Majorate Ma"jor·ate transitive verb [ Late Latin majorare to augment. See Major , adjective ] To augment; to increase. [ Obsolete] Howell.

Majoration Ma`jor·a"tion noun Increase; enlargement. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Majorcan Ma·jor"can adjective Of or pertaining to Majorca. -- noun A native or inhabitant of Majorca.

Majority Ma·jor"i·ty noun ; plural Majorities . [ French majorité . See Major .] 1. The quality or condition of being major or greater; superiority. Specifically: (a) The military rank of a major. (b) The condition of being of full age, or authorized by law to manage one's own affairs.

2. The greater number; more than half; as, a majority of mankind; a majority of the votes cast.

3. [ Confer Latin majores .] Ancestors; ancestry. [ Obsolete]

4. The amount or number by which one aggregate exceeds all other aggregates with which it is contrasted; especially, the number by which the votes for a successful candidate exceed those for all other candidates; as, he is elected by a majority of five hundred votes. See Plurality .

To go over to, or To join , the majority , to die.

Majorship Ma"jor·ship noun The office of major.

Majoun Maj"oun noun See Madjoun .

Majuscule Ma·jus"cule noun [ Confer French majuscule . See Majusculæ .] A capital letter; especially, one used in ancient manuscripts. See Majusculæ .

Majuscule writing , writing composed wholly of capital letters, especially the style which prevailed in Europe from the third to the sixth century.

Majusculæ Ma·jus"cu·læ noun plural [ Latin , fem. plural from majusculus somewhat greater or great, dim. of major , majus . See Major .] (Palæography) Capital letters, as found in manuscripts of the sixth century and earlier.

Makable Mak"a·ble adjective Capable of being made.

Makaron Mak"a·ron noun See Macaroon , 2. [ Obsolete]

Make Make noun [ Anglo-Saxon maca , gemaca . See Match .] A companion; a mate; often, a husband or a wife. [ Obsolete]

For in this world no woman is
Worthy to be my make .

Chaucer.

Make Make transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Made ; present participle & verbal noun Making .] [ Middle English maken , makien , Anglo-Saxon macian ; akin to Old Saxon mak...n , OFries. makia , Dutch maken , German machen , Old High German mahh...n to join, fit, prepare, make, Danish mage . Confer Match an equal.] 1. To cause to exist; to bring into being; to form; to produce; to frame; to fashion; to create. Hence, in various specific uses or applications: (a) To form of materials; to cause to exist in a certain form; to construct; to fabricate.

He . . . fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf.

Ex. xxxii. 4.

(b) To produce, as something artificial, unnatural, or false; -- often with up ; as, to make up a story.

And Art, with her contending, doth aspire
To excel the natural with made delights.

Spenser.

(c) To bring about; to bring forward; to be the cause or agent of; to effect, do, perform, or execute; -- often used with a noun to form a phrase equivalent to the simple verb that corresponds to such noun; as, to make complaint, for to complain; to make record of, for to record; to make abode, for to abide, etc.

Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.

Judg. xvi. 25.

Wealth maketh many friends.

Prov. xix. 4.

I will neither plead my age nor sickness in excuse of the faults which I have made .

Dryden.

(d) To execute with the requisite formalities; as, to make a bill, note, will, deed, etc. (e) To gain, as the result of one's efforts; to get, as profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue or happen to one; as, to make a large profit; to make an error; to make a loss; to make money.

He accuseth Neptune unjustly who makes shipwreck a second time.

Bacon.

(f) To find, as the result of calculation or computation; to ascertain by enumeration; to find the number or amount of, by reckoning, weighing, measurement, and the like; as, he made the distance of; to travel over; as, the ship makes ten knots an hour; he made the distance in one day. (h) To put in a desired or desirable condition; to cause to thrive.

Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown.

Dryden.

2. To cause to be or become; to put into a given state verb, or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make public; to make fast.

Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?

Ex. ii. 14.

See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.

Ex. vii. 1.

» When used reflexively with an adjective, the reflexive pronoun is often omitted; as, to make merry; to make bold; to make free, etc.

3. To cause to appear to be; to constitute subjectively; to esteem, suppose, or represent.

He is not that goose and ass that Valla would make him.

Baker.

4. To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause; to occasion; -- followed by a noun or pronoun and infinitive.

» In the active voice the to of the infinitive is usually omitted.

I will make them hear my words.

Deut. iv. 10.

They should be made to rise at their early hour.

Locke.

5. To become; to be, or to be capable of being, changed or fashioned into; to do the part or office of; to furnish the material for; as, he will make a good musician; sweet cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing.

And old cloak makes a new jerkin.

Shak.

6. To compose, as parts, ingredients, or materials; to constitute; to form; to amount to.

The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea,
Make but one temple for the Deity.

Waller.

7. To be engaged or concerned in. [ Obsolete]

Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole brotherhood of city bailiffs?

Dryden.

8. To reach; to attain; to arrive at or in sight of. "And make the Libyan shores." Dryden.

They that sail in the middle can make no land of either side.

Sir T. Browne.

