mutchkin

mutchkin

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch mudseken (“mutchkin”), from mutse (“mutch”), from Classical Latin modius (“peck; Roman dry measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *med-.

Noun

mutchkin (plural mutchkins)

1. (Scotland) A unit of fluid capacity approximately equal to three-quarters of an imperial pint (0.43 litres)
   • 1786, Robert Burns, "The Author's Earnest Cry And Prayer":

     Paint Scotland greetin owre her thrissle;

     Her mutchkin stowp as toom's a whissle;

     An' damn'd excisemen in a bussle,

     Seizin a stell,

     Triumphant crushin't like a mussel,

     Or limpet shell!

Anagrams

• chitmunk