mallemaroking

Meaning

Noun

• Carousing on icebound Greenland whaling ships.

Origin

• Generally considered to derive from Dutch, although a specific etymon is unclear. Century and some other old dictionaries derive it from a confusion of two similar Dutch words, namely *mallemerok (from mal + *marok, from French marotte) and *mallemok, but the first of those words is not attested, and the second is not attested with the claimed meaning (but see mollymawk). Compare mallemolen.