Alternative letter-case form of Mickey (noun), from Mickey (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”, proper noun), from Mick (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”) + -ey (a variant of -y (diminutive suffix)). Noun sense 1 (“smallest distance that a computer mouse can move a cursor”) refers to the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Noun sense 5 (“penis”), noun sense 7.1 (“Irishman”), and noun sense 7.2 (“potato; sweet potato”) refer to the fact that since the 17th century Michael and its diminutives Mick, Mickey, and Mike have been one of the most common names in Ireland, and to the prevalence of potatoes in the Irish diet; compare murphy (“potato”). Noun sense 6.2 (“in take the mickey: (false) pride”) possibly refers to the use of Mickey Bliss as rhyming slang for piss (“act of urinating”); compare take the piss and noun sense 6.1. The adjective is short for Mickey Mouse, which is rhyming slang for grouse (“(Australia, New Zealand, slang) excellent”). The verb is short for mickey-finn, from Mickey Finn; compare noun sense 7.3.
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The smallest distance that a computer mouse can move a cursor on a screen, which is used to measure the device's resolution or sensitivity.
The Mmove_ratio method controls the ratio of physical mouse movement to screen cursor movement with the x- and y-axis arguments (xsize and ysize) expressed as the number of mickeys (units of mouse motion) required to cover eight pixels on the screen. […] [T]he appropriate values are dependent on the number of mickeys per inch reported by the physical mouse; values which may be 100, 200, or 320 mickeys per inch depending on the mouse hardware. Default values are 8 mickeys/8 pixels horizontal and 16 mickeys/8 pixels vertical.1990 July, Ben Ezzell, “An Object-oriented Mouse”, in Turbo C++ Programming: An Object Oriented Approach, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 97:
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Australia, Informal The noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala), a honeyeater endemic to eastern and southeastern Australia.
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Australia, Slang A young bull, especially one which is unbranded and running wild; a bullock.
The cattle slayers had gone their way, with their smoking rifles and the mob of "mickies" they intended, somewhere in the fastnesses of the ranges, to brand and make legally, as far as the letter of the law went, their own.[1927], M[abel] Forrest, chapter 12, in Hibiscus Heart, London: Hutchinson & Co., →OCLC, page 124:
Bronco horse pulling a ‘micky’ (young bull) up for branding.2005, Jack Drake, The Outback vs the Wild West, Moorooka, Brisbane, Qld.: Boolarong Press, published 2012, →ISBN, page 155:
Can't blame her for it, 'cause her mickey was probably throbbin' for it.1975, Don [J.] Townshend, chapter 26, in Virginity Stakes, Woollahra, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Books in association with Collins, published 1983, →ISBN, page 206:
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Canada, Informal A small bottle of liquor, such as whiskey, usually holding 375 millilitres (13.2 imperial fluid ounces; 12.7 U.S. fluid ounces), typically shaped to fit in one's pocket.
While you’re at the liquor store, get a mickey of rye.
"But," said the cook, "if we was in the city I'd take fifty cents of it purty, pronto and get myself a four-bit micky." / "A what?" I asked, mystified. / "A four-bit micky, a fifty-cent bottle of alcohol—Dr. Hall, white line," he translated in disgust. "If you're goin' west you better learn to talk west."1926 September, Jack Black, chapter VI, in You Can’t Win, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published December 1926, →OCLC, page 66:
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An American pint holds 16 ounces, a Canadian "mickey," 12 ounces of rye, or 13 ounces of Scotch.1950, Horace Sutton, “The Facts of Life in Canada”, in Footloose in Canada, New York, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Rinehart & Company, →OCLC, page 5:
Ill put on my best shift and drawers let him have a good eyeful out of that to make his micky stand for him […]1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 18: Penelope]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 729:
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Cockney, UK, Abbreviation, Slang Short for Mickey Bliss (“an act of urinating; a piss”).
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UK, Informal In take the mickey: a person's (false) pride, which is criticized through disparagement or ridicule; piss.
'Higgsy,' said the sergeant, 'they think I'm taking the mickey. Tell 'em.'1948, Alexander Baron, “The Doggy Boys”, in From the City, from the Plough, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Ives Washburn, published 1949, →OCLC, page 49:
There was an old micky named Cassidy / who was famed for impromptu mendacity. / When asked did he lie / he replied: to reply / would be to impugn his veracity.1964, Conrad Aiken, “[Number] 5”, in A Seizure of Limericks, New York, N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, →OCLC, page 5:
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New York City, US, Dated, Slang A potato or sweet potato; specifically, one roasted over a fire outdoors.
