English Dictionary
There are currently 8632 EnglishDictionary in this directory beginning with the letter M.
M
M (n.) A brand or stigma, having the shape of an M, formerly impressed on one convicted of manslaughter and admitted to the benefit of clergy.
Ma (conj.) But; -- used in cautionary phrases; as, "Vivace, ma non troppo presto" (i. e., lively, but not too quick).
Ma'am (n.) Madam; my lady; -- a colloquial contraction of madam often used in direct address, and sometimes as an appellation.
Maara shell () A large, pearly, spiral, marine shell (Turbo margaritaceus), from the Pacific Islands. It is used as an ornament.
Mabolo (n.) A kind of persimmon tree (Diospyros discolor) from the Philippine Islands, now introduced into the East and West Indies. It bears an edible fruit as large as a quince.
Macaco (n.) Any one of several species of lemurs, as the ruffed lemur (Lemur macaco), and the ring-tailed lemur (L. catta).
Macacus (n.) A genus of monkeys, found in Asia and the East Indies. They have short tails and prominent eyebrows.
Macadamize (v. t.) To cover, as a road, or street, with small, broken stones, so as to form a smooth, hard, convex surface.
Macaque (n.) Any one of several species of short-tailed monkeys of the genus Macacus; as, M. maurus, the moor macaque of the East Indies.
Macaranga gum () A gum of a crimson color, obtained from a tree (Macaranga Indica) that grows in the East Indies. It is used in taking impressions of coins, medallions, etc., and sometimes as a medicine.
Macaroni (n.) Long slender tubes made of a paste chiefly of wheat flour, and used as an article of food; Italian or Genoese paste.
Macaroni (n.) The designation of a body of Maryland soldiers in the Revolutionary War, distinguished by a rich uniform.
Macaronic (a.) Of or pertaining to the burlesque composition called macaronic; as, macaronic poetry.
Macaronic (a.) Pertaining to, or like, macaroni (originally a dish of mixed food); hence, mixed; confused; jumbled.
Macaronic (n.) A kind of burlesque composition, in which the vernacular words of one or more modern languages are intermixed with genuine Latin words, and with hybrid formed by adding Latin terminations to other roots.
Macassar oil () A kind of oil formerly used in dressing the hair; -- so called because originally obtained from Macassar, a district of the Island of Celebes. Also, an imitation of the same, of perfumed castor oil and olive oil.
Macauco (n.) Any one of several species of small lemurs, as Lemur murinus, which resembles a rat in size.
Maccabean (a.) Of or pertaining to Judas Maccabeus or to the Maccabees; as, the Maccabean princes; Maccabean times.
Maccabees (n. pl.) The name given later times to the Asmonaeans, a family of Jewish patriots, who headed a religious revolt in the reign of Antiochus IV., 168-161 B. C., which led to a period of freedom for Israel.
Mace (n.) A heavy staff or club of metal; a spiked club; -- used as weapon in war before the general use of firearms, especially in the Middle Ages, for breaking metal armor.
Mace (n.) A rod for playing billiards, having one end suited to resting on the table and pushed with one hand.
Macedonian (n.) One of a certain religious sect, followers of Macedonius, Bishop of Constantinople, in the fourth century, who held that the Holy Ghost was a creature, like the angels, and a servant of the Father and the Son.
Macerate (v. t.) To soften by steeping in a liquid, with or without heat; to wear away or separate the parts of by steeping; as, to macerate animal or vegetable fiber.
Macerater (n.) One who, or that which, macerates; an apparatus for converting paper or fibrous matter into pulp.
Machairodus (n.) A genus of extinct mammals allied to the cats, and having in the upper jaw canine teeth of remarkable size and strength; -- hence called saber-toothed tigers.
Machete (n.) A large heavy knife resembling a broadsword, often two or three feet in length, -- used by the inhabitants of Spanish America as a hatchet to cut their way through thickets, and for various other purposes.
Machiavelian (a.) Of or pertaining to Machiavel, or to his supposed principles; politically cunning; characterized by duplicity or bad faith; crafty.
Machiavelian (n.) One who adopts the principles of Machiavel; a cunning and unprincipled politician.
Machiavelianism (n.) The supposed principles of Machiavel, or practice in conformity to them; political artifice, intended to favor arbitrary power.
Machicolation (n.) The act of discharging missiles or pouring burning or melted substances upon assailants through such apertures.
Machinate (v. i.) To plan; to contrive; esp., to form a scheme with the purpose of doing harm; to contrive artfully; to plot.
Machination (n.) That which is devised; a device; a hostile or treacherous scheme; an artful design or plot.
Machinator (n.) One who machinates, or forms a scheme with evil designs; a plotter or artful schemer.
Machine (n.) A combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social machine.
Machine (n.) A political organization arranged and controlled by one or more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends.
Machine (n.) Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle.
Machine (n.) Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.
Machine (v. t.) To subject to the action of machinery; to effect by aid of machinery; to print with a printing machine.
Machinery (n.) The means and appliances by which anything is kept in action or a desired result is obtained; a complex system of parts adapted to a purpose.
Mackerel (n.) Any species of the genus Scomber, and of several related genera. They are finely formed and very active oceanic fishes. Most of them are highly prized for food.
Macle (n.) Chiastolite; -- so called from the tessellated appearance of a cross section. See Chiastolite.
Maclurea (n.) A genus of spiral gastropod shells, often of large size, characteristic of the lower Silurian rocks.
Macro-chemistry (n.) The science which treats of the chemical properties, actions or relations of substances in quantity; -- distinguished from micro-chemistry.
Macrocephalous (a.) Having the cotyledons of a dicotyledonous embryo confluent, and forming a large mass compared with the rest of the body.
Macrochires (n. pl.) A division of birds including the swifts and humming birds. So called from the length of the distal part of the wing.
Macrocosm (n.) The great world; that part of the universe which is exterior to man; -- contrasted with microcosm, or man. See Microcosm.
Macrocystis (n.) An immensely long blackish seaweed of the Pacific (Macrocystis pyrifera), having numerous almond-shaped air vessels.
Macrodome (n.) A dome parallel to the longer lateral axis of an orthorhombic crystal. See Dome, n., 4.
Macrometer (n.) An instrument for determining the size or distance of inaccessible objects by means of two reflectors on a common sextant.
Macron (n.) A short, straight, horizontal mark [-], placed over vowels to denote that they are to be pronounced with a long sound; as, a, in dame; /, in s/am, etc.
Macropinacoid (n.) One of the two planes of an orthorhombic crystal which are parallel to the vertical and longer lateral (macrodiagonal) axes.
Macropod (n.) Any one of a group of maioid crabs remarkable for the length of their legs; -- called also spider crab.
Macroprism (n.) A prism of an orthorhombic crystal between the macropinacoid and the unit prism; the corresponding pyramids are called macropyramids.
Macrosporangium (n.) A sporangium or conceptacle containing only large spores; -- opposed to microsporangium. Both are found in the genera Selaginella, Isoctes, and Marsilia, plants remotely allied to ferns.
Macrospore (n.) One of the specially large spores of certain flowerless plants, as Selaginella, etc.
Macrozoospore (n.) A large motile spore having four vibratile cilia; -- found in certain green algae.
Macrura (n. pl.) A subdivision of decapod Crustacea, having the abdomen largely developed. It includes the lobster, prawn, shrimp, and many similar forms. Cf. Decapoda.
Mactra (n.) Any marine bivalve shell of the genus Mactra, and allied genera. Many species are known. Some of them are used as food, as Mactra stultorum, of Europe. See Surf clam, under Surf.
Maculate (a.) Marked with spots or maculae; blotched; hence, defiled; impure; as, most maculate thoughts.
Macule (n.) A blur, or an appearance of a double impression, as when the paper slips a little; a mackle.
Mad (n.) The name of a female fairy, esp. the queen of the fairies; and hence, sometimes, any fairy.
Mad (superl.) Excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform.
Mad (superl.) Furious with rage, terror, or disease; -- said of the lower animals; as, a mad bull; esp., having hydrophobia; rabid; as, a mad dog.
Mad (superl.) Proceeding from, or indicating, madness; expressing distraction; prompted by infatuation, fury, or extreme rashness.
Madam (n.) A gentlewoman; -- an appellation or courteous form of address given to a lady, especially an elderly or a married lady; -- much used in the address, at the beginning of a letter, to a woman. The corresponding word in addressing a man is Sir.
Madame (n.) My lady; -- a French title formerly given to ladies of quality; now, in France, given to all married women.
Madden (v. t.) To make mad; to drive to madness; to craze; to excite violently with passion; to make very angry; to enrage.
Madder (n.) A plant of the Rubia (R. tinctorum). The root is much used in dyeing red, and formerly was used in medicine. It is cultivated in France and Holland. See Rubiaceous.
Made (a.) Artificially produced; pieced together; formed by filling in; as, made ground; a made mast, in distinction from one consisting of a single spar.
Madecassee (n.) A native or inhabitant of Madagascar, or Madecassee; the language of the natives of Madagascar. See Malagasy.
Mademoiselle (n.) A French title of courtesy given to a girl or an unmarried lady, equivalent to the English Miss.
Mademoiselle (n.) A marine food fish (Sciaena chrysura), of the Southern United States; -- called also yellowtail, and silver perch.
Madia (n.) A genus of composite plants, of which one species (Madia sativa) is cultivated for the oil yielded from its seeds by pressure. This oil is sometimes used instead of olive oil for the table.
Madonna (n.) My lady; -- a term of address in Italian formerly used as the equivalent of Madame, but for which Signora is now substituted. Sometimes introduced into English.
Madrague (n.) A large fish pound used for the capture of the tunny in the Mediterranean; also applied to the seines used for the same purpose.
Madrepora (n.) A genus of reef corals abundant in tropical seas. It includes than one hundred and fifty species, most of which are elegantly branched.
Madreporaria (n. pl.) An extensive division of Anthozoa, including most of the species that produce stony corals. See Illust. of Anthozoa.
Madrier (n.) A plank to receive the mouth of a petard, with which it is applied to anything intended to be broken down.
Madrigal (n.) A little amorous poem, sometimes called a pastoral poem, containing some tender and delicate, though simple, thought.
Madrina (n.) An animal (usually an old mare), wearing a bell and acting as the leader of a troop of pack mules.
Madwort (n.) A genus of cruciferous plants (Alyssum) with white or yellow flowers and rounded pods. A. maritimum is the commonly cultivated sweet alyssum, a fragrant white-flowered annual.
Maestoso (a. & adv.) Majestic or majestically; -- a direction to perform a passage or piece of music in a dignified manner.
Magazine (n.) A chamber in a gun for holding a number of cartridges to be fed automatically to the piece.
Magazine (n.) A receptacle in which anything is stored, especially military stores, as ammunition, arms, provisions, etc.
Magazine (n.) The building or room in which the supply of powder is kept in a fortification or a ship.
Magdala (a.) Designating an orange-red dyestuff obtained from naphthylamine, and called magdala red, naphthalene red, etc.
Maggiore (a.) Greater, in respect to scales, intervals, etc., when used in opposition to minor; major.
Magi (n. pl.) A caste of priests, philosophers, and magicians, among the ancient Persians; hence, any holy men or sages of the East.
Magian (n.) One of the Magi, or priests of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia; an adherent of the Zoroastrian religion.
Magical (a.) Pertaining to the hidden wisdom supposed to be possessed by the Magi; relating to the occult powers of nature, and the producing of effects by their agency.
Magician (n.) One skilled in magic; one who practices the black art; an enchanter; a necromancer; a sorcerer or sorceress; a conjurer.
Magister (n.) Master; sir; -- a title of the Middle Ages, given to a person in authority, or to one having a license from a university to teach philosophy and the liberal arts.
Magisterial (a.) Of or pertaining to a master or magistrate, or one in authority; having the manner of a magister; official; commanding; authoritative. Hence: Overbearing; dictatorial; dogmatic.
Magistery (n.) A precipitate; a fine substance deposited by precipitation; -- applied in old chemistry to certain white precipitates from metallic solutions; as, magistery of bismuth.
Magistral (a.) Commanded or prescribed by a magister, esp. by a doctor; hence, effectual; sovereign; as, a magistral sirup.
Magistral (a.) Formulated extemporaneously, or for a special case; -- opposed to officinal, and said of prescriptions and medicines.
Magistral (n.) Powdered copper pyrites used in the amalgamation of ores of silver, as at the Spanish mines of Mexico and South America.
Magistrate (n.) A person clothed with power as a public civil officer; a public civil officer invested with the executive government, or some branch of it.
Magistratical (a.) Of, pertaining to, or proceeding from, a magistrate; having the authority of a magistrate.
Magma (n.) A thick residuum obtained from certain substances after the fluid parts are expressed from them; the grounds which remain after treating a substance with any menstruum, as water or alcohol.
Magma (n.) The amorphous or homogenous matrix or ground mass, as distinguished from well-defined crystals; as, the magma of porphyry.
Magma (n.) The molten matter within the earth, the source of the material of lava flows, dikes of eruptive rocks, etc.
Magna Charta () The great Charter, so called, obtained by the English barons from King John, A. D. 1215. This name is also given to the charter granted to the people of England in the ninth year of Henry III., and confirmed by Edward I.
Magnanimous (a.) Great of mind; elevated in soul or in sentiment; raised above what is low, mean, or ungenerous; of lofty and courageous spirit; as, a magnanimous character; a magnanimous conqueror.
Magnate () A person of rank; a noble or grandee; a person of influence or distinction in any sphere.
Magnate () One of the nobility, or certain high officers of state belonging to the noble estate in the national representation of Hungary, and formerly of Poland.
Magnesite (n.) Native magnesium carbonate occurring in white compact or granular masses, and also in rhombohedral crystals.
Magnet (n.) A bar or mass of steel or iron to which the peculiar properties of the loadstone have been imparted; -- called, in distinction from the loadstone, an artificial magnet.
Magnet (n.) The loadstone; a species of iron ore (the ferrosoferric or magnetic ore, Fe3O4) which has the property of attracting iron and some of its ores, and, when freely suspended, of pointing to the poles; -- called also natural magnet.
Magnetic (n.) Any metal, as iron, nickel, cobalt, etc., which may receive, by any means, the properties of the loadstone, and which then, when suspended, fixes itself in the direction of a magnetic meridian.
Magnetical (a.) Endowed with extraordinary personal power to excite the feelings and to win the affections; attractive; inducing attachment.
Magnetical (a.) Having, susceptible to, or induced by, animal magnetism, so called; as, a magnetic sleep. See Magnetism.
Magnetical (a.) Of or pertaining to, or characterized by, the earth's magnetism; as, the magnetic north; the magnetic meridian.
Magnetical (a.) Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic bar of iron; a magnetic needle.
Magnetism (n.) The property, quality, or state, of being magnetic; the manifestation of the force in nature which is seen in a magnet.
Magneto-electrical (a.) Pertaining to, or characterized by, electricity by the action of magnets; as, magneto-electric induction.
Magneto-electricity (n.) That branch of science which treats of the development of electricity by the action of magnets; -- the counterpart of electro-magnetism.
Magnetograph (n.) An automatic instrument for registering, by photography or otherwise, the states and variations of any of the terrestrial magnetic elements.
Magnetometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the intensity of magnetic forces; also, less frequently, an instrument for determining any of the terrestrial magnetic elements, as the dip and declination.
Magnetometric (a.) Pertaining to, or employed in, the measurement of magnetic forces; obtained by means of a magnetometer; as, magnetometric instruments; magnetometric measurements.
Magnetomotor (n.) A voltaic series of two or more large plates, producing a great quantity of electricity of low tension, and hence adapted to the exhibition of electro-magnetic phenomena.
Magnetotherapy (n.) The treatment of disease by the application of magnets to the surface of the body.
Magnificat (n.) The song of the Virgin Mary, Luke i. 46; -- so called because it commences with this word in the Vulgate.
Magnificent (a.) Doing grand things; admirable in action; displaying great power or opulence, especially in building, way of living, and munificence.
Magnify (v. i.) To have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they really are; to increase the apparent dimensions of objects; as, some lenses magnify but little.
Magnify (v. t.) To increase the importance of; to augment the esteem or respect in which one is held.
Magnify (v. t.) To make great, or greater; to increase the dimensions of; to amplify; to enlarge, either in fact or in appearance; as, the microscope magnifies the object by a thousand diameters.
Magniloquent (a.) Speaking pompously; using swelling discourse; bombastic; tumid in style; grandiloquent.
Magnitude (n.) Anything of which greater or less can be predicated, as time, weight, force, and the like.
Magnitude (n.) Extent of dimensions; size; -- applied to things that have length, breath, and thickness.
Magnitude (n.) Greatness, in reference to influence or effect; importance; as, an affair of magnitude.
Magnolia (n.) A genus of American and Asiatic trees, with aromatic bark and large sweet-scented whitish or reddish flowers.
Magnoliaceous (a.) Pertaining to a natural order (Magnoliaceae) of trees of which the magnolia, the tulip tree, and the star anise are examples.
Magpie (n.) Any one of numerous species of the genus Pica and related genera, allied to the jays, but having a long graduated tail.
Mahabharatam (n.) A celebrated epic poem of the Hindoos. It is of great length, and is chiefly devoted to the history of a civil war between two dynasties of ancient India.
Maharmah (n.) A muslin wrapper for the head and the lower part of the face, worn by Turkish and Armenian women when they go abroad.
Mahdi (n.) Among Mohammedans, the last imam or leader of the faithful. The Sunni, the largest sect of the Mohammedans, believe that he is yet to appear.
Mahoe (n.) A name given to several malvaceous trees (species of Hibiscus, Ochroma, etc.), and to their strong fibrous inner bark, which is used for strings and cordage.
Mahogany (n.) The wood of the Swietenia Mahogoni. It is of a reddish brown color, beautifully veined, very hard, and susceptible of a fine polish. It is used in the manufacture of furniture.
Mahon stock () An annual cruciferous plant with reddish purple or white flowers (Malcolmia maritima). It is called in England Virginia stock, but the plant comes from the Mediterranean.
Mahonia (n.) The Oregon grape, a species of barberry (Berberis Aquifolium), often cultivated for its hollylike foliage.
Mahori (n.) One of the dark race inhabiting principally the islands of Eastern Polynesia. Also used adjectively.
Mahovo (n.) A device for saving power in stopping and starting a railroad car, by means of a heavy fly wheel.
Mahratta (n.) One of a numerous people inhabiting the southwestern part of India. Also, the language of the Mahrattas; Mahrati. It is closely allied to Sanskrit.
Maid (n.) The female of a ray or skate, esp. of the gray skate (Raia batis), and of the thornback (R. clavata).
Maiden (a.) Never having been married; not having had sexual intercourse; virgin; -- said usually of the woman, but sometimes of the man; as, a maiden aunt.
Maiden (a.) Of or pertaining to a maiden, or to maidens; suitable to, or characteristic of, a virgin; as, maiden innocence.
Maiden (n.) An instrument resembling the guillotine, formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals.
Maiden (n.) An unmarried woman; a girl or woman who has not experienced sexual intercourse; a virgin; a maid.
Maidenhair (n.) A fern of the genus Adiantum (A. pedatum), having very slender graceful stalks. It is common in the United States, and is sometimes used in medicine. The name is also applied to other species of the same genus, as to the Venus-hair.
Maidenliness (n.) The quality of being maidenly; the behavior that becomes a maid; modesty; gentleness.
Maidmarian (n.) The lady of the May games; one of the characters in a morris dance; a May queen. Afterward, a grotesque character personated in sports and buffoonery by a man in woman's clothes.
Maieutical (a.) Fig. : Aiding, or tending to, the definition and interpretation of thoughts or language.
Maieutics (n.) The art of giving birth (i. e., clearness and conviction) to ideas, which are conceived as struggling for birth.
Maikel (n.) A South American carnivore of the genus Conepatus, allied to the skunk, but larger, and having a longer snout. The tail is not bushy.
Mail (n.) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
Mail (n.) A flexible fabric made of metal rings interlinked. It was used especially for defensive armor.
Mail (n.) Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
Mail (v. t.) To deliver into the custody of the postoffice officials, or place in a government letter box, for transmission by mail; to post; as, to mail a letter.
Maim (v. t.) To deprive of the use of a limb, so as to render a person on fighting less able either to defend himself or to annoy his adversary.
Maim (v.) The privation of any necessary part; a crippling; mutilation; injury; deprivation of something essential. See Mayhem.
Maim (v.) The privation of the use of a limb or member of the body, by which one is rendered less able to defend himself or to annoy his adversary.
Main (n.) The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
Main (v.) principal duct or pipe, as distinguished from lesser ones; esp. (Engin.), a principal pipe leading to or from a reservoir; as, a fire main.
Main-gauche (n.) The dagger held in the left hand, while the rapier is held in the right; -- used to parry thrusts of the adversary's rapier.
Main-hamper (n.) A hamper to be carried in the hand; a hand basket used in carrying grapes to the press.
Mainpernor (n.) A surety, under the old writ of mainprise, for a prisoner's appearance in court at a day.
Mainprise (n.) A writ directed to the sheriff, commanding him to take sureties, called mainpernors, for the prisoner's appearance, and to let him go at large. This writ is now obsolete.
Mainprise (v. t.) To suffer to go at large, on his finding sureties, or mainpernors, for his appearance at a day; -- said of a prisoner.
Mainspring (n.) The principal or most important spring in a piece of mechanism, especially the moving spring of a watch or clock or the spring in a gunlock which impels the hammer. Hence: The chief or most powerful motive; the efficient cause of action.
Maintainor (n.) One who, not being interested, maintains a cause depending between others, by furnishing money, etc., to either party.
Maintenance (n.) An officious or unlawful intermeddling in a cause depending between others, by assisting either party with money or means to carry it on. See Champerty.
Maintenance (n.) That which maintains or supports; means of sustenance; supply of necessaries and conveniences.
Maize (n.) A large species of American grass of the genus Zea (Z. Mays), widely cultivated as a forage and food plant; Indian corn. Also, its seed, growing on cobs, and used as food for men animals.
Majestic (a.) Possessing or exhibiting majesty; of august dignity, stateliness, or imposing grandeur; lofty; noble; grand.
Majesty (n.) Hence, used with the possessive pronoun, the title of an emperor, king or queen; -- in this sense taking a plural; as, their majesties attended the concert.
Majolica (n.) A kind of pottery, with opaque glazing and showy, which reached its greatest perfection in Italy in the 16th century.
Major (a.) An officer next in rank above a captain and next below a lieutenant colonel; the lowest field officer.
Major (a.) Greater in number, quantity, or extent; as, the major part of the assembly; the major part of the revenue; the major part of the territory.
Major general () An officer of the army holding a rank next above that of brigadier general and next below that of lieutenant general, and who usually commands a division or a corps.
Major-domo (n.) A man who has authority to act, within certain limits, as master of the house; a steward; also, a chief minister or officer.
Majorat (a.) The right of succession to property according to age; -- so termed in some of the countries of continental Europe.
Majority (n.) The greater number; more than half; as, a majority of mankind; a majority of the votes cast.
Make (v. i.) To act in a certain manner; to have to do; to manage; to interfere; to be active; -- often in the phrase to meddle or make.
Make (v. i.) To proceed; to tend; to move; to go; as, he made toward home; the tiger made at the sportsmen.
Make (v. i.) To tend; to contribute; to have effect; -- with for or against; as, it makes for his advantage.
Make (v. t.) To become; to be, or to be capable of being, changed or fashioned into; to do the part or office of; to furnish the material for; as, he will make a good musician; sweet cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing.
Make (v. t.) To cause to appear to be; to constitute subjectively; to esteem, suppose, or represent.
Make (v. t.) To cause to be or become; to put into a given state verb, or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make public; to make fast.
Make (v. t.) To cause to exist; to bring into being; to form; to produce; to frame; to fashion; to create.
Make (v. t.) To gain, as the result of one's efforts; to get, as profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue or happen to one; as, to make a large profit; to make an error; to make a loss; to make money.
Make (v. t.) To produce, as something artificial, unnatural, or false; -- often with up; as, to make up a story.
Make (v. t.) To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause; to occasion; -- followed by a noun or pronoun and infinitive.
Make-believe (n.) A feigning to believe, as in the play of children; a mere pretense; a fiction; an invention.
Make-up (n.) The way in which the parts of anything are put together; often, the way in which an actor is dressed, painted, etc., in personating a character.
Makeweight (n.) That which is thrown into a scale to make weight; something of little account added to supply a deficiency or fill a gap.
Making (n.) That which establishes or places in a desirable state or condition; the material of which something may be made; as, early misfortune was the making of him.
Making (n.) The act of one who makes; workmanship; fabrication; construction; as, this is cloth of your own making; the making of peace or war was in his power.
Making-iron (n.) A tool somewhat like a chisel with a groove in it, used by calkers of ships to finish the seams after the oakum has been driven in.
Mal- () A prefix in composition denoting ill,or evil, F. male, adv., fr. malus, bad, ill. In some words it has the form male-, as in malediction, malevolent. See Malice.
Malabar (n.) A region in the western part of the Peninsula of India, between the mountains and the sea.
Malachite (n.) Native hydrous carbonate of copper, usually occurring in green mammillary masses with concentric fibrous structure.
Malacobdella (n.) A genus of nemertean worms, parasitic in the gill cavity of clams and other bivalves. They have a large posterior sucker, like that of a leech. See Illust. of Bdellomorpha.
Malacoderm (n.) One of a tribe of beetles (Malacodermata), with a soft and flexible body, as the fireflies.
Malacopoda (n. pl.) A class of air-breathing Arthropoda; -- called also Protracheata, and Onychophora.
Malacopterygii (n. pl.) An order of fishes in which the fin rays, except the anterior ray of the pectoral and dorsal fins, are closely jointed, and not spiny. It includes the carp, pike, salmon, shad, etc. Called also Malacopteri.
Malacosteon (n.) A peculiar disease of the bones, in consequence of which they become softened and capable of being bent without breaking.
Malacostraca (n. pl.) A subclass of Crustacea, including Arthrostraca and Thoracostraca, or all those higher than the Entomostraca.
Malacostracology (n.) That branch of zoological science which relates to the crustaceans; -- called also carcinology.
Malacozoa (n. pl.) An extensive group of Invertebrata, including the Mollusca, Brachiopoda, and Bryozoa. Called also Malacozoaria.
Maladdress (n.) Bad address; an awkward, tactless, or offensive way of accosting one or talking with one.
Maladministration (n.) Bad administration; bad management of any business, especially of public affairs.
Malady (n.) Any disease of the human body; a distemper, disorder, or indisposition, proceeding from impaired, defective, or morbid organic functions; especially, a lingering or deep-seated disorder.
Malaga (n.) A city and a province of Spain, on the Mediterranean. Hence, Malaga grapes, Malaga raisins, Malaga wines.
Malambo (n.) A yellowish aromatic bark, used in medicine and perfumery, said to be from the South American shrub Croton Malambo.
Malamic (a.) Of or pertaining an acid intermediate between malic acid and malamide, and known only by its salts.
Malamide (n.) The acid amide derived from malic acid, as a white crystalline substance metameric with asparagine.
Malanders (n. pl.) A scurfy eruption in the bend of the knee of the fore leg of a horse. See Sallenders.
Malapterurus (n.) A genus of African siluroid fishes, including the electric catfishes. See Electric cat, under Electric.
Malaria (n.) A morbid condition produced by exhalations from decaying vegetable matter in contact with moisture, giving rise to fever and ague and many other symptoms characterized by their tendency to recur at definite and usually uniform intervals.
Malaria (n.) Air infected with some noxious substance capable of engendering disease; esp., an unhealthy exhalation from certain soils, as marshy or wet lands, producing fevers; miasma.
Malassimilation (n.) An imperfect elaboration by the tissues of the materials brought to them by the blood.
Malaxation (n.) The act of softening by mixing with a thinner substance; the formation of ingredients into a mass for pills or plasters.
Malaxator (n.) One who, or that which, malaxates; esp., a machine for grinding, kneading, or stirring into a pasty or doughy mass.
Malay (n.) One of a race of a brown or copper complexion in the Malay Peninsula and the western islands of the Indian Archipelago.
Malayalam (n.) The name given to one the cultivated Dravidian languages, closely related to the Tamil.
Malconformation (n.) Imperfect, disproportionate, or abnormal formation; ill form; disproportion of parts.
Malcontent (n.) One who discontented; especially, a discontented subject of a government; one who express his discontent by words or overt acts.
Maldanian (n.) Any species of marine annelids of the genus Maldane, or family Maldanidae. They have a slender, round body, and make tubes in the sand or mud.
Male (v. t.) Adapted for entering another corresponding piece (the female piece) which is hollow and which it fits; as, a male gauge, for gauging the size or shape of a hole; a male screw, etc.
Male (v. t.) Capable of producing fertilization, but not of bearing fruit; -- said of stamens and antheridia, and of the plants, or parts of plants, which bear them.
Male (v. t.) Of or pertaining to the sex that begets or procreates young, or (in a wider sense) to the sex that produces spermatozoa, by which the ova are fertilized; not female; as, male organs.
Male (v. t.) Suitable to the male sex; characteristic or suggestive of a male; masculine; as, male courage.
Malebranchism (n.) The philosophical system of Malebranche, an eminent French metaphysician. The fundamental doctrine of his system is that the mind can not have knowledge of anything external to itself except in its relation to God.
Malediction (n.) A proclaiming of evil against some one; a cursing; imprecation; a curse or execration; -- opposed to benediction.
Malefactor (n.) An evil doer; one who commits a crime; one subject to public prosecution and punishment; a criminal.
Maleic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid of the ethylene series, metameric with fumaric acid and obtained by heating malic acid.
Maleo (n.) A bird of Celebes (megacephalon maleo), allied to the brush turkey. It makes mounds in which to lay its eggs.
Malevolence (n.) The quality or state of being malevolent; evil disposition toward another; inclination to injure others; ill will. See Synonym of Malice.
Malformation (n.) Ill formation; irregular or anomalous formation; abnormal or wrong conformation or structure.
Malice (n.) Enmity of heart; malevolence; ill will; a spirit delighting in harm or misfortune to another; a disposition to injure another; a malignant design of evil.
Malicious (a.) Proceeding from hatred or ill will; dictated by malice; as, a malicious report; malicious mischief.
Malicious (a.) With wicked or mischievous intentions or motives; wrongful and done intentionally without just cause or excuse; as, a malicious act.
Malign (a.) Having an evil disposition toward others; harboring violent enmity; malevolent; malicious; spiteful; -- opposed to benign.
Malign (a.) Unfavorable; unpropitious; pernicious; tending to injure; as, a malign aspect of planets.
Malignancy (n.) The state or quality of being malignant; extreme malevolence; bitter enmity; malice; as, malignancy of heart.
Malignant (a.) Disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress; actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently inimical; bent on evil; malicious.
Malignant (a.) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria.
Malignant (n.) One of the adherents of Charles L. or Charles LL.; -- so called by the opposite party.
Malignity (n.) Extreme evilness of nature or influence; perniciousness; heinousness; as, the malignity of fraud.
Malignity (n.) The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite.
Malingerer (n.) In the army, a soldier who feigns himself sick, or who induces or protracts an illness, in order to avoid doing his duty; hence, in general, one who shirks his duty by pretending illness or inability.
Mall (n.) Formerly, among Teutonic nations, a meeting of the notables of a state for the transaction of public business, such meeting being a modification of the ancient popular assembly.
Mallard (a.) A large wild duck (Anas boschas) inhabiting both America and Europe. The domestic duck has descended from this species. Called also greenhead.
Malleability (n.) The quality or state of being malleable; -- opposed to friability and brittleness.
Malleable (a.) Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals.
Malleation (n.) The act or process of beating into a plate, sheet, or leaf, as a metal; extension by beating.
Malleolus (n.) A projection at the distal end of each bone of the leg at the ankle joint. The malleolus of the tibia is the internal projection, that of the fibula the external.
Mallet (n.) A small maul with a short handle, -- used esp. for driving a tool, as a chisel or the like; also, a light beetle with a long handle, -- used in playing croquet.
Malleus (n.) The outermost of the three small auditory bones, ossicles; the hammer. It is attached to the tympanic membrane by a long process, the handle or manubrium. See Illust. of Far.
Mallophaga (n. pl.) An extensive group of insects which are parasitic on birds and mammals, and feed on the feathers and hair; -- called also bird lice. See Bird louse, under Bird.
Mallotus (n.) A genus of small Arctic fishes. One American species, the capelin (Mallotus villosus), is extensively used as bait for cod.
Malma (n.) A spotted trout (Salvelinus malma), inhabiting Northern America, west of the Rocky Mountains; -- called also Dolly Varden trout, bull trout, red-spotted trout, and golet.
Malonic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid produced artifically as a white crystalline substance, CH2.(CO2H)2, and so called because obtained by the oxidation of malic acid.
Malpighia (n.) A genus of tropical American shrubs with opposite leaves and small white or reddish flowers. The drupes of Malpighia urens are eaten under the name of Barbadoes cherries.
Malpighiaceous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a natural order of tropical trees and shrubs (Malpighiaceae), some of them climbing plants, and their stems forming many of the curious lianes of South American forests.
Malpighian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or discovered by, Marcello Malpighi, an Italian anatomist of the 17th century.
Malpractice (n.) Evil practice; illegal or immoral conduct; practice contrary to established rules; specifically, the treatment of a case by a surgeon or physician in a manner which is contrary to accepted rules and productive of unfavorable results.
Malt (n.) Barley or other grain, steeped in water and dried in a kiln, thus forcing germination until the saccharine principle has been evolved. It is used in brewing and in the distillation of whisky.
Maltha (n.) A variety of bitumen, viscid and tenacious, like pitch, unctuous to the touch, and exhaling a bituminous odor.
Malthusian (a.) Of or pertaining to the political economist, the Rev. T. R. Malthus, or conforming to his views; as, Malthusian theories.
