Malacostraca Mal`a·cos"tra·ca noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... soft + ... shell of a testacean.] (Zoology) A subclass of Crustacea, including Arthrostraca and Thoracostraca, or all those higher than the Entomostraca.

Malacostracan Mal`a·cos"tra·can noun (Zoology) One of the Malacostraca.

Malacostracology Mal`a·cos`tra·col"o·gy noun [ Malacostrac an + -logy .] That branch of zoölogical science which relates to the crustaceans; -- called also carcinology .

Malacostracous Mal`a·cos"tra·cous adjective (Zoology) Belonging to the Malacostraca.

Malacotoon Mal`a·co·toon" noun (Botany) See Melocoton .

Malacozoa Mal`a·co·zo"a noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... soft + zo^,on an animal.] (Zoology) An extensive group of Invertebrata, including the Mollusca, Brachiopoda, and Bryozoa. Called also Malacozoaria .

Malacozoic Mal`a·co·zo"ic adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Malacozoa.

Maladdress Mal`ad·dress" noun [ Mal- + address .] Bad address; an awkward, tactless, or offensive way of accosting one or talking with one. W. D. Howells.

Maladjustment Mal`ad·just"ment noun [ Mal- + adjustment .] A bad adjustment.

Maladministration Mal`ad·min`is·tra"tion noun [ Mal- + administration .] Bad administration; bad management of any business, especially of public affairs. [ Written also maleadministration .]

Maladroit Mal`a·droit" adjective [ French See Malice , and Adroit .] Of a quality opposed to adroitness; clumsy; awkward; unskillful. -- Mal"a*droit`ly , adverb -- Mal`a*droit"ness , noun

Malady Mal"a·dy noun ; plural Maladies . [ French maladie , from malade ill, sick, Old French also, malabde , from Latin male habitus , i. e., ill-kept, not in good condition. See Malice , and Habit .] 1. Any disease of the human body; a distemper, disorder, or indisposition, proceeding from impaired, defective, or morbid organic functions; especially, a lingering or deep-seated disorder.

The maladies of the body may prove medicines to the mind.

Buckminster.

2. A moral or mental defect or disorder.

Love's a malady without a cure.

Dryden.

Syn. -- Disorder; distemper; sickness; ailment; disease; illness. See Disease .

Malaga Mal"a·ga noun A city and a province of Spain, on the Mediterranean. Hence, Malaga grapes, Malaga raisins, Malaga wines.

Malagash Mal`a·gash" noun Same as Malagasy .

Malagasy Mal`a·gas"y noun sing. & plural A native or natives of Madagascar; also ( sing .), the language.

Malaise Ma`laise" noun [ French, from mal ill + aise ease.] (Medicine) An indefinite feeling of uneasiness, or of being sick or ill at ease.

Malamate Ma·lam"ate noun (Chemistry) A salt of malamic acid.

Malambo Ma·lam"bo noun [ Portuguese ] A yellowish aromatic bark, used in medicine and perfumery, said to be from the South American shrub Croton Malambo .

Malamethane Mal`am·eth"ane noun [ Malamic + ethane .] (Chemistry) A white crystalline substance forming the ethyl salt of malamic acid.

Malamic Ma·lam"ic adjective [ Mal ic + amic .] (Chemistry) Of or designating an acid intermediate between malic acid and malamide, and known only by its salts.

Malamide Ma·lam"ide noun [ Malic + amide .] (Chemistry) The acid amide derived from malic acid, as a white crystalline substance metameric with asparagine.

Malanders Mal"an·ders noun plural [ French malandres , from Latin malandria blisters or pustules on the neck, especially in horses.] (Far.) A scurfy eruption in the bend of the knee of the fore leg of a horse. See Sallenders . [ Written also mallenders .]

Malapert Mal"a·pert adjective [ Old French malapert unskillful, ill-taught, ill-bred; mal ill + apert open, adroit, intelligent, Latin apertus , past participle of aperire to open. See Malice , and Aperient .] Bold; forward; impudent; saucy; pert. Shak. -- noun A malapert person.

