Mustaiba noun A close- grained, heavy wood of a brownish color, brought from Brazil, and used in turning, for making the handles of tools, and the like. [ Written also mostahiba .] MaElrath.

Mustang noun [ Spanish musteño belonging to the graziers, strayed, wild.] (Zoology) The half-wild horse of the plains in Mexico, California, etc. It is small, hardy, and easily sustained.

Mustard grape (Botany) , a species of grape ( Vitis candicans ), native in Arkansas and Texas. The berries are small, light-colored, with an acid skin and a sweet pulp.

Mustard noun [ Old French moustarde , French moutarde , from Latin mustum must, -- mustard was prepared for use by being mixed with must . See Must , noun ]
1. (Botany) The name of several cruciferous plants of the genus Brassica (formerly Sinapis ), as white mustard ( B. alba ), black mustard ( B. Nigra ), wild mustard or charlock ( B. Sinapistrum ).

» There are also many herbs of the same family which are called mustard , and have more or less of the flavor of the true mustard; as, bowyer's mustard ( Lepidium ruderale ); hedge mustard ( Sisymbrium officinale ); Mithridate mustard ( Thlaspi arvense ); tower mustard ( Arabis perfoliata ); treacle mustard ( Erysimum cheiranthoides ).

2. A powder or a paste made from the seeds of black or white mustard, used as a condiment and a rubefacient. Taken internally it is stimulant and diuretic, and in large doses is emetic.

Mustard oil (Chemistry) , a substance obtained from mustard, as a transparent, volatile and intensely pungent oil. The name is also extended to a number of analogous compounds produced either naturally or artificially.

Mustee noun See Mestee .

Musteline adjective [ Latin mustelinus , from mustela weasel.] (Zoology) Like or pertaining to the family Mustelidæ , or the weasels and martens.

Muster noun [ Middle English moustre , Old French mostre , moustre , French montre , Late Latin monstra . See Muster , transitive verb ]
1. Something shown for imitation; a pattern. [ Obsolete]

2. A show; a display. [ Obsolete] Piers Plowman.

3. An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service.

The hurried muster of the soldiers of liberty.

Hawthorne.

See how in warlike muster they appear,
In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings.

Milton.

4. The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army.

And the muster was thirty thousands of men.

Wyclif.

Ye publish the musters of your own bands, and proclaim them to amount of thousands.

Hooker.

5. Any assemblage or display; a gathering.

Of the temporal grandees of the realm, mentof their wives and daughters, the muster was great and splendid.

Macaulay.

Muster book , a book in which military forces are registered. -- Muster file , a muster roll. -- Muster master (Mil.) , one who takes an account of troops, and of their equipment; a mustering officer; an inspector. [ Eng.] -- Muster roll (Mil.) , a list or register of all the men in a company, troop, or regiment, present or accounted for on the day of muster. -- To pass muster , to pass through a muster or inspection without censure.

Such excuses will not pass muster with God.

South.

Muster transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Mustered ; present participle & verbal noun Mustering .] [ Middle English mustren , prop., to show, Old French mostrer , mustrer , moustrer , monstrer , French montrer , from Latin monstrare to show. See Monster .]
1. To collect and display; to assemble, as troops for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like. Spenser.

2. Hence: To summon together; to enroll in service; to get together. "Mustering all its force ." Cowper.

All the gay feathers he could muster .

L'Estrange.

To muster troops into service (Mil.) , to inspect and enter troops on the muster roll of the army. -- To muster troops out of service (Mil.) , to register them for final payment and discharge. -- To muster up , to gather up; to succeed in obtaining; to obtain with some effort or difficulty.

One of those who can muster up sufficient sprightliness to engage in a game of forfeits.

Hazlitt.

Muster intransitive verb To be gathered together for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like; to come together as parts of a force or body; as, his supporters mustered in force. "The mustering squadron." Byron.

Mustily adjective In a musty state.

Mustiness noun The quality or state of being musty.