To make a bed , to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to put it in order. -- To make a card (Card Playing) , to take a trick with it. -- To make account . See under Account , noun -- To make account of , to esteem; to regard. -- To make away . (a) To put out of the way; to kill; to destroy. [ Obsolete]

If a child were crooked or deformed in body or mind, they made him away .

Burton.

(b) To alienate; to transfer; to make over. [ Obsolete] Waller. -- To make believe , to pretend; to feign; to simulate. -- To make bold , to take the liberty; to venture. -- To make the cards (Card Playing) , to shuffle the pack. -- To make choice of , to take by way of preference; to choose. -- To make danger , to make experiment. [ Obsolete] Beau. & Fl. -- To make default (Law) , to fail to appear or answer. -- To make the doors , to shut the door. [ Obsolete]

Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement.

Shak.

- To make free with . See under Free , adjective -- To make good . See under Good . -- To make head , to make headway. --

Make Make intransitive verb 1. To act in a certain manner; to have to do; to manage; to interfere; to be active; -- often in the phrase to meddle or make . [ Obsolete]

A scurvy, jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make .

Shak.

2. To proceed; to tend; to move; to go; as, he made toward home ; the tiger made at the sportsmen.

» Formerly, authors used to make on , to make forth , to make about ; but these phrases are obsolete. We now say, to make at , to make away , to make for , to make off , to make toward , etc.

3. To tend; to contribute; to have effect; -- with for or against ; as, it makes for his advantage. M. Arnold.

Follow after the things which make for peace.

Rom. xiv. 19.

Considerations infinite
Do make against it.

Shak.

4. To increase; to augment; to accrue.

5. To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify. [ Archaic] Chaucer. Tennyson.

To solace him some time, as I do when I make .

P. Plowman.

To make as if , or To make as though , to pretend that; to make show that; to make believe (see under Make , transitive verb ).

Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled.

Josh. viii. 15.

My lord of London maketh as though he were greatly displeased with me.

Latimer.

-- To make at , to go toward hastily, or in a hostile manner; to attack. -- To make away with . (a) To carry off. (b) To transfer or alienate; hence, to spend; to dissipate . (c) To kill; to destroy. -- To make off , to go away suddenly. -- To make out , to succeed; to be able at last; to make shift; as, he made out to reconcile the contending parties. -- To make up , to become reconciled or friendly. -- To make up for , to compensate for; to supply an equivalent for. -- To make up to . (a) To approach; as, a suspicious boat made up to us. (b) To pay addresses to; to make love to. -- To make up with , to become reconciled to. [ Colloq.] -- To make with , to concur or agree with. Hooker.

Make Make noun Structure, texture, constitution of parts; construction; shape; form.

It our perfection of so frail a make
As every plot can undermine and shake?

Dryden.

On the make , bent upon making great profits; greedy of gain. [ Low, U. S.]

Make and break Make and break (Electricity) Any apparatus for making and breaking an electric circuit; a circuit breaker.

Make-belief Make"-be·lief` noun A feigning to believe; make believe. J. H. Newman.

Make-believe Make"-be·lieve` noun A feigning to believe, as in the play of children; a mere pretense; a fiction; an invention. "Childlike make-believe ." Tylor.

To forswear self-delusion and make- believe .

M. Arnold.

Make-believe Make"-be·lieve` adjective Feigned; insincere. " Make-believe reverence." G. Eliot.

Make-game Make"-game` noun An object of ridicule; a butt. Godwin.

Make-peace Make"-peace` (-pēs`) noun A peacemaker. [ R.] Shak.

Make-up Make"-up` noun The way in which the parts of anything are put together; often, the way in which an actor is dressed, painted, etc., in personating a character.

The unthinking masses are necessarily teleological in their mental make-up .

Latin F. Ward.

Makebate Make"bate` noun [ Make , v. + bate a quarrel.] One who excites contentions and quarrels. [ Obsolete]

Maked Mak"ed obsolete past participle of Make . Made. Chaucer.

Makeless Make"less adjective [ See 1st Make , and confer Matchless , Mateless .] 1. Matchless. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

2. Without a mate. Shak.

Maker Mak"er (māk"ẽr) noun 1. One who makes, forms, or molds; a manufacturer; specifically, the Creator.

The universal Maker we may praise.

Milton.

2. (Law) The person who makes a promissory note.

3. One who writes verses; a poet. [ Obsolete]

» "The Greeks named the poet poihth`s , which name, as the most excellent, hath gone through other languages. It cometh of this word poiei^n , make ; wherein, I know not whether by luck or wisdom, we Englishmen have met well the Greeks in calling him a maker ." Sir P. Sidney.

Makeshift Make"shift` (māk"shĭft`) noun That with which one makes shift; a temporary expedient. James Mill.

I am not a model clergyman, only a decent makeshift .

G. Eliot.

Makeweight Make"weight` noun That which is thrown into a scale to make weight; something of little account added to supply a deficiency or fill a gap.

Maki Ma"ki noun [ French, from native name.] (Zoology) A lemur. See Lemur .

Making Mak"ing noun 1. The act of one who makes; workmanship; fabrication; construction; as, this is cloth of your own making ; the making of peace or war was in his power.

