Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Mēl-iōr'i-ty, n. p. 826The state of being better. [Obs.] Bacon.Me-liph'a-gan, n. p. 827(Ornith.) One of a family of birds having long, slender beaks, and the end of the tongue composed of a great number of slender filaments, forming a sort of brush, by means of which they extract honey…Me-lĭph'a-goûs, a. p. 827Eating, or feeding upon, honey.Mēll, v. i. p. 827To mix; to meddle. [Obs.] Spenser.Mēlī, n. p. 827Honey. [Obs.] Warner.Mēl'late, n. p. 827(Chem.) A combination of mellic or mellitic acid with a base.Mēl'lay, n. p. 827The same as MELEE. [Rare.] He rode the mellay, lord of the ringing lists. Tennyson.Mēl'lie, a. p. 827See MELLITIC.Mel-lif'er-oûs or Mel-lif'ic, a. p. 827Producing honey.Mĕl'li-fi-cā'tion, n. p. 827The making or production of honey.Mel-lif'lu-ence, n. p. 827A flow of sweetness, or a sweet, smooth flow.Mel-lĭf'lu-ent, a. p. 827Flowing as with honey; smooth; mellifluous.Mel-lĭf'lu-ent-ly, adv. p. 827Smoothly; mellifluously.Mel-lĭf'lu-oŭs, a. p. 827Flowing as with honey; smooth; sweetly flowing; as, a mellifluous voice.Mel-lĭf'lu-oŭs-ly, adv. p. 827Smoothly; flowingly.Mel-lĭġ'e-noŭs, a. p. 827Having the qualities of honey.Mel-lī'go, n. p. 827Honey-dew.Mĕl'li-līte, n. p. 827(Min.) (a.) A yellowish or brownish mineral, consisting chiefly of the silicate of alumina, lime, and magnesia. (b.) The same as MELLITE. See MELLITE.Mel-lĭf'o-quent, a. p. 827Speaking sweetly or harmoniously.Mēl'īt, n. p. 827(Far.) A dry scab on the heel of a horse’s fore foot, cured by a mixture of honey and vinegar.Mēl'li-tate, n. p. 827(Chem.) A compound of mellitic acid with a base; a mellate. Graham.Mĕl'lĭte, n. p. 827(Min.) A mineral of a honey color, found in small octahedral crystals; honey-stone. It consists of mellitic acid and alumina. It is found with brown coal, and is partly the result of vegetable…Mel-lĭt'ic, a. p. 827(Chem.) (a.) Containing saccharine matter; marked by saccharine secretions; as, mellitic diabetes. (b.) Pertaining to, or derived from, honey-stone; as, mellitic acid. [Written also mellic.]Mĕl'lon, n. p. 827(Chem.) A lemon-yellow substance, consisting of carbon and nitrogen. Brande.Mĕl'lōw, a. p. 827Soft; not hard, harsh, tough, or unyielding; as, (a.) Soft with ripeness; ripe; as, a mellow apple. (b.) Well broken and lying lightly; easily penetrated; not indurated; as, a mellow soil. “Mellow…Mĕl'lōw, v. t. p. 827To make mellow; to ripen; to bring to maturity; to soften by ripeness or age; to make rich and delicate. On foreign mountains may the sun refine The grape's soft juice, and mellow it to wine.…Mĕl'lōw, v. i. p. 827To become soft; to be ripened, matured, or brought to perfection; as, fruit, when taken from the tree, soon mellows; wine mellows with age. So now prosperity begins to mellow And drop into the rotten…Mĕl'lōw-ly, adv. p. 827In a mellow manner.Mĕl'lōw-ness, n. p. 827The quality of yielding easily to pressure; ripeness, as of fruit; softness. 2. Maturity; softness or smoothness from age, as of wine.Mĕl'lōw-tōned, a. p. 827Having soft tones.Mĕl'lōw-y, a. p. 827Soft; unctuous. Drayton.Mĕl/o-co-toon' or Mĕl/o-co-toon, n. p. 827A quince; also, a large kind of peach. [Written also malacatune, and melicotoon.]Me-lō'de-on, n. p. 827(Mus.) A wind instrument, furnished with a key-board, and portable, the bellows being moved by means of pedals worked by the feet of the performer. 