The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section M, N, and O

letter M.. Ma (mä), N. [cf. Mamma.] 1. a Child's Word for Mother.

Ma (mä), n. [Cf. Mamma.] 1. A child's word for mother.

2. [Hind.] In Oriental countries, a respectful form of address given to a woman; mother. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

||Ma, conj. [It.] (Mus.) But; -- used in cautionary phrases; as, ||"Vivace, ma non troppo presto" (i. e., lively, but not too quick). ||Moore (Encyc. of Music).

Maa (?), n. [See New a gull.] (Zoöl.) The common European gull (Larus canus); -- called also mar. See New, a gull.

Maad (?), obs. p. p. of Make. Made. Chaucer.

Maa"lin (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The sparrow hawk. (b) The kestrel.

Ma'am (?), n. Madam; my lady; -- a colloquial contraction of madam often used in direct address, and sometimes as an appellation.

Ma"a*ra shell` (?). (Zoöl.) A large, pearly, spiral, marine shell (Turbo margaritaceus), from the Pacific Islands. It is used as an ornament.

||Ma*ash"a (?), n. An East Indian coin, of about one tenth of the ||weight of a rupee.

Maat (?), a. [See Mate, a.] Dejected; sorrowful; downcast. [Obs.] "So piteous and so maat." Chaucer.

Mab (mb), n. [Cf. W. mad a male child, a boy.]

1. A slattern. [Prov. Eng.]

2. The name of a female fairy, esp. the queen of the fairies; and hence, sometimes, any fairy. Shak.

Mab"ble (?), v. t. To wrap up. [Obs.]

Mab"by (?), n. A spirituous liquor or drink distilled from potatoes; -- used in the Barbadoes.

||Ma*bo"lo (?), n. (Bot.) 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.

Mac (?). [Gael., son.] A prefix, in names of Scotch origin, signifying son.

||Ma*ca"co (?), n. [Cf. Pg. macaco.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several species ||of lemurs, as the ruffed lemur (Lemur macaco), and the ring- tailed ||lemur (L. catta).

||Ma*ca"cus (?), n. [NL., a word of African origin. Cf. Macaco, ||Macaque.] (Zoöl.) A genus of monkeys, found in Asia and the East ||Indies. They have short tails and prominent eyebrows.

Mac*ad`am*i*za"tion (?), n. The process or act of macadamizing.

Mac*ad"am*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Macadamized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Macadamizing.] [From John Loudon McAdam, who introduced the process into Great Britain in 1816.] To cover, as a road, or street, with small, broken stones, so as to form a smooth, hard, convex surface.

Mac*ad"am road` (?). [See Macadamize.] A macadamized road.

Ma*ca"o (?), n. (Zoöl.) A macaw.

||Ma`caque" (?), n. [F. See Macacus.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several ||species of short-tailed monkeys of the genus Macacus; as, M. maurus, ||the moor macaque of the East Indies.

Mac`a*ran"ga 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. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

Mac"a*rize, v. t. [Gr. &?; to bless.] To congratulate. [Oxford Univ. Cant] Whately.

Mac`a*ro"ni (?), n.; pl. Macaronis (#), or Macaronies. [Prov. It. macaroni, It. maccheroni, fr. Gr. &?; happiness, later, a funeral feast, fr. &?; blessed, happy. Prob. so called because eaten at such feasts in honor of the dead; cf. Gr. &?; blessed, i. e., dead. Cf. Macaroon.] 1. Long slender tubes made of a paste chiefly of wheat flour, and used as an article of food; Italian or Genoese paste.

A paste similarly prepared is largely used as food in Persia, India, and China, but is not commonly made tubular like the Italian macaroni. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

2. A medley; something droll or extravagant.

3. A sort of droll or fool. [Obs.] Addison.

4. A finical person; a fop; -- applied especially to English fops of about 1775. Goldsmith.

5. pl. (U. S. Hist.) The designation of a body of Maryland soldiers in the Revolutionary War, distinguished by a rich uniform. W. Irving.

{ Mac`a*ro"ni*an (?), Mac`a*ron"ic (?), } a. [Cf. It. maccheronico, F. macaronique.] 1. Pertaining to, or like, macaroni (originally a dish of mixed food); hence, mixed; confused; jumbled.

