mollien.
/ˈmɒli/, U.S. /ˈmɑli/ Nautical. Now historical.
Among whaling ships fishing in the northern oceans: a gathering of captains in the cabin of one of them, often the occasion for a boisterous party. Cf. mallemaroking n.
ΚΠ
1874 A. H. Markham Whaling Cruise 112 In the evening..I got some little insight into the mysteries of a ‘mollie’, though on a small scale. In whaling parlance, a ‘mollie’ means having a night of it.
1885 W. S. Schley & J. R. Soley Rescue of Greely 183 These interviews are called ‘Mollies’, and are announced by a bucket hoisted as a signal at the fore-royal masthead... Generally speaking, a ‘Mollie’ means making a night of it.
1976 P. Kemp Oxf. Compan. Ships & Sea 553/2 In these days of whale factory ships and mechanized whaling, the holding of mollies, and indeed the use of the word itself, has almost entirely died out.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1874- in the name of
- in the name of fortune
- in the name of goodness
- in the name of wonder
- in the nature of
- in the nature of the case
- in the nature of things
- in the neck
- in the neck of
- in the neck of another
- in the negative
- in the neighbourhood of
- in the new
- in the news
- in the next place
- in the nick
- in the nick-time
- in the nicktime
- in the night
- in the night side
- in the nine hole
- in the nine holes
- in the nonce
- in the now
- in the nuddy