Musty adjective [ Compar. Mustier ; superl. Mustiest .] [ From Latin mustum must; or perhaps from English moist . Confer Must , noun , Moist .]
1. Having the rank, pungent, offensive odor and taste which substances of organic origin acquire during warm, moist weather; foul or sour and fetid; moldy; as, musty corn; musty books. Harvey.

2. Spoiled by age; rank; stale.

The proverb is somewhat musty .

Shak.

3. Dull; heavy; spiritless. "That he may not grow musty and unfit for conversation." Addison.

Mutability noun [ Latin mutabilitas : confer French mutabilité .] The quality of being mutable, or subject to change or alteration, either in form, state, or essential character; susceptibility of change; changeableness; inconstancy; variation.

Plato confessed that the heavens and the frame of the world are corporeal, and therefore subject to mutability .

Stillingfleet.

Mutable adjective [ Latin mutabilis , from mutare to change. See Move .]
1. Capable of alteration; subject to change; changeable in form, qualities, or nature.

Things of the most accidental and mutable nature.

South.

2. Changeable; inconstant; unsettled; unstable; fickle. "Most mutable wishes." Byron.

Syn. -- Changeable; alterable; unstable; unsteady; unsettled; wavering; inconstant; variable; fickle.

Mutableness noun The quality of being mutable.

Mutably adverb Changeably.

Mutacism noun See Mytacism .

Mutage noun [ French] A process for checking the fermentation of the must of grapes.

Mutandum (mu*tăn"dŭm) noun ; plural Mutanda . [ Latin , from mutare to change.] A thing which is to be changed; something which must be altered; -- used chiefly in the plural.

Mutation (mu*tā"shŭn) noun [ Latin mutatio , from mutare to change: confer French mutation . See Mutable .] Change; alteration, either in form or qualities.

The vicissitude or mutations in the superior globe are no fit matter for this present argument.

Bacon.

Mutation noun
1. (Biol.) Gradual definitely tending variation, such as may be observed in a group of organisms in the fossils of successive geological levels.

2. (Biol.) (a) As now employed (first by de Vries), a sudden variation (the offspring differing from its parents in some well-marked character or characters) as distinguished from a gradual variation in which the new characters become fully developed only in the course of many generations. The occurrence of mutations, and the hereditary transmission, under some conditions, of the characters so appearing, are well-established facts; whether the process has played an important part in the evolution of the existing species and other groups of organisms is a disputed question. (b) The result of the above process; a suddenly produced variation.

Mutch (much) noun [ Confer Dutch mutse a cap, German mütze . Confer Amice a cape.] The close linen or muslin cap of an old woman. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Mutchkin noun A liquid measure equal to four gills, or an imperial pint. [ Scot.]

Mute (mūt) transitive verb [ Latin mutare to change. See Molt .] To cast off; to molt.

Have I muted all my feathers?

Beau. & Fl.

Mute transitive verb & i. [ French mutir , émeutir , Old French esmeltir , from OD. smelten , prop., to melt. See Smelt .] To eject the contents of the bowels; -- said of birds. B. Jonson.

Mute noun The dung of birds. Hudibras.

Mute adjective [ Latin mutus ; confer Greek ... to shut, Sanskrit m...ta bound, m...ka dumb: confer Middle English muet , from French muet , a dim. of Old French mu , Latin mutus .]
1. Not speaking; uttering no sound; silent.

All the heavenly choir stood mute ,
And silence was in heaven.

Milton.

» In law a prisoner is said to stand mute , when, upon being arranged, he makes no answer, or does not plead directly, or will not put himself on trial.

2. Incapable of speaking; dumb. Dryden.

3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; -- said of certain letters. See 5th Mute , 2.

4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; -- said of a metal.

Mute swan (Zoology) , a European wild white swan ( Cygnus gibbus ), which produces no loud notes.