Maltine (n.) The fermentative principle of malt; malt diastase; also, a name given to various medicinal preparations made from or containing malt.
Maltonic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, maltose; specif., designating an acid called also gluconic or dextronic acid. See Gluconic.
Malvaceous (a.) Pertaining to, or resembling, a natural order of plants (Malvaceae), of which the mallow is the type. The cotton plant, hollyhock, and abutilon are of this order, and the baobab and the silk-cotton trees are now referred to it.
Malversation (n.) Evil conduct; fraudulent practices; misbehavior, corruption, or extortion in office.
Mameluke (n.) One of a body of mounted soldiers recruited from slaves converted to Mohammedanism, who, during several centuries, had more or less control of the government of Egypt, until exterminated or dispersed by Mehemet Ali in 1811.
Mamgabey (n.) Any one of several African monkeys of the genus Cercocebus, as the sooty mangabey (C. fuliginosus), which is sooty black.
Mamma (n.) A glandular organ for secreting milk, characteristic of all mammals, but usually rudimentary in the male; a mammary gland; a breast; under; bag.
Mammalia (n. pl.) The highest class of Vertebrata. The young are nourished for a time by milk, or an analogous fluid, secreted by the mammary glands of the mother.
Mammillary (a.) Composed of convex convex concretions, somewhat resembling the breasts in form; studded with small mammiform protuberances.
Mammillary (a.) Of or pertaining to the mammilla, or nipple, or to the breast; resembling a mammilla; mammilloid.
Mammonization (n.) The process of making mammonish; the state of being under the influence of mammonism.
Mammoth (n.) An extinct, hairy, maned elephant (Elephas primigenius), of enormous size, remains of which are found in the northern parts of both continents. The last of the race, in Europe, were coeval with prehistoric man.
Mamzer (n.) A person born of relations between whom marriage was forbidden by the Mosaic law; a bastard.
Man (n.) A term of familiar address often implying on the part of the speaker some degree of authority, impatience, or haste; as, Come, man, we 've no time to lose!
Man (n.) Especially: An adult male person; a grown-up male person, as distinguished from a woman or a child.
Man (n.) One possessing in a high degree the distinctive qualities of manhood; one having manly excellence of any kind.
Man (n.) One, or any one, indefinitely; -- a modified survival of the Saxon use of man, or mon, as an indefinite pronoun.
Man (v. t.) To supply with men; to furnish with a sufficient force or complement of men, as for management, service, defense, or the like; to guard; as, to man a ship, boat, or fort.
Man-eater (n.) One who, or that which, has an appetite for human flesh; specifically, one of certain large sharks (esp. Carcharodon Rondeleti); also, a lion or a tiger which has acquired the habit of feeding upon human flesh.
Manacle (v. t.) To put handcuffs or other fastening upon, for confining the hands; to shackle; to confine; to restrain from the use of the limbs or natural powers.
Manage (n.) Hence: Esp., to guide by careful or delicate treatment; to wield with address; to make subservient by artful conduct; to bring around cunningly to one's plans.
Manage (n.) The handling or government of anything, but esp. of a horse; management; administration. See Manege.
Manage (n.) To have under control and direction; to conduct; to guide; to administer; to treat; to handle.
Manageable (a.) Such as can be managed or used; suffering control; governable; tractable; subservient; as, a manageable horse.
Management (v.) Judicious use of means to accomplish an end; conduct directed by art or address; skillful treatment; cunning practice; -- often in a bad sense.
Management (v.) The act or art of managing; the manner of treating, directing, carrying on, or using, for a purpose; conduct; administration; guidance; control; as, the management of a family or of a farm; the management of state affairs.
Management (v.) The collective body of those who manage or direct any enterprise or interest; the board of managers.
Manager (n.) A person who conducts business or household affairs with economy and frugality; a good economist.
Manbote (n.) A sum paid to a lord as a pecuniary compensation for killing his man (that is, his vassal, servant, or tenant).
Manchineel (n.) A euphorbiaceous tree (Hippomane Mancinella) of tropical America, having a poisonous and blistering milky juice, and poisonous acrid fruit somewhat resembling an apple.
Mancus (n.) An old Anglo Saxon coin both of gold and silver, and of variously estimated values. The silver mancus was equal to about one shilling of modern English money.
Mandamus (n.) A writ issued by a superior court and directed to some inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty.
Mandarin (n.) A Chinese public officer or nobleman; a civil or military official in China and Annam.
Mandarin (n.) A small orange, with easily separable rind. It is thought to be of Chinese origin, and is counted a distinct species (Citrus nobilis)mandarin orange; tangerine --.
Mandarining (n.) The process of giving an orange color to goods formed of animal tissue, as silk or wool, not by coloring matter, but by producing a certain change in the fiber by the action of dilute nitric acid.
Mandatary (n.) One to whom a command or charge is given; hence, specifically, a person to whom the pope has, by his prerogative, given a mandate or order for his benefice.
Mandate (n.) A contract by which one employs another to manage any business for him. By the Roman law, it must have been gratuitous.
Mandate (n.) A rescript of the pope, commanding an ordinary collator to put the person therein named in possession of the first vacant benefice in his collation.
Mandate (n.) An official or authoritative command; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept.
Mandelic (a.) Pertaining to an acid first obtained from benzoic aldehyde (oil of better almonds), as a white crystalline substance; -- called also phenyl glycolic acid.
Mandible (n.) The anterior pair of mouth organs of insects, crustaceaus, and related animals, whether adapted for biting or not. See Illust. of Diptera.
Mandible (n.) The bone, or principal bone, of the lower jaw; the inferior maxilla; -- also applied to either the upper or the lower jaw in the beak of birds.
Mandibuliform (a.) Having the form of a mandible; -- said especially of the maxillae of an insect when hard and adapted for biting.
Mandingos (n. pl.) ; sing. Mandingo. (Ethnol.) An extensive and powerful tribe of West African negroes.
Mandrel (n.) A bar of metal inserted in the work to shape it, or to hold it, as in a lathe, during the process of manufacture; an arbor.
Mandrel (n.) The live spindle of a turning lathe; the revolving arbor of a circular saw. It is usually driven by a pulley.
Mandrill (n.) a large West African baboon (Cynocephalus, / Papio, mormon). The adult male has, on the sides of the nose, large, naked, grooved swellings, conspicuously striped with blue and red.
Manductor (n.) A conductor; an officer in the ancient church who gave the signal for the choir to sing, and who beat time with the hand, and regulated the music.
Manducus (n.) A grotesque mask, representing a person chewing or grimacing, worn in processions and by comic actors on the stage.
Mane (n.) The long and heavy hair growing on the upper side of, or about, the neck of some quadrupedal animals, as the horse, the lion, etc. See Illust. of Horse.
Maneh (n.) A Hebrew weight for gold or silver, being one hundred shekels of gold and sixty shekels of silver.
Manes (n. pl.) The benevolent spirits of the dead, especially of dead ancestors, regarded as family deities and protectors.
Manganese (n.) An element obtained by reduction of its oxide, as a hard, grayish white metal, fusible with difficulty, but easily oxidized. Its ores occur abundantly in nature as the minerals pyrolusite, manganite, etc. Symbol Mn. Atomic weight 54.8.
Manganic (a.) Of, pertaining to resembling, or containing, manganese; specif., designating compounds in which manganese has a higher valence as contrasted with manganous compounds. Cf. Manganous.
Manganite (n.) A compound of manganese dioxide with a metallic oxide; so called as though derived from the hypothetical manganous acid.
Manganite (n.) One of the oxides of manganese; -- called also gray manganese ore. It occurs in brilliant steel-gray or iron-black crystals, also massive.
Manganous (a.) Of, pertaining to, designating, those compounds of manganese in which the element has a lower valence as contrasted with manganic compounds; as, manganous oxide.
Mangel-wurzel (n.) A kind of large field beet (B. macrorhiza), used as food for cattle, -- by some considered a mere variety of the ordinary beet. See Beet.
Manger (n.) The fore part of the deck, having a bulkhead athwart ships high enough to prevent water which enters the hawse holes from running over it.
Mangle (n.) A machine for smoothing linen or cotton cloth, as sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and clothing, by roller pressure.
Mangle (v. t.) To cut or bruise with repeated blows or strokes, making a ragged or torn wound, or covering with wounds; to tear in cutting; to cut in a bungling manner; to lacerate; to mutilate.
Mangle (v. t.) To mutilate or injure, in making, doing, or pertaining; as, to mangle a piece of music or a recitation.
Mango (n.) The fruit of the mango tree. It is rather larger than an apple, and of an ovoid shape. Some varieties are fleshy and luscious, and others tough and tasting of turpentine. The green fruit is pickled for market.
Mangostan (n.) A tree of the East Indies of the genus Garcinia (G. Mangostana). The tree grows to the height of eighteen feet, and bears fruit also called mangosteen, of the size of a small apple, the pulp of which is very delicious food.
Manhole (n.) A hole through which a man may descend or creep into a drain, sewer, steam boiler, parts of machinery, etc., for cleaning or repairing.
Manhood (n.) The state of being man as a human being, or man as distinguished from a child or a woman.
Mania (n.) Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; as, the tulip mania.
Manicate (a.) Covered with hairs or pubescence so platted together and interwoven as to form a mass easily removed.
Manichee (n.) A believer in the doctrines of Manes, a Persian of the third century A. D., who taught a dualism in which Light is regarded as the source of Good, and Darkness as the source of Evil.
Manicure (n.) A person who makes a business of taking care of people's hands, especially their nails.
Manifest (a.) A list or invoice of a ship's cargo, containing a description by marks, numbers, etc., of each package of goods, to be exhibited at the customhouse.
Manifest (a.) Evident to the senses, esp. to the sight; apparent; distinctly perceived; hence, obvious to the understanding; apparent to the mind; easily apprehensible; plain; not obscure or hidden.
Manifest (v. t.) To show plainly; to make to appear distinctly, -- usually to the mind; to put beyond question or doubt; to display; to exhibit.
Manifestation (n.) The act of manifesting or disclosing, or the state of being manifested; discovery to the eye or to the understanding; also, that which manifests; exhibition; display; revelation; as, the manifestation of God's power in creation.
Manifold (a.) Exhibited at divers times or in various ways; -- used to qualify nouns in the singular number.
Manifold (n.) A cylindrical pipe fitting, having a number of lateral outlets, for connecting one pipe with several others.
Manikin (n.) A model of the human body, made of papier-mache or other material, commonly in detachable pieces, for exhibiting the different parts and organs, their relative position, etc.
Manilla (a.) Of or pertaining to Manila or Manilla, the capital of the Philippine Islands; made in, or exported from, that city.
Manilla (n.) A piece of copper of the shape of a horseshoe, used as money by certain tribes of the west coast of Africa.
Manioc (n.) The tropical plants (Manihot utilissima, and M. Aipi), from which cassava and tapioca are prepared; also, cassava.
Maniple (a.) A division of the Roman army numbering sixty men exclusive of officers, any small body of soldiers; a company.
Maniple (a.) Originally, a napkin; later, an ornamental band or scarf worn upon the left arm as a part of the vestments of a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. It is sometimes worn in the English Church service.
Manipulate (v. i.) To use the hands in dexterous operations; to do hand work; specifically, to manage the apparatus or instruments used in scientific work, or in artistic or mechanical processes; also, specifically, to use the hand in mesmeric operations.
Manipulate (v. t.) To control the action of, by management; as, to manipulate a convention of delegates; to manipulate the stock market; also, to manage artfully or fraudulently; as, to manipulate accounts, or election returns.
Manipulate (v. t.) To treat, work, or operate with the hands, especially when knowledge and dexterity are required; to manage in hand work; to handle; as, to manipulate scientific apparatus.
Manipulation (n.) Artful management; as, the manipulation of political bodies; sometimes, a management or treatment for purposes of deception or fraud.
Manipulation (n.) The act or process of manipulating, or the state of being manipulated; the act of handling work by hand; use of the hands, in an artistic or skillful manner, in science or art.
Manis (n.) A genus of edentates, covered with large, hard, triangular scales, with sharp edges that overlap each other like tiles on a roof. They inhabit the warmest parts of Asia and Africa, and feed on ants. Called also Scaly anteater. See Pangolin.
Manitu (n.) A name given by tribes of American Indians to a great spirit, whether good or evil, or to any object of worship.
Manlike (a.) Like man, or like a man, in form or nature; having the qualities of a man, esp. the nobler qualities; manly.
Manly (superl.) Having qualities becoming to a man; not childish or womanish; manlike, esp. brave, courageous, resolute, noble.
Manna (n.) A name given to lichens of the genus Lecanora, sometimes blown into heaps in the deserts of Arabia and Africa, and gathered and used as food.
Manna (n.) A sweetish exudation in the form of pale yellow friable flakes, coming from several trees and shrubs and used in medicine as a gentle laxative, as the secretion of Fraxinus Ornus, and F. rotundifolia, the manna ashes of Southern Europe.
Manna (n.) The food supplied to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness of Arabia; hence, divinely supplied food.
Manna croup () The portions of hard wheat kernels not ground into flour by the millstones: a kind of semolina prepared in Russia and used for puddings, soups, etc. -- called also manna groats.
Manner (n.) Carriage; behavior; deportment; also, becoming behavior; well-bred carriage and address.
Manner (n.) Characteristic mode of acting, conducting, carrying one's self, or the like; bearing; habitual style.
Manner (n.) Sort; kind; style; -- in this application sometimes having the sense of a plural, sorts or kinds.
Mannerism (n.) Adherence to a peculiar style or manner; a characteristic mode of action, bearing, or treatment, carried to excess, especially in literature or art.
Mannerist (n.) One addicted to mannerism; a person who, in action, bearing, or treatment, carries characteristic peculiarities to excess. See citation under Mannerism.
Mannheim gold () A kind of brass made in imitation of gold. It contains eighty per cent of copper and twenty of zinc.
Mannide (n.) A white amorphous or crystalline substance, obtained by dehydration of mannite, and distinct from, but convertible into, mannitan.
Mannitan (n.) A white amorphous or crystalline substance obtained by the partial dehydration of mannite.
Mannite (n.) A sweet white efflorescence from dried fronds of kelp, especially from those of the Laminaria saccharina, or devil's apron.
Mannite (n.) A white crystalline substance of a sweet taste obtained from a so-called manna, the dried sap of the flowering ash (Fraxinus ornus); -- called also mannitol, and hydroxy hexane. Cf. Dulcite.
Mannitose (n.) A variety of sugar obtained by the partial oxidation of mannite, and closely resembling levulose.
Manoeuvre (n.) Management; dexterous movement; specif., a military or naval evolution, movement, or change of position.
Manoeuvre (n.) To perform a movement or movements in military or naval tactics; to make changes in position with reference to getting advantage in attack or defense.
Manofwar (n) A government vessel employed for the purposes of war, esp. one of large size; a ship of war.
Manor (n.) A tract of land occupied by tenants who pay a free-farm rent to the proprietor, sometimes in kind, and sometimes by performing certain stipulated services.
Manor (n.) The land belonging to a lord or nobleman, or so much land as a lord or great personage kept in his own hands, for the use and subsistence of his family.
Mansard roof () A hipped curb roof; that is, a roof having on all sides two slopes, the lower one being steeper than the upper one.
Mansion (n.) The house of the lord of a manor; a manor house; hence: Any house of considerable size or pretension.
Manslaughter (n.) The unlawful killing of a man, either in negligenc/ or incidentally to the commission of some unlawful act, but without specific malice, or upon a sudden excitement of anger.
Manstealing (n.) The act or business of stealing or kidnaping human beings, especially with a view to e/slave them.
Mantel (n.) The finish around a fireplace, covering the chimney-breast in front and sometimes on both sides; especially, a shelf above the fireplace, and its supports.
Mantelet (n.) A musket-proof shield of rope, wood, or metal, which is sometimes used for the protection of sappers or riflemen while attacking a fortress, or of gunners at embrasures; -- now commonly written mantlet.
Mantic (a.) Of or pertaining to divination, or to the condition of one inspired, or supposed to be inspired, by a deity; prophetic.
Mantilla (n.) A kind of veil, covering the head and falling down upon the shoulders; -- worn in Spain, Mexico, etc.
Mantispid (n.) Any neuropterous insect of the genus Mantispa, and allied genera. The larvae feed on plant lice. Also used adjectively. See Illust. under Neuroptera.
Mantissa (n.) The decimal part of a logarithm, as distinguished from the integral part, or characteristic.
Mantle (n.) A loose garment to be worn over other garments; an enveloping robe; a cloak. Hence, figuratively, a covering or concealing envelope.
Mantle (n.) The external fold, or folds, of the soft, exterior membrane of the body of a mollusk. It usually forms a cavity inclosing the gills. See Illusts. of Buccinum, and Byssus.
Mantle (v. i.) To spread over the surface as a covering; to overspread; as, the scum mantled on the pool.
Mantle (v. i.) To unfold and spread out the wings, like a mantle; -- said of hawks. Also used figuratively.
Mantling (n.) The representation of a mantle, or the drapery behind and around a coat of arms: -- called also lambrequin.
Manual (a.) A keyboard of an organ or harmonium for the fingers, as distinguished from the pedals; a clavier, or set of keys.
Manual (a.) A prescribed exercise in the systematic handing of a weapon; as, the manual of arms; the manual of the sword; the manual of the piece (cannon, mortar, etc.).
Manual (a.) A small book, such as may be carried in the hand, or conveniently handled; a handbook; specifically, the service book of the Roman Catholic Church.
Manual (a.) Of or pertaining to the hand; done or made by the hand; as, manual labor; the king's sign manual.
Manubrium (n.) A handlelike process or part; esp., the anterior segment of the sternum, or presternum, and the handlelike process of the malleus.
Manucode (n.) Any bird of the genus Manucodia, of Australia and New Guinea. They are related to the bird of paradise.
Manufacture (n.) Anything made from raw materials by the hand, by machinery, or by art, as cloths, iron utensils, shoes, machinery, saddlery, etc.
Manufacture (n.) The operation of making wares or any products by hand, by machinery, or by other agency.
Manufacture (v. t.) To make (wares or other products) by hand, by machinery, or by other agency; as, to manufacture cloth, nails, glass, etc.
Manufacture (v. t.) To work, as raw or partly wrought materials, into suitable forms for use; as, to manufacture wool, cotton, silk, or iron.
Manufacturing (a.) Employed, or chiefly employed, in manufacture; as, a manufacturing community; a manufacturing town.
Manul (n.) A wild cat (Felis manul), having long, soft, light-colored fur. It is found in the mountains of Central Asia, and dwells among rocks.
Manumit (v. t.) To release from slavery; to liberate from personal bondage or servitude; to free, as a slave.
Manure (n.) Any matter which makes land productive; a fertilizing substance, as the contents of stables and barnyards, dung, decaying animal or vegetable substances, etc.
Manure (v. t.) To apply manure to; to enrich, as land, by the application of a fertilizing substance.
Manuscript (a.) A literary or musical composition written with the hand, as distinguished from a printed copy.
Many-sided (a.) Having many sides; -- said of figures. Hence, presenting many questions or subjects for consideration; as, a many-sided topic.
Many-sided (a.) Interested in, and having an aptitude for, many unlike pursuits or objects of attention; versatile.
Maori (n.) One of the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand; also, the original language of New Zealand.
Map (n.) A representation of the surface of the earth, or of some portion of it, showing the relative position of the parts represented; -- usually on a flat surface. Also, such a representation of the celestial sphere, or of some part of it.
Map (n.) Anything which represents graphically a succession of events, states, or acts; as, an historical map.
Map (v. t.) To represent by a map; -- often with out; as, to survey and map, or map out, a county. Hence, figuratively: To represent or indicate systematically and clearly; to sketch; to plan; as, to map, or map out, a journey; to map out business.
Maplike (a.) Having or consisting of lines resembling a map; as, the maplike figures in which certain lichens grow.
Maqui (n.) A Chilian shrub (Aristotelia Maqui). Its bark furnishes strings for musical instruments, and a medicinal wine is made from its berries.
Mar (v.) To make defective; to do injury to, esp. by cutting off or defacing a part; to impair; to disfigure; to deface.
Mara (n.) A female demon who torments people in sleep by crouching on their chests or stomachs, or by causing terrifying visions.
Marabou (n.) A large stork of the genus Leptoptilos (formerly Ciconia), esp. the African species (L. crumenifer), which furnishes plumes worn as ornaments. The Asiatic species (L. dubius, or L. argala) is the adjutant. See Adjutant.
Maraschino (n.) A liqueur distilled from fermented cherry juice, and flavored with the pit of a variety of cherry which grows in Dalmatia.
Marasmus (n.) A wasting of flesh without fever or apparent disease; a kind of consumption; atrophy; phthisis.
Maravedi (n.) A small copper coin of Spain, equal to three mils American money, less than a farthing sterling. Also, an ancient Spanish gold coin.
Marble (n.) A little ball of marble, or of some other hard substance, used as a plaything by children; or, in the plural, a child's game played with marbles.
Marble (n.) A thing made of, or resembling, marble, as a work of art, or record, in marble; or, in the plural, a collection of such works; as, the Arundel or Arundelian marbles; the Elgin marbles.
Marble (n.) To stain or vein like marble; to variegate in color; as, to marble the edges of a book, or the surface of paper.
Marbled (a.) Varied with irregular markings, or witch a confused blending of irregular spots and streaks.
Marbleize (v. t.) To stain or grain in imitation of marble; to cover with a surface resembling marble; as, to marbleize slate, wood, or iron.
Marbrinus (n.) A cloth woven so as to imitate the appearance of marble; -- much used in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Marc (n.) A coin formerly current in England and Scotland, equal to thirteen shillings and four pence.
Marc (n.) A weight of various commodities, esp. of gold and silver, used in different European countries. In France and Holland it was equal to eight ounces.
Marcasite (n.) A sulphide of iron resembling pyrite or common iron pyrites in composition, but differing in form; white iron pyrites.
March (n.) A piece of music designed or fitted to accompany and guide the movement of troops; a piece of music in the march form.
March (n.) A territorial border or frontier; a region adjacent to a boundary line; a confine; -- used chiefly in the plural, and in English history applied especially to the border land on the frontiers between England and Scotland, and England and Wales.
March (n.) Hence: Measured and regular advance or movement, like that of soldiers moving in order; stately or deliberate walk; steady onward movement.
March (n.) The act of marching; a movement of soldiers from one stopping place to another; military progress; advance of troops.
March (v. i.) To move with regular steps, as a soldier; to walk in a grave, deliberate, or stately manner; to advance steadily.
March (v. i.) To proceed by walking in a body or in military order; as, the German army marched into France.
March (v. t.) TO cause to move with regular steps in the manner of a soldier; to cause to move in military array, or in a body, as troops; to cause to advance in a steady, regular, or stately manner; to cause to go by peremptory command, or by force.
Marchioness (n.) The wife or the widow of a marquis; a woman who has the rank and dignity of a marquis.
Marcosian (n.) One of a Gnostic sect of the second century, so called from Marcus, an Egyptian, who was reputed to be a margician.
Mardi gras (n.) The last day of Carnival; Shrove Tuesday; -- in some cities a great day of carnival and merrymaking.
Mare (n.) Sighing, suffocative panting, intercepted utterance, with a sense of pressure across the chest, occurring during sleep; the incubus; -- obsolete, except in the compound nightmare.
Mare's-tail (n.) A long streaky cloud, spreading out like a horse's tail, and believed to indicate rain; a cirrus cloud. See Cloud.
Mare's-tail (n.) An aquatic plant of the genus Hippuris (H. vulgaris), having narrow leaves in whorls.
Margarin (n.) A fatty substance, extracted from animal fats and certain vegetable oils, formerly supposed to be a definite compound of glycerin and margaric acid, but now known to be simply a mixture or combination of tristearin and teipalmitin.
Margarite (n.) A mineral related to the micas, but low in silica and yielding brittle folia with pearly luster.
Margate fish () A sparoid fish (Diabasis aurolineatus) of the Gulf of Mexico, esteemed as a food fish; -- called also red-mouth grunt.
Margay (n.) An American wild cat (Felis tigrina), ranging from Mexico to Brazil. It is spotted with black. Called also long-tailed cat.
Margin (n.) Collateral security deposited with a broker to secure him from loss on contracts entered into by him on behalf of his principial, as in the speculative buying and selling of stocks, wheat, etc.
Margin (n.) Something allowed, or reserved, for that which can not be foreseen or known with certainty.
Marguerite (n.) The daisy (Bellis perennis). The name is often applied also to the ox-eye daisy and to the China aster.
Marian (a.) Pertaining to the Virgin Mary, or sometimes to Mary, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII.
Mariet (n.) A kind of bellflower, Companula Trachelium, once called Viola Mariana; but it is not a violet.
Marigold (n.) A name for several plants with golden yellow blossoms, especially the Calendula officinalis (see Calendula), and the cultivated species of Tagetes.
Marimba (n.) A musical istrument of percussion, consisting of bars yielding musical tones when struck.
Marinade (n.) A brine or pickle containing wine and spices, for enriching the flavor of meat and fish.
Marinate (v. t.) To salt or pickle, as fish, and then preserve in oil or vinegar; to prepare by the use of marinade.
Marine (a.) A solider serving on shipboard; a sea soldier; one of a body of troops trained to do duty in the navy.
Marine (a.) Of or pertaining to the sea; having to do with the ocean, or with navigation or naval affairs; nautical; as, marine productions or bodies; marine shells; a marine engine.
Marine (a.) The sum of naval affairs; naval economy; the department of navigation and sea forces; the collective shipping of a country; as, the mercantile marine.
Mariposa lily () One of a genus (Calochortus) of tuliplike bulbous herbs with large, and often gaycolored, blossoms. Called also butterfly lily. Most of them are natives of California.
Maritime (a.) Bordering on, or situated near, the ocean; connected with the sea by site, interest, or power; having shipping and commerce or a navy; as, maritime states.
Maritime (a.) Of or pertaining to the ocean; marine; pertaining to navigation and naval affairs, or to shipping and commerce by sea.
Mark (n.) A character (usually a cross) made as a substitute for a signature by one who can not write.
Mark (n.) A character or device put on an article of merchandise by the maker to show by whom it was made; a trade-mark.
Mark (n.) A fixed object serving for guidance, as of a ship, a traveler, a surveyor, etc.; as, a seamark, a landmark.
Mark (n.) A number or other character used in registring; as, examination marks; a mark for tardiness.
Mark (n.) A trace, dot, line, imprint, or discoloration, although not regarded as a token or sign; a scratch, scar, stain, etc.; as, this pencil makes a fine mark.
Mark (n.) A visible sign or impression made or left upon anything; esp., a line, point, stamp, figure, or the like, drawn or impressed, so as to attract the attention and convey some information or intimation; a token; a trace.
Mark (n.) An evidence of presence, agency, or influence; a significative token; a symptom; a trace; specifically, a permanent impression of one's activity or character.
Mark (n.) One of the bits of leather or colored bunting which are placed upon a sounding line at intervals of from two to five fathoms. The unmarked fathoms are called "deeps."
Mark (n.) That toward which a missile is directed; a thing aimed at; what one seeks to hit or reach.
Mark (n.) The unit of monetary account of the German Empire, equal to 23.8 cents of United States money; the equivalent of one hundred pfennigs. Also, a silver coin of this value.
Mark (v. t.) To be a mark upon; to designate; to indicate; -- used literally and figuratively; as, this monument marks the spot where Wolfe died; his courage and energy marked him for a leader.
Mark (v. t.) To keep account of; to enumerate and register; as, to mark the points in a game of billiards or cards.
Mark (v. t.) To leave a trace, scratch, scar, or other mark, upon, or any evidence of action; as, a pencil marks paper; his hobnails marked the floor.
Mark (v. t.) To notice or observe; to give attention to; to take note of; to remark; to heed; to regard.
Mark (v. t.) To put a mark upon; to affix a significant mark to; to make recognizable by a mark; as, to mark a box or bale of merchandise; to mark clothing.
Marked (a.) Designated or distinguished by, or as by, a mark; hence; noticeable; conspicuous; as, a marked card; a marked coin; a marked instance.
Marker (n.) The soldier who forms the pilot of a wheeling column, or marks the direction of an alignment.
Market (n.) A meeting together of people, at a stated time and place, for the purpose of traffic (as in cattle, provisions, wares, etc.) by private purchase and sale, and not by auction; as, a market is held in the town every week.
Market (n.) A public place (as an open space in a town) or a large building, where a market is held; a market place or market house; esp., a place where provisions are sold.
Market (v. t.) To expose for sale in a market; to traffic in; to sell in a market, and in an extended sense, to sell in any manner; as, most of the farmes have marketed their crops.
Marketable (a.) Fit to be offered for sale in a market; such as may be justly and lawfully sold; as, dacaye/ provisions are not marketable.
Markhoor (n.) A large wild goat (Capra megaceros), having huge flattened spiral horns. It inhabits the mountains of Northern India and Cashmere.
Marking (n.) The act of one who, or that which, marks; the mark or marks made; arrangement or disposition of marks or coloring; as, the marking of a bird's plumage.
Marl (n.) A mixed earthy substance, consisting of carbonate of lime, clay, and sand, in very varivble proportions, and accordingly designated as calcareous, clayey, or sandy. See Greensand.
Marl (v. t.) To cover, as part of a rope, with marline, marking a pecular hitch at each turn to prevent unwinding.
Marlin (n.) The American great marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa). Applied also to the red-breasted godwit (Limosa haematica).
Marline (v.) A small line composed of two strands a little twisted, used for winding around ropes and cables, to prevent their being weakened by fretting.
Marlstone (n.) A sandy calcareous straum, containing, or impregnated with, iron, and lying between the upper and lower Lias of England.
Marmalade (n.) A preserve or confection made of the pulp of fruit, as the quince, pear, apple, orange, etc., boiled with sugar, and brought to a jamlike consistence.
Marmoration (n.) A covering or incrusting with marble; a casing of marble; a variegating so as to resemble marble.
Marmoratum opus () A kind of hard finish for plasterwork, made of plaster of Paris and marble dust, and capable of taking a high polish.
Marmoset (n.) Any one of numerous species of small South American monkeys of the genera Hapale and Midas, family Hapalidae. They have long soft fur, and a hairy, nonprehensile tail. They are often kept as pets. Called also squirrel monkey.
Marmot (n.) Any one of several species of ground squirrels or gophers of the genus Spermophilus; also, the prairie dog.
Marmottes oil () A fine oil obtained from the kernel of Prunus brigantiaca. It is used instead of olive or almond oil.
Maronite (n.) One of a body of nominal Christians, who speak the Arabic language, and reside on Mount Lebanon and in different parts of Syria. They take their name from one Maron of the 6th century.
Maroon (n.) A brownish or dull red of any description, esp. of a scarlet cast rather than approaching crimson or purple.
Maroon (n.) In the West Indies and Guiana, a fugitive slave, or a free negro, living in the mountains.
Marque (n.) A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals.
Marquetry (n.) Inlaid work; work inlaid with pieces of wood, shells, ivory, and the like, of several colors.
Marquisate (n.) The seigniory, dignity, or lordship of a marquis; the territory governed by a marquis.
Marram (n.) A coarse grass found on sandy beaches (Ammophila arundinacea). See Beach grass, under Beach.
Marriage (v. t.) The act of marrying, or the state of being married; legal union of a man and a woman for life, as husband and wife; wedlock; matrimony.
Marron (a.) A paper or pasteboard box or shell, wound about with strong twine, filled with an explosive, and ignited with a fuse, -- used to make a noise like a cannon.
Marrow (n.) The tissue which fills the cavities of most bones; the medulla. In the larger cavities it is commonly very fatty, but in the smaller cavities it is much less fatty, and red or reddish in color.
Marrowbone (n.) A bone containing marrow; pl. ludicrously, knee bones or knees; as, to get down on one's marrowbones, i. e., to kneel.
Marry (interj.) Indeed ! in truth ! -- a term of asseveration said to have been derived from the practice of swearing by the Virgin Mary.
Marry (v. t.) To join according to law, (a man) to a woman as his wife, or (a woman) to a man as her husband. See the Note to def. 4.
Marry (v. t.) To unite in wedlock or matrimony; to perform the ceremony of joining, as a man and a woman, for life; to constitute (a man and a woman) husband and wife according to the laws or customs of the place.
Marsdenia (n.) A genus of plants of the Milkweed family, mostly woody climbers with fragrant flowers, several species of which furnish valuable fiber, and one species (Marsdenia tinctoria) affords indigo.
Marseilles (n.) A general term for certain kinds of fabrics, which are formed of two series of threads interlacing each other, thus forming double cloth, quilted in the loom; -- so named because first made in Marseilles, France.
Marsh (n.) A tract of soft wet land, commonly covered partially or wholly with water; a fen; a swamp; a morass.
Marsh marigold () A perennial plant of the genus Caltha (C. palustris), growing in wet places and bearing bright yellow flowers. In the United States it is used as a pot herb under the name of cowslip. See Cowslip.
Marshal (n.) An officer of high rank, charged with the arrangement of ceremonies, the conduct of operations, or the like
Marshal (n.) One who goes before a prince to declare his coming and provide entertainment; a harbinger; a pursuivant.
Marshal (n.) One who regulates rank and order at a feast or any other assembly, directs the order of procession, and the like.
Marshal (n.) The chief officer of arms, whose duty it was, in ancient times, to regulate combats in the lists.
Marshal (v. t.) To dispose in due order, as the different quarterings on an escutcheon, or the different crests when several belong to an achievement.
Marshal (v. t.) To dispose in order; to arrange in a suitable manner; as, to marshal troops or an army.
Marshalsea (n.) The court or seat of a marshal; hence, the prison in Southwark, belonging to the marshal of the king's household.
Marsupiate (a.) Related to or resembling the marsupials; furnished with a pouch for the young, as the marsupials, and also some fishes and Crustacea.
Marsupium (n.) The pouch, formed by a fold of the skin of the abdomen, in which marsupials carry their young; also, a pouch for similar use in other animals, as certain Crustacea.