We roasted mickeys over a fire with two-foot sticks.
dippy runs down the street waving two potatoes. / dippy: Hey, guys, I swiped two maw [more] mickeys. Look!1936, Sidney Kingsley, Dead End: A Play in Three Acts, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, Act III, page 122:
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I know where to get some sweet mickeys off the truck. We go roast them in the lot near Belmont. They have sweet mickeys in the South down there?1988 August 15, Don DeLillo, Libra, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN, part 1, page 8:
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US, Slang Alternative letter-case form of Mickey (“a Mickey Finn: an alcoholic drink deliberately doctored with a drug intended to quickly render the drinker unconscious”).
Alternative letter-case form of Mickey (noun), from Mickey (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”, proper noun), from Mick (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”) + -ey (a variant of -y (diminutive suffix)). Noun sense 1 (“smallest distance that a computer mouse can move a cursor”) refers to the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Noun sense 5 (“penis”), noun sense 7.1 (“Irishman”), and noun sense 7.2 (“potato; sweet potato”) refer to the fact that since the 17th century Michael and its diminutives Mick, Mickey, and Mike have been one of the most common names in Ireland, and to the prevalence of potatoes in the Irish diet; compare murphy (“potato”). Noun sense 6.2 (“in take the mickey: (false) pride”) possibly refers to the use of Mickey Bliss as rhyming slang for piss (“act of urinating”); compare take the piss and noun sense 6.1. The adjective is short for Mickey Mouse, which is rhyming slang for grouse (“(Australia, New Zealand, slang) excellent”). The verb is short for mickey-finn, from Mickey Finn; compare noun sense 7.3.
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Australia, Abbreviation, Informal Short for Mickey Mouse (“excellent, grouse”).
mickey
verb
Etymology
Alternative letter-case form of Mickey (noun), from Mickey (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”, proper noun), from Mick (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”) + -ey (a variant of -y (diminutive suffix)). Noun sense 1 (“smallest distance that a computer mouse can move a cursor”) refers to the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Noun sense 5 (“penis”), noun sense 7.1 (“Irishman”), and noun sense 7.2 (“potato; sweet potato”) refer to the fact that since the 17th century Michael and its diminutives Mick, Mickey, and Mike have been one of the most common names in Ireland, and to the prevalence of potatoes in the Irish diet; compare murphy (“potato”). Noun sense 6.2 (“in take the mickey: (false) pride”) possibly refers to the use of Mickey Bliss as rhyming slang for piss (“act of urinating”); compare take the piss and noun sense 6.1. The adjective is short for Mickey Mouse, which is rhyming slang for grouse (“(Australia, New Zealand, slang) excellent”). The verb is short for mickey-finn, from Mickey Finn; compare noun sense 7.3.
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Sometimes followed by up: short for mickey-finn (“to drug (someone) with a Mickey Finn (“an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink deliberately doctored with a drug intended to quickly render the drinker unconscious”); to secretly put a drug into (someone's drink) to render them unconscious”).
Sam said he hadn't mickeyed me. That meant that he had either prepared a mickey at someone else's order, without knowing for whom it was intended, or he had seen someone else do the concocting.1951, Robert O. Saber, The Scented Flesh (A Handi-book Mystery; 124), Kingston, N.Y.: Quinn Publishing, →OCLC, page 46:
You mickeyed my drink, didn't you? […] You know why I don't drink. You know why I don't do dope. And you mickeyed my drink. You son of a bitch.1994, Dana Stabenow, chapter 10, in A Cold Blooded Business, London: Head of Zeus, published 2013, →ISBN, page 200:
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No question now, as far as she was concerned, that someone had mickeyed his beer.2005 April, Christopher Golden, chapter 5, in Wildwood Road (A Bantam Spectra Book), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, →ISBN, page 65:
Mickey
noun
Etymology The proper noun is derived from Mick (“diminutive of the male given name Michael”) + -ey (a variant of -y (diminutive suffix)). The common noun is derived from the proper noun. Noun senses 1 (“Mickey Mouse cartoon”) and 3.2 (“type of bombsight assisted by radar”) are short forms of Mickey Mouse. Noun sense 2 (“synonym of Mick”) refers to the fact that since the 17th century Michael and its diminutives Mick, Mickey, and Mike have been one of the most common names in Ireland, and that many Irish people are Roman Catholic. Noun sense 3.1 is a short form of Mickey Finn.
National identity and ethnic origin mapped gang territory: ‘Little Italy’; ‘Little Sicily’; ‘Polish colony’; […] ‘Mickies’ (Irish). Each possessed demarcated districts within which gangs adopted neighbourhood names and tags […]2011, Barry Goldson, Youth in Crisis?: ‘Gangs’, Territoriality and Violence, page 90:
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Abbreviation, Slang Short for Mickey Finn (“an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink deliberately doctored with a drug intended to quickly render the drinker unconscious”).