Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Mēat'-bĭs'cuit, n. p. 823An extract of the most nutritive parts of meat boiled down and thickened with flour, and then formed into the shape of biscuit, for long voyages, travels, &c. Simmonds.Meat'ed, a. p. 823Fed; fattened. [Obs.] Tusser. 2. Having meat;—used chiefly in composition; as, thick-meated.Mēathe, n. p. 823A sweet liquor or drink; mead. [Obs.] Milton. 2. Choice; option; preference. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.Meat'i-ness, n. p. 823The state or quality of being meaty; fleshiness; muscularity. The diaphaneity of Babet contrasted with the meatiness of Guelphener. C. E. Wilson.Mēat'less, a. p. 823Having no meat; without food. “Leave these beggars meatless.” Sir T. More.Mēat'-ŏf'fer-ing, n. p. 823(Script.) An offering consisting of meat or food, in distinction from a drink-offering.Mē-ā'tus, n. p. 823(Anat.) A natural passage or canal, wider than a duct. It may be closed at one end, or perforated.Mēat'y, a. p. 823Abounding in meat; fleshy.Meaw, v. i. p. 823See MEW.Meawl, v. i. p. 823See MEWL.Mēa'zel, n. p. 823See MEASLE. [Obs.]Mēaz'ling, a. p. 823Falling in small drops; mistling; mizzling.Mēc'ca-wee', n. p. 823(Geog.) A native or inhabitant of Mecca, or Mekka, in Arabia.Mĕc'ca-wee',, a. p. 823(Geog.) Of, or pertaining to, Mecca or its inhabitants.Me-chān'ic, n. p. 823One who works with machines or instruments; a workman or laborer other than agricultural; an artisan; an artificer; more specifically, one who practices any mechanic art; one skilled or employed in…Me-chăn'ic or Me-chăn'ic-al, a. p. 823Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion; depending upon mechanism or machinery. 2. Hence, done as if by a machine, or without conscious exertion of will…Mechanical effect or Mechanical philosophy or Mechanical powers p. 823the measure of effective power; the power to raise a certain weight through a foot-space in a definite time. Nichol. — Mechanical philosophy, the principles of mechanics applied to the investigation…Mechanical Powers p. 8231, lever; 2, inclined plane; 3, wheel and axle; 4, screw; 5, pulley; 6, wedge.Me-chān'ic-al, n. p. 823A mechanic. [Obs.] “Rude mechanicks.” Shak.Me-chān′ic-al-ize, v. t. p. 823To cause to become mechanical; hence, to render base, low, or mean. [Obs.]Me-chăn'ic-al-ly, adv. p. 823In a mechanical manner; according to the laws of mechanism or good workmanship; by physical force or power; by the laws of motion, without intelligence or design, or by the force of habit.Me-chăn'ic-al-ness, n. p. 823The state of being mechanical, or governed by mechanism.Mĕch'a-nĭ'cian, n. p. 823One skilled in mechanics; a machinist.Me·chān'i·co·chēm'ic·al, a. p. 823Pertaining to, connected with, or dependent upon, both mechanics and chemistry; — said especially of those sciences which treat of such phenomena as require for their explanation the application of…Me-chăn'ics, n. sing. p. 823That science, or branch of applied mathematics, which treats of the action of forces on bodies. [See Note under MATHEMATICS.] That part of mechanics which considers the action of forces in producing…Mēch'an-īzm, n. p. 823Movement according to mechanical laws; mechanical action. [Hare.] 2. The construction of a machine; the arrangement and connection of moving and other parts in a machine, so as to answer a given…Mĕch'an-ist, n. p. 823A maker of machines; one skilled in mechanics.Mēch'an-ize, v. t. p. 823To subject to contrivance, art, or skill; to form by contrivance or design.Mĕch'an-o-grāph'ic, a. p. 823Pertaining to, or treating of, mechanics.Měch'an-ŏg'ra-phist, n. p. 823An artist who, by mechanical means, multiplies copies of works of art.Mĕch'an-ŏg'ra-phy, n. p. 823The art of multiplying copies of a writing, or any work of art, by the use of a