Are you growing malapert ! Will you force me to make use of my authority ?

Dryden.

-- Mal"a*pert`ly , adverb -- Mal"a*pert`ness , noun

Malapropism Mal"a·prop·ism noun [ From Mrs. Malaprop , a character in Sheridan's drama, " The Rivals," who makes amusing blunders in her use of words. See Malapropos .] A grotesque misuse of a word; a word so used.

Malapropos Mal·ap"ro·pos` adjective & adverb [ French mal Ă  propos ; mal evil + Ă  propos to the purpose.] Unseasonable or unseasonably; unsuitable or unsuitably.

Malapterurus Mal·ap`te·ru"rus (măl*ăp`te*ru"rŭs) noun [ New Latin , from Greek malako`s soft + ptero`n wing + o'yra` tail.] (Zoology) A genus of African siluroid fishes, including the electric catfishes. See Electric cat , under Electric .

Malar Ma"lar adjective [ Latin mala the cheek: confer French malaire .] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the region of the cheek bone, or to the malar bone; jugal.

Malar Ma"lar noun (Anat.) The cheek bone, which forms a part of the lower edge of the orbit.

Malaria Ma·la"ri·a noun [ Italian , contr. from malaaria bad air. See Malice , and Air.] 1. Air infected with some noxious substance capable of engendering disease; esp., an unhealthy exhalation from certain soils, as marshy or wet lands, producing fevers; miasma.

» The morbific agent in malaria is supposed by some to be a vegetable microbe or its spores, and by others to be a very minute animal blood parasite (an infusorian ).

2. (Medicine) A morbid condition produced by exhalations from decaying vegetable matter in contact with moisture, giving rise to fever and ague and many other symptoms characterized by their tendency to recur at definite and usually uniform intervals.

Malaria parasite Malaria parasite Any of several minute protozoans of the genus Plasmodium (syn. Hćmatozoön ) which in their adult condition live in the tissues of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles (which see) and when transferred to the blood of man, by the bite of the mosquito, produce malaria. The young parasites, or sporozoites , enter the red blood corpuscles, growing at their expense, undergoing sporulation, and finally destroying the corpuscles, thus liberating in the blood plasma an immense number of small spores called merozoites . An indefinite but not ultimated number of such generations may follow, but if meanwhile the host is bitten by a mosquito, the parasites develop into gametes in the stomach of the insect. These conjugate, the zygote thus produced divides, forming spores, and eventually sporozoites, which, penetrating to the salivary glands of the mosquito, may be introduced into a new host. The attacks of the disease coincide with the dissolution of the corpuscles and liberation of the spores and products of growth of the parasites into the blood plasma. Several species of the parasite are distinguished, as P. vivax , producing tertian malaria; P. malarić , quartan malaria; and P. (subgenus Laverania) falciferum , the malarial fever of summer and autumn common in the tropics.

Malarial, Malarian Ma·la"ri·al, Ma·la"ri·an Ma*la"ri*ous adjective Of or pertaining, to or infected by, malaria.

Malarial fever (Medicine) , a fever produced by malaria, and characterized by the occurrence of chills, fever, and sweating in distinct paroxysms, At intervals of definite and often uniform duration, in which these symptoms are wholly absent ( intermittent fever ), or only partially so ( remittent fever ); fever and ague; chills and fever.

Malashaganay Ma`la·sha"ga·nay noun [ Indian name.] (Zoology) The fresh-water drumfish ( Haploidonotus grunniens ).

Malassimilation Mal`as·sim`i·la"tion noun [ Mal- + assimilation .] (Physiol.) (a) Imperfect digestion of the several leading constituents of the food. (b) An imperfect elaboration by the tissues of the materials brought to them by the blood.

Malate Ma"late noun [ Latin malum apple: confer French malate . See Malic .] (Chemistry) A salt of malic acid.

