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Read Ebook: The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section M N and O by Project Gutenberg Webster Noah
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Ebook has 10593 lines and 308668 words, and 212 pages
Begin file 6 of 11: M, N and O. of An electronic field-marked version of:
This electronic version was prepared by MICRA, Inc. of Plainfield, NJ. Last edit February 11, 1999.
This version is only a first typing, and has numerous typographic errors, including errors in the field-marks. Assistance in bringing this dictionary to a more accurate and useful state will be greatly appreciated. This electronic dictionary is made available as a potential starting point for development of a modern on-line comprehensive encyclopedic dictionary, by the efforts of all individuals willing to help build a large and freely available knowledge base. Anyone willing to assist in any way in constructing such a knowledge base should contact:
Patrick Cassidy cassidy@micra.com 735 Belvidere Ave. Office: 668-5252 Plainfield, NJ 07062 561-3416
M . 1. M, the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant, and from the manner of its formation, is called the labio-nasal consonant. See Guide to Pronunciation, ?? 178-180, 242.
The letter M came into English from the Greek, through the Latin, the form of the Greek letter being further derived from the Phoenician, and ultimately, it is believed, from the Egyptian. Etymologically M is related to n, in lime, linden; emmet, ant; also to b.
M is readily followed by b and p. the position of the lips in the formation of both letters being the same. The relation of b and m is the same as that of d and t to n. and that of g and k to ng.
M, n. 1. A quadrat, the face or top of which is a perfect square; also, the size of such a square in any given size of type, used as the unit of measurement for that type: 500 m's of pica would be a piece of matter whose length and breadth in pica m's multiplied together produce that number.
M roof , a kind of roof formed by the junction of two common roofs with a valley between them, so that the section resembles the letter M.
Ma , n. 1. A child's word for mother.
||Ma, conj. But; -- used in cautionary phrases; as, "Vivace, ma non troppo presto" . Moore .
Maa , n. The common European gull ; -- called also mar. See New, a gull.
Maad , obs. p. p. of Make. Made. Chaucer.
Maa"lin , n. The sparrow hawk. The kestrel.
Ma'am , n. Madam; my lady; -- a colloquial contraction of madam often used in direct address, and sometimes as an appellation.
Maat , a. Dejected; sorrowful; downcast. "So piteous and so maat." Chaucer.
Mab , n.
Mab"ble , v. t. To wrap up.
Mab"by , n. A spirituous liquor or drink distilled from potatoes; -- used in the Barbadoes.
Mac . A prefix, in names of Scotch origin, signifying son.
||Ma`caque" , n. Any one of several species of short-tailed monkeys of the genus Macacus; as, M. maurus, the moor macaque of the East Indies.
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 .
a. 1. Pertaining to, or like, macaroni ; hence, mixed; confused; jumbled.
Macaw bush , a West Indian name for a prickly kind of nightshade . -- Macaw palm, Macaw tree , a tropical American palm 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.
n. A kind of snuff.
Mac"co , n. A gambling game in vogue in the eighteenth century. Thackeray.
Mace , n. 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. 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. 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.
Mace bearer, an officer who carries a mace before persons in authority.
Ma"cer , n. A mace bearer; an officer of a court. P. Plowman.
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.
n. The supposed principles of Machiavel, or practice in conformity to them; political artifice, intended to favor arbitrary power.
||Ma`chi`cou`lis" , n. Same as Machicolation.
Devilish machinations come to naught.
Milton.
His ingenious machinations had failed.
Macaulay.
The term machine is most commonly applied to such pieces of mechanism as are used in the industrial arts, for mechanically shaping, dressing, and combining materials for various purposes, as in the manufacture of cloth, etc. Where the effect is chemical, or other than mechanical, the contrivance is usually denominated an apparatus, not a machine; as, a bleaching apparatus. Many large, powerful, or specially important pieces of mechanism are called engines; as, a steam engine, fire engine, graduating engine, etc. Although there is no well-settled distinction between the terms engine and machine among practical men, there is a tendency to restrict the application of the former to contrivances in which the operating part is not distinct from the motor.
The whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive.
Landor.
Elementary machine, a name sometimes given to one of the simple mechanical powers. See under Mechanical. -- Infernal machine. See under Infernal. -- Machine gun.See under Gun. -- Machine screw, a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into metal, in distinction from one which is designed especially to be screwed into wood. -- Machine shop, a workshop where machines are made, or where metal is shaped by cutting, filing, turning, etc. -- Machine tool, a machine for cutting or shaping wood, metal, etc., by means of a tool; especially, a machine, as a lathe, planer, drilling machine, etc., designed for a more or less general use in a machine shop, in distinction from a machine for producing a special article as in manufacturing. -- Machine twist, silken thread especially adapted for use in a sewing machine. -- Machine work, work done by a machine, in contradistinction to that done by hand labor.
The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons, are made to act in a poem.
Pope.
An indispensable part of the machinery of state.
Macaulay.
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