mumbletypeg

[ muhm-buhl-tee-peg ]

noun
  1. a children's game played with a pocketknife, the object being to cause the blade to stick in the ground or a wooden surface by flipping the knife in a number of prescribed ways or from a number of prescribed positions.

Origin of mumbletypeg

1
1620–30; from phrase mumble the peg (see mumble); so named because the losing player was formerly required to pull a peg from the ground with their teeth
  • Also mum·ble·de·peg, mum·ble·dy·peg [muhm-buhl-dee-peg], /ˈmʌm bəl diˌpɛg/, mumble peg, mum·ble-the-peg [muhm-buhl-thuh-peg], /ˈmʌm bəl ðəˌpɛg/, mum·ble·ty-peg, mum·bly-peg [muhm-blee-peg]. /ˈmʌm bliˌpɛg/.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mumbletypeg in a sentence

  • Only we didn't call it stick-knife,” said Old Hundred, “we called it mumblety-peg.

    Penguin Persons & Peppermints | Walter Prichard Eaton
  • So we went outdoors and set down on the grass and played mumblety-peg—me losing that thousand, natural.

    The Man Next Door | Emerson Hough
  • Now I'll bet you a thousand dollars I can beat you three games out of five at mumblety-peg.

    The Man Next Door | Emerson Hough

British Dictionary definitions for mumbletypeg

mumbletypeg

/ (ˈmʌmbəltɪˌpɛɡ) /


noun
  1. US a game in which players throw a knife in various prescribed ways, the aim being to make the blade stick in the ground

Origin of mumbletypeg

1
C17: from mumble the peg, a loser in the game being required to pull the knife out of the ground using the teeth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012