Why is mug slang for face

Visit Eddie at his website. Nowadays, the most common usage is in "mug shot," which is usually referring to athletes or Hollywood's bad boys, whose mug shots frequently appear on the nightly news. Still, most of us don't need newscast reminders that a mug is a face. And often an ugly one at that! This is, of course, just the normal, ever-changing speech patterns, expressions, and nomenclature of each particular generation. For example, a normal person might say, "I had some competition getting the attention of a woman.

A real wise guy. Why, I socked him right in his ugly mug! It has been used as a noun to describe the face and as a verb of the word "grimace" since the 17th century. It most likely derives from "mugg," a Scandinavian word for a drinking vessel. In the 17th and 18th centuries, mugs were often decorated with cartoonishly-drawn human faces.

This may have led to the use of "mug" as a synonym for an ugly face. Slang dictionary mean-mugging or mean-muggin' [ meen -mugh-ing] or [ meen -mugh-in] What does mean-mugging mean?

What's hot. Related words trippin' , square up , ugly cry , side eye. Where does mean-mugging come from? Examples of mean-mugging Girls swear im mean muggin but bitch i just cant see. After the dunk, Washington scrunched his face together, stuck out that bottom lip and stared into the baseline camera. He held the look as he turned around and circled back to the free throw line, much to the delight of his teammates and Kentucky fans The mean mug went national a week later.

Popular now. Who uses mean-mugging? The skipper of the smack invited Jim to go below, and handed him a steaming mug of tea. He went into the room below, knocked the neck off a wine bottle and poured the contents into a mug and drank, smacking his lips. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! British Slang. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Words nearby mug muffle color , muffler , muffuletta , mufti , Mufulira , mug , Mugabe , mugga , muggee , mugger , mugging. Words related to mug coffee cup , jug , rob , demitasse , flagon , stoup , tankard , toby , countenance , frown , grimace , kisser , mask , profile , puss , assault , steal , hold up , stick up. Boozy hot chocolate recaptures the magic of a childhood snow day with a grown-up twist M.

Carrie Allan February 5, Washington Post. Raj Tawney January 27, Washington Post.