested in Berkshire, Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, the West Country, Wiltshire, and Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. The word is possibly a variant of muddle.

Verb

muggle (third-person singular simple present muggles, present participle muggling, simple past and past participle muggled)

1. (intransitive, UK, Ireland, dialectal) Often followed by along: to live or work in an unorganized and unplanned way; to muddle along.
   • 1872, Agrikler [pseudonym; Joseph Edwards], “Tha Man as Coodent Plaze Nubbody”, in Rhymes in the West of England Dialect. […], 2nd edition, Bristol, Somerset: Leech and Taylor, […], →OCLC, page 39:

     And zo thay muggled along, 'till tha volks all begun to make giame on them.

   • 1873, [Edward Jenkins], “Justices’ Justice and Statutes at Large”, in Little Hodge, author’s edition, New York, N.Y.: Dodd & Mead, […], →OCLC, page 102:

     I might have a made out to muggle along if so be Mister Jolly would a rised my wages, or the Union could a kept on taken care o' this last poor little un, till sich time as I might a married some'un to keep the childern tidy; [...]

   • 1877 May, [Frances Hariott Wood], “The Old Red School-house”, in W[illiam] Meynell Whittemore, editor, Sunshine for 1877. […], number 185, London: William Poole, […], →OCLC, chapter VI (Widow Lawrence’s Story), page 77, column 2:

     She might truly be said "to muggle along;" everything in her house was in the greatest state of confusion, and, it must be added, dirt.

   • 1889, [John Hutton Balfour Browne], “Popular”, in Times and Days: Being Essays in Romance and History, London, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 28:

     He rose to no eminence and got through life somehow, ‘muggled along,’ as Somersetshire people say.

   • [1903, “MUGGLE, v.¹ and sb.²”, in Joseph Wright, editor, The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumes IV (M–Q), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 195, column 1:

     MUGGLE, [...] To muddle along, to live in a muddling, haphazard way.]

   • 1934, Margaret, Lady Rhondda, editor, Time and Tide, volume 15, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1016, column 1:

     "He has whiskers and whuskers but no wapers; / He whiffles and whaffles and muggles along;" / Thus ran the headlines of the morning papers; / The reporters all put to sea in a flong.

   • 2010 October, Paul Tremblay, “Tour: Slipshod Safari”, in We Will Never Live in the Castle, Toronto, Ont.: ChiZine Publications, published April 2013, →ISBN:

     [T]he tractor struggles and muggles through the overgrown tour path, the tall grass whispers on the bottom of our cage, [...]

Further reading

• joint (cannabis) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Muggle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia