Medullary – Metacarpal

Medullary

MED'ULLARY, a. [L. medullaris, from medulla, marrow.]

Pertaining to marrow; consisting of marrow; resembling marrow; as medullary substance.

Medullin

MEDUL'LIN, noun [Latin medulla.] The pith of the sunflower, which has neither taste nor smell. It is insoluble in water, ether, alcohol and oils, but soluble in nitric acid, and instead of yielding suberic acid, it yields the oxalic.

Meeken

MEE'KEN, verb transitive mee'kn. To make meek; to soften; to render mild.

Meekly

MEE'KLY, adverb Mildly; gently; submissively; humbly; not proudly or roughly.

And this mis-seeming discord meekly lay aside.

Megrim

ME'GRIM, noun [ Latin hemicrania, half the head.] Properly, a pain in the side of the head; hence, a disorder of the head; vertigo.

Melanage

MELANAGE, noun melanj'. A mixture. [Not English.]

Melanagogue

MELANAGOGUE, noun melan'agog. [Gr. black, and to drive.]

A medicine supposed to expel black bile or choler.

Melancholious

MELANCHO'LIOUS, adjective Gloomy. [Not in use.]

Melanitic

MELANIT'IC, adjective Pertaining to melanite.

Melasses

MEL'ASSES, noun sing. [Gr. black, or honey.] The sirup which drains from Muscovado sugar when cooling; treacle.

Meliorate

ME'LIORATE, verb transitive [Latin melior, better.] To make better; to improve; as, to meliorate fruit by grafting, or soil by cultivation. Civilization has done much, but christianity more, to meliorate the condition of men in society.

Nature by art we nobly meliorate

ME'LIORATE, verb intransitive To grow better.

Meliorated

ME'LIORATED, participle passive Made better; improved.

Meliorating

ME'LIORATING, participle present tense Improving; advancing in good qualities.

The pure and benign light of revelation has had a meliorating influence on mankind.

Melioration

MELIORA'TION, noun The act or operation of making better; improvement.

Meliority

MELIOR'ITY, noun The state of being better. [Not in use.]

Mell

MELL, verb intransitive To mix; to meddle. [Not in use.]

MELL, noun [Latin mel.] Honey. [Not English.]

Melliferous

MELLIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin mel, honey, and fero, to produce.]

Producing honey.

Mellification

MELLIFICA'TION, noun [Latin mellifico.] The making or production of honey.

Mellifluence

MELLIF'LUENCE, noun [Latin mel, honey, and fluo, to flow.]

A flow of sweetness, or a sweet smooth flow.

Mellifluent

MELLIF'LUENT

MELLIF'LUOUS, adjective Flowing with honey; smooth; sweetly flowing; as a mellifluous voice.

Mellifluous

MELLIF'LUOUS, a. Flowing with honey; smooth; sweetly flowing; as a mellifluous voice.

Mellitic

MELLIT'IC, adjective Pertaining to honey stone.

Mellowy

MEL'LOWY, adjective Soft, unctuous.

Melocotone

MELOCOTO'NE, noun [Latin malum cotoneum, quince-apple. Cotomeum is probably our cotton, and the fruit so named from its pubescence.]

A quince. But the name is sometimes given to a large kind of peach.

Melodious

MELO'DIOUS, adjective [See Melody.] Containing melody; musical; agreeable to the ear by a sweet succession of sounds; as a melodious voice; melodious strains.

And music more melodious than the spheres.

Melodiously

MELO'DIOUSLY, adverb In a melodious manner; musically.

Melodiousness

MELO'DIOUSNESS, noun The quality of being agreeable to the ear by a sweet succession of sounds; musicalness.

Melodize

MEL'ODIZE, verb transitive To make melodious.

Melodrame

MEL'ODRAME, noun [Gr. a song, and drama.] A dramatic performance in which songs are intermixed.

Melody

MEL'ODY, noun [Gr. a limb, or a song, an ode; Latin melos.]

An agreeable succession of sounds; a succession of sounds so regulated and modulated as to please the ear. To constitute melody the sounds must be arranged according to the laws of rhythms, measure, or the due proportion of the movements to each other. melody differs from harmony, as it consists in the agreeable succession and modulation of sounds by a single voice; whereas harmony consists in the accordance of different voices or sounds. melody is vocal or instrumental.

To make melody in the heart, to praise God with a joyful and thankful disposition, ascribing to him the honor due to his name. Ephesians 5:19.

Melon

MEL'ON, noun [Latin melo; Gr. an apple; Latin mollis.] The name of certain plants and their fruit, as the water-melon, the musk-melon.

Melon-Thistle

MEL'ON-THISTLE, noun A plant of the genus Cactus.

Melrose

MEL'ROSE, noun [mel and rose.] Honey of roses.

Melt

MELT, verb transitive [Eng.smelt, smalt. We have in these words decisive evidence that s, in smelten, etc. is a prefix. melt in English, is regular, forming melted for its past tense and passive participle. The old participle molten, is used only as an adjective.]

1. To dissolve; to make liquid; to liquefy; to reduce from a solid to a liquid or flowing state by heat; as, to melt wax, tallow or lead; to melt ice or snow.