Martel de fer () A weapon resembling a hammer, often having one side of the head pointed; -- used by horsemen in the Middle Ages to break armor.
Martello tower () A building of masonry, generally circular, usually erected on the seacoast, with a gun on the summit mounted on a traversing platform, so as to be fired in any direction.
Martial (a.) Belonging to war, or to an army and navy; -- opposed to civil; as, martial law; a court-martial.
Martial (a.) Of, pertaining to, or suited for, war; military; as, martial music; a martial appearance.
Martin (n.) One of several species of swallows, usually having the tail less deeply forked than the tail of the common swallows.
Martinet (n.) In military language, a strict disciplinarian; in general, one who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of discipline, or to forms and fixed methods.
Martingal (n.) A lower stay of rope or chain for the jib boom or flying jib boom, fastened to, or reeved through, the dolphin striker. Also, the dolphin striker itself.
Martingal (n.) The act of doubling, at each stake, that which has been lost on the preceding stake; also, the sum so risked; -- metaphorically derived from the bifurcation of the martingale of a harness.
Martlet (n.) A bird without beak or feet; -- generally assumed to represent a martin. As a mark of cadency it denotes the fourth son.
Martyr (n.) Hence, one who sacrifices his life, his station, or what is of great value to him, for the sake of principle, or to sustain a cause.
Martyr (n.) One who, by his death, bears witness to the truth of the gospel; one who is put to death for his religion; as, Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
Martyr (v. t.) To put to death for adhering to some belief, esp. Christianity; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession.
Martyrdom (n.) The condition of a martyr; the death of a martyr; the suffering of death on account of adherence to the Christian faith, or to any cause.
Martyrological (a.) Pertaining to martyrology or martyrs; registering, or registered in, a catalogue of martyrs.
Marysole (n.) A large British fluke, or flounder (Rhombus megastoma); -- called also carter, and whiff.
Mascagnite (n.) Native sulphate of ammonia, found in volcanic districts; -- so named from Mascagni, who discovered it.
Mascotte (n.) A person who is supposed to bring good luck to the household to which he or she belongs; anything that brings good luck.
Masculine (a.) Having the inflections of, or construed with, words pertaining especially to male beings, as distinguished from feminine and neuter. See Gender.
Masculine (a.) Having the qualities of a man; suitable to, or characteristic of, a man; virile; not feminine or effeminate; strong; robust.
Mask (n.) A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection; as, a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask.
Mask (n.) A dramatic performance, formerly in vogue, in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
Mask (n.) A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade; hence, a revel; a frolic; a delusive show.
Mask (n.) A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like; -- called also mascaron.
Mask (v. t.) To cover or keep in check; as, to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out.
Mask (v. t.) To cover, as the face, by way of concealment or defense against injury; to conceal with a mask or visor.
Masked (a.) Having the anterior part of the head differing decidedly in color from the rest of the plumage; -- said of birds.
Maslin (a.) Composed of different sorts; as, maslin bread, which is made of rye mixed with a little wheat.
Mason (n.) One whose occupation is to build with stone or brick; also, one who prepares stone for building purposes.
Mason (v. t.) To build stonework or brickwork about, under, in, over, etc.; to construct by masons; -- with a prepositional suffix; as, to mason up a well or terrace; to mason in a kettle or boiler.
Masonry (n.) That which is built by a mason; anything constructed of the materials used by masons, such as stone, brick, tiles, or the like. Dry masonry is applied to structures made without mortar.
Masoola boat () A kind of boat used on the coast of Madras, India. The planks are sewed together with strands of coir which cross over a wadding of the same material, so that the shock on taking the beach through surf is much reduced.
Masora (n.) A Jewish critical work on the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, composed by several learned rabbis of the school of Tiberias, in the eighth and ninth centuries.
Masquerade (n.) Acting or living under false pretenses; concealment of something by a false or unreal show; pretentious show; disguise.
Masquerade (n.) An assembly of persons wearing masks, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
Masquerade (v. i.) To frolic or disport in disquise; to make a pretentious show of being what one is not.
Mass (n.) A medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump, of consistency suitable for making pills; as, blue mass.
Mass (n.) A quantity of matter cohering together so as to make one body, or an aggregation of particles or things which collectively make one body or quantity, usually of considerable size; as, a mass of ore, metal, sand, or water.
Mass (n.) The portions of the Mass usually set to music, considered as a musical composition; -- namely, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei, besides sometimes an Offertory and the Benedictus.
Mass (n.) The sacrifice in the sacrament of the Eucharist, or the consecration and oblation of the host.
Mass (v. t.) To form or collect into a mass; to form into a collective body; to bring together into masses; to assemble.
Massacre (n.) The killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day.
Massacre (n.) To kill in considerable numbers where much resistance can not be made; to kill with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to the usages of nations; to butcher; to slaughter; -- limited to the killing of human beings.
Massage (n.) A rubbing or kneading of the body, especially when performed as a hygienic or remedial measure.
Massasauga (n.) The black rattlesnake (Crotalus, / Caudisona, tergemina), found in the Mississippi Valley.
Massicot (n.) Lead protoxide, PbO, obtained as a yellow amorphous powder, the fused and crystalline form of which is called litharge; lead ocher. It is used as a pigment.
Massive (a.) In mass; not necessarily without a crystalline structure, but having no regular form; as, a mineral occurs massive.
Massy (superl.) Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.
Mastax (n.) The pharynx of a rotifer. It usually contains four horny pieces. The two central ones form the incus, against which the mallei, or lateral ones, work so as to crush the food.
Master (n.) A person holding an office of authority among the Freemasons, esp. the presiding officer; also, a person holding a similar office in other civic societies.
Master (n.) A title given by courtesy, now commonly pronounced mister, except when given to boys; -- sometimes written Mister, but usually abbreviated to Mr.
Master (n.) One who has attained great skill in the use or application of anything; as, a master of oratorical art.
Master (v. t.) To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue.
Master (v. t.) To gain the command of, so as to understand or apply; to become an adept in; as, to master a science.
Masterly (a.) Suitable to, or characteristic of, a master; indicating thorough knowledge or superior skill and power; showing a master's hand; as, a masterly design; a masterly performance; a masterly policy.
Masterpiece (n.) Anything done or made with extraordinary skill; a capital performance; a chef-d'oeuvre; a supreme achievement.
Mastersinger (n.) One of a class of poets which flourished in Nuremberg and some other cities of Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries. They bound themselves to observe certain arbitrary laws of rhythm.
Masterwort (n.) A tall and coarse European umbelliferous plant (Peucedanum Ostruthium, formerly Imperatoria).
Mastful (a.) Abounding in mast; producing mast in abundance; as, the mastful forest; a mastful chestnut.
Mastic (n.) A kind of cement composed of burnt clay, litharge, and linseed oil, used for plastering walls, etc.
Mastic (n.) A low shrubby tree of the genus Pistacia (P. Lentiscus), growing upon the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and producing a valuable resin; -- called also, mastic tree.
Mastic (n.) A resin exuding from the mastic tree, and obtained by incision. The best is in yellowish white, semitransparent tears, of a faint smell, and is used as an astringent and an aromatic, also as an ingredient in varnishes.
Masticate (v. t.) To grind or crush with, or as with, the teeth and prepare for swallowing and digestion; to chew; as, to masticate food.
Masticator (n.) A machine for cutting meat into fine pieces for toothless people; also, a machine for cutting leather, India rubber, or similar tough substances, into fine pieces, in some processes of manufacture.
Masticin (n.) A white, amorphous, tenacious substance resembling caoutchouc, and obtained as an insoluble residue of mastic.
Mastiff (n.) A breed of large dogs noted for strength and courage. There are various strains, differing in form and color, and characteristic of different countries.
Mastigure (n.) Any one of several large spiny-tailed lizards of the genus Uromastix. They inhabit Southern Asia and North Africa.
Masting (n.) The act or process of putting a mast or masts into a vessel; also, the scientific principles which determine the position of masts, and the mechanical methods of placing them.
Mastoid (a.) Resembling the nipple or the breast; -- applied specifically to a process of the temporal bone behind the ear.
Mat (n.) A fabric of sedge, rushes, flags, husks, straw, hemp, or similar material, used for wiping and cleaning shoes at the door, for covering the floor of a hall or room, and for other purposes.
Mat (n.) A name given by coppersmiths to an alloy of copper, tin, iron, etc., usually called white metal.
Mat (n.) An ornamental border made of paper, pasterboard, metal, etc., put under the glass which covers a framed picture; as, the mat of a daguerreotype.
Mat (n.) Any similar fabric for various uses, as for covering plant houses, putting beneath dishes or lamps on a table, securing rigging from friction, and the like.
Mat (n.) Anything growing thickly, or closely interwoven, so as to resemble a mat in form or texture; as, a mat of weeds; a mat of hair.
Matador (n.) In the game of quadrille or omber, the three principal trumps, the ace of spades being the first, the ace of clubs the third, and the second being the deuce of a black trump or the seven of a red one.
Match (v. i.) To be of equal, or similar, size, figure, color, or quality; to tally; to suit; to correspond; as, these vases match.
Match (v. t.) To be a mate or match for; to be able to complete with; to rival successfully; to equal.
Match (v. t.) To fit together, or make suitable for fitting together; specifically, to furnish with a tongue and a groove, at the edges; as, to match boards.
Match (v. t.) To furnish with its match; to bring a match, or equal, against; to show an equal competitor to; to set something in competition with, or in opposition to, as equal.
Match (v. t.) To make equal, proportionate, or suitable; to adapt, fit, or suit (one thing to another).
Match (v. t.) To make or procure the equal of, or that which is exactly similar to, or corresponds with; as, to match a vase or a horse; to match cloth.
Match (v.) A bringing together of two parties suited to one another, as for a union, a trial of skill or force, a contest, or the like
Match (v.) A perforated board, block of plaster, hardened sand, etc., in which a pattern is partly imbedded when a mold is made, for giving shape to the surfaces of separation between the parts of the mold.
Match (v.) A person or thing equal or similar to another; one able to mate or cope with another; an equal; a mate.
Match (v.) Suitable combination or bringing together; that which corresponds or harmonizes with something else; as, the carpet and curtains are a match.
Matchable (a.) Capable of being matched; comparable on equal conditions; adapted to being joined together; correspondent.
Matchlock (n.) An old form of gunlock containing a match for firing the priming; hence, a musket fired by means of a match.
Mate (n.) Hence, specifically, a husband or wife; and among the lower animals, one of a pair associated for propagation and the care of their young.
Mate (n.) One who customarily associates with another; a companion; an associate; any object which is associated or combined with a similar object.
Mate (n.) The Paraguay tea, being the dried leaf of the Brazilian holly (Ilex Paraguensis). The infusion has a pleasant odor, with an agreeable bitter taste, and is much used for tea in South America.
Mate (v. i.) To be or become a mate or mates, especially in sexual companionship; as, some birds mate for life; this bird will not mate with that one.
Materia medica () Material or substance used in the composition of remedies; -- a general term for all substances used as curative agents in medicine.
Materia medica () That branch of medical science which treats of the nature and properties of all the substances that are employed for the cure of diseases.
Material (a.) Consisting of matter; not spiritual; corporeal; physical; as, material substance or bodies.
Material (a.) Hence: Pertaining to, or affecting, the physical nature of man, as distinguished from the mental or moral nature; relating to the bodily wants, interests, and comforts.
Material (a.) Of solid or weighty character; not insubstantial; of cinsequence; not be dispensed with; important.
Materialism (n.) The tendency to give undue importance to material interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants.
Materialist (n.) One who denies the existence of spiritual substances or agents, and maintains that spiritual phenomena, so called, are the result of some peculiar organization of matter.
Materialist (n.) One who holds to the existence of matter, as distinguished from the idealist, who denies it.
Materialize (v. t.) To cause to assume a character appropriate to material things; to occupy with material interests; as, to materialize thought.
Materialize (v. t.) To invest with material characteristics; to make perceptible to the senses; hence, to present to the mind through the medium of material objects.
Materialize (v. t.) To regard as matter; to consider or explain by the laws or principles which are appropriate to matter.
Materially (adv.) In an important manner or degree; essentaily; as, it materially concern us to know the real motives of our actions.
Maternal (a.) Of or pertaining to a mother; becoming to a mother; motherly; as, maternal love; maternal tenderness.
Math (n.) A mowing, or that which is gathered by mowing; -- chiefly used in composition; as, an aftermath.
Mathematical (a.) Of or pertaining to mathematics; according to mathematics; hence, theoretically precise; accurate; as, mathematical geography; mathematical instruments; mathematical exactness.
Matico (n.) A Peruvian plant (Piper, / Artanthe, elongatum), allied to the pepper, the leaves of which are used as a styptic and astringent.
Matriculate (v. i.) To go though the process of admission to membership, as by examination and enrollment, in a society or college.
Matriculate (v. t.) To enroll; to enter in a register; specifically, to enter or admit to membership in a body or society, particularly in a college or university, by enrolling the name in a register.
Matrimonial (a.) Of or pertaining to marriage; derived from marriage; connubial; nuptial; hymeneal; as, matrimonial rights or duties.
Matrimony (n.) The union of man and woman as husband and wife; the nuptial state; marriage; wedlock.
Matrix (n.) A rectangular arrangement of symbols in rows and columns. The symbols may express quantities or operations.
Matrix (n.) The cavity in which anything is formed, and which gives it shape; a die; a mold, as for the face of a type.
Matrix (n.) The earthy or stony substance in which metallic ores or crystallized minerals are found; the gangue.
Matrix (n.) The five simple colors, black, white, blue, red, and yellow, of which all the rest are composed.
Matrix (n.) The lifeless portion of tissue, either animal or vegetable, situated between the cells; the intercellular substance.
Matron (n.) A housekeeper; esp., a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public instution; a head nurse in a hospital; as, the matron of a school or hospital.
Matron (n.) A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children; a woman of staid or motherly manners.
Matronal (a.) Of or pertaining to a matron; suitable to an elderly lady or to a married woman; grave; motherly.
Matronize (v. t.) To act the part of a marton toward; to superintend; to chaperone; as, to matronize an assembly.
Matross (n.) Formerly, in the British service, a gunner or a gunner's mate; one of the soldiers in a train of artillery, who assisted the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns.
Matte (n.) A dead or dull finish, as in gilding where the gold leaf is not burnished, or in painting where the surface is purposely deprived of gloss.
Matter (n.) Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter ? no matter, and the like.
Matter (n.) Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble.
Matter (n.) Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess; pus; purulent substance.
Matter (n.) That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment.
Matter (n.) That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance.
Matter (n.) That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form.
Matter (n.) That with regard to, or about which, anything takes place or is done; the thing aimed at, treated of, or treated; subject of action, discussion, consideration, feeling, complaint, legal action, or the like; theme.
Matter (n.) Written manuscript, or anything to be set in type; copy; also, type set up and ready to be used, or which has been used, in printing.
Matter-of-fact (a.) Adhering to facts; not turning aside from absolute realities; not fanciful or imaginative; commonplace; dry.
Matting (n.) A dull, lusterless surface in certain of the arts, as gilding, metal work, glassmaking, etc.
Matting (v. t. & i.) Mats, in general, or collectively; mat work; a matlike fabric, for use in covering floors, packing articles, and the like; a kind of carpeting made of straw, etc.
Matting (v. t. & i.) The act of interweaving or tangling together so as to make a mat; the process of becoming matted.
Mattock (n.) An implement for digging and grubbing. The head has two long steel blades, one like an adz and the other like a narrow ax or the point of a pickax.
Mattowacca (n.) An American clupeoid fish (Clupea mediocris), similar to the shad in habits and appearance, but smaller and less esteemed for food; -- called also hickory shad, tailor shad, fall herring, and shad herring.
Mattress (n.) A mass of interwoven brush, poles, etc., to protect a bank from being worn away by currents or waves.
Mattress (n.) A quilted bed; a bed stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable material, and quilted or otherwise fastened.
Maturation (n.) The process of bringing, or of coming, to maturity; hence, specifically, the process of suppurating perfectly; the formation of pus or matter.
Mature (superl.) Brought by natural process to completeness of growth and development; fitted by growth and development for any function, action, or state, appropriate to its kind; full-grown; ripe.
Mature (superl.) Completely worked out; fully digested or prepared; ready for action; made ready for destined application or use; perfected; as, a mature plan.
Mature (v. i.) To advance toward maturity; to become ripe; as, wine matures by age; the judgment matures by age and experience.
Mature (v. t.) To bring or hasten to maturity; to promote ripeness in; to ripen; to complete; as, to mature one's plans.
Maturity (n.) Arrival of the time fixed for payment; a becoming due; termination of the period a note, etc., has to run.
Maturity (n.) The state or quality of being mature; ripeness; full development; as, the maturity of corn or of grass; maturity of judgment; the maturity of a plan.
Matweed (n.) A name of several maritime grasses, as the sea sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacea) which is used in Holland to bind the sand of the seacoast dikes (see Beach grass, under Beach); also, the Lygeum Spartum, a Mediterranean grass of similar habit.
Maucaco (n.) A lemur; -- applied to several species, as the White-fronted, the ruffed, and the ring-tailed lemurs.
Maudeline (n.) An aromatic composite herb, the costmary; also, the South European Achillea Ageratum, a kind of yarrow.
Maudlin (a.) Tearful; easily moved to tears; exciting to tears; excessively sentimental; weak and silly.
Maund (n.) An East Indian weight, varying in different localities from 25 to about 82 pounds avoirdupois.
Maunder (v. i.) To mutter; to mumble; to grumble; to speak indistinctly or disconnectedly; to talk incoherently.
Maurist (n.) A member of the Congregation of Saint Maur, an offshoot of the Benedictines, originating in France in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Maurists have been distinguished for their interest in literature.
Mauveine (n.) An artificial organic base, obtained by oxidizing a mixture of aniline and toluidine, and valuable for the dyestuffs it forms.
Maverick (n.) In the southwestern part of the united States, a bullock or heifer that has not been branded, and is unclaimed or wild; -- said to be from Maverick, the name of a cattle owner in Texas who neglected to brand his cattle.
Maw (n.) A stomach; the receptacle into which food is taken by swallowing; in birds, the craw; -- now used only of the lower animals, exept humorously or in contempt.
Mawmet (n.) A puppet; a doll; originally, an idol, because in the Middle Ages it was generally believed that the Mohammedans worshiped images representing Mohammed.
Mawworm (n.) Any intestinal worm found in the stomach, esp. the common round worm (Ascaris lumbricoides), and allied species.
Maxilla (n.) The bone, or principal bone, of the upper jaw, the bone of the lower jaw being the mandible.
Maxillary (a.) Pertaining to either the upper or the lower jaw, but now usually applied to the upper jaw only.
Maxilliped (n.) One of the mouth appendages of Crustacea, situated next behind the maxillae. Crabs have three pairs, but many of the lower Crustacea have but one pair of them. Called also jawfoot, and foot jaw.
Maxillo-palatine (a.) Pertaining to the maxillary and palatine regions of the skull; as, the maxillo-palatine process of the maxilla. Also used as n.
Maxim (n.) An established principle or proposition; a condensed proposition of important practical truth; an axiom of practical wisdom; an adage; a proverb; an aphorism.
Maximilian (n.) A gold coin of Bavaria, of the value of about 13s. 6d. sterling, or about three dollars and a quarter.
Maximum (a.) Greatest in quantity or highest in degree attainable or attained; as, a maximum consumption of fuel; maximum pressure; maximum heat.
Maximum (n.) The greatest quantity or value attainable in a given case; or, the greatest value attained by a quantity which first increases and then begins to decrease; the highest point or degree; -- opposed to minimum.
May (n.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn.
May (v.) An auxiliary verb qualifyng the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can.
Maya (n.) The name for the doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion.
Mayflower (n.) In England, the hawthorn; in New England, the trailing arbutus (see Arbutus); also, the blossom of these plants.
Mayhem (n.) The maiming of a person by depriving him of the use of any of his members which are necessary for defense or protection. See Maim.
Mayonnaise (n.) A sauce compounded of raw yolks of eggs beaten up with olive oil to the consistency of a sirup, and seasoned with vinegar, pepper, salt, etc.; -- used in dressing salads, fish, etc. Also, a dish dressed with this sauce.
Mayor (n.) The chief magistrate of a city or borough; the chief officer of a municipal corporation. In some American cities there is a city court of which the major is chief judge.
Maypole (n.) A tall pole erected in an open place and wreathed with flowers, about which the rustic May-day sports were had.
Maypop (n.) The edible fruit of a passion flower, especially that of the North American Passiflora incarnata, an oval yellowish berry as large as a small apple.
Mayweed (n.) A composite plant (Anthemis Cotula), having a strong odor; dog's fennel. It is a native of Europe, now common by the roadsides in the United States.
Mazame (n.) A goatlike antelope (Haplocerus montanus) which inhabits the Rocky Mountains, frequenting the highest parts; -- called also mountain goat.
Mazdean (a.) Of or pertaining to Ahura-Mazda, or Ormuzd, the beneficent deity in the Zoroastrian dualistic system; hence, Zoroastrian.
Mazurka (n.) A Polish dance, or the music which accompanies it, usually in 3-4 or 3-8 measure, with a strong accent on the second beat.
Mazy (a.) Perplexed with turns and windings; winding; intricate; confusing; perplexing; embarrassing; as, mazy error.
Mead (n.) A drink composed of sirup of sarsaparilla or other flavoring extract, and water. It is sometimes charged with carbonic acid gas.
Meadow (a.) Of or pertaining to a meadow; of the nature of a meadow; produced, growing, or living in, a meadow.
Meadow (n.) A tract of low or level land producing grass which is mown for hay; any field on which grass is grown for hay.
Meadow (n.) Low land covered with coarse grass or rank herbage near rives and in marshy places by the sea; as, the salt meadows near Newark Bay.
Meadowwort (n.) The name of several plants of the genus Spiraea, especially the white- or pink-flowered S. salicifolia, a low European and American shrub, and the herbaceous S. Ulmaria, which has fragrant white flowers in compound cymes.
Meagre (a.) Destitute of richness, fertility, strength, or the like; defective in quantity, or poor in quality; poor; barren; scanty in ideas; wanting strength of diction or affluence of imagery.
Meagre (n.) A large European sciaenoid fish (Sciaena umbra or S. aquila), having white bloodless flesh. It is valued as a food fish.
Meaking (n.) The process of picking out the oakum from the seams of a vessel which is to be recalked.
Meal (n.) Grain (esp. maize, rye, or oats) that is coarsely ground and unbolted; also, a kind of flour made from beans, pease, etc.; sometimes, any flour, esp. if coarse.
Mealy (superl.) Having the qualities of meal; resembling meal; soft, dry, and friable; easily reduced to a condition resembling meal; as, a mealy potato.
Mealy-mouthed (a.) Using soft words; plausible; affectedly or timidly delicate of speech; unwilling to tell the truth in plain language.
Mean (a.) Average; having an intermediate value between two extremes, or between the several successive values of a variable quantity during one cycle of variation; as, mean distance; mean motion; mean solar day.
Mean (n.) Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like, considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose; disposable force or substance.
Mean (n.) That through which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument.
Mean (n.) That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes of place, time, or number; the middle point or place; middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of extremes or excess; moderation; measure.
Mean (superl.) Wanting dignity of mind; low-minded; base; destitute of honor; spiritless; as, a mean motive.
Mean (v. t.) To have in the mind, as a purpose, intention, etc.; to intend; to purpose; to design; as, what do you mean to do ?
Meaning (n.) That which is meant or intended; intent; purpose; aim; object; as, a mischievous meaning was apparent.
Meaning (n.) That which is signified, whether by act lanquage; signification; sence; import; as, the meaning of a hint.
Meanness (n.) The condition, or quality, of being mean; want of excellence; poorness; lowness; baseness; sordidness; stinginess.
Measles (n.) A disease of cattle and swine in which the flesh is filled with the embryos of different varieties of the tapeworm.
Measles (n.) The larvae of any tapeworm (Taenia) in the cysticerus stage, when contained in meat. Called also bladder worms.
Measure (a.) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; as in the phrases, the common measure, the greatest common measure, etc., of two or more numbers.
Measure (a.) A step or definite part of a progressive course or policy; a means to an end; an act designed for the accomplishment of an object; as, political measures; prudent measures; an inefficient measure.
Measure (a.) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a foot; as, a poem in iambic measure.
Measure (n.) A regulated movement corresponding to the time in which the accompanying music is performed; but, especially, a slow and stately dance, like the minuet.
Measure (n.) A standard of dimension; a fixed unit of quantity or extent; an extent or quantity in the fractions or multiples of which anything is estimated and stated; hence, a rule by which anything is adjusted or judged.
Measure (n.) An instrument by means of which size or quantity is measured, as a graduated line, rod, vessel, or the like.
Measure (n.) Determined extent, not to be exceeded; limit; allotted share, as of action, influence, ability, or the like; due proportion.
Measure (n.) Extent or degree not excessive or beyong bounds; moderation; due restraint; esp. in the phrases, in measure; with measure; without or beyond measure.
Measure (n.) The contents of a vessel by which quantity is measured; a quantity determined by a standard; a stated or limited quantity or amount.
Measure (n.) The dimensions or capacity of anything, reckoned according to some standard; size or extent, determined and stated; estimated extent; as, to take one's measure for a coat.
Measure (n.) The quantity determined by measuring, especially in buying and selling; as, to give good or full measure.
Measure (n.) To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; -- often with out or off.
Measure (n.) To ascertain by use of a measuring instrument; to compute or ascertain the extent, quantity, dimensions, or capacity of, by a certain rule or standard; to take the dimensions of; hence, to estimate; to judge of; to value; to appraise.
Measure (v. i.) To be of a certain size or quantity, or to have a certain length, breadth, or thickness, or a certain capacity according to a standard measure; as, cloth measures three fourths of a yard; a tree measures three feet in diameter.
Measure (v. i.) To result, or turn out, on measuring; as, the grain measures well; the pieces measure unequally.
Measured (a.) Regulated or determined by a standard; hence, equal; uniform; graduated; limited; moderated; as, he walked with measured steps; he expressed himself in no measured terms.
Measurement (n.) The extent, size, capacity, amount. or quantity ascertained by measuring; as, its measurement is five acres.
Meat (n.) Food, in general; anything eaten for nourishment, either by man or beast. Hence, the edible part of anything; as, the meat of a lobster, a nut, or an egg.
Meat (n.) The flesh of animals used as food; esp., animal muscle; as, a breakfast of bread and fruit without meat.
Meatus (n. sing. & pl.) A natural passage or canal; as, the external auditory meatus. See Illust. of Ear.
Mechanic (a.) Having to do with the application of the laws of motion in the art of constructing or making things; of or pertaining to mechanics; mechanical; as, the mechanic arts.
Mechanic (a.) Of or pertaining to a mechanic or artificer, or to the class of artisans; hence, rude; common; vulgar.
Mechanical (a.) Done as if by a machine; uninfluenced by will or emotion; proceeding automatically, or by habit, without special intention or reflection; as, mechanical singing; mechanical verses; mechanical service.
Mechanical (a.) Made and operated by interaction of forces without a directing intelligence; as, a mechanical universe.
Mechanical (a.) Obtained by trial, by measurements, etc.; approximate; empirical. See the 2d Note under Geometric.
Mechanical (a.) Of or pertaining to a machine or to machinery or tools; made or formed by a machine or with tools; as, mechanical precision; mechanical products.
Mechanics (n.) That science, or branch of applied mathematics, which treats of the action of forces on bodies.
Mechanism (n.) An ideal machine; a combination of movable bodies constituting a machine, but considered only with regard to relative movements.
Mechanographic (a.) Written, copied, or recorded by machinery; produced by mechanography; as, a mechanographic record of changes of temperature; mechanographic prints.
Mechitarist (n.) One of a religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church devoted to the improvement of Armenians.
Mechoacan (n.) A species of jalap, of very feeble properties, said to be obtained from the root of a species of Convolvulus (C. Mechoacan); -- so called from Michoacan, in Mexico, whence it is obtained.
Meconic (a.) Pertaining to, or obtained from, the poppy or opium; specif. (Chem.), designating an acid related to aconitic acid, found in opium and extracted as a white crystalline substance.
Meconidine (n.) An alkaloid found in opium, and extracted as a yellow amorphous substance which is easily decomposed.
Meconidium (n.) A kind of gonophore produced by hydroids of the genus Gonothyraea. It has tentacles, and otherwise resembles a free medusa, but remains attached by a pedicel.
Meconin (n.) A substance regarded as an anhydride of meconinic acid, existing in opium and extracted as a white crystalline substance. Also erroneously called meconina, meconia, etc., as though it were an alkaloid.
Meconinic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid which occurs in opium, and which may be obtained by oxidizing narcotine.
Medal (n.) A piece of metal in the form of a coin, struck with a device, and intended to preserve the remembrance of a notable event or an illustrious person, or to serve as a reward.
Medallion (n.) A circular or oval (or, sometimes, square) tablet bearing a figure or figures represented in relief.
Meddle (v. i.) To interest or engage one's self unnecessarily or impertinently, to interfere or busy one's self improperly with another's affairs; specifically, to handle or distrub another's property without permission; -- often followed by with or in.
Meddler (n.) One who meddles; one who interferes or busies himself with things in which he has no concern; an officious person; a busybody.
Meddlesome (a.) Given to meddling; apt to interpose in the affairs of others; officiously intrusive.
Mediaevalism (n.) The method or spirit of the Middle Ages; devotion to the institutions and practices of the Middle Ages; a survival from the Middle Ages.
Mediaevalist (n.) One who has a taste for, or is versed in, the history of the Middle Ages; one in sympathy with the spirit or forms of the Middle Ages.
Median (a.) Situated in the middle; lying in a plane dividing a bilateral animal into right and left halves; -- said of unpaired organs and parts; as, median coverts.
Mediant (n.) The third above the keynote; -- so called because it divides the interval between the tonic and dominant into two thirds.
Mediate (a.) Acting by means, or by an intervening cause or instrument; not direct or immediate; acting or suffering through an intervening agent or condition.
Mediate (a.) To interpose between parties, as the equal friend of each, esp. for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation or agreement; as, to mediate between nations.
Mediate (v. t.) To effect by mediation or interposition; to bring about as a mediator, instrument, or means; as, to mediate a peace.
Mediately (adv.) In a mediate manner; by a secondary cause or agent; not directly or primarily; by means; -- opposed to immediately.
Mediation (a.) Hence, specifically, agency between parties at variance, with a view to reconcile them; entreaty for another; intercession.
Mediation (a.) The act of mediating; action or relation of anything interposed; action as a necessary condition, means, or instrument; interposition; intervention.
Mediator (n.) One who mediates; especially, one who interposes between parties at variance for the purpose of reconciling them; hence, an intercessor.
Mediatorial (a.) Of or pertaining to a mediator, or to mediation; mediatory; as, a mediatorial office.
Medic (n.) A leguminous plant of the genus Medicago. The black medic is the Medicago lupulina; the purple medic, or lucern, is M. sativa.
Medical (a.) Containing medicine; used in medicine; medicinal; as, the medical properties of a plant.
Medical (a.) Of, pertaining to, or having to do with, the art of healing disease, or the science of medicine; as, the medical profession; medical services; a medical dictionary; medical jurisprudence.
Medically (adv.) In a medical manner; with reference to healing, or to the principles of the healing art.
Medicamental (a.) Of or pertaining to medicaments or healing applications; having the qualities of medicaments.
Medicinal (a.) Having curative or palliative properties; used for the cure or alleviation of bodily disorders; as, medicinal tinctures, plants, or springs.
Medicine (n.) Any substance administered in the treatment of disease; a remedial agent; a remedy; physic.
Medicommissure (n.) A large transverse commissure in the third ventricle of the brain; the middle or soft commissure.
Medina epoch () A subdivision of the Niagara period in the American upper Silurian, characterized by the formations known as the Oneida conglomerate, and the Medina sandstone. See the Chart of Geology.
Mediocre (a.) Of a middle quality; of but a moderate or low degree of excellence; indifferent; ordinary.
Mediostapedial (a.) Pertaining to that part of the columella of the ear which, in some animals, connects the stapes with the other parts of the columella.
Meditate (v. i.) To keep the mind in a state of contemplation; to dwell on anything in thought; to think seriously; to muse; to cogitate; to reflect.
Meditate (v. t.) To purpose; to intend; to design; to plan by revolving in the mind; as, to meditate a war.
Meditation (n.) The act of meditating; close or continued thought; the turning or revolving of a subject in the mind; serious contemplation; reflection; musing.
Mediterranean (a.) Inclosed, or nearly inclosed, with land; as, the Mediterranean Sea, between Europe and Africa.
Mediterranean (a.) Of or pertaining to the Mediterranean Sea; as, Mediterranean trade; a Mediterranean voyage.
Medium (a.) Having a middle position or degree; mean; intermediate; medial; as, a horse of medium size; a decoction of medium strength.
Medium (n.) That which lies in the middle, or between other things; intervening body or quantity. Hence, specifically: (a) Middle place or degree; mean.
Medium (n.) The mean or middle term of a syllogism; that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
Medlar (n.) A tree of the genus Mespilus (M. Germanica); also, the fruit of the tree. The fruit is something like a small apple, but has a bony endocarp. When first gathered the flesh is hard and austere, and it is not eaten until it has begun to decay.
Medley (n.) A mixture; a mingled and confused mass of ingredients, usually inharmonious; a jumble; a hodgepodge; -- often used contemptuously.
Medoc (n.) A class of claret wines, including several varieties, from the district of Medoc in the department of Gironde.
Medulla (n.) The marrow of bones; the deep or inner portion of an organ or part; as, the medulla, or medullary substance, of the kidney; specifically, the medula oblongata.
Medullated (a.) Furnished with a medulla or marrow, or with a medullary sheath; as, a medullated nerve fiber.
