v., verbal n. — Newfoundland, Education, dated
to play truant from school, to loaf or idle.
Type: 2. Preservation — The Newfoundland term mooch is a verb meaning to skip school or simply loiter. Mooch is preserved from the British term of the same spelling. EDD (s.v. "mooch"), however, marks the spelling variant "mouch" as "Nfld". Many words of West Country English origin have transferred into Newfoundland and Labrador English because many southwest English immigrants settled in the province in the late 18th century (Clarke 2010b: 7). The meaning related to truancy originally appeared in British English dialects in specific reference to blackberries (i.e. skipping school to pick blackberries) because mooch has also doubled as a nickname for the fruit. There is evidence to suggest that the term is being replaced in Newfoundland by the more recently developed phrase on the pip (see pip (2)).
See also DNE, s.v. "mooch", and EDD, s.v. "mooch", whose sub form "mouch" is labelled as "Sc. w.Yks. Lan. Stf. War.(3) w.Wor.(1) se.Wor.(1) s.Wor.(1) Hrf.(2) Glo. Brks.(1) Lon. Ken. Sur. Hmp.(1) Wil.(1) Dev. Nfld.”