mum

or mumm

[muhm]

verb (used without object), mummed, mum·ming.

to say “mum”; call for silence.

to act as a mummer.

Origin of mum

1350–1400; Middle English mommen, v. use of mum¹; compare Middle Dutch mommen to act the mummer's part

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

Examples from the Web for mumming

Historical Examples of mumming

This is the soul of Mumming; the ostentatious secrecy of men in disguise.
A Miscellany of Men
G. K. Chesterton
Does it mean that he was mumming, as it were, like a conjurer?
At The Sign Of The Eagle
Gilbert Parker
"But I have very often," said I to her, as I went on the stage to finish my mumming.
Records of Later Life
Frances Ann Kemble
She had to go back to Huddy's, to the mumming booth and the innyard.
Madame Flirt
Charles E. Pearce
People work without aim or energy, and when they suffer it seems as if they were but mumming.
Venice
Dorothy Menpes

British Dictionary definitions for mumming

mum

noun

mainly British an informal word for mother 1

Word Origin for mum

C19: a child's word

mum

adjective

keeping information to oneself; silent

noun

mum's the word silence or secrecy is to be observed

Word Origin for mum

C14: suggestive of closed lips

mum

mumm

verb mums, mumming or mummed

(intr) to act in a mummer's play

Word Origin for mum

C16: verbal use of mum ²

mum

⁴

noun

British obsolete a type of beer made from cereals, beans, etc

Word Origin for mum

C17: from German Mumme, perhaps from the name of its original brewer

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 mumming

mum

interj.

"be silent," 1560s, from Middle English mum, mom (late 14c.), inarticulate closed-mouth sound, indicative of unwillingness or inability to speak. As an adjective meaning "secret" from 1520s. Phrase mum's the word is first recorded 1704.

mum

n.1

abbreviation of chrysanthemum, first attested 1915 in the jargon of gardeners.

mum

n.2

pet word for "mother," 1823, short for mummy (see mamma). In British sociology, used from 1957 in reference to "the working class mother as an influence in the lives of her children." Also sometimes a vulgar corruption of madam.