2. To dissolve; to reduce to first principles.

3. To soften to love or tenderness.

For pity melts the mind to love.

4. To waste away; to dissipate.

In general riot melted down thy youth.

5. To dishearten. Joshua 14:8.

MELT, verb intransitive To become liquid; to dissolve; to be changed from a fixed or solid to a flowing state.

And whiter snow in minutes melts away.

1. To be softened to love, pity, tenderness or sympathy; to become tender, mild or gentle.

MELTing with tenderness and mild compassion.

2. To be dissolved; to lose substance.

--And what seem'd corporal,

MELTed as breath into the wind.

3. To be subdued by affliction; to sink into weakness.

My soul melteth for heaviness--strengthen thou me. Psalms 119:28.

4. To faint; to be discouraged or disheartened.

As soon as we heard these things, our heart melted. Joshua 2:11.

Melted

MELT'ED, participle passive Dissolved; made liquid; softened; discouraged.

Melter

MELT'ER, noun One that melts any thing.

Melting

MELT'ING, participle present tense Dissolving; liquefying; softening; discouraging.

1. adjective Tending to soften; softening into tenderness; as melting eloquence.

MELT'ING, noun The act of softening; the act of rendering tender.

Meltingly

MELT'INGLY, adverb In a manner to melt of soften.

1. Like something melting.

Meltingness

MELT'INGNESS, noun The power of melting or softening.

Melwel

MEL'WEL, noun A fish.

Member

MEM'BER, noun [Latin membrum.]

1. A limb of animal bodies, as a leg, an arm, an ear, a finger, that is, a subordinate part of the main body.

2. A part of a discourse, or of a period or sentence; a clause; a part of a verse. Harmony in poetry is produced by a proportion between the members of the same verse, or between the members of different verses.

3. In architecture, a subordinate part of a building, as a frieze or cornice; sometimes a molding.

4. An individual of a community or society. Every citizen is a member of the state or body politic. So the individuals of a club, a corporation or confederacy, are called its members. Students of an academy or college are its members. Professed christians are called members of the church.

5. The appetites and passions, considered as tempting to sin. Romans 7:5. Colossians 3:5.

Membered

MEM'BERED, adjective Having limbs.

Membership

MEM'BERSHIP, noun The state of being a member.

1. Community; society.

Membranaceous

MEMBRANA'CEOUS, adjective Belonging to a membrane; consisting of membranes; as a membraneous covering.

Birds of prey have membranaceous stomachs, not muscular.

1. In botany, a membranaceous leaf has no distinguishable pulp between the two surfaces. In general, it denotes flatted or resembling parchment.

Membrane

MEM'BRANE, noun [Latin membrana.] In anatomy, a thin, white, flexible skin, formed by fibers interwoven like net-work, and serving to cover some part of the body.

The term is applied to the thin expanded parts, of various texture, both in animals and vegetables.

Membraneous

MEMBRA'NEOUS

MEMBRA'NIFORM, adjective Having the form of a membrane or of parchment.

Membraniform

MEMBRA'NIFORM, a. Having the form of a membrane or of parchment.

Membranous

MEM'BRANOUS

MEMENT'O, noun [Latin memini. See Memory.] A hint, suggestion; notice or memorial to awaken memory; that which reminds.

He is but a man, and seasonable mementos may be useful.

Memento

MEMENT'O, n. [L. memini. See Memory.] A hint, suggestion; notice or memorial to awaken memory; that which reminds. He is but a man, and seasonable mementos may be useful.

Memoir

MEM'OIR, noun A species of history written by a person who had some share in the transactions related. Persons often write their own memoirs.

1. A history of transactions in which some person had a principal share, is called his memoirs, though compiled or written by a different hand.

2. The history of a society, or the journals and proceedings of a society; as memoirs of the Royal Society.

3. A written account; register of facts.

Memorable

MEM'ORABLE, adjective [Latin memorabilis. See Memory.]

Worthy to be remembered; illustrious; celebrated; distinguished.

By tombs, by books, by memorable deeds.

Memorably

MEM'ORABLY, adverb In a manner worthy to be remembered.

Memorandum

MEMORAND'UM, noun plural memorandums or memoranda. [Latin]

A note to help the memory.

I entered a memorandum in my pocketbook.

Memorative

MEM'ORATIVE, adjective Adapted or tending to preserve the memory of any thing.

Memorial

MEMO'RIAL, adjective [Latin memorialis. See Memory.]

1. Preservative of memory.

There high in air memorial of my name,

Fix the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame.

2. Contained in memory; as memorial possession.

MEMO'RIAL, noun That which preserves the memory of something; any thing that serves to keep in memory. A monument is a memorial of a deceased person, or of an event. The Lord's supper is a memorial of the death and sufferings of Christ.

Churches have names; some as memorials of peace, some of wisdom, some of the Trinity.

1. Any note or hint to assist the memory.

Memorials written with king Edward's hand shall be the ground of this history.

2. A written representation of facts, made to a legislative or other body as the ground of a petition, or a representation of facts accompanied with a petition.

