mosey
verbUS /ˈmoʊ.zi/
Etymology Unknown. Originally attested in Southern US dialects. Suggested origins include: * Spanish vamos (compare vamoose) * British dialectal mosey about (“walk around at leisurely pace”) * an Algonquian term for "walk" (compare Ojibwe bimose (“she or he walks along”)) * proper name Mosey, pet form of Moses, in reference to the biblical Exodus which he led
- Haven't got time. I must mosey up to the North End to see a man who has got a lovely throat. Nobody can find out what is the matter. He has puzzled all the doctors.1910, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “chapter 1”, in Kilmeny of the Orchard:
- We'll mosey along toward the river. Kinder take it easy an' drift the herd down slow so as to let the cattle put on flesh.1919, William MacLeod Raine, “chapter 6”, in A Man Four-Square:
- “Was he runnin‘?” “No, he’s just moseyin‘ along, so slow you can’t hardly tell it. He’s comin’ this way.”1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC: