different between mump vs mum

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps borrowed through obsolete Dutch mompen (“to cheat, swindle, deceive”), according to Kroonen, a derivative of Proto-Germanic *mump- (“to stain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mmb?-neh?-, related to Ancient Greek ???????? (mémphomai, “I blame, accuse”).

Also akin to German mimpfeln (“to mumble”), Icelandic mumpa (“to take into the mouth”). See also English mum.

Verb

mump (third-person singular simple present mumps, present participle mumping, simple past and past participle mumped)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To mumble, speak unclearly.
   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, "Epilogue Spoklen by Mrs. Bulkley and Miss Catley [intended for She Stoops to Conquer]":

     Who mump their passion, and who, grimly smiling,

     Still thus address the fair with voice beguiling […]

2. To move the lips with the mouth closed; to mumble, as in sulkiness.
   • 1630, John Taylor, "The Necessitie of Hanging":

     He mumps, and lowres, and hangs the lip […]

3. (intransitive) To beg, especially if using a repeated phrase.
4. To deprive of (something) by cheating; to impose upon.
5. To cheat; to deceive; to play the beggar.
   • 1774, Edmund Burke, "Speech on American Taxation, April 19, 1774":

     Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants here; and then went mumping with a sore leg in America, canting, and whining, and complaining of faction, which represented them as friends to a revenue from the colonies.

6. To be sullen or sulky.
   • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 2:

     The Christian also spurns the pinched and mumping sick-room attitude, and the lives of saints are full of a kind of callousness to diseased conditions of body which probably no other human records show.

   • 1948, James Gould Cozzens, Guard of Honor:

     It remained necessary to make a shift at bearing yourself like a man; not mumping, not moping.

7. (transitive, intransitive) To nibble.
8. (Of a police officer) to accept a small gift or bribe in exchange for services.

Derived terms

• mumper
• Mumping Day

Noun

mump (plural mumps)

1. (obsolete) A grimace.

Etymology 2

Noun

mump (plural mumps)

1. (Britain, dialect, Somerset) A cube of peat; a spade's depth of digging turf.

References

Anagrams

• PMMU

English

Alternative forms

• mam
• mom, Mom (US)
• Mum

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Etymology 1

Alternative form of mam, or an abbreviation of mummy. Compare mom, mama.

Noun

mum (plural mums)

1. (Britain, Australia, New England, Canada, informal) Mother.
   • 1993, Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety, Zenobia Press edition, page 278,

     'Ooh Mum, Auntie don?t allow smokin’ - Pat?s eyes were round with awe as Mum struck a match.

   • 2004, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen, Irene Dunlap, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2, page 336,

     Her mum says that she is deaf and only partially sighted, so I need to go and stand in front of her, so she can see the gift.

   • 2006, Kathryn Lasky, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book 11: To Be a King, page 88,

     “Mum! Mum!” he shouted out. The laughter stopped. Two bright, sparkling yellow eyes peeped from the hollow. Atop her head were the fluffy ear tufts that his mum was so proud of because they were fuller and lovelier than those of most Great Horned Owls. It was indeed his mum!

   • 2011, Chyna, FAM: Rolling in a London Girl Gang, unnumbered page,

     He?s looking at my mum, at her swollen eyes, busted nose and bloodied lips. She?s mashed up something chronic, and the man who did this to her is my dad.

2. (dated, colloquial) ma'am; a term of respect for an older woman.
   • 1840, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock, Volume 1, 1851, page 130,

     “Wy, mum,” said Mr. Weller, “I don?t think you?ll see a many sich, and that?s the truth. But if my son Samivel vould give me my vay, mum, and dis-pense with his—might I wenter to say the vurd?”

     “What word Mr Weller?” said the housekeeper, blushing slightly.

     “Petticuts, mum,” returned that gentleman, laying his had upon the garments of his grandson. “If my son Samivel vould only dis-pense vith these here, you?d see sich a alteration in his appearance, as the imagination can?t depicter!”

   • 1885, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 2011, unnumbered page,

     Then she took off the hank and looked me straight in the face, and very pleasant, and says:

     “Come, now, what?s your real name?

     “Wh — what, mum?”

     “What?s your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob? — Or what is it?”

Usage notes

Mum is only capitalized when used as a proper noun:

• I don't think Mum will like you.
• I don't think my mum will like you.
• In New England, the word may still be spelt "mom", but it will have the pronunciation of "mum".

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:mother

Translations

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of chrysanthemum.

Noun

mum (plural mums)

1. A chrysanthemum.

Etymology 3

From Middle English mum or mom (“silent”), reminiscent of the sound made when gagged or with a hand over one's mouth. Perhaps related to dated German Mumme (“mask”).

Alternative forms

• (verb): mumm (archaic)

Adjective

mum (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Silent.
2. (colloquial) Secret.

Derived terms

• keep mum
• mum's the word

Interjection

mum!

1. stop speaking!, stop talking!, hush!

Verb

mum (third-person singular simple present mums, present participle mumming, simple past and past participle mummed)

1. To act in a pantomime or dumb show.

Noun

mum (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) silence

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hudibras to this entry?)

Etymology 4

German Mumme, named after Christian Mumme, who first brewed it in 1492.

Noun

mum (uncountable)

1. A type of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Addison to this entry?)

Anagrams

• MMU, umm

Abinomn

Noun

mum

1. eeltail catfish

Forak

Noun

mum

1. breast

Further reading

• John Carter, Katie Carter, John Grummitt, Bonnie MacKenzie, Janell Masters, A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Mur Village Vernaculars (2012)

Turkish

Etymology

From Persian ???? (mum).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mum/

Noun

mum (definite accusative mumu, plural mumlar)

1. candle

Declension

Derived terms

• mumluk

Zazaki

Noun

mum

1. candle