Memorialist

MEMO'RIALIST, noun One who writes a memorial.

1. One who presents a memorial to a legislative or any other body, or to a person.

Memorialize

MEMO'RIALIZE, verb transitive To present a memorial to; to petition by memorial.

Memorist

MEM'ORIST, noun One who causes to be remembered. [Not used.]

Memorize

MEM'ORIZE, verb transitive To record; to commit to memory by writing.

They neglect to memorize their conquest of the Indians.

1. To cause to be remembered.

They meant to memorize another Golgotha.

Memory

MEM'ORY, noun [Latin memoria; Gr. to remember, from mind, or the same root. See Mind.]

1. The faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of past events, or ideas which are past. A distinction is made between memory and recollection. memory retains past ideas without any, or with little effort; recollection implies an effort to recall ideas that are past.

Memory is the purveyor of reason.

2. A retaining of past ideas in the mind; remembrance. Events that excite little attention are apt to escape from memory

3. Exemption from oblivion.

That ever-living man of memory

Henry the fifth.

4. The time within which past events can be remembered or recollected, or the time within which a person may have knowledge of what is past. The revolution in England was before my memory; the revolution in America was within the author's memory

5. Memorial; monumental record; that which calls to remembrance. A monument in London was erected in memory of the conflagration in 1666.

6. Reflection; attention.

MEM'ORY, verb transitive To lay up in the mind or memory [Not used.]

Memphian

MEMPH'IAN, adjective [from Memphis, the ancient metropolis of Egypt, said to be altered from Menuf, Memf. Ludolf.]

Pertaining to Memphis; very dark; a sense borrowed from the darkness of Egypt in the time of Moses.

Men

MEN, plural of man. Two or more males, individuals of the human race.

1. Males of bravery. We will live in honor, or die like men

2. Persons; people; mankind; in an indefinite sense. men are apt to forget the benefactor, while they riot on the benefit.

Menace

MEN'ACE, verb transitive [Latin minor.]

1. To threaten; to express or show a disposition or determination to inflict punishment or other evil. The combined powers menaced France with war on every side.

2. To show or manifest the probability of future evil or danger to. The spirit of insubordination menaced Spain with the horrors of civil war.

3. To exhibit the appearance of any catastrophe to come; as, a hanging rock menaces a fall, or menaces the plain or the inhabitants below.

MEN'ACE, noun A threat or threatening; the declaration or show of a disposition or determination to inflict an evil; used of persons.

1. The show of a probable evil or catastrophe to come.

Menaced

MEN'ACED, participle passive Threatened.

Menacer

MEN'ACER, noun One that threatens.

Menachanite

MEN'ACHANITE, noun An oxyd of titanium, or mineral of a grayish or iron black color, occurring in very small rounded grains, imperfectly lamellar, and of a glistening luster; found near Menachan, in Cornwall, Eng.

Menachanitic

MENACHANIT'IC, adjective Pertaining to menachanite.

Menacing

MEN'ACING, participle present tense Threatening; declaring a disposition or determination to inflict evil.

1. adjective Exhibiting the danger or probability of an evil or catastrophe to come; as a menacing attitude.

Menage

MEN'AGE, noun A collection of brute animals.

Menagery

MEN'AGERY, noun A yard or place in which wild animals are kept, or a collection of wild animals.

Menagogue

MENAGOGUE, noun men'agog. [Gr. menstrua, and to drive.]

A medicine that promotes the menstrual flux.

Menail

ME'NAIL, noun A domestic servant.

Mend

MEND, verb transitive [Latin emendo, menda, a fault, spot or blemish.]

1. To repair, as a breach; to supply a part broken or defective; as, to mend a garment, a road, a mill-dam, a fence, etc.

2. To correct; to set right; to alter for the better; as, to mend the life or manners.

3. To repair; to restore to a sound state; as, to mend a feeble or broken constitution.

4. To help; to advance; to make better.

This plausible apology does not mend the matter.

Though in some lands the grass is but short, yet it mends garden herbs and fruit.

5. To improve; to hasten.

He saw the monster mend his pace.

MEND, verb intransitive To grow better; to advance to a better state; to improve. We say, a feeble constitution mends daily; a sick man mends, or is convalescent.

Mendable

MEND'ABLE, adjective Capable of being mended.

Mendacious

MENDA'CIOUS, adjective [Latin mendax.] Lying; false. [Little used.]

Mendacity

MENDAC'ITY, noun [Latin mendax, false, lying.] Falsehood.

[The proper signification of this word would be a disposition to lie, or habitual lying.]

Mended

MEND'ED, participle passive Repaired; made better; improved.

Mender

MEND'ER, noun One who mends or repairs.

Mendicancy

MEND'ICANCY, adjective [Latin medicans.] Beggary; a state of begging.

Mendicant

MEND'ICANT, adjective [Latin mendicans, from mendico, to beg; allied to Latin mando, to command, demand.]

1. Begging; poor to a state of beggary; as reduced to a mendicant state.

2. Practicing beggary; as a mendicant friar.

MEND'ICANT, noun A beggar; one that makes it his business to beg alms; one of the begging fraternity of the Romish church.

