mutchkin

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch mudseken (mutchkin), from Middle Dutch mutse (mutch), from Classical Latin modius ("peck; Roman dry measure"), from Proto-Indo-European root *med-.

Noun

mutchkin (plural mutchkins)

  1. (Scotland) A unit of fluid capacity approximately equal to three-quarters of an imperial pint (0.43 litres)
    • 1786, Robert Burns, "The Author's Earnest Cry And Prayer":
      Paint Scotland greetin owre her thrissle;
      Her mutchkin stowp as toom's a whissle;
      An' damn'd excisemen in a bussle,
      Seizin a stell,
      Triumphant crushin't like a mussel,
      Or limpet shell!
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