Medullin (n.) A variety of lignin or cellulose found in the medulla, or pith, of certain plants. Cf. Lignin, and Cellulose.
Medusa (n.) The Gorgon; or one of the Gorgons whose hair was changed into serpents, after which all who looked upon her were turned into stone.
Medusoid (a.) Like a medusa; having the fundamental structure of a medusa, but without a locomotive disk; -- said of the sessile gonophores of hydroids.
Meek (superl.) Evincing mildness of temper, or patience; characterized by mildness or patience; as, a meek answer; a meek face.
Meek (superl.) Mild of temper; not easily provoked or orritated; patient under injuries; not vain, or haughty, or resentful; forbearing; submissive.
Meet (n.) An assembling together; esp., the assembling of huntsmen for the hunt; also, the persons who so assemble, and the place of meeting.
Meet (v. t.) To assemble together; to congregate; as, Congress meets on the first Monday of December.
Meet (v. t.) To come in collision with; to confront in conflict; to encounter hostilely; as, they met the enemy and defeated them; the ship met opposing winds and currents.
Meet (v. t.) To come up to; to be even with; to equal; to match; to satisfy; to ansver; as, to meet one's expectations; the supply meets the demand.
Meet (v. t.) To join, or come in contact with; esp., to come in contact with by approach from an opposite direction; to come upon or against, front to front, as distinguished from contact by following and overtaking.
Meet (v. t.) To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer; as, the eye met a horrid sight; he met his fate.
Meeting (n.) A congregation; a collection of people; a convention; as, a large meeting; an harmonius meeting.
Meeting (n.) An assembly for worship; as, to attend meeting on Sunday; -- in England, applied distinctively and disparagingly to the worshiping assemblies of Dissenters.
Meetinghouse (n.) A house used as a place of worship; a church; -- in England, applied only to a house so used by Dissenters.
Megacephalous (a.) Large headed; -- applied to animals, and to plants when they have large flower heads.
Megafarad (n.) One of the larger measures of electrical capacity, amounting to one million farads; a macrofarad.
Megalethoscope (n.) An optical apparatus in which pictures are viewed through a large lens with stereoptical effects. It is often combined with the stereoscope.
Megalo- () A million times, a million of; as, megameter, a million meters; megafarad, a million farads; megohm, a million ohms.
Megalocyte (n.) A large, flattened corpuscle, twice the diameter of the ordinary red corpuscle, found in considerable numbers in the blood in profound anaemia.
Megalops (n.) A larva, in a stage following the zoea, in the development of most crabs. In this stage the legs and abdominal appendages have appeared, the abdomen is relatively long, and the eyes are large. Also used adjectively.
Megalosaurus (n.) A gigantic carnivorous dinosaur, whose fossil remains have been found in England and elsewhere.
Megaphone (n.) A device to magnify sound, or direct it in a given direction in a greater volume, as a very large funnel used as an ear trumpet or as a speaking trumpet.
Megapode (n.) Any one of several species of large-footed, gallinaceous birds of the genera Megapodius and Leipoa, inhabiting Australia and other Pacific islands. See Jungle fowl (b) under Jungle, and Leipoa.
Megascope (n.) A modification of the magic lantern, used esp. for throwing a magnified image of an opaque object on a screen, solar or artificial light being used.
Megaseme (a.) Having the orbital index relatively large; having the orbits narrow transversely; -- opposed to microseme.
Megasthene (n.) One of a group which includes the higher orders of mammals, having a large size as a typical characteristic.
Megatherium (n.) An extinct gigantic quaternary mammal, allied to the ant-eaters and sloths. Its remains are found in South America.
Megatheroid (n.) One of a family of extinct edentates found in America. The family includes the megatherium, the megalonyx, etc.
Megerg (n.) One of the larger measures of work, amounting to one million ergs; -- called also megalerg.
Megilph (n.) A gelatinous compound of linseed oil and mastic varnish, used by artists as a vehicle for colors.
Megrim (n.) A kind of sick or nevrous headache, usually periodical and confined to one side of the head.
Megrim (n.) A sudden vertigo in a horse, succeeded sometimes by unconsciousness, produced by an excess of blood in the brain; a mild form of apoplexy.
Meionite (n.) A member of the scapolite, group, occuring in glassy crystals on Monte Somma, near Naples.
Meiosis (n.) Diminution; a species of hyperbole, representing a thing as being less than it really is.
Melado (n.) A mixture of sugar and molasses; crude sugar as it comes from the pans without being drained.
Melam (n.) A white or buff-colored granular powder, C6H9N11, obtained by heating ammonium sulphocyanate.
Melamine (n.) A strong nitrogenous base, C3H6N6, produced from several cyanogen compounds, and obtained as a white crystalline substance, -- formerly supposed to be produced by the decomposition of melam. Called also cyanuramide.
Melampyrite (n.) The saccharine substance dulcite; -- so called because found in the leaves of cowwheat (Melampyrum). See Dulcite.
Melanaemia (n.) A morbid condition in which the blood contains black pigment either floating freely or imbedded in the white blood corpuscles.
Melancholia (n.) A kind of mental unsoundness characterized by extreme depression of spirits, ill-grounded fears, delusions, and brooding over one particular subject or train of ideas.
Melancholy (a.) Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event.
Melancholy (n.) Depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess.
Melancholy (n.) Great and continued depression of spirits, amounting to mental unsoundness; melancholia.
Melanian (n.) One of a family of fresh-water pectinibranchiate mollusks, having a turret-shaped shell.
Melaniline (n.) A complex nitrogenous hydrocarbon obtained artificially (as by the action of cyanogen chloride on aniline) as a white, crystalline substance; -- called also diphenyl guanidin.
Melanism (n.) An undue development of dark-colored pigment in the skin or its appendages; -- the opposite of albinism.
Melanochroite (n.) A mineral of a red, or brownish or yellowish red color. It is a chromate of lead; -- called also phoenicocroite.
Melanorrhoea (n.) An East Indian genus of large trees. Melanorrh/a usitatissima is the lignum-vitae of Pegu, and yelds a valuable black varnish.
Melanosis () The morbid deposition of black matter, often of a malignant character, causing pigmented tumors.
Melanosperm (n.) An alga of any kind that produces blackish spores, or seed dust. The melanosperms include the rockweeds and all kinds of kelp.
Melanotype (n.) A positive picture produced with sensitized collodion on a smooth surface of black varnish, coating a thin plate of iron; also, the process of making such a picture.
Melanuric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a complex nitrogenous acid obtained by decomposition of melam, or of urea, as a white crystalline powder; -- called also melanurenic acid.
Melasma (n.) A dark discoloration of the skin, usually local; as, Addison's melasma, or Addison's disease.
Melassic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained from molasses or glucose, and probably identical with saccharic acid. See Saccharic.
Melastoma (n.) A genus of evergreen tropical shrubs; -- so called from the black berries of some species, which stain the mouth.
Melchite (n.) One of a sect, chiefly in Syria and Egypt, which acknowledges the authority of the pope, but adheres to the liturgy and ceremonies of the Eastern Church.
Melee (n.) A fight in which the combatants are mingled in one confused mass; a hand to hand conflict; an affray.
Melene (n.) An unsaturated hydrocarbon, C30H60, of the ethylene series, obtained from beeswax as a white, scaly, crystalline wax; -- called also melissene, and melissylene.
Melenite (n.) An explosive of great destructive power; -- so called from its color, which resembles honey.
Melezitose (n.) A variety of sugar, isomeric with sucrose, extracted from the manna of the larch (Larix).
Meliaceous (a.) Pertaining to a natural order (Meliacae) of plants of which the genus Melia is the type. It includes the mahogany and the Spanish cedar.
Melilite (n.) A mineral occurring in small yellow crystals, found in the lavas (melilite basalt) of Vesuvius, and elsewhere.
Melilot (n.) Any species of Melilotus, a genus of leguminous herbs having a vanillalike odor; sweet clover; hart's clover. The blue melilot (Melilotus caerulea) is used in Switzerland to give color and flavor to sapsago cheese.
Melilotic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, sweet clover or melilot; specifically, designating an acid of the aromatic series, obtained from melilot as a white crystalline substance.
Melioration (n.) The act or operation of meliorating, or the state of being meliorated; improvement.
Meliphagan (n.) Any bird of the genus Meliphaga and allied genera; a honey eater; -- called also meliphagidan.
Melissic (a.) Pertaining to, or derived from, beeswax; specif., denoting an acid obtained by oxidation of myricin.
Melitose (n.) A variety of sugar isomeric with sucrose, extracted from cotton seeds and from the so-called Australian manna (a secretion of certain species of Eucalyptus).
Mellifluous (a.) Flowing as with honey; smooth; flowing sweetly or smoothly; as, a mellifluous voice.
Mellite (n.) A mineral of a honey color, found in brown coal, and partly the result of vegetable decomposition; honeystone. It is a mellitate of alumina.
Mellone (n.) A yellow powder, C6H3N9, obtained from certain sulphocyanates. It has acid properties and forms compounds called mellonides.
Mellow (superl.) Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued; soft; rich; delicate; -- said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc.
Melluco (n.) A climbing plant (Ullucus officinalis) of the Andes, having tuberous roots which are used as a substitute for potatoes.
Melodics (n.) The department of musical science which treats of the pitch of tones, and of the laws of melody.
Melodiograph (n.) A contrivance for preserving a record of music, by recording the action of the keys of a musical instrument when played upon.
Melodious (a.) Containing, or producing, melody; musical; agreeable to the ear by a sweet succession of sounds; as, a melodious voice.
Melodramatic (a.) Of or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action.
Meloe () A genus of beetles without wings, but having short oval elytra; the oil beetles. These beetles are sometimes used instead of cantharides for raising blisters. See Oil beetle, under Oil.
Melon (n.) The juicy fruit of certain cucurbitaceous plants, as the muskmelon, watermelon, and citron melon; also, the plant that produces the fruit.
Melop/ia (n.) The art of forming melody; melody; -- now often used for a melodic passage, rather than a complete melody.
Melopiano (n.) A piano having a mechanical attachment which enables the player to prolong the notes at will.
Melotype (n.) A picture produced by a process in which development after exposure may be deferred indefinitely, so as to permit transportation of exposed plates; also, the process itself.
Melt (v. i.) Hence: To be softened; to become tender, mild, or gentle; also, to be weakened or subdued, as by fear.
Melt (v. i.) To be changed from a solid to a liquid state under the influence of heat; as, butter and wax melt at moderate temperatures.
Melt (v.) Hence: To soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken.
Melt (v.) To reduce from a solid to a liquid state, as by heat; to liquefy; as, to melt wax, tallow, or lead; to melt ice or snow.
Melting (a.) Causing to melt; becoming melted; -- used literally or figuratively; as, a melting heat; a melting appeal; a melting mood.
Melting (n.) Liquefaction; the act of causing (something) to melt, or the process of becoming melted.
Melton (n.) A kind of stout woolen cloth with unfinished face and without raised nap. A commoner variety has a cotton warp.
Member (n.) Any essential part, as a post, tie rod, strut, etc., of a framed structure, as a bridge truss.
Member (n.) Any part of a building, whether constructional, as a pier, column, lintel, or the like, or decorative, as a molding, or group of moldings.
Member (n.) One of the persons composing a society, community, or the like; an individual forming part of an association; as, a member of the society of Friends.
Membered (a.) Having legs of a different tincture from that of the body; -- said of a bird in heraldic representations.
Membranaceous (a.) Thin and rather soft or pliable, as the leaves of the rose, peach tree, and aspen poplar.
Membrane (n.) A thin layer or fold of tissue, usually supported by a fibrous network, serving to cover or line some part or organ, and often secreting or absorbing certain fluids.
Membranous (a.) Pertaining to, consisting of, or resembling, membrane; as, a membranous covering or lining.
Memento (n.) A hint, suggestion, token, or memorial, to awaken memory; that which reminds or recalls to memory; a souvenir.
Memnon (n.) A celebrated Egyptian statue near Thebes, said to have the property of emitting a harplike sound at sunrise.
Memoirs (n.) A memorial account; a history composed from personal experience and memory; an account of transactions or events (usually written in familiar style) as they are remembered by the writer. See History, 2.
Memoirs (n.) A memorial of any individual; a biography; often, a biography written without special regard to method and completeness.
Memoirs (n.) An account of something deemed noteworthy; an essay; a record of investigations of any subject; the journals and proceedings of a society.
Memorabilia (n. pl.) Things remarkable and worthy of remembrance or record; also, the record of them.
Memorandum (n.) A brief or informal note in writing of some transaction, or an outline of an intended instrument; an instrument drawn up in a brief and compendious form.
Memorial (n.) A written representation of facts, addressed to the government, or to some branch of it, or to a society, etc., -- often accompanied with a petition.
Memorial (n.) Anything intended to preserve the memory of a person or event; something which serves to keep something else in remembrance; a monument.
Memorialize (v. t.) To address or petition by a memorial; to present a memorial to; as, to memorialize the legislature.
Memory (n.) Something, or an aggregate of things, remembered; hence, character, conduct, etc., as preserved in remembrance, history, or tradition; posthumous fame; as, the war became only a memory.
Memory (n.) The actual and distinct retention and recognition of past ideas in the mind; remembrance; as, in memory of youth; memories of foreign lands.
Memory (n.) The faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of previous thoughts, impressions, or events.
Memory (n.) The reach and positiveness with which a person can remember; the strength and trustworthiness of one's power to reach and represent or to recall the past; as, his memory was never wrong.
Memory (n.) The time within which past events can be or are remembered; as, within the memory of man.
Memphian (a.) Of or pertaining to the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt; hence, Egyptian; as, Memphian darkness.
Men (pron.) A man; one; -- used with a verb in the singular, and corresponding to the present indefinite one or they.
Menaccanite (n.) An iron-black or steel-gray mineral, consisting chiefly of the oxides of iron and titanium. It is commonly massive, but occurs also in rhombohedral crystals. Called also titanic iron ore, and ilmenite.
Menace (n.) The show of an intention to inflict evil; a threat or threatening; indication of a probable evil or catastrophe to come.
Menace (n.) To express or show an intention to inflict, or to hold out a prospect of inflicting, evil or injury upon; to threaten; -- usually followed by with before the harm threatened; as, to menace a country with war.
Menaion (n.) A work of twelve volumes, each containing the offices in the Greek Church for a month; also, each volume of the same.
Mend (v. t.) To alter for the better; to set right; to reform; hence, to quicken; as, to mend one's manners or pace.
Mend (v. t.) To repair, as anything that is torn, broken, defaced, decayed, or the like; to restore from partial decay, injury, or defacement; to patch up; to put in shape or order again; to re-create; as, to mend a garment or a machine.
Menhaden (n.) An American marine fish of the Herring familt (Brevoortia tyrannus), chiefly valuable for its oil and as a component of fertilizers; -- called also mossbunker, bony fish, chebog, pogy, hardhead, whitefish, etc.
Menhir (n.) A large stone set upright in olden times as a memorial or monument. Many, of unknown date, are found in Brittany and throughout Northern Europe.
Menial (n.) A domestic servant or retainer, esp. one of humble rank; one employed in low or servile offices.
Meniere's disease () A disease characterized by deafness and vertigo, resulting in incoordination of movement. It is supposed to depend upon a morbid condition of the semicircular canals of the internal ear. Named after Meniere, a French physician.
Meninges (n. pl.) The three membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord; the pia mater, dura mater, and arachnoid membrane.
Meniscus (n.) An interarticular synovial cartilage or membrane; esp., one of the intervertebral synovial disks in some parts of the vertebral column of birds.
Menispermaceous (a.) Pertaining to a natural order (Menispermace/) of climbing plants of which moonseed (Menispermum) is the type.
Menispermic (a.) Pertaining to, or obtained from, moonseed (Menispermum), or other plants of the same family, as the Anamirta Cocculus.
Menispermine (n.) An alkaloid distinct from picrotoxin and obtained from the cocculus indicus (the fruit of Anamirta Cocculus, formerly Menispermum Cocculus) as a white, crystalline, tasteless powder; -- called also menispermina.
Menobranchus (n.) A large aquatic American salamander of the genus Necturus, having permanent external gills.
Menology (n.) A brief calendar of the lives of the saints for each day in the year, or a simple remembrance of those whose lives are not written.
Menses (n. pl.) The catamenial or menstrual discharge, a periodic flow of blood or bloody fluid from the uterus or female generative organs.
Menstrual (a.) Recurring once a month; monthly; gone through in a month; as, the menstrual revolution of the moon; pertaining to monthly changes; as, the menstrual equation of the sun's place.
Mensuration (n.) That branch of applied geometry which gives rules for finding the length of lines, the areas of surfaces, or the volumes of solids, from certain simple data of lines and angles.
Mental (a.) Of or pertaining to the mind; intellectual; as, mental faculties; mental operations, conditions, or exercise.
Mentha (n.) A widely distributed genus of fragrant herbs, including the peppermint, spearmint, etc. The plants have small flowers, usually arranged in dense axillary clusters.
Menthene (n.) A colorless liquid hydrocarbon resembling oil of turpentine, obtained by dehydrating menthol. It has an agreeable odor and a cooling taste.
Menthol (n.) A white, crystalline, aromatic substance resembling camphor, extracted from oil of peppermint (Mentha); -- called also mint camphor or peppermint camphor.
Mention (n.) A speaking or notice of anything, -- usually in a brief or cursory manner. Used especially in the phrase to make mention of.
Mentomeckelian (n.) The bone or cartilage forming the anterior extremity of the lower jaw in some adult animals and the young of others.
Mephistophelian (a.) Pertaining to, or resembling, the devil Mephistopheles, "a crafty, scoffing, relentless fiend;" devilish; crafty.
Mephitical (a.) Tending to destroy life; poisonous; noxious; as, mephitic exhalations; mephitic regions.
Mephitis (n.) Noxious, pestilential, or foul exhalations from decomposing substances, filth, or other source.
Mercantile (a.) Of or pertaining to merchants, or the business of merchants; having to do with trade, or the buying and selling of commodities; commercial.
Mercaptide (n.) A compound of mercaptan formed by replacing its sulphur hydrogen by a metal; as, potassium mercaptide, C2H5SK.
Mercenary (a.) Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers.
Mercer (n.) Originally, a dealer in any kind of goods or wares; now restricted to a dealer in textile fabrics, as silks or woolens.
Merchandise (n.) The objects of commerce; whatever is usually bought or sold in trade, or market, or by merchants; wares; goods; commodities.
Merchant (n.) One who traffics on a large scale, especially with foreign countries; a trafficker; a trader.
Merchantable (a.) Fit for market; such as is usually sold in market, or such as will bring the ordinary price; as, merchantable wheat; sometimes, a technical designation for a particular kind or class.
Merchantman (n.) A trading vessel; a ship employed in the transportation of goods, as, distinguished from a man-of-war.
Merchet (n.) In old English and in Scots law, a fine paid to the lord of the soil by a tenant upon the marriage of one the tenant's daughters.
Merciful (a.) Full of mercy; having or exercising mercy; disposed to pity and spare offenders; unwilling to punish.
Merciless (a.) Destitute of mercy; cruel; unsparing; -- said of animate beings, and also, figuratively, of things; as, a merciless tyrant; merciless waves.
Mercurammonium (n.) A radical regarded as derived from ammonium by the substitution of mercury for a portion of the hydrogen.
Mercurial (a.) Having the qualities fabled to belong to the god Mercury; swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable; as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament.
Mercurial (a.) Of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial preparations, barometer. See Mercury, 2.
Mercuric (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, mercury; containing mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury into which this element enters in its lowest proportion.
Mercurification (n.) The act or process of compounding, or the state of being compounded, with mercury.
Mercurification (n.) The process or operation of obtaining the mercury, in its fluid form, from mercuric minerals.
Mercurify (v. t.) To obtain mercury from, as mercuric minerals, which may be done by any application of intense heat that expels the mercury in fumes, which are afterward condensed.
Mercurous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, mercury; containing mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury in which it is present in its highest proportion.
Mercury (n.) A Latin god of commerce and gain; -- treated by the poets as identical with the Greek Hermes, messenger of the gods, conductor of souls to the lower world, and god of eloquence.
Mercury (n.) A plant (Mercurialis annua), of the Spurge family, the leaves of which are sometimes used for spinach, in Europe.
Mercury (n.) One of the planets of the solar system, being the one nearest the sun, from which its mean distance is about 36,000,000 miles. Its period is 88 days, and its diameter 3,000 miles.
Mercy (n.) Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help.
Mercy (n.) Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.
Mere (Superl.) Only this, and nothing else; such, and no more; simple; bare; as, a mere boy; a mere form.
Meretricious (a.) Of or pertaining to prostitutes; having to do with harlots; lustful; as, meretricious traffic.
Meretricious (a.) Resembling the arts of a harlot; alluring by false show; gaudily and deceitfully ornamental; tawdry; as, meretricious dress or ornaments.
Merganser (n.) Any bird of the genus Merganser, and allied genera. They are allied to the ducks, but have a sharply serrated bill.
Merger (n.) An absorption of one estate, or one contract, in another, or of a minor offense in a greater.
Meride (n.) A permanent colony of cells or plastids which may remain isolated, like Rotifer, or may multiply by gemmation to form higher aggregates, termed zoides.
Meridian (a.) A great circle of the sphere passing through the poles of the heavens and the zenith of a given place. It is crossed by the sun at midday.
Meridian (a.) A great circle on the surface of the earth, passing through the poles and any given place; also, the half of such a circle included between the poles.
Meridian (a.) Being at, or pertaining to, midday; belonging to, or passing through, the highest point attained by the sun in his diurnal course.
Meringue (n.) A delicate pastry made of powdered sugar and the whites of eggs whipped up, -- with jam or cream added.
Merismatic (a.) Dividing into cells or segments; characterized by separation into two or more parts or sections by the formation of internal partitions; as, merismatic growth, where one cell divides into many.
Merit (n.) Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation; as, his teacher gave him ten merits.
Merit (n.) To earn by service or performance; to have a right to claim as reward; to deserve; sometimes, to deserve in a bad sense; as, to merit punishment.
Merlon (n.) One of the solid parts of a battlemented parapet; a battlement. See Illust. of Battlement.
Mermaid (n.) A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish.
Meroblast (n.) An ovum, as that of a mammal, only partially composed of germinal matter, that is, consisting of both a germinal portion and an albuminous or nutritive one; -- opposed to holoblast.
Meroblastic (a.) Consisting only in part of germinal matter; characterized by partial segmentation only; as, meroblastic ova, in which a portion of the yolk only undergoes fission; meroblastic segmentation; -- opposed to holoblastic.
Meroistic (a.) Applied to the ovaries of insects when they secrete vitelligenous cells, as well as ova.
Merosome (n.) One of the serial segments, or metameres, of which the bodies of vertebrate and articulate animals are composed.
Merostomata (n. pl.) A class of Arthropoda, allied to the Crustacea. It includes the trilobites, Eurypteroidea, and Limuloidea. All are extinct except the horseshoe crabs of the last group. See Limulus.
Merrily (adv.) In a merry manner; with mirth; with gayety and laughter; jovially. See Mirth, and Merry.
Merry (superl.) Laughingly gay; overflowing with good humor and good spirits; jovial; inclined to laughter or play ; sportive.
Merry-andrew (n.) One whose business is to make sport for others; a buffoon; a zany; especially, one who attends a mountebank or quack doctor.
Merry-go-round (n.) Any revolving contrivance for affording amusement; esp., a ring of flying hobbyhorses.
Mes- () denoting a type of hydrocarbons which are regarded as methenyl derivatives. Also used adjectively.
Mesaconic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, one of several isomeric acids obtained from citric acid.
Mesam/boid (n.) One of a class of independent, isolated cells found in the mesoderm, while the germ layers are undergoing differentiation.
Mesaticephalic (a.) Having the ratio of the length to the breadth of the cranium a medium one; neither brachycephalic nor dolichocephalic.
Mesembryanthemum (n.) A genus of herbaceous or suffruticose plants, chiefly natives of South Africa. The leaves are opposite, thick, and f/eshy. The flowers usually open about midday, whence the name.
Mesencephalon (n.) The middle segment of the brain; the midbrain. Sometimes abbreviated to mesen. See Brain.
Mesentery (n.) One of the vertical muscular radiating partitions which divide the body cavity of Anthozoa into chambers.
Mesh (n.) The opening or space inclosed by the threads of a net between knot and knot, or the threads inclosing such a space; network; a net.
Mesial (a.) Middle; median; in, or in the region of, the mesial plane; internal; -- opposed to lateral.
Mesitylene (n.) A colorless, fragrant liquid, C6H3(CH3)3, of the benzene series of hydrocarbons, obtained by distilling acetone with sulphuric acid.
Mesmerism (n.) The art of inducing an extraordinary or abnormal state of the nervous system, in which the actor claims to control the actions, and communicate directly with the mind, of the recipient. See Animal magnetism, under Magnetism.
Mesoarium (n.) The fold of peritoneum which suspends the ovary from the dorsal wall of the body cavity.
Mesobranchial (a.) Of or pertaining to a region of the carapace of a crab covering the middle branchial region.
Mesocephalic (a.) Having the cranial cavity of medium capacity; neither megacephalic nor microcephalic.
Mesocephalic (a.) Having the ratio of the length to the breadth of the cranium a medium one; mesaticephalic.
Mesocephalic (a.) Of or pertaining to, or in the region of, the middle of the head; as, the mesocephalic flexure.
Mesoderm (n.) The layer of the blastoderm, between the ectoderm and endoderm; mesoblast. See Illust. of Blastoderm and Ectoderm.
Mesogaster (n.) The fold of peritoneum connecting the stomach with the dorsal wall of the abdominal cavity; the mesogastrium.
Mesogl/a (n.) A thin gelatinous tissue separating the ectoderm and endoderm in certain coelenterates.
Mesognathous (a.) Having the jaws slightly projecting; between prognathous and orthognathous. See Gnathic index, under Gnathic.
Mesohepar (n.) A fold of the peritoneum connecting the liver with the dorsal wall of the abdominal cavity.
Mesohippus (n.) An extinct mammal of the Horse family, but not larger than a sheep, and having three toes on each foot.
Mesolabe (n.) An instrument of the ancients for finding two mean proportionals between two given lines, required in solving the problem of the duplication of the cube.
Mesolite (n.) A zeolitic mineral, grayish white or yellowish, occuring in delicate groups of crystals, also fibrous massive. It is a hydrous silicate of alumina, lime, and soda.
Mesomyodous (a.) Having the intrinsic muscles of the larynx attached to the middle of the semirings.
Meson (n.) The mesial plane dividing the body of an animal into similar right and left halves. The line in which it meets the dorsal surface has been called the dorsimeson, and the corresponding ventral edge the ventrimeson.
Mesonephros (n.) The middle one of the three pairs of embryonic renal organs developed in most vertebrates; the Wolffian body.
Mesophl/um (n.) The middle bark of a tree; the green layer of bark, usually soon covered by the outer or corky layer, and obliterated.
Mesopodial (a.) Of or pertaining to the mesopodialia or to the parts of the limbs to which they belong.
Mesorchium (n.) The fold of peritoneum which attaches the testis to the dorsal wall of the body cavity or scrotal sac.
Mesoscapula (n.) A process from the middle of the scapula in some animals; the spine of the scapula.
Mesoscutum (n.) The scutum or dorsal plate of the middle thoracic segment of an insect. See Illust. of Butterfly.
Mesoseme (a.) Having a medium orbital index; having orbits neither broad nor narrow; between megaseme and microseme.
Mesothelium (n.) Epithelial mesoderm; a layer of cuboidal epithelium cells, formed from a portion of the mesoderm during the differetiation of the germ layers. It constitutes the boundary of the c/lum.
Mesotrochal (a.) Having the middle of the body surrounded by bands of cilia; -- said of the larvae of certain marine annelids.
Mesotype (n.) An old term covering natrolite or soda mesolite, scolecite or lime mesotype, and mesolite or lime-soda mesotype.
Mesoxalic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid, CH2O2(CO2H)2, obtained from amido malonic acid.
Mesozoa (n. pl.) A group of very lowly organized, wormlike parasites, including the Dicyemata. They are found in cephalopods. See Dicyemata.
Mesozoic (a.) Belonging, or relating, to the secondary or reptilian age, or the era between the Paleozoic and Cenozoic. See Chart of Geology.
Mesquit (n.) A name for two trees of the southwestern part of North America, the honey mesquite, and screw-pod mesquite.
Mess (n.) A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it.
Mess (n.) A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common; especially, persons in the military or naval service who eat at the same table; as, the wardroom mess.
Mess (n.) A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; as, a mess of pottage; also, the food given to a beast at one time.
Mess (n.) A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.
Mess (v. i.) To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.
Message (n.) Any notice, word, or communication, written or verbal, sent from one person to another.
Message (n.) Hence, specifically, an official communication, not made in person, but delivered by a messenger; as, the President's message.
Messenger (n.) A hawser passed round the capstan, and having its two ends lashed together to form an endless rope or chain; -- formerly used for heaving in the cable.
Messenger (n.) A person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take charge og the estate of the bankrupt or insolvent.
Messenger (n.) One who bears a message; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice, or invitation, from one person to another, or to a public body; specifically, an office servant who bears messages.
Messidor (n.) The tenth month of the French republican calendar dating from September 22, 1792. It began June 19, and ended July 18. See VendEmiaire.
Messuage (n.) A dwelling house, with the adjacent buildings and curtilage, and the adjoining lands appropriated to the use of the household.
Met- () A prefix meaning between, with, after, behind, over, about, reversely; as, metachronism, the error of placing after the correct time; metaphor, lit., a carrying over; metathesis, a placing reversely.
Met- () Having less than the highest number of hydroxyl groups; -- said of acids; as, metaphosphoric acid. Also used adjectively.
Met- () Other; duplicate, corresponding to; resembling; hence, metameric; as, meta-arabinic, metaldehyde.
Met- () That two replacing radicals, in the benzene nucleus, occupy the relative positions of 1 and 3, 2 and 4, 3 and 5, 4 and 6, 5 and 1, or 6 and 2; as, metacresol, etc. See Ortho-, and Para-.
Metabranchial (a.) Of or pertaining to the lobe of the carapace of crabs covering the posterior branchiae.
Metacarpus (n.) That part of the skeleton of the hand or forefoot between the carpus and phalanges. In man it consists of five bones. See Illust. of Artiodactyla.
Metacetone (n.) A colorless liquid of an agreeable odor, C6H10O, obtained by distilling a mixture of sugar and lime; -- so called because formerly regarded as a polymeric modification of acetone.
Metachloral (n.) A white, amorphous, insoluble substance regarded as a polymeric variety of chloral.
Metachrosis (n.) The power og changing color at will by the expansion of special pigment cells, under nerve influence, as seen in many reptiles, fishes, etc.
Metacrolein (n.) A polymeric modification of acrolein obtained by heating it with caustic potash. It is a crystalline substance having an aromatic odor.
Metacromion (n.) A process projecting backward and downward from the acromion of the scapula of some mammals.
Metadiscoidal (a.) Discoidal by derivation; -- applied especially to the placenta of man and apes, because it is supposed to have been derived from a diffused placenta.
Metagenesis (n.) Alternation of sexual and asexual or gemmiparous generations; -- in distinction from heterogamy.
Metagraphy (n.) The art or act of rendering the letters of the alphabet of one language into the possible equivalents of another; transliteration.
Metal (n.) The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper.
Metalammonium (n.) A hypothetical radical derived from ammonium by the substitution of metallic atoms in place of hydrogen.
Metalbumin (n.) A form of albumin found in ascitic and certain serous fluids. It is sometimes regarded as a mixture of albumin and mucin.
Metaldehyde (n.) A white crystalline substance isomeric with, and obtained from, acetic aldehyde by polymerization, and reconvertible into the same.
Metalepsis (n.) The continuation of a trope in one word through a succession of significations, or the union of two or more tropes of a different kind in one word.
Metallic (a.) Of or pertaining to a metal; of the nature of metal; resembling metal; as, a metallic appearance; a metallic alloy.
Metallic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or characterized by, the essential and implied properties of a metal, as contrasted with a nonmetal or metalloid; basic; antacid; positive.
Metalline (n.) A substance of variable composition, but resembling a soft, dark-colored metal, used in the bearings of machines for obviating friction, and as a substitute for lubricants.
Metallochrome (n.) A coloring produced by the deposition of some metallic compound; specifically, the prismatic tints produced by depositing a film of peroxide of lead on polished steel by electricity.
Metallography (n.) A method of transferring impressions of the grain of wood to metallic surfaces by chemical action.
Metallography (n.) A substitute for lithography, in which metallic plates are used instead of stone.
Metalloid (n.) Formerly, the metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; -- applied by Sir H. Davy to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined.
Metallurgist (n.) One who works in metals, or prepares them for use; one who is skilled in metallurgy.
Metallurgy (n.) The art of working metals, comprehending the whole process of separating them from other matters in the ore, smelting, refining, and parting them; sometimes, in a narrower sense, only the process of extracting metals from their ores.
Metalorganic (a.) Pertaining to, or denoting, any one of a series of compounds of certain metallic elements with organic radicals; as, zinc methyl, sodium ethyl, etc.
Metamer (n.) Any one of several metameric forms of the same substance, or of different substances having the same composition; as, xylene has three metamers, viz., orthoxylene, metaxylene, and paraxylene.
Metamere (n.) One of successive or homodynamous parts in animals and plants; one of a series of similar parts that follow one another in a vertebrate or articulate animal, as in an earthworm; a segment; a somite. See Illust. of Loeven's larva.
Metameric (a.) Having the same elements united in the same proportion by weight, and with the same molecular weight, but possessing a different structure and different properties; as, methyl ether and ethyl alcohol are metameric compounds. See Isomeric.
Metamerism (n.) The state or quality of being metameric; also, the relation or condition of metameric compounds.
Metamerism (n.) The symmetry of a metameric structure; serial symmetry; the state of being made up of metameres.