Mendicate

MEND'ICATE, verb transitive To beg, or practice begging. [Not used.]

Mendicity

MENDIC'ITY, noun [Latin mendicitas.]

The state of begging; the life of a beggar.

Mendment

MENDMENT, for amendment. [Not in use.]

Mends

MENDS, for amends, not used.

Menhaden

MENHA'DEN, noun A species of fish.

Menial

ME'NIAL, adjective

1. Pertaining to servants or domestic servants; low; mean.

The women attendants perform only the most menial offices.

[Johnson observes on this passage, that Swift seems not to have known the meaning of this word. But this is the only sense in which it is now used.]

2. Belonging to the retinue or train of servants.

Two menial dogs before their master pressed.

[If this definition of Johnson is correct, it indicates that menial is from meinez, many, rather than from mesnie, family. But the sense may be house-dogs.]

Menilite

MEN'ILITE, noun A mineral substance found at Menil Montant near Paris, of the nature of silex, of a brown liver color on the interior, and ordinarily of a clear blue on the surface. It is found in the shape of the kidneys, of the size of the hand or larger; sometimes in globules of the size of a nut.

Meniscus

MENIS'CUS, noun plural meniscuses. [Gr. a little moon.]

A lens convex on one side, and concave on the other.

Menispermate

MENISPERM'ATE, noun A compound of menispermic acid and a salifiable base.

Menispermic

MENISPERM'IC, adjective The menispermic acid is obtained from the seeds of the menispermum cocculus.

Meniver

MEN'IVER, noun A small white animal in Russia, or its fur which is very fine.

Menology

MENOL'OGY, noun [Gr. month, and discourse.]

1. A register of months.

2. In the Greek church, martyrology, or 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.

Menow

MEN'OW, noun A small fresh water fish, the minnow.

Menpleaser

MEN'PLEASER, noun One who is solicitous to please men, rather than to please God, by obedience to him commands.

Mensal

MEN'SAL, adjective [Latin mensalis, from mensa, a table.]

Belonging to the table; transacted at table. [Little used.]

Menstrual

MEN'STRUAL, adjective [Latin menstrualis, from mensis, month.]

1. Monthly; happening once a month; as the menstrual flux.

2. Lasting a month; as the menstrual orbit of the moon.

3. Pertaining to a menstruum.

Menstruant

MEN'STRUANT, adjective Subject to monthly flowings.

Menstruous

MEN'STRUOUS, adjective [Latin menstruus, from mensis, a month.]

1. Having the monthly flow or discharge; as a female.

2. Pertaining to the monthly flow of females.

Menstruum

MEN'STRUUM, noun plural menstruums. [from Latin mensis, month. The use of this word is supposed to have originated in some notion of the old chimists, about the influence of the moon in the preparation of dissolvents. Johnson.]

A dissolvent or solvent; any fluid or subtilized substance which dissolves a solid body.

All liquors are called menstruums which are used as dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by infusion or decoction.

Inquire what is the proper menstruum to dissolve a metal.

Mensurability

MENSURABIL'ITY, noun [from mensurable.] Capacity of being measured.

Mensurable

MEN'SURABLE, adjective [Latin mensura, measure. The n is probably casual, and the word is the same as measurable.]

Measurable; capable of being measured.

Mensural

MEN'SURAL, adjective Pertaining to measure.

Mensurate

MEN'SURATE, verb transitive [Latin mensura, measure.]

To measure. [Little used.]

Mensuration

MENSURA'TION, noun The act, process or art of measuring, or taking the dimensions of any thing.

1. Measure; the result of measuring.

Mental

MEN'TAL, adjective Pertaining to the mind; intellectual; as mental faculties; mental operations; mental sight; mental taste.

Mentally

MEN'TALLY, adverb Intellectually; in the mind; in thought or meditation; in idea.

Mention

MEN'TION, noun [Latin mentio, from Gr. to put in mind; Latin moneo and mind.] A hint; a suggestion; a brief notice or remark expressed in words or writing; used chiefly after make.

Make no mention of other gods. Joshua 23:7.

I will make mention of thy righteousness. Psalms 71:16.

Without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Romans 1:9.

MEN'TION, verb transitive To speak; to name; to utter a brief remark; to state a particular fact, or to express it in writing. It is applied to something thrown in or added incidentally in a discourse or writing, and thus differs from the sense of relate, recite, and narrate. I mentioned to him a fact that fell under my own observation. In the course of conversation, that circumstance was mentioned.

I will mention the loving-kindness of the Lord. Isaiah 63:7.

Mentioned

MEN'TIONED, participle passive Named; stated.

Mentioning

MEN'TIONING, participle present tense Naming; uttering.

Mentorial

MENTO'RIAL, adjective [from Mentor, the friend and adviser of Ulysses.]

Containing advice or admonition.

Meny

ME'NY, noun [See Menial.] A retinue or family of servants; domestics.

Mephitic

MEPHIT'IC, adjective [Latin mephitis, an ill smell.] Offensive to the smell; foul; poisonous; noxious; pestilential; destructive to life.

Mephitic acid is carbonic acid.

