moggy

English

Alternative forms

• moggie

Etymology

Unknown, but probably originally Mog +‎ -y, a Scots or Northern English variant of maggie (“girl”), from Maggie, a diminutive of Margaret and Margery. First attested in reference to mongrel cats in Cockney.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒ.ɡi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.ɡi/

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

moggy (plural moggies)

1. (Scotland and Northern England regional, obsolete) Synonym of girl: a female child or young woman.
   • 1648, William Lilly, An Astrologicall Prediction of the Occurrances in England, Part of the Yeers 1648, 1649, 1650, page 60:

     ...expect not so fair an enemy as Cromwel, nor such fair quarter as now is given thee: Jockey, Jemmy, and Moggy thy she-souldier, must than all to the sword...

   • 1699, Edward Ward, The London Spy, volume I, page 15:

     ...in another Hut, a parcel of Scoth Pedlars and their Moggies,
     Dancing a Highlanders Jig...

2. (Midlands and Northern England regional, derogatory, rare) Synonym of slattern: an unkempt or badly-dressed woman.
   • 1886, Robert Eden George Cole, A Glossary of Words Used in South-west Lincolnshire, s.v. "moggy":

     Moggy, a slattern, dressed out untidily: 'She did look a moggy.'

   • 1980, Automobile Association, Book of British Villages, page 263:

     At Ickwell Green... the May Queen is accompanied by moggies (raggedly dressed women).

3. (Midlands and Northern England regional, rare) Synonym of scarecrow.
4. (Midlands regional, rare) Synonym of calf.
5. (UK, Australia) A domestic cat, especially (depreciative or derogatory) a non-pedigree or unremarkable cat.
   • 1911, John William Horsley, I Remember: Memories of a 'Sky Pilot' in the Prison and the Slum, page 254:

     Cockney slang... ‘moggies’ for cats.

6. (Yorkshire) A kind of cake made with ginger, treacle, etc.

Coordinate terms

• (mongrel cat): mutt (mongrel dog)

Derived terms

• mog

Translations

cat (depreciative slang)

• Esperanto: kataĉo
• Finnish: katti (fi) (not necessarily depreciative)
• French: chat de gouttière (fr) m
• German: Katzenvieh n
• Ido: katacho
• Irish: caitín m, peata cait m

See also

• go moggy

References

• “moggie, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2002..
• “moggy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “moggy”, in Collins English Dictionary.