muggle

See also: Muggle

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɡəl/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡəl

Etymology 1

Origin unknown. First known to come into usage in New Orleans in the mid-1920s.

Noun

muggle (plural muggles)

1. (in singular or plural, dated) A marijuana cigarette; a joint.
   • 1933, "Hot Ambassador", Time Magazine, 12 June, 1933

     Windy, muggle-smoking Louis Armstrong has never had patience or skill to build an orchestra of his own.

   • 1938, Mansfield News Journal (Newspaper), July 1, 1938, Mansfield, Ohio

     But even then "muggle" smoking does not affect along a given Pattern. […]. Case after Case in which criminals have admitted Smoking "muggles" indicates […].

   • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow & Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, Payback Press 1999, p. 51:

     "Ever smoke any muggles?" he asked me. "Man, this is some golden-leaf I brought up from New Orleans, it'll make you feel good, take a puff."

2. (slang) hot chocolate

Etymology 2

Coined by J. K. Rowling in her 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Noun

muggle (plural muggles)

1. A person who has no magical abilities.
   • 1997, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, iv

     A Muggle,’ said Hagrid. ‘It’s what we call non-magic folk like them. An’ it’s your bad luck you grew up in a family o’ the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on.

   • 2005, Christine Wicker, Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic Is Transforming America, page 194

     The magical and the muggle are separated by a river, wide and deep. I could see across, but I couldn't get across, […].

   • 2007, Lesley Oldfield, "Family break a Eureka moment", Newcastle Sunday Sun (UK), Nov. 11, 2007

     As it was nearing Halloween, we were able to join a potions class where we could change liquids into myriad colours with the addition of substances like dragon spit (muggle’s lemon juice).

   • 2007, Gary Thompson, "Dylan divided by six", Philadelphia Daily News, PA, Nov. 21, 2007

     There's another guy playing Dylan as a formal poet facing some kind of muggle inquisition, but this is the movie's briefest and least consequential thread.

2. (among skilled or specialized groups) A person who lacks a skill or is not a member of the group.

   This video game won't appeal to muggles.

Synonyms

• (member of outgroup): see Thesaurus:mainstreamer

Translations

Muggle — see Muggle

Verb

muggle (third-person singular simple present muggles, present participle muggling, simple past and past participle muggled)

1. (transitive, geocaching) To remove, deface or destroy a geocache.

Etymology 3

Unknown.

Verb

muggle (third-person singular simple present muggles, present participle muggling, simple past and past participle muggled)

1. (obsolete) To be restless.