Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Mute, or not speaking; silent.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English mommen ("mutter, be silent") and Middle High German mummenschantze ("game of chance as part of a masquerade, mime performance, revel"), from Old French momen ("mask") and cheance ("game of chance")

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Examples

  • Are they obliged to sit mumchance, and to be ordered about till they are the laughing – stock of young and old?

    Barnaby Rudge 2007

  • “Tell her so, for she sits there mumchance, and obliges me to find more inventions than three authors for one piece.”

    Scenes from a Courtesan's Life 2007

  • She was the managing partner; the life was hers, not his; after his retirement they lived much abroad, where the poor captain, who could never learn any language but his own, sat in the corner mumchance; and even his son, carried away by his bright mother, did not recognise for long the treasures of simple chivalry that lay buried in the heart of his father.

    Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin 2005

  • Claudius Nero, the titular president of the court, made no attempt to run it; he sat mumchance and let Verres and Rubrius do that.

    Fortune's Favorites McCullough, Colleen, 1937- 1993

  • "We are also related through the Livii," she pursued as she sat on a couch opposite him, her daughter beside her mumchance.

    The Grass Crown McCullough, Colleen, 1937- 1991

  • I must say it sounded good sense to me, and Comber sat mumchance.

    Flash For Freedom Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1971

  • I must say it sounded good sense to me, and Comber sat mumchance.

    Flash For Freedom Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1971

  • Chess was popular during the 17th century, and many dice games, including even and odd, hazard, passage, mumchance, and novem were played.

    New Discoveries at Jamestown Site of the First Successful English Settlement in America J. Paul Hudson

  • Mother played mumchance with my lady, but father, who saith he woulde rather feast a hundred poor men than eat at one rich man's table, came not in till late, on plea of businesse.

    Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 Various

  • I couldnt sit mumchance and have everything put on me.

    Act IV 1903

Comments

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  • "not from old mumchance, he'd not tell you it was Tuesday"

    February 9, 2007

  • "There had been school days like this when teachers sent questions thudding on some dream. And you sat mumchance."

    - J.P. Donleavy, Franz F

    December 7, 2011

  • Few words contain the string -mch-.

    See *mch.

    December 8, 2011

  • Why do people seem always to "sit mumchance?" Cannot one stand, lie, stride or simply be mumchance?

    December 4, 2016

  • The Muses React to the 2016 Election

    Terpsichore writhes in some dance;

    Melpomene casts a glum glance.

    And once merry Thalia?

    She weeps, inter alia,

    While Clio, appalled, sits mumchance.

    December 4, 2016