Mephitis

MEPH'ITIS

MEPH'ITISM, noun Foul, offensive or noxious exhalations from dissolving substances, filth or other source; also, carbonic acid gas.

Mercantante

MERCANTAN'TE, noun A foreign trader. [Not in use.]

Mercantile

MER'CANTILE, adjective [Latin mercans, mercor, to buy.]

1. Trading; commercial; carrying on commerce; as mercantile nations; the mercantile class of men.

2. Pertaining or relating to commerce or trade; as mercantile business.

Mercat

MER'CAT, noun [Latin mercatus.] Market; trade. [Not in use.]

Mercenarily

MER'CENARILY, adverb In a mercenary manner.

Mercenariness

MER'CENARINESS, noun [from mercenary.]

Venality; regard to hire or reward.

Mercenary

MER'CENARY, adjective [Latin mercenarius, from merces, reward, wages, mercor, to guy.]

1. Venal; that may be hired; actuated by the hope of reward; moved by the love of money; as a mercenary prince or judge.

2. Hired; purchased by money; as mercenary services; mercenary soldiers.

3. Sold for money; as mercenary blood.

4. Greedy of gain; mean; selfish; as a mercenary disposition.

5. Contracted from motives of gain; as a mercenary marriage.

MER'CENARY, noun One who is hired; a soldier that is hired into foreign service; a hireling.

Mercer

MER'CER, noun [Latin merx, wares, commodities.]

One who deals in silks.

Mercership

MER'CERSHIP, noun The business of a mercer.

Mercery

MER'CERY, noun The commodities or goods in which a mercer deals; trade of mercers.

Merchand

MER'CHAND, verb intransitive To trade. [Not used.]

Merchandise

MER'CHANDISE, noun

1. The objects of commerce; wares, goods, commodities, whatever is usually bought or sold in trade. But provisions daily sold in market, horses, cattle, and fuel are not usually included in the term, and real estate never.

2. Trade; traffick; commerce.

MER'CHANDISE, verb intransitive To trade; to carry on commerce.

Merchandry

MER'CHANDRY, noun Trade; commerce. [Not in use.]

Merchant

MER'CHANT, noun [Latin mercor, to buy.]

1. A man who trafficks or carries on trade with foreign countries, or who exports and imports goods and sells them by wholesale.

2. In popular usage, any trader, or one who deals in the purchase and sale of goods.

3. A ship in trade. [Not used.]

MER'CHANT, verb intransitive To trade. [Not in use.]

Merchantable

MER'CHANTABLE, adjective Fit for market; such as is usually sold in market or such as will bring the ordinary price; as merchantable wheat or timber.

Merchantlike

MER'CHANTLIKE, adjective Like a merchant.

Merchantman

MER'CHANTMAN, noun A ship or vessel employed in the transportation of goods, as distinguished from a ship of war.

Merciable

MER'CIABLE, adjective Merciful. [Not in use.]

Merciful

MER'CIFUL, adjective [from mercy.] Having or exercising mercy; compassionate; tender; disposed to pity offenders and to forgive their offenses; unwilling to punish for injuries; applied appropriately to the Supreme being.

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Exodus 34:6.

1. Compassionate; tender; unwilling to give pain; not cruel. A merciful man will be merciful to his beast.

Mercifully

MER'CIFULLY, adverb With compassion or pity; tenderly; mildly.

Mercifulness

MER'CIFULNESS, noun Tenderness towards offenders; willingness to forbear punishment; readiness to forgive.

Mercify

MER'CIFY, verb transitive To pity. [Not in use.]

Merciless

MER'CILESS, adjective Destitute of mercy; unfeeling; pitiless; hard-hearted; cruel; as a merciless tyrant.

1. Not sparing; as the merciless waves or tempest.

Mercilessly

MER'CILESSLY, adverb In a manner void of mercy or pity; cruelly.

Mercilessness

MER'CILESSNESS, noun Want of mercy or pity.

Mercurial

MERCU'RIAL, adjective [Latin mercurialis.]

1. Formed under the influence of Mercury; active; sprightly; full of fire or vigor; as a mercurial youth; a mercurial nation.

2. Pertaining to quicksilver; containing quicksilver, or consisting of mercury; as mercurial preparations or medicines.

Mercurialist

MERCU'RIALIST, noun One under the influence of Mercury, or one resembling Mercury in variety of character.

Mercuriate

MERCU'RIATE, noun A combination of the oxyd of mercury with another substance.

Mercuric acid, a saturated combination of mercury and oxygen.

Mercurification

MERCURIFICA'TION, noun In metallurgic chimistry, the process or operation of obtaining the mercury from metallic minerals in its fluid form.

1. The act of mixing with quicksilver.

Mercurify

MERCU'RIFY, verb transitive To obtain mercury from metallic minerals, which it is said may be done by a large lens, the intense heat of which expels the mercury in fumes, which are afterwards condensed.

Mercury

MER'CURY, noun [Latin Mercurius. In mythology, mercury is the god of eloquence and of commerce, called by the Greeks Hermes, and his name is said to be formed from merces, or mercor. But in antiquity, there were several persons or deities of this name.]