2. Composition, or structure.

3. a poem. [ Obsolete] Sir J. Davies.

4. That which establishes or places in a desirable state or condition; the material of which something may be made; as, early misfortune was the making of him.

5. External appearance; from. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Making-iron Mak"ing-i`ron noun A tool somewhat like a chisel with a groove in it, used by calkers of ships to finish the seams after the oakum has been driven in.

Making-up Mak"ing-up` noun 1. The act of bringing spirits to a certain degree of strength, called proof .

2. The act of becoming reconciled or friendly.

Mal- Mal- (măl-). A prefix in composition denoting ill, or evil, French male , adverb , from malus , bad, ill. In some words it has the form male- , as in male diction, male volent. See Malice .

» The form male- is chiefly used in cases where the e , either alone or with other letters, is pronounced as a separate syllable, as in male diction, male factor, male ficent, etc. Where this is not the case, as in mal feasance or male -feasance, mal formation or male -formation, etc., as also where the word to which it is prefixed commences with a vowel, as in mal administration, etc., the form mal is to be preferred, and is the one commonly employed.

Mala Ma"la noun ; plural of Malum . [ Latin ] Evils; wrongs; offenses against right and law.

Mala in se [ Latin ] (Law) , offenses which are such from their own nature, at common law, irrespective of statute. -- Mala prohibita [ Latin ] (Law) , offenses prohibited by statute, as distinguished from mala in se , which are offenses at common law.

Malabar Mal"a·bar` noun A region in the western part of the Peninsula of India, between the mountains and the sea.

Malabar nut (Botany) , the seed of an East Indian acanthaceous shrub, the Adhatoda Vasica , sometimes used medicinally.

Malacatune Mal`a·ca·tune" noun See Melocoton .

Malacca Ma·lac"ca noun A town and district upon the seacoast of the Malay Peninsula.

Malacca cane (Botany) , a cane obtained from a species of palm of the genus Calamus ( C. Scipionum ), and of a brown color, often mottled. The plant is a native of Cochin China, Sumatra, and Malays.

Malachite Mal"a·chite noun [ Fr. Greek ... a mallow, from its resembling the green color of the leaf of mallows: confer French malachite . Confer Mallow .] (Min.) Native hydrous carbonate of copper, usually occurring in green mammillary masses with concentric fibrous structure.

» Green malachite , or malachite proper, admits of a high polish, and is sometimes used for ornamental work. Blue malachite , or azurite, is a related species of a deep blue color.

Malachite green . See Emerald green , under Green , noun

Malacissant Mal`a·cis"sant adjective [ See Malacissation .] Softening; relaxing. [ Obsolete]

Malacissation Mal`a·cis·sa"tion noun [ Latin malacissare to make soft, Greek ....] The act of making soft or supple. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Malacobdella Mal`a·cob·del"la noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... soft + ... a leech.] (Zoology) A genus of nemertean worms, parasitic in the gill cavity of clams and other bivalves. They have a large posterior sucker, like that of a leech. See Illust. of Bdellomorpha .

Malacoderm Mal"a·co·derm noun [ Greek ... soft + ... skin.] (Zoology) One of a tribe of beetles ( Malacodermata ), with a soft and flexible body, as the fireflies.

Malacolite Mal"a·co·lite noun [ Greek ... soft + -lite .] (Min.) A variety of pyroxene.

Malacologist Mal`a·col"o·gist noun One versed in the science of malacology.

Malacology Mal`a·col"o·gy noun [ Greek ... soft + -logy : confer French malacologie .] The science which relates to the structure and habits of mollusks.

Malacopoda Mal`a·cop"o·da noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... soft + -poda .] (Zoology) A class of air-breathing Arthropoda; -- called also Protracheata , and Onychophora .

» They somewhat resemble myriapods, and have from seventeen to thirty-three pairs of short, imperfectly jointed legs, two pairs of simple jaws, and a pair of antennæ. The trancheæ are connected with numerous spiracles scattered over the surface of the body. Peripatus is the only known genus. See Peripatus .

Malacopterygian Mal`a·cop`ter·yg"i·an noun [ Confer French malacoptérygien .] (Zoology) One of the Malacopterygii.

Malacopterygii Mal`a·cop`te·ryg"i·i noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... soft + ... wing, fin, from ... feather.] (Zoology) An order of fishes in which the fin rays, except the anterior ray of the pectoral and dorsal fins, are closely jointed, and not spiny. It includes the carp, pike, salmon, shad, etc. Called also Malacopteri .

Malacopterygious Mal`a·cop`ter·yg"i·ous adjective (Zoology) Belonging to the Malacopterygii.

Malacosteon Mal`a·cos"te·on noun [ New Latin , Greek from ... soft + ... bone.] (Medicine) A peculiar disease of the bones, in consequence of which they become softened and capable of being bent without breaking.

Malacostomous Mal`a·cos"to·mous adjective [ Greek ... soft + ... mouth.] (Zoology) Having soft jaws without teeth, as certain fishes.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter M > Page 10 of 126.
« Previous ¦2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ¦ Next »