mouch

[mooch]

verb (used with or without object), noun Slang.

mooch.

mooch

or mouch

[mooch]Slang.

verb (used with object)

to borrow (a small item or amount) without intending to return or repay it.

to get or take without paying or at another's expense; sponge: He always mooches cigarettes.

to beg.

to steal.

verb (used without object)

to skulk or sneak.

to loiter or wander about.

noun

Also mooch·er. a person who mooches.

Origin of mooch

1425–75; late Middle English, apparently variant of Middle English michen < Old French muchier to skulk, hide

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mouching

Historical Examples of mouching

No, sergeant—he was just mouching round, so I pulled him in.
The Green Rust
Edgar Wallace
At least, that is my experience while mouching in the wake of the hounds.
The Confessions of a Poacher
Anonymous
The dog, Neche, had slowly emerged from round the corner of the barn, and was now mouching leisurely towards her.
The Hound From The North
Ridgwell Cullum

British Dictionary definitions for mouching

mooch

verb slang

(intr often foll by around) to loiter or walk aimlessly

(intr) to behave in an apathetic way

(intr) to sneak or lurk; skulk

(tr) to cadge

(tr) mainly US and Canadian to steal

Derived Formsmoocher, noun

Word Origin for mooch

C17: perhaps from Old French muchier to skulk

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

Word Origin and History for mouching

mooch

mid-15c., "pretend poverty," probably from Old French muchier, mucier "to hide, sulk, conceal, hide away, keep out of sight," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Celtic or Germanic (Liberman prefers the latter, Klein the former). Or the word may be a variant of Middle English mucchen "to hoard, be stingy" (c.1300), probably originally "to keep coins in one's nightcap," from mucche "nightcap," from Middle Dutch muste "cap, nightcap," ultimately from Medieval Latin almucia, of unknown origin. Sense of "sponge off others" first recorded 1857.

Whatever the distant origin of mooch, the verb *mycan and its cognates have been part of European slang for at least two millennia. [Liberman]

Related: Mooched; mooching. As a noun meaning "a moocher," from 1914.