Malax, Malaxate Ma"lax, Ma·lax"ate transitive verb [ Latin malaxare , malaxatum , confer Greek ..., from ... soft: confer French malaxer .] To soften by kneading or stirring with some thinner substance. [ R.]

Malaxation Mal`ax·a"tion noun [ Latin malaxatio : confer French malaxation .] The act of softening by mixing with a thinner substance; the formation of ingredients into a mass for pills or plasters. [ R.]

Malaxator Mal"ax·a`tor noun One who, or that which, malaxates; esp., a machine for grinding, kneading, or stirring into a pasty or doughy mass. [ R.]

Malay Ma·lay" noun One of a race of a brown or copper complexion in the Malay Peninsula and the western islands of the Indian Archipelago.

Malay, Malayan Ma·lay", Ma·lay"an adjective Of or pertaining to the Malays or their country. -- noun The Malay language.

Malay apple (Botany) , a myrtaceous tree ( Eugenia Malaccensis ) common in India; also, its applelike fruit.

Malayalam Ma"la·ya"lam noun The name given to one the cultivated Dravidian languages, closely related to the Tamil. Yule.

Malbrouck Mal"brouck noun [ French] (Zoology) A West African arboreal monkey ( Cercopithecus cynosurus ).

Malconformation Mal·con`for·ma"tion noun [ Mal- + conformation .] Imperfect, disproportionate, or abnormal formation; ill form; disproportion of parts.

Malcontent Mal"con·tent` adjective [ French, from mal ill + content . See Malice , Content .] discontented; uneasy; dissatisfied; especially, dissatisfied with the government. [ Written also malecontent .]

The famous malcontent earl of Leicester.

Milner.

Malcontent Mal"con·tent` noun [ French malcontent .] One who discontented; especially, a discontented subject of a government; one who expresses his discontent by words or overt acts. Spenser. Berkeley.

Malcontented Mal`con·tent"ed adjective Malcontent. -- Mal`con*tent"ed*ly , adverb -- Mal`con*tent"ed*ness , noun

Maldanian Mal·da"ni·an noun (Zoology) Any species of marine annelids of the genus Maldane , or family Maldanidć . They have a slender, round body, and make tubes in the sand or mud.

Male Male (māl) adjective [ Latin malus . See Malice .] Evil; wicked; bad. [ Obsolete] Marston.

Male Male noun Same as Mail , a bag. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Male Male adjective [ French mâle , Old French masle , mascle , from Latin masculus male, masculine, dim. of mas a male; possibly akin to English man . Confer Masculine , Marry , transitive verb ] 1. Of or pertaining to the sex that begets or procreates young, or (in a wider sense) to the sex that produces spermatozoa, by which the ova are fertilized; not female; as, male organs.

2. (Botany) Capable of producing fertilization, but not of bearing fruit; -- said of stamens and antheridia, and of the plants, or parts of plants, which bear them.

3. Suitable to the male sex; characteristic or suggestive of a male; masculine; as, male courage.

4. Consisting of males; as, a male choir.

5. (Mech.) Adapted for entering another corresponding piece (the female piece) which is hollow and which it fits; as, a male gauge, for gauging the size or shape of a hole; a male screw, etc.

Male berry (Botany) , a kind of coffee. See Pea berry . -- Male fern (Botany) , a fern of the genus Aspidium ( A. Filixmas ), used in medicine as an anthelmintic, esp. against the tapeworm. Aspidium marginale in America, and A. athamanticum in South Africa, are used as good substitutes for the male fern in medical practice. See Female fern , under Female . -- Male rhyme , a rhyme in which only the last syllables agree, as laid , afraid , dismayed . See Female rhyme , under Female . - - Male screw (Mech.) , a screw having threads upon its exterior which enter the grooves upon the inside of a corresponding nut or female screw. -- Male thread , the thread of a male screw.

Male Male noun 1. An animal of the male sex.

2. (Botany) A plant bearing only staminate flowers.

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