Metamorphism (n.) The state or quality of being metamorphic; the process by which the material of rock masses has been more or less recrystallized by heat, pressure, etc., as in the change of sedimentary limestone to marble.
Metamorphist (n.) One who believes that the body of Christ was merged into the Deity when he ascended.
Metamorphosis (n.) The change of material of one kind into another through the agency of the living organism; metabolism.
Metanauplius (n.) A larval crustacean in a stage following the nauplius, and having about seven pairs of appendages.
Metanephros (n.) The most posterior of the three pairs of embryonic renal organs developed in many vertebrates.
Metantimonic (a.) Formerly, designating an acid, which is now properly called pyroantimonic acid, and analogous to pyrophosphoric acid.
Metantimonic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid (formerly called antimonic acid) analogous to metaphosphoric acid, and obtained as a white amorphous insoluble substance, (HSbO3).
Metapectin (n.) A substance obtained from, and resembling, pectin, and occurring in overripe fruits.
Metaphor (n.) The transference of the relation between one set of objects to another set for the purpose of brief explanation; a compressed simile; e. g., the ship plows the sea.
Metaphorical (a.) Of or pertaining to metaphor; comprising a metaphor; not literal; figurative; tropical; as, a metaphorical expression; a metaphorical sense.
Metaphosphoric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a monobasic acid, HPO3, analogous to nitric acid, and, by heating phosphoric acid, obtained as a crystalline substance, commonly called glacial phosphoric acid.
Metaphrase (n.) A verbal translation; a version or translation from one language into another, word for word; -- opposed to paraphrase.
Metaphysics (n.) Hence: The scientific knowledge of mental phenomena; mental philosophy; psychology.
Metapodial (a.) Of or pertaining to the metapodialia, or to the parts of the limbs to which they belong.
Metapophysis (n.) A tubercle projecting from the anterior articular processes of some vertebr/; a mammillary process.
Metasilicic (a.) Designating an acid derived from silicic acid by the removal of water; of or pertaining to such an acid.
Metasomatism (n.) An alteration in a mineral or rock mass when involving a chemical change of the substance, as of chrysolite to serpentine; -- opposed to ordinary metamorphism, as implying simply a recrystallization.
Metastannic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a compound of tin (metastannic acid), obtained, as an isomeric modification of stannic acid, in the form of a white amorphous substance.
Metastatic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or caused by, metastasis; as, a metastatic abscess; the metastatic processes of growth.
Metatarsus (n.) That part of the skeleton of the hind or lower limb between the tarsus and phalanges; metatarse. It consists, in the human foot, of five bones. See Illustration in Appendix.
Metathesis (n.) The act, process, or result of exchange, substitution, or replacement of atoms and radicals; thus, by metathesis an acid gives up all or part of its hydrogen, takes on an equivalent amount of a metal or base, and forms a salt.
Metathesis (n.) Transposition, as of the letters or syllables of a word; as, pistris for pristis; meagre for meager.
Metatitanic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an acid of titanium analogous to metasilicic acid.
Metatungstic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an acid known only in its salts (the metatungstates) and properly called polytungstic, or pyrotungstic, acid.
Metavanadic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a vanadic acid analogous to metaphosphoric acid.
Metaxylene (n.) That variety of xylene, or dimethyl benzene, in which the two methyl groups occupy the meta position with reference to each other. It is a colorless inf/ammable liquid.
Metayer (a.) One who cultivates land for a share (usually one half) of its yield, receiving stock, tools, and seed from the landlord.
Mete (n.) Measure; limit; boundary; -- used chiefly in the plural, and in the phrase metes and bounds.
Metecorn (n.) A quantity of corn formerly given by the lord to his customary tenants, as an encouragement to, or reward for, labor and faithful service.
Metempirical (a.) Related, or belonging, to the objects of knowledge within the province of metempirics.
Metempirics (n.) The concepts and relations which are conceived as beyond, and yet as related to, the knowledge gained by experience.
Metempsychosis (n.) The passage of the soul, as an immortal essence, at the death of the animal body it had inhabited, into another living body, whether of a brute or a human being; transmigration of souls.
Metencephalon (n.) The posterior part of the brain, including the medulla; the afterbrain. Sometimes abbreviated to meten.
Meteor (n.) Specif.: A transient luminous body or appearance seen in the atmosphere, or in a more elevated region.
Meteoric (a.) Of or pertaining to a meteor, or to meteors; atmospheric, as, meteoric phenomena; meteoric stones.
Meteoroid (n.) A small body moving through space, or revolving about the sun, which on entering the earth's atmosphere would be deflagrated and appear as a meteor.
Meteorology (n.) The science which treats of the atmosphere and its phenomena, particularly of its variations of heat and moisture, of its winds, storms, etc.
Meteoromancy (n.) A species of divination by meteors, chiefly by thunder and lightning, which was held in high estimation by the Romans.
Meteorometer (n.) An apparatus which transmits automatically to a central station atmospheric changes as marked by the anemometer, barometer, thermometer, etc.
Meteoroscope (n.) An instrument for measuring the position, length, and direction, of the apparent path of a shooting star.
Meter (n.) A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.
Meter (n.) An instrument for measuring, and usually for recording automatically, the quantity measured.
Metergram (n.) A measure of energy or work done; the power exerted in raising one gram through the distance of one meter against gravitation.
Methaemoglobin (n.) A stable crystalline compound obtained by the decomposition of hemoglobin. It is found in old blood stains.
Methal (n.) A white waxy substance, found in small quantities in spermaceti as an ethereal salt of several fatty acids, and regarded as an alcohol of the methane series.
Methane (n.) A light, colorless, gaseous, inflammable hydrocarbon, CH4; marsh gas. See Marsh gas, under Gas.
Methenyl (n.) The hypothetical hydrocarbon radical CH, regarded as an essential residue of certain organic compounds.
Methionic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a sulphonic (thionic) acid derivative of methane, obtained as a stable white crystalline substance, CH2.(SO3H)2, which forms well defined salts.
Method (n.) An orderly procedure or process; regular manner of doing anything; hence, manner; way; mode; as, a method of teaching languages; a method of improving the mind.
Method (n.) Classification; a mode or system of classifying natural objects according to certain common characteristics; as, the method of Theophrastus; the method of Ray; the Linnaean method.
Method (n.) Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic arrangement peculiar to an individual.
Methodical (a.) Arranged with regard to method; disposed in a suitable manner, or in a manner to illustrate a subject, or to facilitate practical observation; as, the methodical arrangement of arguments; a methodical treatise.
Methodist (n.) A person of strict piety; one who lives in the exact observance of religious duties; -- sometimes so called in contempt or ridicule.
Methodist (n.) One of an ancient school of physicians who rejected observation and founded their practice on reasoning and theory.
Methodize (v. t.) To reduce to method; to dispose in due order; to arrange in a convenient manner; as, to methodize one's work or thoughts.
Methol (n.) The technical name of methyl alcohol or wood spirit; also, by extension, the class name of any of the series of alcohols of the methane series of which methol proper is the type. See Methyl alcohol, under Methyl.
Methyl (n.) A hydrocarbon radical, CH3, not existing alone but regarded as an essential residue of methane, and appearing as a component part of many derivatives; as, methyl alcohol, methyl ether, methyl amine, etc.
Methylal (n.) A light, volatile liquid, H2C(OCH3)2, regarded as a complex ether, and having a pleasant ethereal odor. It is obtained by the partial oxidation of methyl alcohol. Called also formal.
Methylate (n.) An alcoholate of methyl alcohol in which the hydroxyl hydrogen is replaced by a metal, after the analogy of a hydrate; as, sodium methylate, CH3ONa.
Methylated (a.) Impregnated with, or containing, methyl alcohol or wood spirit; as, methylated spirits.
Methylene (n.) A hydrocarbon radical, CH2, not known in the free state, but regarded as an essential residue and component of certain derivatives of methane; as, methylene bromide, CH2Br2; -- formerly called also methene.
Methylic (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or containing, methyl; specifically, designating methyl alcohol. See under Methyl.
Methysticin (n.) A white, silky, crystalline substance extracted from the thick rootstock of a species of pepper (Piper methysticum) of the South Sea Islands; -- called also kanakin.
Metonymy (n.) A trope in which one word is put for another that suggests it; as, we say, a man keeps a good table instead of good provisions; we read Virgil, that is, his poems; a man has a warm heart, that is, warm affections.
Metope (n.) The space between two triglyphs of the Doric frieze, which, among the ancients, was often adorned with carved work. See Illust. of Entablature.
Metoposcopy (n.) The study of physiognomy; the art of discovering the character of persons by their features, or the lines of the face.
Metosteon (n.) The postero-lateral ossification in the sternum of birds; also, the part resulting from such ossification.
Metric (a.) Of or pertaining to the meter as a standard of measurement; of or pertaining to the decimal system of measurement of which a meter is the unit; as, the metric system; a metric measurement.
Metrical (a.) Of or pertaining to measurement; as, the inch, foot, yard, etc., are metrical terms; esp., of or pertaining to the metric system.
Metrical (a.) Of or pertaining to the meter; arranged in meter; consisting of verses; as, metrical compositions.
Metrograph (n.) An instrument attached to a locomotive for recording its speed and the number and duration of its stops.
Metrology (n.) The science of, or a system of, weights and measures; also, a treatise on the subject.
Metronome (n.) An instrument consisting of a short pendulum with a sliding weight. It is set in motion by clockwork, and serves to measure time in music.
Metronymic (a.) Derived from the name of one's mother, or other female ancestor; as, a metronymic name or appellation. -- A metronymic appellation.
Metropolitan (a.) Of or pertaining to the capital or principal city of a country; as, metropolitan luxury.
Metropolitan (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a metropolitan or the presiding bishop of a country or province, his office, or his dignity; as, metropolitan authority.
Metropolitan (n.) A bishop whose see is civil metropolis. His rank is intermediate between that of an archbishop and a patriarch.
Metropolitical (a.) Of or pertaining to a metropolis; being a metropolis; metropolitan; as, the metropolitical chair.
Metrorrhagia (n.) Profuse bleeding from the womb, esp. such as does not occur at the menstrual period.
Metroscope (n.) A modification of the stethoscope, for directly auscultating the uterus from the vagina.
Metrosideros (n.) A myrtaceous genus of trees or shrubs, found in Australia and the South Sea Islands, and having very hard wood. Metrosideros vera is the true ironwood.
Mettle (n.) Substance or quality of temperament; spirit, esp. as regards honor, courage, fortitude, ardor, etc.; disposition; -- usually in a good sense.
Mew (n.) A cage for hawks while mewing; a coop for fattening fowls; hence, any inclosure; a place of confinement or shelter; -- in the latter sense usually in the plural.
Mew (n.) A gull, esp. the common British species (Larus canus); called also sea mew, maa, mar, mow, and cobb.
Mew (n.) A stable or range of stables for horses; -- compound used in the plural, and so called from the royal stables in London, built on the site of the king's mews for hawks.
Mexicanize (v. t.) To cause to be like the Mexicans, or their country, esp. in respect of frequent revolutions of government.
Mezuzoth (n.) A piece of parchment bearing the Decalogue and attached to the doorpost; -- in use among orthodox Hebrews.
Mezzanine (n.) A partial story which is not on the same level with the story of the main part of the edifice, as of a back building, where the floors are on a level with landings of the staircase of the main house.
Mezzo-soprano (a.) Having a medium compass between the soprano and contralto; -- said of the voice of a female singer.
Mi (n.) A syllable applied to the third tone of the scale of C, i. e., to E, in European solmization, but to the third tone of any scale in the American system.
Miamis (n. pl.) A tribe of Indians that formerly occupied the country between the Wabash and Maumee rivers.
Miargyrite (n.) A mineral of an iron-black color, and very sectile, consisting principally of sulphur, antimony, and silver.
Miasma (n.) Infectious particles or germs floating in the air; air made noxious by the presence of such particles or germs; noxious effluvia; malaria.
Micaceo-calcareous (a.) Partaking of the nature of, or consisting of, mica and lime; -- applied to a mica schist containing carbonate of lime.
Micella (n.) A theoretical aggregation of molecules constituting a structural particle of protoplasm, capable of increase or diminution without change in chemical nature.
Michaelmas (n.) The feat of the archangel Michael, a church festival, celebrated on the 29th of September. Hence, colloquially, autumn.
Mico (n.) A small South American monkey (Mico melanurus), allied to the marmoset. The name was originally applied to an albino variety.
Micraster (n.) A genus of sea urchins, similar to Spatangus, abounding in the chalk formation; -- from the starlike disposal of the ambulacral furrows.
Micro-chemistry (n.) The application of chemical tests to minute objects or portions of matter, magnified by the use of the microscopy; -- distinguished from macro-chemistry.
Micro-geology (n.) The part of geology relating to structure and organisms which require to be studied with a microscope.
Microampere (n.) One of the smaller measures of electrical currents; the millionth part of one ampere.
Microbian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or caused by, microbes; as, the microbian theory; a microbian disease.
Microbicide (n.) Any agent detrimental to, or destructive of, the life of microbes or bacterial organisms.
Microbion (n.) A microscopic organism; -- particularly applied to bacteria and especially to pathogenic forms; as, the microbe of fowl cholera.
Microcephalous (a.) Having a small head; having the cranial cavity small; -- opposed to megacephalic.
Microcline (n.) A mineral of the feldspar group, like orthoclase or common feldspar in composition, but triclinic in form.
Microcosm (n.) A little world; a miniature universe. Hence (so called by Paracelsus), a man, as a supposed epitome of the exterior universe or great world. Opposed to macrocosm.
Microcrith (n.) The weight of the half hydrogen molecule, or of the hydrogen atom, taken as the standard in comparing the atomic weights of the elements; thus, an atom of oxygen weighs sixteen microcriths. See Crith.
Microcrystalline (a.) Crystalline on a fine, or microscopic, scale; consisting of fine crystals; as, the ground mass of certain porphyrics is microcrystalline.
Microcyte (n.) One of the elementary granules found in blood. They are much smaller than an ordinary corpuscle, and are particularly noticeable in disease, as in anaemia.
Microlepidoptera (n. pl.) A tribe of Lepidoptera, including a vast number of minute species, as the plume moth, clothes moth, etc.
Microlestes (n.) An extinct genus of small Triassic mammals, the oldest yet found in European strata.
Microlite (n.) A minute inclosed crystal, often observed when minerals or rocks are examined in thin sections under the microscope.
Microlite (n.) A rare mineral of resinous luster and high specific gravity. It is a tantalate of calcium, and occurs in octahedral crystals usually very minute.
Micrology (n.) That part of science which treats of microscopic objects, or depends on microscopic observation.
Micromere (n.) One of the smaller cells, or blastomeres, resulting from the complete segmentation of a telolecithal ovum.
Micron (n.) A measure of length; the thousandth part of one millimeter; the millionth part of a meter.
Micronesian (a.) Of or pertaining to Micronesia, a collective designation of the islands in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, embracing the Marshall and Gilbert groups, the Ladrones, the Carolines, etc.
Micronesians (n. pl.) A dark race inhabiting the Micronesian Islands. They are supposed to be a mixed race, derived from Polynesians and Papuans.
Microorganism (n.) Any microscopic form of life; -- particularly applied to bacteria and similar organisms, esp. such are supposed to cause infectious diseases.
Micropegmatite (n.) A rock showing under the microscope the structure of a graphic granite (pegmatite).
Microphonics (n.) The science which treats of the means of increasing the intensity of low or weak sounds, or of the microphone.
Microphotograph (n.) An enlarged representation of a microscopic object, produced by throwing upon a sensitive plate the magnified image of an object formed by a microscope or other suitable combination of lenses.
Microphthalmy (n.) An unnatural smallness of the eyes, occurring as the result of disease or of imperfect development.
Microphyte (n.) A very minute plant, one of certain unicellular algae, such as the germs of various infectious diseases are believed to be.
Micropyle (n.) An opening in the membranes surrounding the ovum, by which nutrition is assisted and the entrance of the spermatozoa permitted.
Micropyle (n.) An opening in the outer coat of a seed, through which the fecundating pollen enters the ovule.
Microscope (n.) An optical instrument, consisting of a lens, or combination of lenses, for making an enlarged image of an object which is too minute to be viewed by the naked eye.
Microscopical (a.) Of or pertaining to the microscope or to microscopy; made with a microscope; as, microscopic observation.
Microseme (a.) Having the orbital index relatively small; having the orbits broad transversely; -- opposed to megaseme.
Microspectroscope (n.) A spectroscope arranged for attachment to a microscope, for observation of the spectrum of light from minute portions of any substance.
Microsporangium (n.) A sporangium or conceptacle containing only very minute spores. Cf. Macrosporangium.
Microspore (n.) One of the exceedingly minute spores found in certain flowerless plants, as Selaginella and Isoetes, which bear two kinds of spores, one very much smaller than the other. Cf. Macrospore.
Microsthene (n.) One of a group of mammals having a small size as a typical characteristic. It includes the lower orders, as the Insectivora, Cheiroptera, Rodentia, and Edentata.
Microtasimeter (n.) A tasimeter, especially when arranged for measuring very small extensions. See Tasimeter.
Microzoospore (n.) A small motile spore furnished with two vibratile cilia, found in certain green algae.
Microzyme (n.) A microorganism which is supposed to act like a ferment in causing or propagating certain infectious or contagious diseases; a pathogenic bacterial organism.
Micturition (n.) The act of voiding urine; also, a morbidly frequent passing of the urine, in consequence of disease.
Mid (superl.) Made with a somewhat elevated position of some certain part of the tongue, in relation to the palate; midway between the high and the low; -- said of certain vowel sounds; as, a (ale), / (/ll), / (/ld). See Guide to Pronunciation, // 10, 11.
Midas (n.) A genus of longeared South American monkeys, including numerous species of marmosets. See Marmoset.
Midas's ear () A pulmonate mollusk (Auricula, / Ellobium, aurismidae); -- so called from resemblance to a human ear.
Middle (a.) Equally distant from the extreme either of a number of things or of one thing; mean; medial; as, the middle house in a row; a middle rank or station in life; flowers of middle summer; men of middle age.
Middle (a.) The point or part equally distant from the extremities or exterior limits, as of a line, a surface, or a solid; an intervening point or part in space, time, or order of series; the midst; central portion
Middleman (n.) An agent between two parties; a broker; a go-between; any dealer between the producer and the consumer; in Ireland, one who takes land of the proprietors in large tracts, and then rents it out in small portions to the peasantry.
Middling (a.) Of middle rank, state, size, or quality; about equally distant from the extremes; medium; moderate; mediocre; ordinary.
Middlings (n. pl.) In the southern and western parts of the United States, the portion of the hog between the ham and the shoulder; bacon; -- called also middles.
Midgard (n.) The middle space or region between heaven and hell; the abode of human beings; the earth.
Midge (n.) A very small fly, abundant in many parts of the United States and Canada, noted for the irritating quality of its bite.
Midge (n.) Any one of many small, delicate, long-legged flies of the Chironomus, and allied genera, which do not bite. Their larvae are usually aquatic.
Midgut (n.) The middle part of the alimentary canal from the stomach, or entrance of the bile duct, to, or including, the large intestine.
Midheaven (n.) The meridian, or middle line of the heavens; the point of the ecliptic on the meridian.
Midland (a.) Being in the interior country; distant from the coast or seashore; as, midland towns or inhabitants.
Midnight (a.) Being in, or characteristic of, the middle of the night; as, midnight studies; midnight gloom.
Midrib (n.) A continuation of the petiole, extending from the base to the apex of the lamina of a leaf.
Midshipman (n.) Formerly, a kind of naval cadet, in a ship of war, whose business was to carry orders, messages, reports, etc., between the officers of the quarter-deck and those of the forecastle, and render other services as required.
Midshipman (n.) In the United States navy, the lowest grade of officers in line of promotion, being graduates of the Naval Academy awaiting promotion to the rank of ensign.
Midst (n.) Hence, figuratively, the condition of being surrounded or beset; the press; the burden; as, in the midst of official duties; in the midst of secular affairs.
Midst (n.) The interior or central part or place; the middle; -- used chiefly in the objective case after in; as, in the midst of the forest.
Midwife (n.) A woman who assists other women in childbirth; a female practitioner of the obstetric art.
Might (v.) Force or power of any kind, whether of body or mind; energy or intensity of purpose, feeling, or action; means or resources to effect an object; strength; force; power; ability; capacity.
Mightiness (n.) Highness; excellency; -- with a possessive pronoun, a title of dignity; as, their high mightinesses.
Mighty (n.) Denoting and extraordinary degree or quality in respect of size, character, importance, consequences, etc.
Mignonette (n.) A plant (Reseda odorata) having greenish flowers with orange-colored stamens, and exhaling a delicious fragrance. In Africa it is a low shrub, but further north it is usually an annual herb.
Migrate (v. i.) To pass periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding; -- said of certain birds, fishes, and quadrupeds.
Migrate (v. i.) To remove from one country or region to another, with a view to residence; to change one's place of residence; to remove; as, the Moors who migrated from Africa into Spain; to migrate to the West.
Migratory (a.) Removing regularly or occasionally from one region or climate to another; as, migratory birds.
Mildew (n.) A growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.
Mildness (n.) The quality or state of being mild; as, mildness of temper; the mildness of the winter.
Mile (n.) A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet.
Mileage (n.) Aggregate length or distance in miles; esp., the sum of lengths of tracks or wires of a railroad company, telegraph company, etc.
Milepost (n.) A post, or one of a series of posts, set up to indicate spaces of a mile each or the distance in miles from a given place.
Milesian (a.) Descended from King Milesius of Spain, whose two sons are said to have conquered Ireland about 1300 b. c.; or pertaining to the descendants of King Milesius; hence, Irish.
Milfoil (n.) A common composite herb (Achillea Millefolium) with white flowers and finely dissected leaves; yarrow.
Miliaria (n.) A fever accompanied by an eruption of small, isolated, red pimples, resembling a millet seed in form or size; miliary fever.
Miliola (n.) A genus of Foraminifera, having a porcelanous shell with several longitudinal chambers.
Militarism (n.) A military state or condition; reliance on military force in administering government; a military system.
Military (a.) Of or pertaining to soldiers, to arms, or to war; belonging to, engaged in, or appropriate to, the affairs of war; as, a military parade; military discipline; military bravery; military conduct; military renown.
Milk (n.) A kind of juice or sap, usually white in color, found in certain plants; latex. See Latex.
Milk (n.) A white fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for the nourishment of their young, consisting of minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, albumin, milk sugar, and inorganic salts.
Milk (n.) An emulsion made by bruising seeds; as, the milk of almonds, produced by pounding almonds with sugar and water.
Milk (v. t.) To draw anything from, as if by milking; to compel to yield profit or advantage; to plunder.
Milk (v. t.) To draw from the breasts or udder; to extract, as milk; as, to milk wholesome milk from healthy cows.
Milk (v. t.) To draw or press milk from the breasts or udder of, by the hand or mouth; to withdraw the milk of.
Milk vetch () A leguminous herb (Astragalus glycyphyllos) of Europe and Asia, supposed to increase the secretion of milk in goats.
Milkweed (n.) Any plant of the genera Asclepias and Acerates, abounding in a milky juice, and having its seed attached to a long silky down; silkweed. The name is also applied to several other plants with a milky juice, as to several kinds of spurge.
Milkwort (n.) A genus of plants (Polygala) of many species. The common European P. vulgaris was supposed to have the power of producing a flow of milk in nurses.
Mill (n.) A building or collection of buildings with machinery by which the processes of manufacturing are carried on; as, a cotton mill; a powder mill; a rolling mill.
Mill (n.) A common name for various machines which produce a manufactured product, or change the form of a raw material by the continuous repetition of some simple action; as, a sawmill; a stamping mill, etc.
Mill (n.) A hardened steel roller having a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, as copper.
Mill (n.) A machine for grinding or comminuting any substance, as grain, by rubbing and crushing it between two hard, rough, or intented surfaces; as, a gristmill, a coffee mill; a bone mill.
Mill (n.) A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc., from vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in combination with a grinding, or cutting process; as, a cider mill; a cane mill.
Mill (n.) A money of account of the United States, having the value of the tenth of a cent, or the thousandth of a dollar.
Mill (n.) An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained.
Mill (n.) To make a raised border around the edges of, or to cut fine grooves or indentations across the edges of, as of a coin, or a screw head; also, to stamp in a coining press; to coin.
Mill (n.) To shape, finish, or transform by passing through a machine; specifically, to shape or dress, as metal, by means of a rotary cutter.
Mill-cake (n.) The incorporated materials for gunpowder, in the form of a dense mass or cake, ready to be subjected to the process of granulation.
Mill-sixpence (n.) A milled sixpence; -- the sixpence being one of the first English coins milled (1561).
Milldam (n.) A dam or mound to obstruct a water course, and raise the water to a height sufficient to turn a mill wheel.
Millefiore glass () Slender rods or tubes of colored glass fused together and embedded in clear glass; -- used for paperweights and other small articles.
Millenarian (a.) Consisting of a thousand years; of or pertaining to the millennium, or to the Millenarians.
Millenarian (n.) One who believes that Christ will personally reign on earth a thousand years; a Chiliast.
Millennial (a.) Of or pertaining to the millennium, or to a thousand years; as, a millennial period; millennial happiness.
Millennialist (n.) One who believes that Christ will reign personally on earth a thousand years; a Chiliast; also, a believer in the universal prevalence of Christianity for a long period.
Millepore (n.) Any coral of the genus Millepora, having the surface nearly smooth, and perforated with very minute unequal pores, or cells. The animals are hydroids, not Anthozoa. See Hydrocorallia.
Miller (n.) A moth or lepidopterous insect; -- so called because the wings appear as if covered with white dust or powder, like a miller's clothes. Called also moth miller.
Millerite (n.) A believer in the doctrine of William Miller (d. 1849), who taught that the end of the world and the second coming of Christ were at hand.
Millerite (n.) A sulphide of nickel, commonly occurring in delicate capillary crystals, also in incrustations of a bronze yellow; -- sometimes called hair pyrites.
Millet (n.) The name of several cereal and forage grasses which bear an abundance of small roundish grains. The common millets of Germany and Southern Europe are Panicum miliaceum, and Setaria Italica.
Milligramme (n.) A measure of weight, in the metric system, being the thousandth part of a gram, equal to the weight of a cubic millimeter of water, or .01543 of a grain avoirdupois.
Millilitre (n.) A measure of capacity in the metric system, containing the thousandth part of a liter. It is a cubic centimeter, and is equal to .061 of an English cubic inch, or to .0338 of an American fluid ounce.
Millimetre (n.) A lineal measure in the metric system, containing the thousandth part of a meter; equal to .03937 of an inch. See 3d Meter.
Milliner (n.) A person, usually a woman, who makes, trims, or deals in hats, bonnets, headdresses, etc., for women.
Milliner (n.) Formerly, a man who imported and dealt in small articles of a miscellaneous kind, especially such as please the fancy of women.
Millinery (n.) The articles made or sold by milliners, as headdresses, hats or bonnets, laces, ribbons, and the like.
Milling (n.) The act or employment of grinding or passing through a mill; the process of fulling; the process of making a raised or intented edge upon coin, etc.; the process of dressing surfaces of various shapes with rotary cutters. See Mill.
Million (n.) The number of ten hundred thousand, or a thousand thousand, -- written 1,000, 000. See the Note under Hundred.
Millionaire (n.) One whose wealth is counted by millions of francs, dollars, or pounds; a very rich person; a person worth a million or more.
Millionary (a.) Of or pertaining to millions; consisting of millions; as, the millionary chronology of the pundits.
Millionth (a.) Being the last one of a million of units or objects counted in regular order from the first of a series or succession; being one of a million.
Millrynd (n.) A figure supposed to represent the iron which holds a millstone by being set into its center.
Milreis (n.) A Portuguese money of account rated in the treasury department of the United States at one dollar and eight cents; also, a Brazilian money of account rated at fifty-four cents and six mills.
Mime (n.) A kind of drama in which real persons and events were generally represented in a ridiculous manner.
Mimetical () Characterized by mimicry; -- applied to animals and plants; as, mimetic species; mimetic organisms. See Mimicry.
Mimetite (n.) A mineral occurring in pale yellow or brownish hexagonal crystals. It is an arseniate of lead.
Mimic (v. t.) To assume a resemblance to (some other organism of a totally different nature, or some surrounding object), as a means of protection or advantage.
Mimical (a.) Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; -- applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry.
Mimosa (n.) A genus of leguminous plants, containing many species, and including the sensitive plants (Mimosa sensitiva, and M. pudica).
Mimotannic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a variety of tannin or tannic acid found in Acacia, Mimosa, etc.
Mina (n.) An ancient weight or denomination of money, of varying value. The Attic mina was valued at a hundred drachmas.
Minaret (n.) A slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the summon to prayer is cried by the muezzin.
Mince (v. t.) To suppress or weaken the force of; to extenuate; to palliate; to tell by degrees, instead of directly and frankly; to clip, as words or expressions; to utter half and keep back half of.
Mince-meat (n.) Minced meat; meat chopped very fine; a mixture of boiled meat, suet, apples, etc., chopped very fine, to which spices and raisins are added; -- used in making mince pie.
Mind (n.) To fix the mind or thoughts on; to regard with attention; to treat as of consequence; to consider; to heed; to mark; to note.
Mind (n.) To occupy one's self with; to employ one's self about; to attend to; as, to mind one's business.
Mind (v.) Memory; remembrance; recollection; as, to have or keep in mind, to call to mind, to put in mind, etc.
Mind (v.) The intellectual or rational faculty in man; the understanding; the intellect; the power that conceives, judges, or reasons; also, the entire spiritual nature; the soul; -- often in distinction from the body.
Mind (v.) The state, at any given time, of the faculties of thinking, willing, choosing, and the like; psychical activity or state; as: (a) Opinion; judgment; belief.
Minder (n.) One who minds, tends, or watches something, as a child, a machine, or cattle; as, a minder of a loom.
Mine (v. i.) A cavity or tunnel made under a fortification or other work, for the purpose of blowing up the superstructure with some explosive agent.
Mine (v. i.) Any place where ore, metals, or precious stones are got by digging or washing the soil; as, a placer mine.
Mine (v. i.) To dig a mine or pit in the earth; to get ore, metals, coal, or precious stones, out of the earth; to dig in the earth for minerals; to dig a passage or cavity under anything in order to overthrow it by explosives or otherwise.
Mine (v. i.) To form subterraneous tunnel or hole; to form a burrow or lodge in the earth; as, the mining cony.
Mine (v. t.) To dig away, or otherwise remove, the substratum or foundation of; to lay a mine under; to sap; to undermine; hence, to ruin or destroy by slow degrees or secret means.
Miner (n.) Any of numerous insects which, in the larval state, excavate galleries in the parenchyma of leaves. They are mostly minute moths and dipterous flies.
Miner (n.) One who mines; a digger for metals, etc.; one engaged in the business of getting ore, coal, or precious stones, out of the earth; one who digs military mines; as, armies have sappers and miners.
Mineral (a.) Of or pertaining to minerals; consisting of a mineral or of minerals; as, a mineral substance.
Mineral (v. i.) An inorganic species or substance occurring in nature, having a definite chemical composition and usually a distinct crystalline form. Rocks, except certain glassy igneous forms, are either simple minerals or aggregates of minerals.
Mineral (v. i.) Anything which is neither animal nor vegetable, as in the most general classification of things into three kingdoms (animal, vegetable, and mineral).
Mineralization (n.) The process of mineralizing, or forming a mineral by combination of a metal with another element; also, the process of converting into a mineral, as a bone or a plant.
Mineralizer (n.) An element which is combined with a metal, thus forming an ore. Thus, in galena, or lead ore, sulphur is a mineralizer; in hematite, oxygen is a mineralizer.
Mineralogy (n.) The science which treats of minerals, and teaches how to describe, distinguish, and classify them.
Minerva (n.) The goddess of wisdom, of war, of the arts and sciences, of poetry, and of spinning and weaving; -- identified with the Grecian Pallas Athene.
Mingle (v. t.) To associate or unite in society or by ties of relationship; to cause or allow to intermarry; to intermarry.
Mingle (v. t.) To mix; intermix; to combine or join, as an individual or part, with other parts, but commonly so as to be distinguishable in the product; to confuse; to confound.
Miniate (v. t.) To paint or tinge with red lead or vermilion; also, to decorate with letters, or the like, painted red, as the page of a manuscript.
Miniature (v.) Originally, a painting in colors such as those in mediaeval manuscripts; in modern times, any very small painting, especially a portrait.
Minie ball () A conical rifle bullet, with a cavity in its base plugged with a piece of iron, which, by the explosion of the charge, is driven farther in, expanding the sides to fit closely the grooves of the barrel.
Minim (n.) A time note, formerly the shortest in use; a half note, equal to half a semibreve, or two quarter notes or crotchets.
Minim (n.) Anything very minute; as, the minims of existence; -- applied to animalcula; and the like.
Minim (n.) One of an austere order of mendicant hermits of friars founded in the 15th century by St. Francis of Paola.
Minim (n.) The smallest liquid measure, equal to about one drop; the sixtieth part of a fluid drachm.
Minimum (n.) The least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible, in a given case; hence, a thing of small consequence; -- opposed to maximum.
Minimus (n.) The little finger; the fifth digit, or that corresponding to it, in either the manus or pes.
Minister (n.) A representative of a government, sent to the court, or seat of government, of a foreign nation to transact diplomatic business.
Minister (n.) A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
Minister (n.) One to whom the sovereign or executive head of a government intrusts the management of affairs of state, or some department of such affairs.
Minister (n.) One who serves at the altar; one who performs sacerdotal duties; the pastor of a church duly authorized or licensed to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments.
Minister (v. i.) To act as a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or secular.
Ministerial (a.) Of or pertaining to the office of a minister or to the ministry as a body, whether civil or sacerdotal.
Ministrant (a.) Performing service as a minister; attendant on service; acting under command; subordinate.