1. Quicksilver, a metal remarkable for its fusibility, which is so great that to fix or congeal it requires a degree of cold which is marked on Fahrenheit's scale at thirty nine degrees below zero. Its specific gravity is greater than that of any other metal, except platina, gold and tungsten. Under a heat of 660 degrees, it rises in fumes and is gradually converted into a red oxyd. mercury is used in barometers to ascertain the weight of the atmosphere, and in thermometers to determine the temperature of the air, for which purposes it is well adapted by its expansibility, and the extensive range between its freezing and boiling points. Preparations of this metal are among the most powerful poisons, and are extensively used as medicines. The preparation called calomel, is a most efficacious deobstruent.

2. Heat of constitutional temperament; spirit; sprightly qualities.

3. A genus of plants, the Mercurialis, of several species.

4. One of the planets nearest the sun. It is 3224 miles in diameter, and revolves round the sun in about 88 days. Its mean distance from the sun is thirty seven millions of miles.

5. The name of a newspaper or periodical publication, and in some places, the carrier of a newspaper or pamphlet.

MER'CURY, verb transitive To wash with a preparation of mercury

Mercy

MER'CY, noun [Latin misericordia.]

1. That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy That which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders. mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the Supreme Being.

The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. Numbers 14:18.

2. An act or exercise of mercy or favor. It is a mercy that they escaped.

I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies. Genesis 32:1.

3. Pity; compassion manifested towards a person in distress.

And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Luke 10:37.

4. Clemency and bounty.

Mercy and truth preserve the king; and his throne is upheld by mercy Proverbs 28:13.

5. Charity, or the duties of charity and benevolence.

I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Matthew 9:13.

6. Grace; favor. 1 Corinthians 7:25. Jude 1:2.

7. Eternal life, the fruit of mercy 2 Timothy 1:2.

8. Pardon.

I cry thee mercy with all my heart.

9. The act of sparing, or the forbearance of a violent act expected. The prisoner cried for mercy

To be or to lie at the mercy of, to have no means of self-defense, but to be dependent for safety on the mercy or compassion of another, or in the power of that which is irresistible; as, to be at the mercy of a foe, or of the waves.

Mercy-Seat

MER'CY-SEAT, noun The propitiatory; the covering of the ark of the covenant among the Jews. This was of gold, and its ends were fixed to two cherubs, whose wings extended forward, and formed a kind of throne for the majesty of God, who is represented in Scripture as sitting between the cherubs. It was from this seat that God gave his oracles to Moses, or to the high priest who consulted him.

Merd

MERD, noun [Latin merda.] Ordure; dung.

Mere

MERE, adjective [Latin merus.] This or that only; distinct from any thing else.

From mere success nothing can be concluded in favor of a nation.

What if the head, the eye or ear repin'd

To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?

1. Absolute; entire.

MERE, noun [Latin mare. See Moor.] A pool or lake.

MERE, noun [Gr. to divide.] A boundary; used chiefly in the compound, mere-stone.

MERE, verb transitive To divide, limit or bound.

Merely

ME'RELY, adverb Purely; only; solely; thus and no other way; for this and no other purpose.

Price not your life for other ends

Than merely to oblige your friends.

Meretricious

MERETRI'CIOUS, adjective [Latin meretricius, from meretrix, a prostitute.]

1. Pertaining to prostitutes; such as in practiced by harlots; as meretricious arts.

2. Alluring by false show; worn for disguise; having a gaudy but deceitful appearance; false; as meretricious dress or ornaments.

Meretriciously

MERETRI'CIOUSLY , adv. In the manner of prostitutes; with deceitful enticements.

Meretriciousness

MERETRI'CIOUSNESS, noun The arts of a prostitute; deceitful enticements.

Merganser

MERGAN'SER, noun [Latin mergo, to dive.] A water fowl of the genus Mergus; called also goosander.

Merge

MERGE, verb transitive [Latin mergo.] To immerse; to cause to be swallowed up.

The plaintiff became the purchaser and merged his term in the fee.

MERGE, verb intransitive To be sunk, swallowed or lost.

Merger

MERG'ER, noun [Latin mergo, to merge.] In law, a merging or drowning of a less estate in a greater; as when a reversion in fee simple descends to or is purchased by a tenant of the same estate for years, the term for years is merged, lost, annihilated in the inheritance or fee simple estate.

Meridian

MERID'IAN, noun [Latin meridies.]

1. In astronomy and geography, a great circle supposed to be drawn or to pass through the poles of the earth, and the zenith and nadir of any given place, intersecting the equator at right angles, and dividing the hemisphere into eastern and western. Every place on the globe has its meridian and when the sun arrives at this circle, it is mid-day or noon. whence the name. This circle may be considered to be drawn on the surface of the earth, or it may be considered as a circle in the heavens coinciding with that on the earth.

2. Mid-day, noon.

3. The highest point; as the meridian of life; the meridian of power or of glory.

4. The particular place or state, with regard to local circumstances or things that distinguish it from others. We say, a book is adapted to the meridian of France or Italy; a measure is adapted to the meridian of London or Washington.

