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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BOROUGH-MONGER, n. A slang name for a rabbit.Sc. 1834 J. Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) IV. 151:
Fourteen fuds! Aucht maukins, and sax borough-mongers, as I howp to be saved!

[Borough, obs. form of burrow, rabbit-hole + Eng. monger. Perhaps a punning use of Eng. boroughmonger, one who trades in parliamentary seats for boroughs. Abd.16 1935 suggests that the second element may be the Romany mungro' and the comb. would then mean “the burrow-thing”]

3999

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