Ministry (n.) The office, duties, or functions of a minister, servant, or agent; ecclesiastical, executive, or ambassadorial function or profession.
Miniver (n.) A fur esteemed in the Middle Ages as a part of costume. It is uncertain whether it was the fur of one animal only or of different animals.
Mink (n.) A carnivorous mammal of the genus Putorius, allied to the weasel. The European mink is Putorius lutreola. The common American mink (P. vison) varies from yellowish brown to black. Its fur is highly valued. Called also minx, nurik, and vison.
Minnow (n.) Any of numerous small American cyprinodont fishes of the genus Fundulus, and related genera. They live both in fresh and in salt water. Called also killifish, minny, and mummichog.
Mino bird () An Asiatic bird (Gracula musica), allied to the starlings. It is black, with a white spot on the wings, and a pair of flat yellow wattles on the head. It is often tamed and taught to pronounce words.
Minor (a.) Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
Minor (n.) A person of either sex who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded; an infant; in England and the United States, one under twenty-one years of age.
Minority (a. & n.) The smaller number; -- opposed to majority; as, the minority must be ruled by the majority.
Minos (n.) A king and lawgiver of Crete, fabled to be the son of Jupiter and Europa. After death he was made a judge in the Lower Regions.
Minotaur (n.) A fabled monster, half man and half bull, confined in the labyrinth constructed by Daedalus in Crete.
Minster (n.) A church of a monastery. The name is often retained and applied to the church after the monastery has ceased to exist (as Beverly Minster, Southwell Minster, etc.), and is also improperly used for any large church.
Minstrel (n.) In the Middle Ages, one of an order of men who subsisted by the arts of poetry and music, and sang verses to the accompaniment of a harp or other instrument; in modern times, a poet; a bard; a singer and harper; a musician.
Minstrelsy (n.) A collective body of minstrels, or musicians; also, a collective body of minstrels' songs.
Mint (n.) The name of several aromatic labiate plants, mostly of the genus Mentha, yielding odoriferous essential oils by distillation. See Mentha.
Minuet (n.) A tune or air to regulate the movements of the dance so called; a movement in suites, sonatas, symphonies, etc., having the dance form, and commonly in 3-4, sometimes 3-8, measure.
Minuscule (n.) A small Roman letter which is neither capital nor uncial; a manuscript written in such letters.
Minute (a.) Attentive to small things; paying attention to details; critical; particular; precise; as, a minute observer; minute observation.
Minute (n.) The memorandum; a record; a note to preserve the memory of anything; as, to take minutes of a contract; to take minutes of a conversation or debate.
Minute (p. pr. & vb. n.) To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.
Minute-jack (n.) A figure which strikes the hour on the bell of some fanciful clocks; -- called also jack of the clock house.
Minuteman (n.) A militiaman who was to be ready to march at a moment's notice; -- a term used in the American Revolution.
Miohippus (n.) An extinct Miocene mammal of the Horse family, closely related to the genus Anhithecrium, and having three usable hoofs on each foot.
Miracle (n.) Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the universe is governed.
Miraculous (a.) Of the nature of a miracle; performed by supernatural power; effected by the direct agency of almighty power, and not by natural causes.
Mire (v. t.) To cause or permit to stick fast in mire; to plunge or fix in mud; as, to mire a horse or wagon.
Mirror (n.) A looking-glass or a speculum; any glass or polished substance that forms images by the reflection of rays of light.
Mirror (n.) That which gives a true representation, or in which a true image may be seen; hence, a pattern; an exemplar.
Mirza (n.) The common title of honor in Persia, prefixed to the surname of an individual. When appended to the surname, it signifies Prince.
Mis- () A prefix used adjectively and adverbially in the sense of amiss, wrong, ill, wrongly, unsuitably; as, misdeed, mislead, mischief, miscreant.
Misalliance (n.) A marriage with a person of inferior rank or social station; an improper alliance; a mesalliance.
Misapply (v. t.) To apply wrongly; to use for a wrong purpose; as, to misapply a name or title; to misapply public money.
Misapprehension (n.) A mistaking or mistake; wrong apprehension of one's meaning of a fact; misconception; misunderstanding.
Misbehave (v. t. & i.) To behave ill; to conduct one's self improperly; -- often used with a reciprocal pronoun.
Miscarriage (n.) Ill conduct; evil or improper behavior; as, the failings and miscarriages of the righteous.
Miscarriage (n.) Unfortunate event or issue of an undertaking; failure to attain a desired result or reach a destination.
Miscarry (v. i.) To carry, or go, wrong; to fail of reaching a destination, or fail of the intended effect; to be unsuccessful; to suffer defeat.
Miscellaneous (a.) Mixed; mingled; consisting of several things; of diverse sorts; promiscuous; heterogeneous; as, a miscellaneous collection.
Miscellany (n.) A mass or mixture of various things; a medley; esp., a collection of compositions on various subjects.
Mischief (n.) Harm; damage; esp., disarrangement of order; trouble or vexation caused by human agency or by some living being, intentionally or not; often, calamity, mishap; trivial evil caused by thoughtlessness, or in sport.
Mischievous (a.) Causing mischief; harmful; hurtful; -- now often applied where the evil is done carelessly or in sport; as, a mischievous child.
Miscible (a.) Capable of being mixed; mixable; as, water and alcohol are miscible in all proportions.
Miscolor (v. t.) To give a wrong color to; figuratively, to set forth erroneously or unfairly; as, to miscolor facts.
Misconceive (v. t. & i.) To conceive wrongly; to interpret incorrectly; to receive a false notion of; to misjudge; to misapprehend.
Miscue (n.) A false stroke with a billiard cue, the cue slipping from the ball struck without impelling it as desired.
Misdirect (v. t.) To give a wrong direction to; as, to misdirect a passenger, or a letter; to misdirect one's energies.
Mise (n.) A tax or tallage; in Wales, an honorary gift of the people to a new king or prince of Wales; also, a tribute paid, in the country palatine of Chester, England, at the change of the owner of the earldom.
Miser (n.) A covetous, grasping, mean person; esp., one having wealth, who lives miserably for the sake of saving and increasing his hoard.
Miserere (n.) A small projecting boss or bracket, on the under side of the hinged seat of a church stall (see Stall). It was intended, the seat being turned up, to give some support to a worshiper when standing. Called also misericordia.
Miserere (n.) The psalm usually appointed for penitential acts, being the 50th psalm in the Latin version. It commences with the word miserere.
Misericordia (n.) A thin-bladed dagger; so called, in the Middle Ages, because used to give the death wound or "mercy" stroke to a fallen adversary.
Misfeasance (n.) A trespass; a wrong done; the improper doing of an act which a person might lawfully do.
Misfit (n.) The act or the state of fitting badly; as, a misfit in making a coat; a ludicrous misfit.
Misgive (v. t.) Specifically: To give doubt and apprehension to, instead of confidence and courage; to impart fear to; to make irresolute; -- usually said of the mind or heart, and followed by the objective personal pronoun.
Mishna (n.) A collection or digest of Jewish traditions and explanations of Scripture, forming the text of the Talmud.
Misimprove (v. t.) To use for a bad purpose; to abuse; to misuse; as, to misimprove time, talents, advantages, etc.
Misjoinder (n.) An incorrect union of parties or of causes of action in a procedure, criminal or civil.
Mislead (v. t.) To lead into a wrong way or path; to lead astray; to guide into error; to cause to mistake; to deceive.
Misnomer (n.) The misnaming of a person in a legal instrument, as in a complaint or indictment; any misnaming of a person or thing; a wrong or inapplicable name or title.
Misplace (v. t.) To put in a wrong place; to set or place on an improper or unworthy object; as, he misplaced his confidence.
Misrecollect (v. t. & i.) To have an erroneous remembrance of; to suppose erroneously that one recollects.
Misrepresent (v. t.) To represent incorrectly (almost always, unfacorably); to give a false erroneous representation of, either maliciously, ignirantly, or carelessly.
Misrepresentation (n.) Untrue representation; false or incorrect statement or account; -- usually unfavorable to the thing represented; as, a misrepresentation of a person's motives.
Miss (n.) A title of courtesy prefixed to the name of a girl or a woman who has not been married. See Mistress, 5.
Miss (n.) In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player.
Miss (v. t.) To discover the absence or omission of; to feel the want of; to mourn the loss of; to want.
Miss (v. t.) To fail of hitting, reaching, getting, finding, seeing, hearing, etc.; as, to miss the mark one shoots at; to miss the train by being late; to miss opportunites of getting knowledge; to miss the point or meaning of something said.
Miss (v. t.) To omit; to fail to have or to do; to get without; to dispense with; -- now seldom applied to persons.
Missile (a.) Capable of being thrown; adapted for hurling or to be projected from the hand, or from any instrument or rngine, so as to strike an object at a distance.
Missile (n.) A weapon thrown or projected or intended to be projcted, as a lance, an arrow, or a bullet.
Missing (v. i.) Absent from the place where it was expected to be found; lost; wanting; not present when called or looked for.
Mission (n.) A course of extraordinary sermons and services at a particular place and time for the special purpose of quickening the faith and zeal participants, and of converting unbelievers.
Mission (n.) An assotiation or organization of missionaries; a station or residence of missionaries.
Mission (n.) Persons sent; any number of persons appointed to perform any service; a delegation; an embassy.
Mission (n.) That with which a messenger or agent is charged; an errand; business or duty on which one is sent; a commission.
Mission (n.) The act of sending, or the state of being sent; a being sent or delegated by authority, with certain powers for transacting business; comission.
Misspend (v. t.) To spend amiss or for wrong purposes; to aquander; to waste; as, to misspend time or money.
Mist (n.) Coarse, watery vapor, floating or falling in visible particles, approaching the form of rain; as, Scotch mist.
Mist (n.) Visible watery vapor suspended in the atmosphere, at or near the surface of the earth; fog.
Mistake (n.) An apprehending wrongly; a misconception; a misunderstanding; a fault in opinion or judgment; an unintentional error of conduct.
Mistake (n.) Misconception, error, which when non-negligent may be ground for rescinding a contract, or for refusing to perform it.
Mistake (v. i.) To err in knowledge, perception, opinion, or judgment; to commit an unintentional error.
Mistake (v. t.) To take in a wrong sense; to misunderstand misapprehend, or misconceive; as, to mistake a remark; to mistake one's meaning.
Mistaken (p.a.) Being in error; judging wrongly; having a wrong opinion or a misconception; as, a mistaken man; he is mistaken.
Mister (n.) A title of courtesy prefixed to the name of a man or youth. It is usually written in the abbreviated form Mr.
Mistico (n.) A kind of small sailing vessel used in the Mediterranean. It is rigged partly like a xebec, and partly like a felucca.
Mistigri (n.) A variety of the game of poker in which the joker is used, and called mistigris or mistigri.
Mistletoe (n.) A parasitic evergreen plant of Europe (Viscum album), bearing a glutinous fruit. When found upon the oak, where it is rare, it was an object of superstitious regard among the Druids. A bird lime is prepared from its fruit.
Mistral (n.) A violent and cold northwest wind experienced in the Mediterranean provinces of France, etc.
Mistress (n.) A title of courtesy formerly prefixed to the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman.
Mistress (n.) A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a loose woman with whom one consorts habitually.
Mistress (n.) A woman having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc.
Mistress (n.) A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart.
Mistrust (v. t.) To regard with jealousy or suspicion; to suspect; to doubt the integrity of; to distrust.
Mistura (n.) A mingled compound in which different ingredients are contained in a liquid state; a mixture. See Mixture, n., 4.
Mistura (n.) Sometimes, a liquid medicine containing very active substances, and which can only be administered by drops.
Misty (superl.) Accompained with mist; characterized by the presence of mist; obscured by, or overspread with, mist; as, misty weather; misty mountains; a misty atmosphere.
Misuse (v. t.) To treat or use improperly; to use to a bad purpose; to misapply; as, to misuse one's talents.
Mite (n.) A minute arachnid, of the order Acarina, of which there are many species; as, the cheese mite, sugar mite, harvest mite, etc. See Acarina.
Mite (n.) A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing. The name is also applied to a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
Miterwort (n.) Any plant of the genus Mitella, -- slender, perennial herbs with a pod slightly resembling a bishop's miter; bishop's cap.
Mithridate (n.) An antidote against poison, or a composition in form of an electuary, supposed to serve either as a remedy or a preservative against poison; an alexipharmic; -- so called from King Mithridates, its reputed inventor.
Mitigate (v. t.) To make less severe, intense, harsh, rigorous, painful, etc.; to soften; to meliorate; to alleviate; to diminish; to lessen; as, to mitigate heat or cold; to mitigate grief.
Mitigation (n.) The act of mitigating, or the state of being mitigated; abatement or diminution of anything painful, harsh, severe, afflictive, or calamitous; as, the mitigation of pain, grief, rigor, severity, punishment, or penalty.
Mitrailleuse (n.) A breech-loading machine gun consisting of a number of barrels fitted together, so arranged that the barrels can be fired simultaneously, or successively, and rapidly.
Mitral (a.) Pertaining to a miter; resembling a miter; as, the mitral valve between the left auricle and left ventricle of the heart.
Mitre (n.) A covering for the head, worn on solemn occasions by church dignitaries. It has been made in many forms, the present form being a lofty cap with two points or peaks.
Mitre (n.) The surface forming the beveled end or edge of a piece where a miter joint is made; also, a joint formed or a junction effected by two beveled ends or edges; a miter joint.
Mitre (v. i.) To meet and match together, as two pieces of molding, on a line bisecting the angle of junction.
Mitre (v. t.) To match together, as two pieces of molding or brass rule on a line bisecting the angle of junction; to bevel the ends or edges of, for the purpose of matching together at an angle.
Mitten (n.) A covering for the hand, worn to defend it from cold or injury. It differs from a glove in not having a separate sheath for each finger.
Mittimus (n.) A precept or warrant granted by a justice for committing to prison a party charged with crime; a warrant of commitment to prison.
Mix (v. t.) To form by mingling; to produce by the stirring together of ingredients; to compound of different parts.
Mixogamous (a.) Pairing with several males; -- said of certain fishes of which several males accompany each female during spawning.
Mixtilinear (a.) Containing, or consisting of, lines of different kinds, as straight, curved, and the like; as, a mixtilinear angle, that is, an angle contained by a straight line and a curve.
Mixture (n.) A kind of liquid medicine made up of many ingredients; esp., as opposed to solution, a liquid preparation in which the solid ingredients are not completely dissolved.
Mixture (n.) An organ stop, comprising from two to five ranges of pipes, used only in combination with the foundation and compound stops; -- called also furniture stop. It consists of high harmonics, or overtones, of the ground tone.
Mixture (n.) That which results from mixing different ingredients together; a compound; as, to drink a mixture of molasses and water; -- also, a medley.
Mnemonics (n.) The art of memory; a system of precepts and rules intended to assist the memory; artificial memory.
Moan (v. i.) To make a low prolonged sound of grief or pain, whether articulate or not; to groan softly and continuously.
Moat (n.) A deep trench around the rampart of a castle or other fortified place, sometimes filled with water; a ditch.
Mobcap (n.) A plain cap or headdress for women or girls; especially, one tying under the chin by a very broad band, generally of the same material as the cap itself.
Mobile (a.) Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind; as, mobile features.
Mobile (a.) Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom; as, benzine and mercury are mobile liquids; -- opposed to viscous, viscoidal, or oily.
Mobility (n.) The quality or state of being mobile; as, the mobility of a liquid, of an army, of the populace, of features, of a muscle.
Mobocracy (n.) A condition in which the lower classes of a nation control public affairs without respect to law, precedents, or vested rights.
Mobocrat (n.) One who favors a form of government in which the unintelligent populace rules without restraint.
Moccasin (n.) A shoe made of deerskin, or other soft leather, the sole and upper part being one piece. It is the customary shoe worn by the American Indians.
Mock (n.) An act of ridicule or derision; a scornful or contemptuous act or speech; a sneer; a jibe; a jeer.
Mock (v. t.) To imitate; to mimic; esp., to mimic in sport, contempt, or derision; to deride by mimicry.
Mockery (n.) Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule.
Mockery (n.) The act of mocking, deriding, and exposing to contempt, by mimicry, by insincere imitation, or by a false show of earnestness; a counterfeit appearance.
Moco (n.) A South American rodent (Cavia rupestris), allied to the Guinea pig, but larger; -- called also rock cavy.
Modal (a.) Indicating, or pertaining to, some mode of conceiving existence, or of expressing thought.
Modal (a.) Of or pertaining to a mode or mood; consisting in mode or form only; relating to form; having the form without the essence or reality.
Modalist (n.) One who regards Father, Son, and Spirit as modes of being, and not as persons, thus denying personal distinction in the Trinity.
Modality (n.) A modal relation or quality; a mode or point of view under which an object presents itself to the mind. According to Kant, the quality of propositions, as assertory, problematical, or apodeictic.
Mode (n.) Manner of doing or being; method; form; fashion; custom; way; style; as, the mode of speaking; the mode of dressing.
Mode (n.) The form in which the proposition connects the predicate and subject, whether by simple, contingent, or necessary assertion; the form of the syllogism, as determined by the quantity and quality of the constituent proposition; mood.
Mode (n.) The scale as affected by the various positions in it of the minor intervals; as, the Dorian mode, the Ionic mode, etc., of ancient Greek music.
Model (n.) A miniature representation of a thing, with the several parts in due proportion; sometimes, a facsimile of the same size.
Model (n.) Anything which serves, or may serve, as an example for imitation; as, a government formed on the model of the American constitution; a model of eloquence, virtue, or behavior.
Model (n.) Something intended to serve, or that may serve, as a pattern of something to be made; a material representation or embodiment of an ideal; sometimes, a drawing; a plan; as, the clay model of a sculpture; the inventor's model of a machine.
Model (v. t.) To plan or form after a pattern; to form in model; to form a model or pattern for; to shape; to mold; to fashion; as, to model a house or a government; to model an edifice according to the plan delineated.
Modeling (n.) The act or art of making a model from which a work of art is to be executed; the formation of a work of art from some plastic material. Also, in painting, drawing, etc., the expression or indication of solid form.
Moderate (a.) Kept within due bounds; observing reasonable limits; not excessive, extreme, violent, or rigorous; limited; restrained
Moderate (a.) Limited as to the degree in which a quality, principle, or faculty appears; as, an infusion of moderate strength; a man of moderate abilities.
Moderate (a.) Limited in degree of activity, energy, or excitement; reasonable; calm; slow; as, moderate language; moderate endeavors.
Moderate (a.) Limited in quantity; sparing; temperate; frugal; as, moderate in eating or drinking; a moderate table.
Moderate (n.) One of a party in the Church of Scotland in the 18th century, and part of the 19th, professing moderation in matters of church government, in discipline, and in doctrine.
Moderate (v. t.) To preside over, direct, or regulate, as a public meeting; as, to moderate a synod.
Moderation (n.) The first public examinations for degrees at the University of Oxford; -- usually contracted to mods.
Moderator (n.) A mechamical arrangement for regulating motion in a machine, or producing equality of effect.
Moderator (n.) In the University of Oxford, an examiner for moderations; at Cambridge, the superintendant of examinations for degrees; at Dublin, either the first (senior) or second (junior) in rank in an examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Moderator (n.) The officer who presides over an assembly to preserve order, propose questions, regulate the proceedings, and declare the votes.
Modern (a.) Of or pertaining to the present time, or time not long past; late; not ancient or remote in past time; of recent period; as, modern days, ages, or time; modern authors; modern fashions; modern taste; modern practice.
Modernization (n.) The act of rendering modern in style; the act or process of causing to conform to modern of thinking or acting.
Modernize (v. t.) To render modern; to adapt to modern person or things; to cause to conform to recent or present usage or taste.
Modest (a.) Evincing modestly in the actor, author, or speaker; not showing presumption; not excessive or extreme; moderate; as, a modest request; modest joy.
Modest (a.) Observing the proprieties of the sex; not unwomanly in act or bearing; free from undue familiarity, indecency, or lewdness; decent in speech and demeanor; -- said of a woman.
Modest (a.) Restraining within due limits of propriety; not forward, bold, boastful, or presumptious; rather retiring than pushing one's self forward; not obstructive; as, a modest youth; a modest man.
Modesty (n.) Natural delicacy or shame regarding personal charms and the sexual relation; purity of thought and manners; due regard for propriety in speech or action.
Modesty (n.) The quality or state of being modest; that lowly temper which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth and importance; absence of self-assertion, arrogance, and presumption; humility respecting one's own merit.
Modification (n.) The act of modifying, or the state of being modified; a modified form or condition; state as modified; a change; as, the modification of an opinion, or of a machine; the various modifications of light.
Modify (v. t.) To change somewhat the form or qualities of; to alter somewhat; as, to modify a contrivance adapted to some mechanical purpose; to modify the terms of a contract.
Modish (a.) According to the mode, or customary manner; conformed to the fashion; fashionable; hence, conventional; as, a modish dress; a modish feast.
Modiste (n.) A female maker of, or dealer in, articles of fashion, especially of the fashionable dress of ladies; a woman who gives direction to the style or mode of dress.
Modocs (n. pl.) A tribe of warlike Indians formerly inhabiting Northern California. They are nearly extinct.
Modular (a.) Of or pertaining to mode, modulation, module, or modius; as, modular arrangement; modular accent; modular measure.
Modulate (v. t.) To vary or inflect in a natural, customary, or musical manner; as, the organs of speech modulate the voice in reading or speaking.
Modulation (n.) The act of modulating, or the state of being modulated; as, the modulation of the voice.
Modulus (n.) A quantity or coefficient, or constant, which expresses the measure of some specified force, property, or quality, as of elasticity, strength, efficiency, etc.; a parameter.
Modus (n.) A fixed compensation or equivalent given instead of payment of tithes in kind, expressed in full by the phrase modus decimandi.
Mogul (n.) A heavy locomotive for freight traffic, having three pairs of connected driving wheels and a two-wheeled truck.
Mohair (n.) The long silky hair or wool of the Angora goat of Asia Minor; also, a fabric made from this material, or an imitation of such fabric.
Mohammedan (n.) A follower of Mohammed, the founder of Islamism; one who professes Mohammedanism or Islamism.
Mohammedism (n.) The religion, or doctrines and precepts, of Mohammed, contained in the Koran; Islamism.
Mohawk (n.) One of a tribe of Indians who formed part of the Five Nations. They formerly inhabited the valley of the Mohawk River.
Mohawk (n.) One of certain ruffians who infested the streets of London in the time of Addison, and took the name from the Mohawk Indians.
Mohicans (n. pl.) A tribe of Lenni-Lenape Indians who formerly inhabited Western Connecticut and Eastern New York.
Moho (n.) A gallinule (Notornis Mantelli) formerly inhabiting New Zealand, but now supposed to be extinct. It was incapable of flight. See Notornis.
Mohr (n.) A West African gazelle (Gazella mohr), having horns on which are eleven or twelve very prominent rings. It is one of the species which produce bezoar.
Moiety (a.) One of two equal parts; a half; as, a moiety of an estate, of goods, or of profits; the moiety of a jury, or of a nation.
Moil (v. i.) To soil one's self with severe labor; to work with painful effort; to labor; to toil; to drudge.
Moire (n.) A watered, clouded, or frosted appearance produced upon either textile fabrics or metallic surfaces.
Moire (n.) Originally, a fine textile fabric made of the hair of an Asiatic goat; afterwards, any textile fabric to which a watered appearance is given in the process of calendering.
Moire metallique () A crystalline or frosted appearance produced by some acids on tin plate; also, the tin plate thus treated.
Molar (a.) Having power to grind; grinding; as, the molar teeth; also, of or pertaining to the molar teeth.
Molar (a.) Of or pertaining to a mass of matter; -- said of the properties or motions of masses, as distinguished from those of molecules or atoms.
Molar (n.) Any one of the teeth back of the incisors and canines. The molar which replace the deciduous or milk teeth are designated as premolars, and those which are not preceded by deciduous teeth are sometimes called true molars. See Tooth.
Molasse (n.) A soft Tertiary sandstone; -- applied to a rock occurring in Switzerland. See Chart of Geology.
Molasses (n.) The thick, brown or dark colored, viscid, uncrystallizable sirup which drains from sugar, in the process of manufacture; any thick, viscid, sweet sirup made from vegetable juice or sap, as of the sorghum or maple. See Treacle.
Mole (n.) A spot, mark, or small permanent protuberance on the human body; esp., a spot which is dark-colored, from which commonly issue one or more hairs.
Mole (n.) Any insectivore of the family Talpidae. They have minute eyes and ears, soft fur, and very large and strong fore feet.
Molecular (a.) Pertaining to, connected with, produced by, or consisting of, molecules; as, molecular forces; molecular groups of atoms, etc.
Molecule (n.) The smallest part of any substance which possesses the characteristic properties and qualities of that substance, and which can exist alone in a free state.
Molehill (n.) A little hillock of earth thrown up by moles working under ground; hence, a very small hill, or an insignificant obstacle or difficulty.
Moleskin (n.) Any fabric having a thick soft shag, like the fur of a mole; esp., a kind of strong twilled fustian.
Moline (n.) The crossed iron that supports the upper millstone by resting on the spindle; a millrind.
Molinist (n.) A follower of the opinions of Molina, a Spanish Jesuit (in respect to grace); an opposer of the Jansenists.
Mollah (n.) One of the higher order of Turkish judges; also, a Turkish title of respect for a religious and learned man.
Mollebart (n.) An agricultural implement used in Flanders, consisting of a kind of large shovel drawn by a horse and guided by a man.
Mollemoke (n.) Any one of several species of large pelagic petrels and fulmars, as Fulmarus glacialis, of the North Atlantic, and several species of Aestrelata, of the Southern Ocean. See Fulmar.
Mollify (v. t.) To assuage, as pain or irritation, to appease, as excited feeling or passion; to pacify; to calm.
Mollify (v. t.) To soften; to make tender; to reduce the hardness, harshness, or asperity of; to qualify; as, to mollify the ground.
Molluscoidea (n. pl.) A division of Invertebrata which includes the classes Brachiopoda and Bryozoa; -- called also Anthoid Mollusca.
Molluscum (n.) A cutaneous disease characterized by numerous tumors, of various forms, filled with a thick matter; -- so called from the resemblance of the tumors to some molluscous animals.
Moloch (n.) A spiny Australian lizard (Moloch horridus). The horns on the head and numerous spines on the body give it a most formidable appearance.
Moloch (n.) The fire god of the Ammonites in Canaan, to whom human sacrifices were offered; Molech. Also applied figuratively.
Molten (a.) Made by melting and casting the substance or metal of which the thing is formed; as, a molten image.
Molten (a.) Melted; being in a state of fusion, esp. when the liquid state is produced by a high degree of heat; as, molten iron.
Moly (n.) A fabulous herb of occult power, having a black root and white blossoms, said by Homer to have been given by Hermes to Ulysses to counteract the spells of Circe.
Molybdenite (n.) A mineral occurring in soft, lead-gray, foliated masses or scales, resembling graphite; sulphide of molybdenum.
Molybdenum (n.) A rare element of the chromium group, occurring in nature in the minerals molybdenite and wulfenite, and when reduced obtained as a hard, silver-white, difficulty fusible metal. Symbol Mo. Atomic weight 95.9.
Molybdic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, molybdenum; specif., designating those compounds in which the element has a higher valence, as contrasted with molybdous compounds; as, molybdic oxide.
Molybdous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, molybdenum; specif., designating those compounds in which molybdenum has a lower valence as contrasted with molybdic compounds.
Moment (n.) An essential element; a deciding point, fact, or consideration; an essential or influential circumstance.
Moment (n.) Tendency, or measure of tendency, to produce motion, esp. motion about a fixed point or axis.
Momentary (a.) Done in a moment; continuing only a moment; lasting a very short time; as, a momentary pang.
Momentous (a.) Of moment or consequence; very important; weighty; as, a momentous decision; momentous affairs.
Momentum (n.) The quantity of motion in a moving body, being always proportioned to the quantity of matter multiplied into the velocity; impetus.
Momier (n.) A name given in contempt to strict Calvinists in Switzerland, France, and some parts of Germany, in the early part of the 19th century.
Mon- () A prefix signifying one, single, alone; as, monocarp, monopoly; (Chem.) indicating that a compound contains one atom, radical, or group of that to the name of which it is united; as, monoxide, monosulphide, monatomic, etc.
Mona (n.) A small, handsome, long-tailed West American monkey (Cercopithecus mona). The body is dark olive, with a spot of white on the haunches.
Monacid (a.) Having one hydrogen atom replaceable by a negative or acid atom or radical; capable of neutralizing a monobasic acid; -- said of bases, and of certain metals.
Monad (n.) An atom or radical whose valence is one, or which can combine with, be replaced by, or exchanged for, one atom of hydrogen.
Monad (n.) One of the smallest flangellate Infusoria; esp., the species of the genus Monas, and allied genera.
Monad (n.) The elementary and indestructible units which were conceived of as endowed with the power to produce all the changes they undergo, and thus determine all physical and spiritual phenomena.
Monadelphia (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants having the stamens united into a tube, or ring, by the filaments, as in the Mallow family.
Monadelphous (a.) Of or pertaining to the Monadelphia; having the stamens united in one body by the filaments.
Monadiform (a.) Having the form of a monad; resembling a monad in having one or more filaments of vibratile protoplasm; as, monadiform young.
Monandry (n.) The possession by a woman of only one husband at the same time; -- contrasted with polyandry.
Monarch (n.) A sole or supreme ruler; a sovereign; the highest ruler; an emperor, king, queen, prince, or chief.
Monarch (n.) A very large red and black butterfly (Danais Plexippus); -- called also milkweed butterfly.
Monarch (n.) One superior to all others of the same kind; as, an oak is called the monarch of the forest.
Monarchian (n.) One of a sect in the early Christian church which rejected the doctrine of the Trinity; -- called also patripassian.
Monas (n.) A genus of minute flagellate Infusoria of which there are many species, both free and attached. See Illust. under Monad.
Monastery (n.) A house of religious retirement, or of secusion from ordinary temporal concerns, especially for monks; -- more rarely applied to such a house for females.
Monastical (a.) Of or pertaining to monasteries, or to their occupants, rules, etc., as, monastic institutions or rules.
Monatomic (adv.) Having the equivalence or replacing power of an atom of hydrogen; univalent; as, the methyl radical is monatomic.
Monaxial (a.) Having only one axis; developing along a single line or plane; as, monaxial development.
Monazite (n.) A mineral occurring usually in small isolated crystals, -- a phosphate of the cerium metals.
Monera (n. pl.) The lowest division of rhizopods, including those which resemble the amoebas, but are destitute of a nucleus.
Monerula (n.) A germ in that stage of development in which its form is simply that of a non-nucleated mass of protoplasm. It precedes the one-celled germ. So called from its likeness to a moner.
Monesia (n.) The bark, or a vegetable extract brought in solid cakes from South America and believed to be derived from the bark, of the tree Chrysophyllum glycyphloeum. It is used as an alterative and astringent.
Monetization (n.) The act or process of converting into money, or of adopting as money; as, the monetization of silver.
Money (n.) A piece of metal, as gold, silver, copper, etc., coined, or stamped, and issued by the sovereign authority as a medium of exchange in financial transactions between citizens and with government; also, any number of such pieces; coin.
Money (n.) In general, wealth; property; as, he has much money in land, or in stocks; to make, or lose, money.
Money-maker (n.) One who accumulates money or wealth; specifically, one who makes money-getting his governing motive.
Moneyage (n.) A tax paid to the first two Norman kings of England to prevent them from debashing the coin.
Moneywort (n.) A trailing plant (Lysimachia Nummularia), with rounded opposite leaves and solitary yellow flowers in their axils.
Monger (n.) A trader; a dealer; -- now used chiefly in composition; as, fishmonger, ironmonger, newsmonger.
Monger (v. t.) To deal in; to make merchandise of; to traffic in; -- used chiefly of discreditable traffic.
Mongoloid (a.) Resembling a Mongol or the Mongols; having race characteristics, such as color, hair, and features, like those of the Mongols.
Mongoos (n.) A species of ichneumon (Herpestes griseus), native of India. Applied also to other allied species, as the African banded mongoose (Crossarchus fasciatus).
Mongrel (n.) The progeny resulting from a cross between two breeds, as of domestic animals; anything of mixed breed.
Moniliform (a.) Joined or constricted, at regular intervals, so as to resemble a string of beads; as, a moniliform root; a moniliform antenna. See Illust. of Antenna.
Moniment (n.) Something to preserve memory; a reminder; a monument; hence, a mark; an image; a superscription; a record.
Monism (n.) That doctrine which refers all phenomena to a single ultimate constituent or agent; -- the opposite of dualism.
Monitor (n.) A tool holder, as for a lathe, shaped like a low turret, and capable of being revolved on a vertical pivot so as to bring successively the several tools in holds into proper position for cutting.
Monitor (n.) An ironclad war vessel, very low in the water, and having one or more heavily-armored revolving turrets, carrying heavy guns.
Monitor (n.) Any large Old World lizard of the genus Varanus; esp., the Egyptian species (V. Niloticus), which is useful because it devours the eggs and young of the crocodile. It is sometimes five or six feet long.
Monitor (n.) Hence, specifically, a pupil selected to look to the school in the absence of the instructor, to notice the absence or faults of the scholars, or to instruct a division or class.
Monitor (n.) One who admonishes; one who warns of faults, informs of duty, or gives advice and instruction by way of reproof or caution.
Monitorial (a.) Done or performed by a monitor; as, monitorial work; conducted or taught by monitors; as, a monitorial school; monitorial instruction.
Monitory (n.) Admonition; warning; especially, a monition proceeding from an ecclesiastical court, but not addressed to any one person.
Monk (n.) A blotch or spot of ink on a printed page, caused by the ink not being properly distributed. It is distinguished from a friar, or white spot caused by a deficiency of ink.
