Meaning

noun someone who mooches or cadges (tries to get something free)

verb ask for and get free; be a parasite

originFrom Middle English moochen, mouchen (“to pretend poverty”), from Old French muchier, mucier, mucer (“to skulk, hide, conceal”), from Frankish *mukkjan (“to hide, conceal oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *mukjaną, *mūkōną (“to hide, ambush”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mūg-, *(s)mewgʰ- (“swindler, thief”). Cognate with Old High German mūhhōn (“to store, cache, plunder”), Middle High German…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0