Magnetic meridian a great circle, parallel with the direction of the magnetic needle, and passing through its poles.

MERID'IAN, adjective Being on the meridian or at mid-day.

The sun sat high in his meridian tower.

1. Pertaining to the meridian or to mid-day; as the sun's meridian heat or splendor.

2. Pertaining to the highest point; as, the hero enjoyed his meridian glory.

3. Pertaining to the magnetic meridian

Meridional

MERID'IONAL, adjective Pertaining to the meridian.

1. Southern.

2. Southerly; having a southern aspect.

Meridional distance is the departure from the meridian, or easting or westing.

Meridionality

MERIDIONAL'ITY, noun The state of being in the meridian.

1. Position in the south; aspect towards the south.

Meridionally

MERID'IONALLY, adverb In the direction of the meridian.

Merit

MER'IT, noun [Latin meritum, from mereo, to earn or deserve.]

1. Desert; goodness or excellence which entitles one to honor or regard; worth; any performance or worth which claims regard or compensation; applied to morals, to excellence in writing, or to valuable services of any kind. Thus we speak of the inability of men to obtain salvation by their own merits. We speak of the merits of an author; the merits of a soldier, etc.

2. Value; excellence; applied to things; as the merits of an essay or poem; the merits of a pointing; the merits of a heroic achievement.

3. Reward deserved; that which is earned or merited.

Those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth.

MER'IT, verb transitive [Latin merito.] To deserve; to earn by active service, or by any valuable performance; to have a right to claim reward in money, regard, honor or happiness. Watts, by his writings, merited the gratitude of the whole christian world. The faithful laborer merits his wages.

A man at best is incapable of meriting any thing from God.

1. To deserve; to have a just title to. Fidelity merits and usually obtains confidence.

2. To deserve, in an ill sense; to have a just title to. Every violation of law merits punishment. Every sin merits God's displeasure.

Merit-Monger

MER'IT-MONGER, noun One who advocates the doctrine of human merit, as entitled to reward, or depends on merit for salvation.

Meritable

MER'ITABLE, adjective Deserving of reward. [Not in use.]

Merited

MER'ITED, participle passive Earned; deserved.

Meriting

MER'ITING, participle present tense Earning; deserving.

Meritorious

MERITO'RIOUS, adjective Deserving of reward or of notice, regard, fame or happiness, or of that which shall be a suitable return for services or excellence of any kind. We applaud the meritorious services of the laborer, the soldier and the seaman. We admire the meritorious labors of a Watts, a Doddridge, a Carey and a Martyn. We rely for salvation on the meritorious obedience and sufferings of Christ.

Meritoriously

MERITO'RIOUSLY, adverb In such a manner as to deserve reward.

Meritoriousness

MERITO'RIOUSNESS, noun The state or quality of deserving a reward or suitable return.

Meritory

MER'ITORY, adjective Deserving of reward. [Not used.]

Merle

MERLE, noun [Latin merula.] A blackbird.

Merlin

MER'LIN, noun A species of hawk of the genus Falco.

Merlon

MER'LON, noun In fortification, that part of a parapet which lies between two embrasures.

Mermaid

MER'MAID, noun [Latin mare, the sea, and maid.] A marine animal, said to resemble a woman in the upper parts of the body, and a fish in the lower part. The male is called the merman.

Merops

ME'ROPS, noun A genus of birds called bee-eaters.

Merrily

MER'RILY, adverb [from merry.] With mirth; with gayety and laughter; jovially. [See Mirth and Merry.]

Merrily sing and sport and play.

Merrimake

MER'RIMAKE, noun [merry and make.] A meeting for mirth; a festival; mirth.

MER'RIMAKE, verb intransitive To be merry or jovial; to feast.

Merriment

MER'RIMENT, noun Mirth; gayety with laughter or noise; noisy sports; hilarity; frolick.

Merriness

MER'RINESS, noun Mirth; gayety with laughter.

Merry

MER'RY, adjective

1. Gay and noisy; jovial; exhilarated to laughter.

Man is the merriest species of the creation.

They drank and were merry with him. Genesis 43:34.

2. Causing laughter or mirth; as a merry jest.

3. Brisk; as a merry gale. [This is the primary sense of the word.]

4. Pleasant; agreeable; delightful.

To make merry to be jovial; to indulge in hilarity; to feast with mirth. Judges 9:27.

Merry-Andrew

MERRY-AN'DREW, noun A buffoon; a zany; one whose business is to make sport for others.

Merry-Making

MER'RY-MAKING, adjective Producing mirth.

Mirth, music, merry-making melody

Speed the light hours no more at Holyrood.

Merry-Meeting

MER'RY-MEETING, noun A festival; a meeting for mirth.

Merry-Thought

MER'RY-THOUGHT, noun The forked bone of a fowl's breast, which boys and girls break by pulling each one side; the longest part broken betokening priority of marriage.

Mersion

MER'SION, noun [Latin mersio, from mergo, to dive or sink.]

The act of sinking or plunging under water. But immersion is generally used.

Mesaraic

MESARA'IC, adjective [Gr. middle, and intestines.] The same as mesenteric; pertaining to the mesentery.