Monk (n.) A man who retires from the ordinary temporal concerns of the world, and devotes himself to religion; one of a religious community of men inhabiting a monastery, and bound by vows to a life of chastity, obedience, and poverty.
Monk (n.) A South American monkey (Pithecia monachus); also applied to other species, as Cebus xanthocephalus.
Monk's seam () An extra middle seam made at the junction of two breadths of canvas, ordinarily joined by only two rows of stitches.
Monkery (n.) The life of monks; monastic life; monastic usage or customs; -- now usually applied by way of reproach.
Monkey (n.) Any one of numerous species of Quadrumana (esp. such as have a long tail and prehensile feet) exclusive of apes and baboons.
Monkey (n.) In the most general sense, any one of the Quadrumana, including apes, baboons, and lemurs.
Monkey (n.) The weight or hammer of a pile driver, that is, a very heavy mass of iron, which, being raised on high, falls on the head of the pile, and drives it into the earth; the falling weight of a drop hammer used in forging.
Monkey (v. t. & i.) To act or treat as a monkey does; to ape; to act in a grotesque or meddlesome manner.
Monkflower (n.) A name of certain curious orchids which bear three kinds of flowers formerly referred to three genera, but now ascertained to be sexually different forms of the same genus (Catasetum tridentatum, etc.).
Monkish (a.) Like a monk, or pertaining to monks; monastic; as, monkish manners; monkish dress; monkish solitude.
Monobasic (a.) Capable of being neutralized by a univalent base or basic radical; having but one acid hydrogen atom to be replaced; -- said of acids; as, acetic, nitric, and hydrochloric acids are monobasic.
Monocarpous (a.) Bearing fruit but once, and dying after fructification, as beans, maize, mustard, etc.
Monochlamydeous (a.) Having a single floral envelope, that is, a calyx without a corolla, or, possibly, in rare cases, a corolla without a calyx.
Monoclinal (a.) Having one oblique inclination; -- applied to strata that dip in only one direction from the axis of elevation.
Monoclinic (a.) Having one oblique intersection; -- said of that system of crystallization in which the vertical axis is inclined to one, but at right angles to the other, lateral axis. See Crystallization.
Monocondyla (n. pl.) A group of vertebrates, including the birds and reptiles, or those that have only one occipital condyle; the Sauropsida.
Monocrotic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or showing, monocrotism; as, a monocrotic pulse; a pulse of the monocrotic type.
Monocrotism (n.) That condition of the pulse in which the pulse curve or sphygmogram shows but a single crest, the dicrotic elevation entirely disappearing.
Monocystic (a.) Of or pertaining to a division (Monocystidea) of Gregarinida, in which the body consists of one sac.
Monodelphia (n. pl.) The group that includes all ordinary or placental mammals; the Placentalia. See Mammalia.
Monodical (a.) Homophonic; -- applied to music in which the melody is confined to one part, instead of being shared by all the parts as in the style called polyphonic.
Monody (n.) A species of poem of a mournful character, in which a single mourner expresses lamentation; a song for one voice.
Monodynamism (n.) The theory that the various forms of activity in nature are manifestations of the same force.
Monoecia (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants, whose stamens and pistils are in distinct flowers in the same plant.
Monoecious (a.) Having the sexes united in one individual, as when male and female flowers grow upon the same individual plant; hermaphrodite; -- opposed to dioecious.
Monogamia (n. pl.) A Linnaean order of plants, having solitary flowers with united anthers, as in the genus Lobelia.
Monogamy (n.) Single marriage; marriage with but one person, husband or wife, at the same time; -- opposed to polygamy. Also, one marriage only during life; -- opposed to deuterogamy.
Monogenesis (n.) Oneness of origin; esp. (Biol.), development of all beings in the universe from a single cell; -- opposed to polygenesis. Called also monism.
Monogenesis (n.) That form of reproduction which requires but one parent, as in reproduction by fission or in the formation of buds, etc., which drop off and form new individuals; asexual reproduction.
Monogenesis (n.) The direct development of an embryo, without metamorphosis, into an organism similar to the parent organism; -- opposed to metagenesis.
Monogenetic (a.) One in genesis; resulting from one process of formation; -- used of a mountain range.
Monogenetic (a.) Relating to, or involving, monogenesis; as, the monogenetic school of physiologists, who admit but one cell as the source of all beings.
Monogenism (n.) The theory or doctrine that the human races have a common origin, or constitute a single species.
Monogenist (n.) One who maintains that the human races are all of one species; -- opposed to polygenist.
Monograph (n.) A written account or description of a single thing, or class of things; a special treatise on a particular subject of limited range.
Monographical (a.) Of or pertaining to a monograph, or to a monography; as, a monographic writing; a monographic picture.
Monolith (n.) A single stone, especially one of large size, shaped into a pillar, statue, or monument.
Monologue (n.) A speech uttered by a person alone; soliloquy; also, talk or discourse in company, in the strain of a soliloquy; as, an account in monologue.
Monomania (n.) Derangement of the mind in regard of a single subject only; also, such a concentration of interest upon one particular subject or train of ideas to show mental derangement.
Monomaniacal (a.) Affected with monomania, or partial derangement of intellect; caused by, or resulting from, monomania; as, a monomaniacal delusion.
Monomerous (a.) Composed of solitary parts, as a flower with one sepal, one petal, one stamen, and one pistil.
Monometallism (n.) The legalized use of one metal only, as gold, or silver, in the standard currency of a country, or as a standard of money values. See Bimetallism.
Monomial (n.) A single algebraic expression; that is, an expression unconnected with any other by the sign of addition, substraction, equality, or inequality.
Monomorphous (a.) Having but a single form; retaining the same form throughout the various stages of development; of the same or of an essentially similar type of structure; -- opposed to dimorphic, trimorphic, and polymorphic.
Monomphalus (n.) A form of double monster, in which two individuals are united by a common umbilicus.
Monomyaria (n.pl.) An order of lamellibranchs having but one muscle for closing the shell, as the oyster.
Monopetalous (a.) Having only one petal, or the corolla in one piece, or composed of petals cohering so as to form a tube or bowl; gamopetalous.
Monophonic (a.) Single-voiced; having but one part; as, a monophonic composition; -- opposed to polyphonic.
Monophyletic (a.) Of or pertaining to a single family or stock, or to development from a single common parent form; -- opposed to polyphyletic; as, monophyletic origin.
Monophysite (n.) One of a sect, in the ancient church, who maintained that the human and divine in Jesus Christ constituted but one composite nature. Also used adjectively.
Monopodial (a.) Having a monopodium or a single and continuous axis, as a birchen twig or a cornstalk.
Monopolize (v. t.) To acquire a monopoly of; to have or get the exclusive privilege or means of dealing in, or the exclusive possession of; to engross the whole of; as, to monopolize the coffee trade; to monopolize land.
Monopoly (n.) The commodity or other material thing to which the monopoly relates; as, tobacco is a monopoly in France.
Monopsychism (n.) The doctrine that there is but one immortal soul or intellect with which all men are endowed.
Monopteral (a.) Round and without a cella; consisting of a single ring of columns supporting a roof; -- said esp. of a temple.
Monosepalous (a.) Having only one sepal, or the calyx in one piece or composed of the sepals united into one piece; gamosepalous.
Monostichous (a.) Arranged in a single row on one side of an axis, as the flowers in grasses of the tribe Chloridae.
Monosulphide (n.) A sulphide containing one atom of sulphur, and analogous to a monoxide; -- contrasted with a polysulphide; as, galena is a monosulphide.
Monosyllabic (a.) Being a monosyllable, or composed of monosyllables; as, a monosyllabic word; a monosyllabic language.
Monosyllabism (n.) The state of consisting of monosyllables, or having a monosyllabic form; frequent occurrence of monosyllables.
Monotessaron (n.) A single narrative framed from the statements of the four evangelists; a gospel harmony.
Monothelite (n.) One of an ancient sect who held that Christ had but one will as he had but one nature. Cf. Monophysite.
Monotone (n.) The utterance of successive syllables, words, or sentences, on one unvaried key or line of pitch.
Monotonist (n.) One who talks in the same strain or on the same subject until weariness is produced.
Monotonous (a.) Uttered in one unvarying tone; continued with dull uniformity; characterized by monotony; without change or variety; wearisome.
Monotony (n.) A frequent recurrence of the same tone or sound, producing a dull uniformity; absence of variety, as in speaking or singing.
Monotremata (n. pl.) A subclass of Mammalia, having a cloaca in which the ducts of the urinary, genital, and alimentary systems terminate, as in birds. The female lays eggs like a bird. See Duck mole, under Duck, and Echidna.
Monotriglyph (n.) A kind of intercolumniation in an entablature, in which only one triglyph and two metopes are introduced.
Monotropa (n.) A genus of parasitic or saprophytic plants including the Indian pipe and pine sap. The name alludes to the dropping end of the stem.
Monotypic (a.) Having but one type; containing but one representative; as, a monotypic genus, which contains but one species.
Monseigneur (n.) My lord; -- a title in France of a person of high birth or rank; as, Monseigneur the Prince, or Monseigneur the Archibishop. It was given, specifically, to the dauphin, before the Revolution of 1789. (Abbrev. Mgr.)
Monsignore (n.) My lord; -- an ecclesiastical dignity bestowed by the pope, entitling the bearer to social and domestic rank at the papal court. (Abbrev. Mgr.)
Monster (n.) Any thing or person of unnatural or excessive ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty.
Monster (n.) Specifically , an animal or plant departing greatly from the usual type, as by having too many limbs.
Monstrosity (n.) The state of being monstrous, or out of the common order of nature; that which is monstrous; a monster.
Monstrous (a.) Extraordinary in a way to excite wonder, dislike, apprehension, etc.; -- said of size, appearance, color, sound, etc.; as, a monstrous height; a monstrous ox; a monstrous story.
Monstrous (a.) Extraordinary on account of ugliness, viciousness, or wickedness; hateful; horrible; dreadful.
Monstrous (a.) Having the qualities of a monster; deviating greatly from the natural form or character; abnormal; as, a monstrous birth.
Montanist (n.) A follower of Mintanus, a Phrygian enthusiast of the second century, who claimed that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, dwelt in him, and employed him as an instrument for purifying and guiding men in the Christian life.
Monte-acid (n.) An acid elevator, as a tube through which acid is forced to some height in a sulphuric acid manufactory.
Montgolfier (n.) A balloon which ascends by the buoyancy of air heated by a fire; a fire balloon; -- so called from two brothers, Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, of France, who first constructed and sent up a fire balloon.
Month (n.) One of the twelve portions into which the year is divided; the twelfth part of a year, corresponding nearly to the length of a synodic revolution of the moon, -- whence the name. In popular use, a period of four weeks is often called a month.
Monthly (a.) Done, happening, payable, published, etc., once a month, or every month; as, a monthly visit; monthly charges; a monthly installment; a monthly magazine.
Monument (n.) A building, pillar, stone, or the like, erected to preserve the remembrance of a person, event, action, etc.; as, the Washington monument; the Bunker Hill monument. Also, a tomb, with memorial inscriptions.
Monureid (n.) Any one of a series of complex nitrogenous substances regarded as derived from one molecule of urea; as, alloxan is a monureid.
Mood (n.) Manner; style; mode; logical form; musical style; manner of action or being. See Mode which is the preferable form).
Mood (n.) Temper of mind; temporary state of the mind in regard to passion or feeling; humor; as, a melancholy mood; a suppliant mood.
Moodiness (n.) The quality or state of being moody; specifically, liability to strange or violent moods.
Moody (superl.) Hence: Out of humor; peevish; angry; fretful; also, abstracted and pensive; sad; gloomy; melancholy.
Moody (superl.) Subject to varying moods, especially to states of mind which are unamiable or depressed.
Moolley (a.) Destitute of horns, although belonging to a species of animals most of which have horns; hornless; polled; as, mulley cattle; a mulley (or moolley) cow.
Moon (n.) A secondary planet, or satellite, revolving about any member of the solar system; as, the moons of Jupiter or Saturn.
Moon-eye (n.) Any species of American fresh-water fishes of the genus Hyodon, esp. H. tergisus of the Great Lakes and adjacent waters.
Moonblink (n.) A temporary blindness, or impairment of sight, said to be caused by sleeping in the moonlight; -- sometimes called nyctalopia.
Moonfish (n.) A broad, thin, silvery marine fish (Selene vomer); -- called also lookdown, and silver moonfish.
Moonfish (n.) An American marine fish (Vomer setipennis); -- called also bluntnosed shiner, horsefish, and sunfish.
Moonflower (n.) A kind of morning glory (Ipomoea Bona-nox) with large white flowers opening at night.
Moonseed (n.) A climbing plant of the genus Menispermum; -- so called from the crescentlike form of the seeds.
Moonshiner (n.) A person engaged in illicit distilling; -- so called because the work is largely done at night.
Moonstone (n.) A nearly pellucid variety of feldspar, showing pearly or opaline reflections from within. It is used as a gem. The best specimens come from Ceylon.
Moonstruck (a.) Made sick by the supposed influence of the moon, as a human being; made unsuitable for food, as fishes, by such supposed influence.
Moonwort (n.) Any fern of the genus Botrychium, esp. B. Lunaria; -- so named from the crescent-shaped segments of its frond.
Moor (n.) An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath.
Moor (n.) Any individual of the swarthy races of Africa or Asia which have adopted the Mohammedan religion.
Moor (n.) One of a mixed race inhabiting Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, chiefly along the coast and in towns.
Moor (v. t.) To fix or secure, as a vessel, in a particular place by casting anchor, or by fastening with cables or chains; as, the vessel was moored in the stream; they moored the boat to the wharf.
Moot (n.) A meeting for discussion and deliberation; esp., a meeting of the people of a village or district, in Anglo-Saxon times, for the discussion and settlement of matters of common interest; -- usually in composition; as, folk-moot.
Moot (v. t.) Specifically: To discuss by way of exercise; to argue for practice; to propound and discuss in a mock court.
Moot-hill (n.) A hill of meeting or council; an elevated place in the open air where public assemblies or courts were held by the Saxons; -- called, in Scotland, mute-hill.
Mop (n.) An implement for washing floors, or the like, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or coarse yarn, fastened to a handle.
Mop (v. t.) To rub or wipe with a mop, or as with a mop; as, to mop a floor; to mop one's face with a handkerchief.
Mopboard (n.) A narrow board nailed against the wall of a room next to the floor; skirting board; baseboard. See Baseboard.
Moppet (n.) A rag baby; a puppet made of cloth; hence, also, in fondness, a little girl, or a woman.
Mora (n.) A game of guessing the number of fingers extended in a quick movement of the hand, -- much played by Italians of the lower classes.
Mora (n.) A leguminous tree of Guiana and Trinidad (Dimorphandra excelsa); also, its timber, used in shipbuilding and making furniture.
Moral (a.) Acting upon or through one's moral nature or sense of right, or suited to act in such a manner; as, a moral arguments; moral considerations. Sometimes opposed to material and physical; as, moral pressure or support.
Moral (a.) Capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by a sense of right; subject to the law of duty.
Moral (a.) Conformed to accepted rules of right; acting in conformity with such rules; virtuous; just; as, a moral man. Used sometimes in distinction from religious; as, a moral rather than a religious life.
Moral (a.) Supported by reason or probability; practically sufficient; -- opposed to legal or demonstrable; as, a moral evidence; a moral certainty.
Moral (n.) The doctrine or practice of the duties of life; manner of living as regards right and wrong; conduct; behavior; -- usually in the plural.
Moral (n.) The inner meaning or significance of a fable, a narrative, an occurrence, an experience, etc.; the practical lesson which anything is designed or fitted to teach; the doctrine meant to be inculcated by a fiction; a maxim.
Morale (a.) The moral condition, or the condition in other respects, so far as it is affected by, or dependent upon, moral considerations, such as zeal, spirit, hope, and confidence; mental state, as of a body of men, an army, and the like.
Moralist (n.) One who moralizes; one who teaches or animadverts upon the duties of life; a writer of essays intended to correct vice and inculcate moral duties.
Moralist (n.) One who practices moral duties; a person who lives in conformity with moral rules; one of correct deportment and dealings with his fellow-creatures; -- sometimes used in contradistinction to one whose life is controlled by religious motives.
Morality (n.) The doctrines or rules of moral duties, or the duties of men in their social character; ethics.
Morality (n.) The practice of the moral duties; rectitude of life; conformity to the standard of right; virtue; as, we often admire the politeness of men whose morality we question.
Morality (n.) The quality of an action which renders it good; the conformity of an act to the accepted standard of right.
Morality (n.) The relation of conformity or nonconformity to the moral standard or rule; quality of an intention, a character, an action, a principle, or a sentiment, when tried by the standard of right.
Moralize (v. t.) To give a moral quality to; to affect the moral quality of, either for better or worse.
Morally (adv.) In a manner calculated to serve as the basis of action; according to the usual course of things and human judgment; according to reason and probability.
Morally (adv.) In moral qualities; in disposition and character; as, one who physically and morally endures hardships.
Morbid (a.) Not sound and healthful; induced by a diseased or abnormal condition; diseased; sickly; as, morbid humors; a morbid constitution; a morbid state of the juices of a plant.
Morbillous (a.) Pertaining to the measles; partaking of the nature of measels, or resembling the eruptions of that disease; measly.
Mordant (n.) Any substance, as alum or copperas, which, having a twofold attraction for organic fibers and coloring matter, serves as a bond of union, and thus gives fixity to, or bites in, the dyes.
Mordant (v. t.) To subject to the action of, or imbue with, a mordant; as, to mordant goods for dyeing.
More (adv.) With an adjective or adverb (instead of the suffix -er) to form the comparative degree; as, more durable; more active; more sweetly.
More (n.) A greater quantity, amount, or number; that which exceeds or surpasses in any way what it is compared with.
Moreen (n.) A thick woolen fabric, watered or with embossed figures; -- used in upholstery, for curtains, etc.
Morel (n.) An edible fungus (Morchella esculenta), the upper part of which is covered with a reticulated and pitted hymenium. It is used as food, and for flavoring sauces.
Morello (n.) A kind of nearly black cherry with dark red flesh and juice, -- used chiefly for preserving.
Moreover (adv.) Beyond what has been said; further; besides; in addition; furthermore; also; likewise.
Morepork (n.) The Australian crested goatsucker (Aegotheles Novae-Hollandiae). Also applied to other allied birds, as Podargus Cuveiri.
Moresque (n.) The Moresque style of architecture or decoration. See Moorish architecture, under Moorish.
Morgue (n.) A place where the bodies of persons found dead are exposed, that they may be identified, or claimed by their friends; a deadhouse.
Morin (n.) A yellow crystalline substance of acid properties extracted from fustic (Maclura tinctoria, formerly called Morus tinctoria); -- called also moric acid.
Morinda (n.) A genus of rubiaceous trees and shrubs, mostly East Indian, many species of which yield valuable red and yellow dyes. The wood is hard and beautiful, and used for gunstocks.
Morindin (n.) A yellow dyestuff extracted from the root bark of an East Indian plant (Morinda citrifolia).
Moringa (n.) A genus of trees of Southern India and Northern Africa. One species (Moringa pterygosperma) is the horse-radish tree, and its seeds, as well as those of M. aptera, are known in commerce as ben or ben nuts, and yield the oil called oil of ben.
Morintannic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a variety of tannic acid extracted from fustic (Maclura, formerly Morus, tinctoria) as a yellow crystalline substance; -- called also maclurin.
Morisco (n.) A thing of Moorish origin; as: (a) The Moorish language. (b) A Moorish dance, now called morris dance. Marston. (c) One who dances the Moorish dance. Shak. (d) Moresque decoration or architecture.
Morne (n.) The first or early part of the day, variously understood as the earliest hours of light, the time near sunrise; the time from midnight to noon, from rising to noon, etc.
Morning (a.) Pertaining to the first part or early part of the day; being in the early part of the day; as, morning dew; morning light; morning service.
Morning-glory (n.) A climbing plant (Ipomoea purpurea) having handsome, funnel-shaped flowers, usually red, pink, purple, white, or variegated, sometimes pale blue. See Dextrorsal.
Morocco (n.) A fine kind of leather, prepared commonly from goatskin (though an inferior kind is made of sheepskin), and tanned with sumac and dyed of various colors; -- said to have been first made by the Moors.
Morosaurus (n.) An extinct genus of large herbivorous dinosaurs, found in Jurassic strata in America.
Morphine (n.) A bitter white crystalline alkaloid found in opium, possessing strong narcotic properties, and much used as an anodyne; -- called also morphia, and morphina.
Morphogeny (n.) History of the evolution of forms; that part of ontogeny that deals with the germ history of forms; -- distinguished from physiogeny.
Morphology (n.) That branch of biology which deals with the structure of animals and plants, treating of the forms of organs and describing their varieties, homologies, and metamorphoses. See Tectology, and Promorphology.
Morphon (n.) A morphological individual, characterized by definiteness of form bion, a physiological individual. See Tectology.
Morphophyly (n.) The tribal history of forms; that part of phylogeny which treats of the tribal history of forms, in distinction from the tribal history of functions.
Morphotic (a.) Connected with, or becoming an integral part of, a living unit or of the morphological framework; as, morphotic, or tissue, proteids.
Morris (n.) A dance formerly common in England, often performed in pagenats, processions, and May games. The dancers, grotesquely dressed and ornamented, took the parts of Robin Hood, Maidmarian, and other fictious characters.
Morris (n.) A marine fish having a very slender, flat, transparent body. It is now generally believed to be the young of the conger eel or some allied fish.
Morris (n.) A Moorish dance, usually performed by a single dancer, who accompanies the dance with castanets.
Morris (n.) An old game played with counters, or men, which are placed angles of a figure drawn on a board or on the ground; also, the board or ground on which the game is played.
Mortal (a.) Destructive to life; causing or occasioning death; terminating life; exposing to or deserving death; deadly; as, a mortal wound; a mortal sin.
Mortality (n.) The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying.
Mortally (adv.) In an extreme degree; to the point of dying or causing death; desperately; as, mortally jealous.
Mortar (n.) A building material made by mixing lime, cement, or plaster of Paris, with sand, water, and sometimes other materials; -- used in masonry for joining stones, bricks, etc., also for plastering, and in other ways.
Mortar (n.) A strong vessel, commonly in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or rubbed with a pestle.
Mortgage (v. t.) Hence: To pledge, either literally or figuratively; to make subject to a claim or obligation.
Mortification (n.) A gift to some charitable or religious institution; -- nearly synonymous with mortmain.
Mortification (n.) Hence: Deprivation or depression of self-approval; abatement or pride; humiliation; chagrin; vexation.
Mortification (n.) Subjection of the passions and appetites, by penance, absistence, or painful severities inflicted on the body.
Mortification (n.) The death of one part of an animal body, while the rest continues to live; loss of vitality in some part of a living animal; gangrene.
Mortify (v. i.) To practice penance from religious motives; to deaden desires by religious discipline.
Mortify (v. t.) To deaden by religious or other discipline, as the carnal affections, bodily appetites, or worldly desires; to bring into subjection; to abase; to humble.
Mortify (v. t.) To destroy the active powers or essential qualities of; to change by chemical action.
Mortifying (a.) Tending to mortify; affected by, or having symptoms of, mortification; as, a mortifying wound; mortifying flesh.
Mortise (n.) A cavity cut into a piece of timber, or other material, to receive something (as the end of another piece) made to fit it, and called a tenon.
Mortise (v. t.) To join or fasten by a tenon and mortise; as, to mortise a beam into a post, or a joist into a girder.
Mortmain (n.) Possession of lands or tenements in, or conveyance to, dead hands, or hands that cannot alienate.
Mortpay (n.) Dead pay; the crime of taking pay for the service of dead soldiers, or for services not actually rendered by soldiers.
Morula (n.) The sphere or globular mass of cells (blastomeres), formed by the clevage of the ovum or egg in the first stages of its development; -- called also mulberry mass, segmentation sphere, and blastosphere. See Segmentation.
Morus (n.) A genus of trees, some species of which produce edible fruit; the mulberry. See Mulberry.
Mosaic (a.) Of or pertaining to Moses, the leader of the Israelites, or established through his agency; as, the Mosaic law, rites, or institutions.
Mosaic (a.) Of or pertaining to the style of work called mosaic; formed by uniting pieces of different colors; variegated; tessellated; also, composed of various materials or ingredients.
Mosaic (n.) A surface decoration made by inlaying in patterns small pieces of variously colored glass, stone, or other material; -- called also mosaic work.
Mosaism (n.) Attachment to the system or doctrines of Moses; that which is peculiar to the Mosaic system or doctrines.
Mosasaurian (n.) One of an extinct order of reptiles, including Mosasaurus and allied genera. See Mosasauria.
Moschatel (n.) A plant of the genus Adoxa (A. moschatellina), the flowers of which are pale green, and have a faint musky smell. It is found in woods in all parts of Europe, and is called also hollow root and musk crowfoot.
Mossback (n.) A veteran partisan; one who is so conservative in opinion that he may be likened to a stone or old tree covered with moss.
Mosstrooper (n.) One of a class of marauders or bandits that formerly infested the border country between England and Scotland; -- so called in allusion to the mossy or boggy character of much of the border country.
Mossy (superl.) Overgrown with moss; abounding with or edged with moss; as, mossy trees; mossy streams.
Most (a.) Consisting of the greatest number or quantity; greater in number or quantity than all the rest; nearly all.
Mote (n.) A body of persons who meet for discussion, esp. about the management of affairs; as, a folkmote.
Motet (n.) A composition adapted to sacred words in the elaborate polyphonic church style; an anthem.
Moth (n.) Any lepidopterous insect that feeds upon garments, grain, etc.; as, the clothes moth; grain moth; bee moth. See these terms under Clothes, Grain, etc.
Moth (n.) Any nocturnal lepidopterous insect, or any not included among the butterflies; as, the luna moth; Io moth; hawk moth.
Mother (a.) Received by birth or from ancestors; native, natural; as, mother language; also acting the part, or having the place of a mother; producing others; originating.
Mother-of-pearl (n.) The hard pearly internal layer of several kinds of shells, esp. of pearl oysters, river mussels, and the abalone shells; nacre. See Pearl.
Mothering (n.) A rural custom in England, of visiting one's parents on Midlent Sunday, -- supposed to have been originally visiting the mother church to make offerings at the high altar.
Motherly (a.) Of or pertaining to a mother; like, or suitable for, a mother; tender; maternal; as, motherly authority, love, or care.
Motherwort (n.) A labiate herb (Leonurus Cardiaca), of a bitter taste, used popularly in medicine; lion's tail.
Motile (a.) Having powers of self-motion, though unconscious; as, the motile spores of certain seaweeds.
Motion (n.) A proposal or suggestion looking to action or progress; esp., a formal proposal made in a deliberative assembly; as, a motion to adjourn.
Motion (n.) An application made to a court or judge orally in open court. Its object is to obtain an order or rule directing some act to be done in favor of the applicant.
Motion (n.) Change in the relative position of the parts of anything; action of a machine with respect to the relative movement of its parts.
Motion (n.) Direction of movement; course; tendency; as, the motion of the planets is from west to east.
Motion (n.) Movement of the mind, desires, or passions; mental act, or impulse to any action; internal activity.
Motion (n.) The act, process, or state of changing place or position; movement; the passing of a body from one place or position to another, whether voluntary or involuntary; -- opposed to rest.
Motion (v. i.) To make a significant movement or gesture, as with the hand; as, to motion to one to take a seat.
Motion (v. t.) To direct or invite by a motion, as of the hand or head; as, to motion one to a seat.
Motive (a.) Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.
Motive (n.) That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object.
Motive (n.) That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one.
Motive (n.) The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also Leading motive, under Leading.
Motley (a.) Variegated in color; consisting of different colors; dappled; party-colored; as, a motley coat.
Motley (n.) A combination of distinct colors; esp., the party-colored cloth, or clothing, worn by the professional fool.
Motley (n.) Composed of different or various parts; heterogeneously made or mixed up; discordantly composite; as, motley style.
Moto (n.) Movement; manner of movement; particularly, movement with increased rapidity; -- used especially in the phrase con moto, directing to a somewhat quicker movement; as, andante con moto, a little more rapidly than andante, etc.
Motor (n.) A prime mover; a machine by means of which a source of power, as steam, moving water, electricity, etc., is made available for doing mechanical work.
Motorial (n.) Causing or setting up motion; pertaining to organs of motion; -- applied especially in physiology to those nerves or nerve fibers which only convey impressions from a nerve center to muscles, thereby causing motion.
Mottle (v. t.) To mark with spots of different color, or shades of color, as if stained; to spot; to maculate.
Motto (n.) A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim.
Mould (n.) A frame with a wire cloth bottom, on which the pump is drained to form a sheet, in making paper by hand.
Mould (n.) A group of moldings; as, the arch mold of a porch or doorway; the pier mold of a Gothic pier, meaning the whole profile, section, or combination of parts.
Mould (n.) A growth of minute fungi of various kinds, esp. those of the great groups Hyphomycetes, and Physomycetes, forming on damp or decaying organic matter.
Mould (n.) That on which, or in accordance with which, anything is modeled or formed; anything which serves to regulate the size, form, etc., as the pattern or templet used by a shipbuilder, carpenter, or mason.
Mould (n.) The matrix, or cavity, in which anything is shaped, and from which it takes its form; also, the body or mass containing the cavity; as, a sand mold; a jelly mold.
Mould (v.) Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil.
Mouldboard (n.) A curved plate of iron (originally of wood) back of the share of a plow, which turns over the earth in plowing.
Moulder (n.) One who, or that which, molds or forms into shape; specifically (Founding), one skilled in the art of making molds for castings.
Moulder (v. i.) To crumble into small particles; to turn to dust by natural decay; to lose form, or waste away, by a gradual separation of the component particles, without the presence of water; to crumble away.
Moulding (n.) Anything cast in a mold, or which appears to be so, as grooved or ornamental bars of wood or metal.
Moulding (n.) The act or process of shaping in or on a mold, or of making molds; the art or occupation of a molder.
Mound (n.) A ball or globe forming part of the regalia of an emperor or other sovereign. It is encircled with bands, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted with a cross; -- called also globe.
Mound (n.) An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embarkment thrown up for defense; a bulwark; a rampart; also, a natural elevation appearing as if thrown up artificially; a regular and isolated hill, hillock, or knoll.
Mount (n.) To get up on anything, as a platform or scaffold; especially, to seat one's self on a horse for riding.
Mount (n.) To rise on high; to go up; to be upraised or uplifted; to tower aloft; to ascend; -- often with up.
Mount (v. t.) Hence: To put upon anything that sustains and fits for use, as a gun on a carriage, a map or picture on cloth or paper; to prepare for being worn or otherwise used, as a diamond by setting, or a sword blade by adding the hilt, scabbard, etc.
Mount (v. t.) To cause to mount; to put on horseback; to furnish with animals for riding; to furnish with horses.
Mount (v. t.) To place one's self on, as a horse or other animal, or anything that one sits upon; to bestride.
Mount (v.) The cardboard or cloth on which a drawing, photograph, or the like is mounted; a mounting.
Mountain (a.) Of or pertaining to a mountain or mountains; growing or living on a mountain; found on or peculiar to mountains; among mountains; as, a mountain torrent; mountain pines; mountain goats; mountain air; mountain howitzer.
Mountain (n.) A large mass of earth and rock, rising above the common level of the earth or adjacent land; earth and rock forming an isolated peak or a ridge; an eminence higher than a hill; a mount.
Mountebank (n.) One who mounts a bench or stage in the market or other public place, boasts of his skill in curing diseases, and vends medicines which he pretends are infalliable remedies; a quack doctor.
Mounted (a.) Placed on a suitable support, or fixed in a setting; as, a mounted gun; a mounted map; a mounted gem.
Mounting (n.) That by which anything is prepared for use, or set off to advantage; equipment; embellishment; setting; as, the mounting of a sword or diamond.
Mourn (v. i.) To express or to feel grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful; to lament; to be in a state of grief or sadness.
Mourne (n.) The armed or feruled end of a staff; in a sheephook, the end of the staff to which the hook is attached.
Mournful (a.) Full of sorrow; expressing, or intended to express, sorrow; mourning; grieving; sad; also, causing sorrow; saddening; grievous; as, a mournful person; mournful looks, tones, loss.
Mourning (a.) Employed to express sorrow or grief; worn or used as appropriate to the condition of one bereaved or sorrowing; as, mourning garments; a mourning ring; a mourning pin, and the like.
Mourning (n.) Garb, drapery, or emblems indicative of grief, esp. clothing or a badge of somber black.
Mouse (n.) A knob made on a rope with spun yarn or parceling to prevent a running eye from slipping.
Mouse (v. i.) To watch for or pursue anything in a sly manner; to pry about, on the lookout for something.
Mousehole (n.) A hole made by a mouse, for passage or abode, as in a wall; hence, a very small hole like that gnawed by a mouse.
Mousetail (n.) A genus of ranunculaceous plants (Myosurus), in which the prolonged receptacle is covered with imbricating achenes, and so resembles the tail of a mouse.
Mousing (n.) A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straighening out.
Mouth (n.) The opening of a vessel by which it is filled or emptied, charged or discharged; as, the mouth of a jar or pitcher; the mouth of the lacteal vessels, etc.
Mouth (n.) The opening through which an animal receives food; the aperture between the jaws or between the lips; also, the cavity, containing the tongue and teeth, between the lips and the pharynx; the buccal cavity.
Mouth (v. t.) To take into the mouth; to seize or grind with the mouth or teeth; to chew; to devour.
Mouth (v. t.) To utter with a voice affectedly big or swelling; to speak in a strained or unnaturally sonorous manner.
Mouthed (a.) Having a mouth of a particular kind; using the mouth, speech, or voice in a particular way; -- used only in composition; as, wide-mouthed; hard-mouthed; foul-mouthed; mealy-mouthed.
Mouthpiece (n.) An appendage to an inlet or outlet opening of a pipe or vessel, to direct or facilitate the inflow or outflow of a fluid.
