mooch

• mouch

From Middle English moochen, mouchen (“to pretend poverty”), from Old French muchier, mucier, mucer (“to skulk, hide, conceal”), from Frankish *mukjan (“to hide, conceal oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *mukjaną, *mūkōną (“to hide, ambush”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mūg-, *(s)mewgʰ- (“swindler, thief”). Cognate with Old High German mūhhōn (“to store, cache, plunder”), Middle High German muchen, mucken (“to hide, stash”), Middle English müchen, michen (“to rob, steal, pilfer”). More at mitch.

Alternate etymology derives mooch from Middle English mucchen (“to hoard, be stingy”, literally “to hide coins in one's nightcap”), from Middle English mucche (“nightcap”), from Middle Dutch mutse (“cap, nightcap”), from Medieval Latin almucia (“nightcap”), of unknown origin, possibly Arabic. More at mutch, amice.

• IPA^(key): /muːtʃ/

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  Rhymes: -uːtʃ

mooch (third-person singular simple present mooches, present participle mooching, simple past and past participle mooched)

1. (Britain) To wander around aimlessly, often causing irritation to others.
   • 1922, J. S. Fletcher, The Middle of Things, ch. 16,

     These chaps that mooch about, as Hyde was doing, pick up all sorts of odds and ends. He may have pinched them from a chemist’s shop.

2. To beg, cadge, or sponge; to exploit or take advantage of others for personal gain.
   • 1990, p. 26, Michael L. Frankel & friends, Gently with the Tides, Center for Marine Conservation, Washington (DC), →ISBN, p. 26,

     I managed to mooch my way up the journalistic ladder to the next, more impressive level of “Interviewer”.

3. (Britain) To steal or filch.

• mooch off

mooch (plural mooches)

1. (Britain) An aimless stroll.

   Jack wouldn't be arriving for another ten minutes, so I had a mooch around the garden.

2. One who mooches; a moocher.

• (moocher): See also Thesaurus:scrounger

• chomo