Meseems

MESEE'MS, verb impersonal. [me and seems.] It seems to me. It is used also in the past tense, meseemed.

Mesenteric

MESENTER'IC, adjective [See Mesentery.] Pertaining to the mesentery; as mesenteric glands or arteries.

Mesentery

MES'ENTERY, noun [Gr. middle, and intestine.] A fatty membrane placed in the middle of the intestines, and to which they are attached. This prevents them from becoming entangled with each other by convolutions. It is formed by a duplicature of the peritoneum.

Mesh

MESH, noun

1. The opening or space between the threads of a net.

2. The grains or wash of a brewery.

MESH, noun

1. The opening or space between the threads of a net.

2. The grains or wash of a brewery.

MESH, verb transitive To catch in a net; to ensnare.

Meshy

MESH'Y, adjective Formed like net-work; reticulated.

Meslin

MES'LIN, noun [Latin miscellaneus, from misceo, to mix.]

A mixture of different sorts of grain; in America, a mixture of wheat and rye.

Mesne

MESNE, adjective meen. In law, middle; intervening; as a mesne lord, that is, a lord who holds land of a superior, but grants a part of it to another person. In this case, he is a tenant to the superior, but lord or superior to the second grantee, and called the mesne lord.

MESNE process, that part of the proceedings in a suit which intervenes between the original process or writ and the final issue, and which issues, pending the suit, on some collateral matter; and sometimes it is understood to be the whole process preceding the execution.

MESNE profits, the profits of an estate which accrue to a tenant in possession, after the demise of the lessor.

Mesocolon

MES'OCOLON, noun [Gr. middle, and colon.]

In anatomy, that part of the mesentery, which, having reached the extremity of the ileum, contracts and changes its name, or that part of the mesentery to which the colon is attached.

Mesoleucys

MESOLEU'CYS, noun [Gr. middle, and white.]

A precious stone with a streak of white in the middle.

Mesolite

MES'OLITE, noun A mineral of the zeolite family.

Mesologarithm

MESOLOG'ARITHM, noun [Gr. middle, and logarithm.]

A logarithm of the co-sines and co-tangents.

The former is called by Napier an antilogarithm, the latter a differential.

Mesomelas

MESOM'ELAS, noun [Gr. middle, and black.] A precious stone with a black vein parting every color in the midst.

Mesotype

MES'OTYPE, noun [Gr. middle, and form, type.] Prismatic zeolite; a mineral divided into three subspecies, fibrous zeolite, natrolite, and mealy zeolite. This is said by some writers to be so named from its property, when transparent, of doubling images. Others say it is a mean form between stilbite and analcime.

Mesprise

MESPRISE, noun Contempt; a French word. [Not in use.]

Mess

MESS, noun [Latin mensa.]

1. A dish or a quantity of food prepared or set on a table at one time; as a mess of pottage; a mess of herbs; a mess of broth.

2. A medley; a mixed mass; a quantity.

3. As much provender or grain as is given to a beast at once.

4. A number of persons who eat together; among seamen and soldiers.

MESS, verb intransitive To eat; to feed.

1. To associate at the same table; to eat in company, as seamen.

MESS, verb transitive To supply with a mess

Message

MES'SAGE, noun [Latin missus, mitto, to send.]

1. Any notice, word or communication, written or verbal, sent from one person to another. We send a servant with a verbal or written message

The welcome message made, was soon received.

2. An official written communication of facts or opinions sent by a chief magistrate to the two houses of a legislature or other deliberative body. Congress receives a message from the President of the United States at the opening of the session. The Governors of some of the states communicate to the legislature by message others by address.

3. An official verbal communication from one branch of a legislature to the other.

Messager

MES'SAGER

MES'SENGER, noun

1. One who bears a message or an errand; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice or invitation from one person to another, or to a public body; one who conveys dispatches from one prince or court to another.

2. A harbinger; a forerunner; he or that which foreshows.

You gray lines

That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.

Messiah

MESSI'AH, adjective [Heb. anointed.] Christ, the anointed; the Savior of the world.

I know that when messiah cometh, who is called Christ, he will tell us all things. Jesus answered her, I that speak to thee am he. John 4:25-26.

Messiahship

MESSI'AHSHIP, noun The character, state or office of the Savior.

Josephus--whose prejudices were against the messiahship and religion of Jesus.

Messieurs

MES'SIEURS, noun [plu. of monsieur, my lord.] Sirs; gentlemen.

MESS'-MATE, noun An associate in eating; one who eats ordinarily at the same table.

Messuage

MESS'UAGE, noun In law, a dwelling house and adjoining land, appropriated to the use of the household, including the adjacent buildings.

Mestee

MESTEE', noun A person of a mixed breed.

Met

MET, preterit tense and participle passive of meet.

Metabasis

METAB'ASIS, noun [Gr. from beyond, and to go.] In rhetoric, transition; a passing from one thing to another.

Metabola

METAB'OLA, noun [Gr. beyond, and a casting.] In medicine, a change of air, time or disease. [Little used.]

Metacarpal

METACARP'AL, adjective [from metacarpus.] Belonging to the metacarpus.