Mouthpiece (n.) One who delivers the opinion of others or of another; a spokesman; as, the mouthpiece of his party.
Mouthpiece (n.) The part of a musical or other instrument to which the mouth is applied in using it; as, the mouthpiece of a bugle, or of a tobacco pipe.
Movable (a.) Capable of being moved, lifted, carried, drawn, turned, or conveyed, or in any way made to change place or posture; susceptible of motion; not fixed or stationary; as, a movable steam engine.
Movable (a.) Changing from one time to another; as, movable feasts, i. e., church festivals, the date of which varies from year to year.
Movable (n.) An article of wares or goods; a commodity; a piece of property not fixed, or not a part of real estate; generally, in the plural, goods; wares; furniture.
Move (n.) The act of moving one of the pieces, from one position to another, in the progress of the game.
Move (v. i.) To change place or posture; to stir; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another; as, a ship moves rapidly.
Move (v. t.) To arouse the feelings or passions of; especially, to excite to tenderness or compassion; to touch pathetically; to excite, as an emotion.
Move (v. t.) To cause to change place or posture in any manner; to set in motion; to carry, convey, draw, or push from one place to another; to impel; to stir; as, the wind moves a vessel; the horse moves a carriage.
Move (v. t.) To excite to action by the presentation of motives; to rouse by representation, persuasion, or appeal; to influence.
Move (v. t.) To propose; to recommend; specifically, to propose formally for consideration and determination, in a deliberative assembly; to submit, as a resolution to be adopted; as, to move to adjourn.
Move (v. t.) To transfer (a piece or man) from one space or position to another, according to the rules of the game; as, to move a king.
Movement (n.) A system of mechanism for transmitting motion of a definite character, or for transforming motion; as, the wheelwork of a watch.
Movement (n.) One of the several strains or pieces, each complete in itself, with its own time and rhythm, which make up a larger work; as, the several movements of a suite or a symphony.
Mover (n.) A proposer; one who offers a proposition, or recommends anything for consideration or adoption; as, the mover of a resolution in a legislative body.
Mover (n.) One who, or that which, excites, instigates, or causes movement, change, etc.; as, movers of sedition.
Moving (a.) Exciting movement of the mind; adapted to move the sympathies, passions, or affections; touching; pathetic; as, a moving appeal.
Moving (n.) The act of changing place or posture; esp., the act of changing one's dwelling place or place of business.
Mow (v. t.) To cut down; to cause to fall in rows or masses, as in mowing grass; -- with down; as, a discharge of grapeshot mows down whole ranks of men.
Moxa (n.) A soft woolly mass prepared from the young leaves of Artemisia Chinensis, and used as a cautery by burning it on the skin; hence, any substance used in a like manner, as cotton impregnated with niter, amadou.
Mozzetta (n.) A cape, with a small hood; -- worn by the pope and other dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church.
Mrs. () The customary abbreviation of Mistress when used as a title of courtesy, in writing and printing.
Mucedin (n.) A yellowish white, amorphous, nitrogenous substance found in wheat, rye, etc., and resembling gluten; -- formerly called also mucin.
Much (Compar. & superl. wanting, but supplied by) Great in quantity; long in duration; as, much rain has fallen; much time.
Mucic (a.) Pertaining to, or derived from, gums and micilaginous substances; specif., denoting an acid obtained by the oxidation of gums, dulcite, etc., as a white crystalline substance isomeric with saccharic acid.
Mucilage (n.) A gummy or gelatinous substance produced in certain plants by the action of water on the cell wall, as in the seeds of quinces, of flax, etc.
Mucilage (n.) An aqueous solution of gum, or of substances allied to it; as, medicinal mucilage; mucilage for fastening envelopes.
Mucilaginous (a.) Partaking of the nature of, or resembling, mucilage; moist, soft, and viscid; slimy; ropy; as, a mucilaginous liquid.
Mucilaginous (a.) Soluble in water, but not in alcohol; yielding mucilage; as, mucilaginous gums or plants.
Mucivore (n.) An insect which feeds on mucus, or the sap of plants, as certain Diptera, of the tribe Mucivora.
Muckworm (n.) A larva or grub that lives in muck or manure; -- applied to the larvae of the tumbledung and allied beetles.
Mucocele (n.) An enlargement or protrusion of the mucous membrane of the lachrymal passages, or dropsy of the lachrymal sac, dependent upon catarrhal inflammation of the latter.
Muconic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an organic acid, obtained indirectly from mucic acid, and somewhat resembling itaconic acid.
Mucor (n.) A genus of minute fungi. The plants consist of slender threads with terminal globular sporangia; mold.
Mucous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, mucus; slimy, ropy, or stringy, and lubricous; as, a mucous substance.
Mucro (n.) A minute abrupt point, as of a leaf; any small, sharp point or process, terminating a larger part or organ.
Mucronated (a.) Ending abruptly in a sharp point; abruptly tipped with a short and sharp point; as, a mucronate leaf.
Mucus (n.) A viscid fluid secreted by mucous membranes, which it serves to moisten and protect. It covers the lining membranes of all the cavities which open externally, such as those of the mouth, nose, lungs, intestinal canal, urinary passages, etc.
Mucus (n.) Any other animal fluid of a viscid quality, as the synovial fluid, which lubricates the cavities of the joints; -- improperly so used.
Mudar (n.) Either one of two asclepiadaceous shrubs (Calotropis gigantea, and C. procera), which furnish a strong and valuable fiber. The acrid milky juice is used medicinally.
Mudarin (n.) A brown, amorphous, bitter substance having a strong emetic action, extracted from the root of the mudar.
Muddiness (n.) The condition or quality of being muddy; turbidness; foulness caused by mud, dirt, or sediment; as, the muddiness of a stream.
Muddle (v. t.) To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify.
Muddy (superl.) Abounding in mud; besmeared or dashed with mud; as, a muddy road or path; muddy boots.
Muddy (superl.) Confused, as if turbid with mud; cloudy in mind; dull; stupid; also, immethodical; incoherent; vague.
Mudfish (n.) The South American lipedosiren, and the allied African species (Protopterus annectens). See Lipedosiren.
Mudsill (n.) The lowest sill of a structure, usually embedded in the soil; the lowest timber of a house; also, that sill or timber of a bridge which is laid at the bottom of the water. See Sill.
Muff (n.) A soft cover of cylindrical form, usually of fur, worn by women to shield the hands from cold.
Muffle (v. t.) A small oven for baking and fixing the colors of painted or printed pottery, without exposing the pottery to the flames of the furnace or kiln.
Muffle (v. t.) An earthenware compartment or oven, often shaped like a half cylinder, used in furnaces to protect objects heated from the direct action of the fire, as in scorification of ores, cupellation of ore buttons, etc.
Muffle (v. t.) Anything with which another thing, as an oar or drum, is muffled; also, a boxing glove; a muff.
Muffle (v. t.) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.
Muffle (v. t.) To wrap up in something that conceals or protects; to wrap, as the face and neck, in thick and disguising folds; hence, to conceal or cover the face of; to envelop; to inclose; -- often with up.
Muffle (v. t.) To wrap with something that dulls or deadens the sound of; as, to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock.
Muffler (n.) A cushion for terminating or softening a note made by a stringed instrument with a keyboard.
Muffler (n.) Anything used in muffling; esp., a scarf for protecting the head and neck in cold weather; a tippet.
Mufti (n.) Citizen's dress when worn by a naval or military officer; -- a term derived from the British service in India.
Mug (n.) A kind of earthen or metal drinking cup, with a handle, -- usually cylindrical and without a lip.
Muggletonian (n.) One of an extinct sect, named after Ludovic Muggleton, an English journeyman tailor, who (about 1657) claimed to be inspired.
Mugwort (n.) A somewhat aromatic composite weed (Artemisia vulgaris), at one time used medicinally; -- called also motherwort.
Muharram (n.) A festival of the Shiah sect of the Mohammedans held during the first ten days of the month Mohurrum.
Mulatto (n.) The offspring of a negress by a white man, or of a white woman by a negro, -- usually of a brownish yellow complexion.
Mulch (n.) Half-rotten straw, or any like substance strewn on the ground, as over the roots of plants, to protect from heat, drought, etc., and to preserve moisture.
Mulct (v. t.) To punish for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a fine or forfeiture, esp. a pecuniary fine; to fine.
Mule (n.) A hybrid animal; specifically, one generated between an ass and a mare, sometimes a horse and a she-ass. See Hinny.
Mule (n.) A machine, used in factories, for spinning cotton, wool, etc., into yarn or thread and winding it into cops; -- called also jenny and mule-jenny.
Mule (n.) A plant or vegetable produced by impregnating the pistil of one species with the pollen or fecundating dust of another; -- called also hybrid.
Muliebrity (n.) The state of being a woman or of possessing full womanly powers; womanhood; -- correlate of virility.
Mulier (n.) Lawful issue born in wedlock, in distinction from an elder brother born of the same parents before their marriage; a lawful son.
Mull (n.) An inferior kind of madder prepared from the smaller roots or the peelings and refuse of the larger.
Mull (v. i.) To work (over) mentally; to cogitate; to ruminate; -- usually with over; as, to mull over a thought or a problem.
Mullein (n.) Any plant of the genus Verbascum. They are tall herbs having coarse leaves, and large flowers in dense spikes. The common species, with densely woolly leaves, is Verbascum Thapsus.
Muller (n.) A stone or thick lump of glass, or kind of pestle, flat at the bottom, used for grinding pigments or drugs, etc., upon a slab of similar material.
Mullet (n.) A star, usually five pointed and pierced; -- when used as a difference it indicates the third son.
Mullion (n.) A slender bar or pier which forms the division between the lights of windows, screens, etc.
Multiaxial (a.) Having more than one axis; developing in more than a single line or plain; -- opposed to monoaxial.
Multicostate (a.) Having numerous ribs, or costae, as the leaf of a plant, or as certain shells and corals.
Multifarious (a.) Having multiplicity; having great diversity or variety; of various kinds; diversified; made up of many differing parts; manifold.
Multifariousness (n.) The fault of improperly uniting in one bill distinct and independent matters, and thereby confounding them.
Multifid (a.) Having many segments; cleft into several parts by linear sinuses; as, a multifid leaf or corolla.
Multiformity (n.) The quality of being multiform; diversity of forms; variety of appearances in the same thing.
Multilocular (a.) Having many or several cells or compartments; as, a multilocular shell or capsule.
Multiple (a.) Containing more than once, or more than one; consisting of more than one; manifold; repeated many times; having several, or many, parts.
Multiplicand (n.) The number which is to be multiplied by another number called the multiplier. See Note under Multiplication.
Multiplication (n.) An increase above the normal number of parts, especially of petals; augmentation.
Multiplication (n.) The act or process of multiplying, or of increasing in number; the state of being multiplied; as, the multiplication of the human species by natural generation.
Multiplication (n.) The art of increasing gold or silver by magic, -- attributed formerly to the alchemists.
Multiplicity (n.) The quality of being multiple, manifold, or various; a state of being many; a multitude; as, a multiplicity of thoughts or objects.
Multiplier (n.) The number by which another number is multiplied. See the Note under Multiplication.
Multiply (v. t.) To add (any given number or quantity) to itself a certain number of times; to find the product of by multiplication; thus 7 multiplied by 8 produces the number 56; to multiply two numbers. See the Note under Multiplication.
Multipolar (a.) Having many poles; -- applied especially to those ganglionic nerve cells which have several radiating processes.
Multiserial (a.) Arranged in many rows, or series, as the scales of a pine cone, or the leaves of the houseleek.
Multispiral (a.) Having numerous spiral coils round a center or nucleus; -- said of the opercula of certain shells.
Multitude (n.) A great number of persons collected together; a numerous collection of persons; a crowd; an assembly.
Multitude (n.) A great number of persons or things, regarded collectively; as, the book will be read by a multitude of people; the multitude of stars; a multitude of cares.
Multitudinous (a.) Consisting of a multitude; manifold in number or condition; as, multitudinous waves.
Multivalvular (a.) Many-valved; having more than two valves; -- said of certain shells, as the chitons.
Multum (n.) An extract of quassia licorice, fraudulently used by brewers in order to economize malt and hops.
Mumble (v.) To speak with the lips partly closed, so as to render the sounds inarticulate and imperfect; to utter words in a grumbling indistinct manner, indicating discontent or displeasure; to mutter.
Mummichog (n.) Any one of several species of small American cyprinodont fishes of the genus Fundulus, and of allied genera; the killifishes; -- called also minnow.
Mummified (a.) Converted into a mummy or a mummylike substance; having the appearance of a mummy; withered.
Mummiform (a.) Having some resemblance to a mummy; -- in zoology, said of the pupae of certain insects.
Mummy (n.) A dead body embalmed and dried after the manner of the ancient Egyptians; also, a body preserved, by any means, in a dry state, from the process of putrefaction.
Mummy (n.) A gummy liquor that exudes from embalmed flesh when heated; -- formerly supposed to have magical and medicinal properties.
Mumps (n.) A specific infectious febrile disorder characterized by a nonsuppurative inflammation of the parotid glands; epidemic or infectious parotitis.
Munch (v. t. & i.) To chew with a grinding, crunching sound, as a beast chews provender; to chew deliberately or in large mouthfuls.
Munchausenism (n.) An extravagant fiction embodying an account of some marvelous exploit or adventure.
Municipal (a.) Of or pertaining to a city or a corporation having the right of administering local government; as, municipal rights; municipal officers.
Munificence (n.) The quality or state of being munificent; a giving or bestowing with extraordinary liberality; generous bounty; lavish generosity.
Muniment (n.) A record; the evidences or writings whereby a man is enabled to defend the title to his estate; title deeds and papers.
Muniment (n.) That which supports or defends; stronghold; place or means of defense; munition; assistance.
Munition (n.) Whatever materials are used in war for defense or for annoying an enemy; ammunition; also, stores and provisions; military stores of all kinds.
Munjistin (n.) An orange-red coloring substance resembling alizarin, found in the root of an East Indian species of madder (Rubia munjista).
Muntjac (n.) Any one of several species of small Asiatic deer of the genus Cervulus, esp. C. muntjac, which occurs both in India and on the East Indian Islands.
Mural (a.) Of or pertaining to a wall; being on, or in, a wall; growing on, or against, a wall; as, a mural quadrant.
Murder (n.) The offense of killing a human being with malice prepense or aforethought, express or implied; intentional and unlawful homicide.
Murder (n.) To kill with premediated malice; to kill (a human being) willfully, deliberately, and unlawfully. See Murder, n.
Murder (n.) To mutilate, spoil, or deform, as if with malice or cruelty; to mangle; as, to murder the king's English.
Murderer (n.) A small cannon, formerly used for clearing a ship's decks of boarders; -- called also murdering piece.
Murderer (n.) One guilty of murder; a person who, in possession of his reason, unlawfully kills a human being with premeditated malice.
Murderous (a.) Of or pertaining to murder; characterized by, or causing, murder or bloodshed; having the purpose or quality of murder; bloody; sanguinary; as, the murderous king; murderous rapine; murderous intent; a murderous assault.
Murex (n.) A genus of marine gastropods, having rough, and frequently spinose, shells, which are often highly colored inside; the rock shells. They abound in tropical seas.
Murexan (n.) A complex nitrogenous substance obtained from murexide, alloxantin, and other ureids, as a white, or yellowish, crystalline which turns red on exposure to the air; -- called also uramil, dialuramide, and formerly purpuric acid.
Murexoin (n.) A complex nitrogenous compound obtained as a scarlet crystalline substance, and regarded as related to murexide.
Muriatic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, sea salt, or from chlorine, one of the constituents of sea salt; hydrochloric.
Muricated (a.) Formed with sharp points; full of sharp points or of pickles; covered, or roughened, as a surface, with sharp points or excrescences.
Muriform (a.) Resembling courses of bricks or stones in squareness and regular arrangement; as, a muriform variety of cellular tissue.
Murmur (v. i.) To make a low continued noise, like the hum of bees, a stream of water, distant waves, or the wind in a forest.
Murmur (v. i.) To utter complaints in a low, half-articulated voice; to feel or express dissatisfaction or discontent; to grumble; -- often with at or against.
Murnival (n.) In the game of gleek, four cards of the same value, as four aces or four kings; hence, four of anything.
Murrayin (n.) A glucoside found in the flowers of a plant (Murraya exotica) of South Asia, and extracted as a white amorphous slightly bitter substance.
Murrelet (n.) One of several species of sea birds of the genera Synthliboramphus and Brachyramphus, inhabiting the North Pacific. They are closely related to the murres.
Murrhine (a.) Made of the stone or material called by the Romans murrha; -- applied to certain costly vases of great beauty and delicacy used by the luxurious in Rome as wine cups; as, murrhine vases, cups, vessels.
Musang (n.) A small animal of Java (Paradoxirus fasciatus), allied to the civets. It swallows, but does not digest, large quantities of ripe coffee berries, thus serving to disseminate the coffee plant; hence it is called also coffee rat.
Musca (n.) A genus of dipterous insects, including the common house fly, and numerous allied species.
Muscadine (n.) A name given to several very different kinds of grapes, but in America used chiefly for the scuppernong, or southern fox grape, which is said to be the parent stock of the Catawba. See Grapevine.
Muscales (n. pl.) An old name for mosses in the widest sense, including the true mosses and also hepaticae and sphagna.
Muscardine (n.) A disease which is very destructive to silkworms, and which sometimes extends to other insects. It is attended by the development of a fungus (provisionally called Botrytis bassiana). Also, the fungus itself.
Muscarin (n.) A solid crystalline substance, C5H13NO2, found in the toadstool (Agaricus muscarius), and in putrid fish. It is a typical ptomaine, and a violent poison.
Muscat (n.) A name given to several varieties of Old World grapes, differing in color, size, etc., but all having a somewhat musky flavor. The muscat of Alexandria is a large oval grape of a pale amber color.
Muscatel (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, or derived from, a muscat grapes or similar grapes; a muscatel grapes; muscatel wine, etc.
Muscatel (n.) A common name for several varieties of rich sweet wine, made in Italy, Spain, and France.
Muschelkalk (n.) A kind of shell limestone, whose strata form the middle one of the three divisions of the Triassic formation in Germany. See Chart, under Geology.
Muscicapine (a.) Of or pertaining to the Muscicapidae, a family of birds that includes the true flycatchers.
Muscoid (n.) A term formerly applied to any mosslike flowerless plant, with a distinct stem, and often with leaves, but without any vascular system.
Muscovado (a.) Pertaining to, or of the nature of, unrefined or raw sugar, obtained from the juice of the sugar cane by evaporating and draining off the molasses. Muscovado sugar contains impurities which render it dark colored and moist.
Muscovy duck () A duck (Cairina moschata), larger than the common duck, often raised in poultry yards. Called also musk duck. It is native of tropical America, from Mexico to Southern Brazil.
Muscular (a.) Of or pertaining to a muscle, or to a system of muscles; consisting of, or constituting, a muscle or muscles; as, muscular fiber.
Muscular (a.) Well furnished with muscles; having well-developed muscles; brawny; hence, strong; powerful; vigorous; as, a muscular body or arm.
Muscule (n.) A long movable shed used by besiegers in ancient times in attacking the walls of a fortified town.
Musculospiral (a.) Of or pertaining to the muscles, and taking a spiral course; -- applied esp. to a large nerve of the arm.
Muse (n.) A gap or hole in a hedge, hence, wall, or the like, through which a wild animal is accustomed to pass; a muset.
Muse (n.) Contemplation which abstracts the mind from passing scenes; absorbing thought; hence, absence of mind; a brown study.
Muse (n.) One of the nine goddesses who presided over song and the different kinds of poetry, and also the arts and sciences; -- often used in the plural.
Muse (n.) To be absent in mind; to be so occupied in study or contemplation as not to observe passing scenes or things present; to be in a brown study.
Museum (n.) A repository or a collection of natural, scientific, or literary curiosities, or of works of art.
Mushroom (a.) Resembling mushrooms in rapidity of growth and shortness of duration; short-lived; ephemerial; as, mushroom cities.
Mushroom (n.) Any large fungus, especially one of the genus Agaricus; a toadstool. Several species are edible; but many are very poisonous.
Mushroom-headed (a.) Having a cylindrical body with a convex head of larger diameter; having a head like that of a mushroom.
Musical (a.) Of or pertaining to music; having the qualities of music; or the power of producing music; devoted to music; melodious; harmonious; as, musical proportion; a musical voice; musical instruments; a musical sentence; musical persons.
Musician (n.) One skilled in the art or science of music; esp., a skilled singer, or performer on a musical instrument.
Musicomania (n.) A kind of monomania in which the passion for music becomes so strong as to derange the intellectual faculties.
Muskellunge (n.) A large American pike (Esox nobilitor) found in the Great Lakes, and other Northern lakes, and in the St. Lawrence River. It is valued as a food fish.
Muskogees (n. pl.) A powerful tribe of North American Indians that formerly occupied the region of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. They constituted a large part of the Creek confederacy.
Muslin (n.) A thin cotton, white, dyed, or printed. The name is also applied to coarser and heavier cotton goods; as, shirting and sheeting muslins.
Muss (n.) A scramble, as when small objects are thrown down, to be taken by those who can seize them; a confused struggle.
Muss (n.) A state of confusion or disorder; -- prob. variant of mess, but influenced by muss, a scramble.
Mussel (n.) Any one of numerous species of Unio, and related fresh-water genera; -- called also river mussel. See Naiad, and Unio.
Must (v. i. / auxiliary) To be morally required; to be necessary or essential to a certain quality, character, end, or result; as, he must reconsider the matter; he must have been insane.
Must (v. i. / auxiliary) To be obliged; to be necessitated; -- expressing either physical or moral necessity; as, a man must eat for nourishment; we must submit to the laws.
Mustache (n.) A West African monkey (Cercopithecus cephus). It has yellow whiskers, and a triangular blue mark on the nose.
Mustache (n.) That part of the beard which grows on the upper lip; hair left growing above the mouth.
Mustaiba (n.) A close-grained, neavy wood of a brownish color, brought from Brazil, and used in turning, for making the handles of tools, and the like.
Mustang (n.) The half-wild horse of the plains in Mexico, California, etc. It is small, hardy, and easily sustained.
Mustard (n.) A powder or a paste made from the seeds of black or white mustard, used as a condiment and a rubefacient. Taken internally it is stimulant and diuretic, and in large doses is emetic.
Mustard (n.) The name of several cruciferous plants of the genus Brassica (formerly Sinapis), as white mustard (B. alba), black mustard (B. Nigra), wild mustard or charlock (B. Sinapistrum).
Muster (v. i.) To be gathered together for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like; to come together as parts of a force or body; as, his supporters mustered in force.
Muster (v. t.) An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service.
Muster (v. t.) The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army.
Muster (v. t.) To collect and display; to assemble, as troops for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like.
Musty (n.) Having the rank, pungent, offencive odor and taste which substances of organic origin acquire during warm, moist weather; foul or sour and fetid; moldy; as, musty corn; musty books.
Mutability (n.) The quality of being mutable, or subject to change or alteration, either in form, state, or essential character; susceptibility of change; changeableness; inconstancy; variation.
Mutandum (n.) A thing which is to be changed; something which must be altered; -- used chiefly in the plural.
Mute (a.) Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; -- said of certain letters. See 5th Mute, 2.
Mute (n.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p, b, d, k, t.
Mute (n.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.
Mute (n.) Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is selected for his place because he can not speak.
Mute (n.) One who, from deafness, either congenital or from early life, is unable to use articulate language; a deaf-mute.
Mutilate (v. t.) To cut off or remove a limb or essential part of; to maim; to cripple; to hack; as, to mutilate the body, a statue, etc.
Mutilate (v. t.) To destroy or remove a material part of, so as to render imperfect; as, to mutilate the orations of Cicero.
Mutilation (n.) The act of mutilating, or the state of being mutilated; deprivation of a limb or of an essential part.
Mutinous (a.) Disposed to mutiny; in a state of mutiny; characterized by mutiny; seditious; insubordinate.
Mutiny (v. i.) To rise against, or refuse to obey, lawful authority in military or naval service; to excite, or to be guilty of, mutiny or mutinous conduct; to revolt against one's superior officer, or any rightful authority.
Mutter (v. i.) To utter words indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; esp., to utter indistinct complaints or angry expressions; to grumble; to growl.
Mutual (a.) Possessed, experienced, or done by two or more persons or things at the same time; common; joint; as, mutual happiness; a mutual effort.
Mutual (a.) Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal; interchanged; as, a mutual love, advantage, assistance, aversion, etc.
Mutuality (n.) The quality of correlation; reciprocation; interchange; interaction; interdependence.
Mutuary (n.) One who borrows personal chattels which are to be consumed by him, and which he is to return or repay in kind.
Mutule (n.) A projecting block worked under the corona of the Doric corice, in the same situation as the modillion of the Corinthian and Composite orders. See Illust. of Gutta.
Muzarab (n.) One of a denomination of Christians formerly living under the government of the Moors in Spain, and having a liturgy and ritual of their own.
Muzzle (v. i.) A fastening or covering (as a band or cage) for the mouth of an animal, to prevent eating or vicious biting.
Muzzle (v. t.) To bind the mouth of; to fasten the mouth of, so as to prevent biting or eating; hence, figuratively, to bind; to sheathe; to restrain from speech or action.
Muzzle-loader (n.) A firearm which receives its charge through the muzzle, as distinguished from one which is loaded at the breech.
My (a.) Of or belonging to me; -- used always attributively; as, my body; my book; -- mine is used in the predicate; as, the book is mine. See Mine.
Myall wood () A durable, fragrant, and dark-colored Australian wood, used by the natives for spears. It is obtained from the small tree Acacia homolophylla.
Mycelium (n.) The white threads or filamentous growth from which a mushroom or fungus is developed; the so-called mushroom spawn.
Mycoderma (n.) A genus of microorganisms of which the acetic ferment (Mycoderma aceti), which converts alcoholic fluids into vinegar, is a representative. Cf. Mother.
Mycomelic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a complex nitrogenous acid of the alloxan group, obtained as a honey-yellow powder. Its solutions have a gelatinous consistency.
Mycose (n.) A variety of sugar, isomeric with sucrose and obtained from certain lichens and fungi. Called also trehalose.
Mydaleine (n.) A toxic alkaloid (ptomaine) obtained from putrid flesh and from herring brines. As a poison it is said to execute profuse diarrhoea, vomiting, and intestinal inflammation.
Mydatoxin (n.) A poisonous amido acid, C6H13NO2, separated by Brieger from decaying horseflesh. In physiological action, it is similar to curare.
Myelencephalon (n.) The brain and spinal cord; the cerebro-spinal axis; the neuron. Sometimes abbreviated to myelencephal.
Myelin (n.) A soft white substance constituting the medullary sheats of nerve fibers, and composed mainly of cholesterin, lecithin, cerebrin, albumin, and some fat.
Myelin (n.) One of a group of phosphorized principles occurring in nerve tissue, both in the brain and nerve fibers.
Myeloidin (n.) A substance, present in the protoplasm of the retinal epithelium cells, and resembling, if not identical with, the substance (myelin) forming the medullary sheaths of nerve fibers.
Myeloplax (n.) One of the huge multinucleated cells found in the marrow of bone and occasionally in other parts; a giant cell. See Osteoclast.
Mylohyoid (a.) Pertaining to, or in the region of, the lower jaw and the hyoid apparatus; as, the mylohyoid nerve.
Myocardium (n.) The main substance of the muscular wall of the heart inclosed between the epicardium and endocardium.
Myochrome (n.) A colored albuminous substance in the serum from red-colored muscles. It is identical with hemoglobin.
Myodynamics (n.) The department of physiology which deals with the principles of muscular contraction; the exercise of muscular force or contraction.
Myodynamometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the muscular strength of man or of other animals; a dynamometer.
Myoepithelial (a.) Derived from epithelial cells and destined to become a part of the muscular system; -- applied to structural elements in certain embryonic forms.
Myoepithelial (a.) Having the characteristics of both muscle and epithelium; as, the myoepithelial cells of the hydra.
Myogalid (n.) One of the Myogalodae, a family of Insectivora, including the desman, and allied species.
Myograph (n.) An instrument for determining and recording the different phases, as the intensity, velocity, etc., of a muscular contraction.
Myography (n.) The description of muscles, including the study of muscular contraction by the aid of registering apparatus, as by some form of myograph; myology.
Myohaematin (n.) A red-colored respiratory pigment found associated with hemoglobin in the muscle tissue of a large number of animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate.
Myomorpha (n. pl.) An extensive group of rodents which includes the rats, mice, jerboas, and many allied forms.
Myosin (n.) An albuminous body present in dead muscle, being formed in the process of coagulation which takes place in rigor mortis; the clot formed in the coagulation of muscle plasma. See Muscle plasma, under Plasma.
Myotome (n.) A muscular segment; one of the zones into which the muscles of the trunk, especially in fishes, are divided; a myocomma.
Myotome (n.) One of the embryonic muscular segments arising from the protovertebrae; also, one of the protovertebrae themselves.
Myrcia (n.) A large genus of tropical American trees and shrubs, nearly related to the true myrtles (Myrtus), from which they differ in having very few seeds in each berry.
Myria- () A prefix, esp. in the metric system, indicating ten thousand, ten thousand times; as, myriameter.
Myriagramme (n.) A metric weight, consisting of ten thousand grams or ten kilograms. It is equal to 22.046 lbs. avoirdupois.
Myrialitre (n.) A metric measure of capacity, containing ten thousand liters. It is equal to 2641.7 wine gallons.
Myriametre (n.) A metric measure of length, containing ten thousand meters. It is equal to 6.2137 miles.
Myriare (n.) A measure of surface in the metric system containing ten thousand ares, or one million square meters. It is equal to about 247.1 acres.
Myrica (n.) A widely dispersed genus of shrubs and trees, usually with aromatic foliage. It includes the bayberry or wax myrtle, the sweet gale, and the North American sweet fern, so called.
Myricin (n.) A silky, crystalline, waxy substance, forming the less soluble part of beeswax, and regarded as a palmitate of a higher alcohol of the paraffin series; -- called also myricyl alcohol.
Myricyl (n.) A hypothetical radical regarded as the essential residue of myricin; -- called also melissyl.
Myriologue (n.) An extemporaneous funeral song, composed and sung by a woman on the death of a friend.
Myriorama (n.) A picture made up of several smaller pictures, drawn upon separate pieces in such a manner as to admit of combination in many different ways, thus producing a great variety of scenes or landscapes.
Myristic (a.) Pertaining to, or derived from, the nutmeg (Myristica). Specifically, designating an acid found in nutmeg oil and otoba fat, and extracted as a white crystalline waxy substance.
Myrmicine (a.) Of or pertaining to Myrmica, a genus of ants including the small house ant (M. molesta), and many others.
Myrmidon (n.) A soldier or a subordinate civil officer who executes cruel orders of a superior without protest or pity; -- sometimes applied to bailiffs, constables, etc.
Myrmidon (n.) One of a fierce tribe or troop who accompained Achilles, their king, to the Trojan war.
Myronic (a.) Pertaining to, or obtained from, mustard; -- used specifically to designate a glucoside called myronic acid, found in mustard seed.
Myroxylon (n.) A genus of leguminous trees of tropical America, the different species of which yield balsamic products, among which are balsam of Peru, and balsam of Tolu. The species were formerly referred to Myrospermum.
Myrtaceous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a large and important natural order of trees and shrubs (Myrtaceae), of which the myrtle is the type. It includes the genera Eucalyptus, Pimenta, Lechythis, and about seventy more.
Myself (pron.) I or me in person; -- used for emphasis, my own self or person; as I myself will do it; I have done it myself; -- used also instead of me, as the object of the first person of a reflexive verb, without emphasis; as, I will defend myself.
Mysis (n.) A genus of small schizopod shrimps found both in fresh and salt water; the opossum shrimps. One species inhabits the Great Lakes of North America, and is largely eaten by the whitefish. The marine species form part of the food of right whales.
Mystagogical (a.) Of or pertaining to interpretation of mysteries or to mystagogue; of the nature of mystagogy.
Mysterious (a.) Of or pertaining to mystery; containing a mystery; difficult or impossible to understand; obscure not revealed or explained; enigmatical; incomprehensible.
Mystery (a.) A kind of secret religious celebration, to which none were admitted except those who had been initiated by certain preparatory ceremonies; -- usually plural; as, the Eleusinian mysteries.
Mystic (n.) One given to mysticism; one who holds mystical views, interpretations, etc.; especially, in ecclesiastical history, one who professed mysticism. See Mysticism.
Mystical (a.) Importing or implying mysticism; involving some secret meaning; allegorical; emblematical; as, a mystic dance; mystic Babylon.
Mystical (a.) Remote from or beyond human comprehension; baffling human understanding; unknowable; obscure; mysterious.
Mysticism (n.) The doctrine that the ultimate elements or principles of knowledge or belief are gained by an act or process akin to feeling or faith.
Mystification (n.) The act of mystifying, or the state of being mystied; also, something designed to, or that does, mystify.
Mystify (v. t.) To involve in mystery; to make obscure or difficult to understand; as, to mystify a passage of Scripture.
Mystify (v. t.) To perplex the mind of; to puzzle; to impose upon the credulity of ; as, to mystify an opponent.
Myth (n.) A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
Mythical (a.) Of or relating to myths; described in a myth; of the nature of a myth; fabulous; imaginary; fanciful.
Mythologize (v. i.) To relate, classify, and explain, or attempt to explain, myths; to write upon myths.
Mythology (n.) A body of myths; esp., the collective myths which describe the gods of a heathen people; as, the mythology of the Greeks.
Mytilotoxine (n.) A poisonous base (leucomaine) found in the common mussel. It either causes paralysis of the muscles, or gives rise to convulsions, including death by an accumulation of carbonic acid in the blood.
Mytilus (n.) A genus of marine bivalve shells, including the common mussel. See Illust. under Byssus.
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