mushy, adjective
/ˈmʊʃi/
- Forms:
- Show more Also moeshie, moochy, moosh, mooshly, mooshy, mush.
- Origin:
- Englished form of muhle, common to several Nguni languages.
- Note:
- The word entered South African English originally from Zulu muhle, personal adjectival concord mu- + -hle good, and later from Rhodesian (now Zimbabwean) English, from Ndebele.
Pleasant, nice: a general term of approbation.
a. obsolete. Used when reporting the speech of Nguni language speakers.
1870 C. Hamilton Life & Sport in S.-E. Afr. 19Black draughts, as being the most nauseous, are their especial favourites..over which they smack their lips with the relish of a true connoisseur, between whiles exclaiming ‘mooshly, mooshly’, an expression of approbation which is weakly translated by ‘very good, very good indeed’.
1877 Lady Barker Yr’s Hsekeeping 315I..showed them all her Majesty’s picture, to which they cried ‘moochy’ (nice) and gave the royal salute.
b. slang. (Used especially by Zimbabweans.)
1973 Weekend Argus 24 Feb. 2Of course he was also giving her one of those stupid rings..but he knew the real ‘moosh’ present was this lovely knife.
1987 J. Carruthers in Style May 38Anyone at a when-we reunion who doesn’t know what ‘mushy’ means must be Zambian.
Used when reporting the speech of Nguni language speakers.
(Used especially by Zimbabweans.)
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