2. Of or pertaining to the burlesque composition called macaronic; as, macaronic poetry.

Mac`a*ron"ic (?), n. 1. A heap of thing confusedly mixed together; a jumble.

2. 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.

Mac`a*roon" (?), n. [F. macaron, It. maccherone. See Macaroni.] 1. A small cake, composed chiefly of the white of eggs, almonds, and sugar.

2. A finical fellow, or macaroni. [Obs.]

Ma*cart"ney (?), n. [From Lord Macartney.] (Zoöl.) A fire-backed pheasant. See Fireback.

Ma*cas`sar 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.

||Ma*cau"co (?), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of small lemurs, ||as Lemur murinus, which resembles a rat in size.

||Ma`ca*va"hu (?), n. (Zoöl.) A small Brazilian monkey (Callithrix ||torquatus), -- called also collared teetee.

Ma*caw" (?), n. [From the native name in the Antilles.] (Zoöl.) Any parrot of the genus Sittace, or Macrocercus. About eighteen species are known, all of them American. They are large and have a very long tail, a strong hooked bill, and a naked space around the eyes. The voice is harsh, and the colors are brilliant and strongly contrasted.

Macaw bush (Bot.), a West Indian name for a prickly kind of nightshade (Solanum mammosum). -- Macaw palm, Macaw tree (Bot.), a tropical American palm (Acrocomia fusiformis and other species) having a prickly stem and pinnately divided leaves. Its nut yields a yellow butter, with the perfume of violets, which is used in making violet soap. Called also grugru palm.

Mac`ca*be"an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Judas Maccabeus or to the Maccabees; as, the Maccabean princes; Maccabean times.

Mac"ca*bees (?), n. pl. 1. The name given in later times to the Asmonæans, 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. Schaff-Herzog.

2. The name of two ancient historical books, which give accounts of Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes, and which are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Also applied to three books, two of which are found in some MSS. of the Septuagint.

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{ Mac"ca*boy (?), Mac"co*boy (?), } n. [From a district in the Island of Martinique where it is made: cf. F. macouba.] A kind of snuff.

Mac"co (?), n. A gambling game in vogue in the eighteenth century. Thackeray.

Mace (?), n. [Jav. & Malay. ms, fr. Skr. msha a bean.] A money of account in China equal to one tenth of a tael; also, a weight of 57.98 grains. S. W. Williams.

Mace (?), n. [F. macis, L. macis, macir, Gr. &?;; cf. Skr. makaranda the nectar or honey of a flower, a fragrant mango.] (Bot.) A kind of spice; the aril which partly covers nutmegs. See Nutmeg.

Red mace is the aril of Myristica tingens, and white mace that of M. Otoba, -- East Indian trees of the same genus with the nutmeg tree.

Mace, n. [OF. mace, F. masse, from (assumed) L. matea, of which the dim. mateola a kind of mallet or beetle, is found.] 1. 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. Chaucer.

Death with his mace petrific . . . smote.

Milton.

2. Hence: A staff borne by, or carried before, a magistrate as an ensign of his authority. "Swayed the royal mace." Wordsworth.

3. An officer who carries a mace as an emblem of authority. Macaulay.

4. A knobbed mallet used by curriers in dressing leather to make it supple.

5. (Billiards) A rod for playing billiards, having one end suited to resting on the table and pushed with one hand.

Mace bearer, an officer who carries a mace before persons in authority.

Mac`e*do"ni*an (?), a. [L. Macedonius, Gr. &?;.] (Geog.) Belonging, or relating, to Macedonia. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Macedonia.

Mac`e*do"ni*an, n. (Eccl. Hist.) 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.

Mac`e*do"ni*an*ism (?), n. The doctrines of Macedonius.

Ma"cer (?), n. [F. massier. See Mace staff.] A mace bearer; an officer of a court. P. Plowman.

Mac"er*ate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Macerated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Macerating.] [L. maceratus, p. p. of macerare to make soft, weaken, enervate; cf. Gr. &?; to knead.] 1. To make lean; to cause to waste away. [Obs. or R.] Harvey.

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