2. A music-hall.Me-lōd'ic, a. p. 827Of the nature of melody; relating to, containing, or made up of, melody.Me-lōd'ies, n. sing. p. 827The department of musical science which treats of the pitch of tones, and of the laws of melody. [See Note under MATHEMATICS.]Me-lō'di-ōŭs, a. p. 827Containing 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.” Dryden.Me-lō'di-ous-ly, adv. p. 827In a melodious manner; musically.Me-lō'di-ous-ness, n. p. 827The quality of being melodious; musicalness.Mĕl'o-dīst, n. p. 827A composer or singer of melodies.Mĕl'o-dīze, v. t. p. 827To make melodious; to form into, or set to, melody.Mĕl'o-dīze, v. i. p. 827To make melodies; to compose melodies.Mĕl'o-drā'mă, n. p. 827A dramatic performance in which songs are intermixed, and effect is sought, by startling, exaggerated, or unnatural sentiment or situation; a melodrame.Mĕl'o-dra-măt'ic, a. p. 827Pertaining to a melodrame; of the nature of melodrama; unnatural or exaggerated in situation or action; coarsely represented; done for effect merely; overstrained.Mēl'o-drām'a-tīst, n. p. 827One skilled in melodrames, or who prepares them.Mĕl′o-drāme, n. p. 827The same as MELODRAMA.Mĕl'o-dy, n. p. 827(Mus.) A rhythmical succession of single tones, ranging for the most part within a given key, and so related together as to form a musical whole, having the unity of what is technically called a…Mē'lōe, n. p. 827(Entom.) A genus of insects without wings, but having short, oval elytra, which lap over one another at the base of the suture; the oil-beetle. They are sometimes used for raising blisters, instead…Mĕl'on, n. p. 827(Bot.) The fruit of a cucurbitaceous plant, which is eaten raw. The plant is also so called. The musk-melon (Cucumis melo) has a small fruit, with a yellow pulp, and an agreeable flavor. The…Mĕl'on-thĭs'tle, n. p. 827(Bot.) A kind of cactus of the genus Melocactus, of a roundish form, resembling a melon, growing close to the ground, and having neither stems, branches, nor leaves.Mel-o-poe'ia, n. p. 827(Mus.) The art of forming melody; melody. Moore.Mē-lō'sis, n. p. 827(Surg.) The act of probing, as a wound, ulcer, and the like. Dunglison.Mēl'o-týpe, n. p. 827A daguerreotype process, valuable to tourists, for the reason that the dark chamber is not needed in the field, because the pictures can be developed at any subsequent time.Mel-pŏm'e-nē, n. p. 827(Myth.) The Muse who presides over tragedy. 2. The eighteenth asteroid.Mēl'rōse, n. p. 827Honey of roses.Mĕlt, v. t. p. 827The old participle, molten, is used only as an adjective. Cf. SMELT. 1. To reduce from a solid to a liquid state by heat; to liquefy; to dissolve; as, to melt wax, tallow, or lead; to melt ice or…Mĕlt, v. i. p. 827To be changed from a fixed or solid to a flowing state; to become liquid; to dissolve. And whiter snow in minutes melts away. Dryden. 2. Hence, to be softened to love, pity, tenderness, or sympathy…Mĕlt'a-ble, a. p. 827Capable of being melted; fusible. [Rare.] Cudworth.Mĕlt'er, n. p. 827One who melts.Mēlt'ing, n. p. 827The act of softening; the act of rendering tender.Melting-point p. 827the temperature at which any fusible substance melts.