mammet

plural mammets · alternative maumet · alternative mawmet · alternative mommet

1. obsoleteA false god; an idol.First known use 13th–17th c.

   Moloc that mawmett. there darre no man wᵗ ſay The Reſte of ſuche Reconyng may make a fowle fraye

   c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott

2. A doll or puppet; a lifeless figure, an effigy, a scarecrow.First known use 15th c.

   this is no world / To play with mammets and to tilt with lips

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act HENRY 4-1, scene ii], page 3

   2 more examples

   And then to haue a wretched puling foole, / A whining mammet, in her Fortunes tender, / To answer, Ile not wed, I cannot Loue: / I am too young, I pray you pardon me.

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]

   He didn't want to go, and I didn't want him to go; and we stood there like two mommets and there was nothing we could say.

   1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 49

3. A contemptible person; a weakling, a fool.First known use 16th c.

   Blind, deaf, insensate driveler!—Torpid, blockish, brainless mammet!

   1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, vol. V, letter 88

   1 more example

   "Had it anything to do with father's making such a mommet of himself in the carriage this afternoon?

   1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 32