| 释义 |
muggins, n.|ˈmʌgɪnz|
[perh. the surname Muggins, used arbitrarily with allusion to mug n.5 Cf. the use of the surname in Surtees Handley Cross (1843).]
1. slang. A fool, simpleton; a ‘juggins’. to talk muggins: to say silly, foolish things. Also ‘a borough-magnate; a local leader’ (Farmer). Freq. used by a speaker to refer to himself.
1855Golden Era 28 Jan. 2/1 You are a veritable ‘Muggins’ in [choosing] cigars. 1859C. E. De Long in Calif. Hist. Soc. Q. (1931) X. 167 Spent the evening until late with Jim in having one of our regular old fashioned long talks about women love &c; and both arrived at the conclusion that we were mugginse's. 1881Punch 10 Sept. 110/2 Well them as talks Muggins like that to our gurls must be milks. 1884Ibid. 11 Oct. 180/1 Must ha' thought me a muggins, old man, To ask sech a question of 'Arry. 1973Daily Tel. 29 Aug. 1/3 The letter bomb was not meant for me personally. I was just the muggins who opened it. 1973E. Lemarchand Let or Hindrance 181 ‘In a nutshell,’ Michael said, ‘..Muggins [i.e. himself] has agreed to be in charge.’
2. a. A children's game of cards.
Each player lays down a card face upwards, forming a pile before him. When the top cards before two players match, the one who first cries ‘Muggins’ transfers his pile to the other. When all the cards are brought into one pile, the player to whom it belongs is the loser. The word muggins is also applied to the player who has to receive cards from another, and to the pool formed by the cards that remain of the pack after an equal division in dealing.
1855Pioneer (San Francisco) Nov. 358 We returned to the hotel, to engage in the intellectual game of Muggins. Ladies and gentlemen were all decided to be Muggins ere the game had closed. 1865S. Jex-Blake Let. 18 Aug. in M. Todd Life S. Jex-Blake (1918) xiii. 165 After the ices we went back to the Hospital, and played a most ridiculous game of cards called ‘Muggins’, keeping us in roars of laughter half the time. 1876Heather Cards & Card Tricks 199.
b. A game of dominoes in which the players count by fives or multiples of five.
1868F. B. Zincke Last Winter in U.S. 268 Consoling herself with a kind of dominoes she called ‘muggins’. 1881Cassell's Bk. Sports 390 (Dominoes) The game of All Fives, or Muggins, is very popular in some circles.
▸ Cribbage. A declaration (taking the form ‘muggins’) made by a player when an opponent neglects to peg the full value of his or her cards, allowing the declarer to collect the overlooked points; the optional rule allowing such a declaration. Also as int.
1948S. S. Lenz Cribbage 54 Muggins is a term used to call attention to the opponent's insufficient count. After the score is pegged, the surplus is taken by the mugger. 1963G. F. Hervey Handbk. Card Games 53 If a player fails to peg the full value of his cards, either in play or otherwise, his opponent may declare ‘Muggins’, point out the omission, and peg the neglected points himself. 2001Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 5 May h2 If we missed a point or two in a complex hand, she crowed ‘Muggins!’ to claim the points, jabbing her pegs forward as if skewering small vermin. |