mumble-matins

English

Alternative forms

• mumblematins, mumble matins

Etymology

From mumble +‎ matins (“morning prayers”).

Noun

mumble-matins (plural mumble-matins)

1. (obsolete, religious slur) A Roman Catholic priest.
   • [1845, Rev. William Simcox Bricknell, The Judgment of the Bishops Upon Tractarian Theology, page 604:

     The reason, why so great a stress was laid on the distinct reading of the Church Service, independently of its obvious necessity, was the general prevalence of an opposite practice amongst the Popish Clergy, many of whom, after they had conformed to the Liturgy, read it as they had been accustomed to read the prayers in their Breviary.*
     * The Clergy who read in this hurried and indistinct manner were called, in derision, "Mumble-Matins."]

   • 1852, George Walter Thornbury, “The Monastery of the Flowery Plain”, in Ainsworth's Magazine, volume 21, page 222:

     By our Lady! if thou hadst seen death in as many shapes as I have, the fearful change, as the mumble matins call it, coming over white and dusky faces alike, thou would not fear it, but prepare to meet it gaily, flask in hand, like a welcome guest or an expected bride […]

Hypernyms

• papist