ETYMOLOGY
from muss (a game in which small objects are thrown down to be scrambled for; a scramble);
the verb muss occurs in Lincolnshire dialect ( to scramble for, to take forcibly and by surprise)
EXAMPLE
“… because this their Cadet, from his very Cradle, had shewed so strong a Propension to hoarding, that being but five or six Years old, he denied himself the Enjoyment of such Knicknacks as were given him, and would scramble for and smuss those of other Children, his Play-fellows; yet was he so very careful and saving of his own, that he let his Fruit and Sweatmeats spoil and grow mouldy rather than he would eat them. …”
From: Histoire du Prince Titi,
A.R. The history of Prince Titi, a royal allegory
By Themiseul de Saint-Hyacinthe
Translated by Eliza Stanley, 1736
Lexicophilia 