mumbletypeg

(ˈmʌmbəltɪˌpɛɡ)

(Games, other than specified) US a game in which players throw a knife in various prescribed ways, the aim being to make the blade stick in the ground

[C17: from mumble the peg, a loser in the game being required to pull the knife out of the ground using the teeth]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mum•ble•ty•peg

(ˈmʌm bəl tiˌpɛg)

also mum•ble-the-peg

(-ðə-)

n.

a children's game in which a pocketknife is flipped so that its blade sticks into the ground.

[1620–30; from phrase mumble the peg (see mumble); so named because the losing player was formerly required to pull a peg from the ground with the teeth]

mumbletypeg

- The children's game was first mumble-the-peg, descriptive of one of the penalties imposed on the loser.

See also related terms for imposed.

Mentioned in

imposed

References in classic literature

The frost was working out of the ground, and out of the air, too, and it was getting closer and closer onto barefoot time every day; and next it would be marble time, and next mumbletypeg, and next tops and hoops, and next kites, and then right away it would be summer and going in a-swimming.

View in context

"I think they're more fun than playing solitaire or mumbletypeg," declared Uncle Henry, soberly.

View in context

Those knives were used for many things, not the least of which was playing mumbletypeg at recess and at lunchtime.

The greatest responsibility: There is no shortcut to the vital task of raising children who are safe around firearms

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