misdemeanour. Also, fines
formerly laid on ships by a trading company, to raise money for the
maintenance of consuls, &c.
MULET. A Portuguese craft, with three lateen sails.
MULL. Derived from the Gaelic _mullach_, a promontory or island; as Mull
of Galloway, Mull of Cantyre, Isle of Mull. Also, when things are
mismanaged; "we have made a mull of it."
MULLET. A well-known fish, of which there are several species. The gray
mullet, _Mugil capito_, and the red mullet, _Mullus surmuletus_, are the
most common on the British coast.
MULLS. The nickname of the English in Madras, from mulligatawney having
been a standard dish amongst them.
MULREIN. A name in the Firth of Forth for the frog-fish, _Lophius
piscatorius_.
MULTIPLE STARS. When several stars appear in close proximity to each
other, they are spoken of, collectively, as a multiple star.
MUMBO JUMBO. A strange minister of so-called justice on the Gold Coast,
who is usually dressed up for the purpose of frightening women and
children. He is the arbiter of domestic strife.
MUNDUC. A sailor employed at the pearl-fishery, to haul up the diver and
oysters.
MUNDUNGUS [from the Spanish _mondongo_, refuse, offal]. Bad, rank, and
dirty tobacco.
MUN-FISH. Rotten fish, used in Cornwall for manure.
MUNITION BREAD. Contract or commissariat bread; _Brown George_.
MUNITIONS. Provisions; naval and military stores.
MUNITION SHIPS. Those which carry the naval stores for a fleet, as
distinguished from the victuallers.
MUNJAK. A kind of pitch used in the Bay of Honduras for vessels'
bottoms.
MUNNIONS, OR MUNTINS. The divisional pieces of the stern-lights; the
pieces that separate the lights in the galleries.
MURAENA. An eel-like fish, very highly esteemed by the ancient Romans.
MURDERER. The name formerly used for large blunderbusses, as well as for
those small pieces of ordnance which were loaded by shifting metal
chambers placed in the breech.
MURLOCH. The young pickled dog-fish.
MURRE. The Cornish name for the razor-bill, _Alca torda_.
MURROCH. A term for shell-fish in general on the west coast of Scotland.
MUSKET. The regulation fire-arm for infantry and small-arm men. That of
the English service, when a smooth bore, threw its bullet of about an
ounce 250 yards with good effect; now, rifling has trebled its range,
whilst breech-loading has done at least as much by its rapidity of fire.
MUSKET-ARROWS. Used in our early fleets, and for co
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