machine.Mĕch'an-ŭr'gy, n. p. 823That branch of science which treats of moving machines.Mĕch'lin, n. p. 823A beautiful, light kind of lace;—so called because made at Mechlin, in Belgium.Me-chō'a-can, n. p. 823A species of jalap, of very feeble properties, obtained from the root of a species of Convolvulus (C. Mechoacan);—so called from Mechoacan, in Mexico, whence it is obtained.Me-cōm'e-ter, n. p. 823(Med.) An instrument sometimes used to measure the length of new-born infants. Dunglison.Mĕc'o-nate, n. p. 823(Chem.) A salt consisting of meconic acid and a base.Me-cō'ni-ă, n. p. 823The same as MECONINA.Me-cōn'ic, a. p. 823(Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from, poppies; as, meconic acid, a peculiar acid contained in opium.Me-cōn'i-nā or Mĕc'o-nine, n. p. 823(Chem.) A white crystalline substance produced by the oxidation of narcotine. It also exists in small quantity in opium. Miller.Me-cō'ni-ŭm, n. p. 823(Med.) The inspissated juice of the poppy. [Obs.] 2. The first feces of infants.Mē'con-ŏp'sis, n. p. 823(Bot.) A genus of plants allied to the poppy, of which one species (M. Cambricae) is the Welsh poppy.Mĕd'al, n. p. 823A coin struck with a device intended as a memento of any event or person; a piece of metal in the form of a coin, so struck, but not intended for circulation as money; a reward of merit.Mĕd'al-ĕt, n. p. 823A small medal.Mĕd'al-ist, n. p. 823A person that is skilled or curious in medals. 2. One who has gained a medal as the reward of merit.Me-dăl'lic, a. p. 823Pertaining to a medal, or to medals. Admiral Vernon will shine in our medallic history. H. Walpole.Me-dăll'ion, n. p. 823A large antique medal or memorial coin. 2. Any thing resembling in form such a coin; as, (Arch.) a circular tablet on which figures are embossed. Weale.Mĕd'al-ūr'gy, n. p. 823The art of making and striking medals and other coins. [Written also medallurgy.]Mĕd'dle, v. i. p. 823To mix one's self in an unnecessary, impertinent, or improper manner; to take part in a thing with which one should have nothing to do; to interpose officiously; to thrust one's self in offensively.…Mĕd'dle, v. t. p. 824To mix; to mingle. [Obs.] He meddled his talk with many a tear. Spenser.Mĕd'dler, n. p. 824One who meddles; one who interferes or busies himself with things in which he has no concern; an officious person; a busybody.Mēd'dle-sōme, a. p. 824Given to meddling; apt to interpose in the affairs of others; officiously intrusive.Mĕd'dle-sōme-ness, n. p. 824The quality of being meddlesome.Mēd'dling-ly, adv. p. 824Officiously; interferingly.Mē'di-æ'val, a. p. 824Of, or relating to, the middle ages. [Written also mediæval.] Mediæval architecture, the architecture of England and the continent during the middle ages, including the Norman and early Gothic styles.Mē'di-ē'val-ism, n. p. 824The method or spirit of the middle ages; devotion to the institutions and practices of the middle ages. [Written also mediævalism.]Mē'di-æ'val-ist, n. p. 824One who has a taste for, or is versed in, the history of the middle ages. [Written also mediævalist.]Mē'di-al, a. p. 824Pertaining to a mean or average; mean. Medial alligation (Arith.), a method of finding the value of a mixture consisting of two or more ingredients of different quantities and values, the quantity…Mē'di-an, a. p. 824Running through the middle; as, a median groove. 2. (Zoological Geog.) Pertaining to the interval or zone along the sea bottom between fifty and one hundred fathoms in depth. E. Forbes.Median line p. 824an ideal line dividing the body longitudinally and symmetrically into two parts, the one on the right and the other on the left. Dunglison.Mē'di-ant, n. p. 824(Mus.) The third above the key-note; — so called because it divides the interval between the tonic and dominant into two thirds. Moore.