Syn. -- Silent; dumb; speechless. -- Mute , Silent , Dumb . One is silent who does not speak; one is dumb who can not, for want of the proper organs; as, a dumb beast, etc.; and hence, figuratively, we speak of a person as struck dumb with astonishment, etc. One is mute who is held back from speaking by some special cause; as, he was mute through fear; mute astonishment, etc. Such is the case with most of those who never speak from childhood; they are not ordinarily dumb , but mute because they are deaf, and therefore never learn to talk; and hence their more appropriate name is deaf-mutes .

They spake not a word;
But, like dumb statues, or breathing stones,
Gazed each on other.

Shak.

All sat mute ,
Pondering the danger with deep thoughts.

Milton.

Mute noun
1. One who does not speak, whether from physical inability, unwillingness, or other cause. Specifically: (a) One who, from deafness, either congenital or from early life, is unable to use articulate language; a deaf-mute. (b) A person employed by undertakers at a funeral. (c) A person whose part in a play does not require him to speak. (d) Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is selected for his place because he can not speak.

2. (Phon.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p , b , d , k , t .

3. (Mus.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.

Mute-hill noun See Moot- hill . [ Scot.]

Mutely adverb Without uttering words or sounds; in a mute manner; silently.

Muteness noun The quality or state of being mute; speechlessness.

Mutessarif noun [ Turk. & Arabic muteçarif freely disposing of anything, master.] In Turkey, an administrative authority of any of certain sanjaks. They are appointed directly by the Sultan.

Mutessarifat noun [ Turk. & Arabic muteçarifah office of a mutessarif.] In Turkey, a sanjak whose head is a mutessarif.

Mutic, Muticous adjective [ Latin muticus , for mutilus . See Mutilate .] (Bot. & Zoology) Without a point or pointed process; blunt.

Mutilate adjective [ Latin mutilatus , past participle of mutilare to mutilate, from mutilus maimed; confer Greek ..., .... Confer Mutton .]
1. Deprived of, or having lost, an important part; mutilated. Sir T. Browne.

2. (Zoology) Having finlike appendages or flukes instead of legs, as a cetacean.

Mutilate noun (Zoology) A cetacean, or a sirenian.

Mutilate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Mutilated ; present participle & verbal noun Mutilating .]
1. To cut off or remove a limb or essential part of; to maim; to cripple; to hack; as, to mutilate the body, a statue, etc.

2. To destroy or remove a material part of, so as to render imperfect; as, to mutilate the orations of Cicero.

Among the mutilated poets of antiquity, there is none whose fragments are so beautiful as those of Sappho.

Addison.

Mutilated gear , Mutilated wheel (Machinery) , a gear wheel from a portion of whose periphery the cogs are omitted. It is used for giving intermittent movements.

Mutilation noun [ Latin mutilatio : confer French mutilation .] The act of mutilating, or the state of being mutilated; deprivation of a limb or of an essential part.

Mutilator noun [ Confer French mutilateur .] One who mutilates.

Mutilous adjective [ Latin mutilus . See Mutilate .] Mutilated; defective; imperfect. [ Obsolete]

Mutine noun [ French mutin .] A mutineer. [ Obsolete]

Mutine intransitive verb [ French mutiner .] To mutiny. [ Obsolete]

Mutineer noun [ See Mutiny .] One guilty of mutiny.

Muting noun Dung of birds.

Mutinous adjective [ See Mutiny .] Disposed to mutiny; in a state of mutiny; characterized by mutiny; seditious; insubordinate.

The city was becoming mutinous .

Macaulay.

-- Mu"ti*nous*ly , adverb -- Mu"ti*nous*ness , noun

Mutiny noun ; plural Mutinies . [ From mutine to mutiny, from French se mutiner , from French mutin stubborn, mutinous, from Old French meute riot, Late Latin movita , from movitus , for Latin motus , past participle of movere to move. See Move .]
1. Insurrection against constituted authority, particularly military or naval authority; concerted revolt against the rules of discipline or the lawful commands of a superior officer; hence, generally, forcible resistance to rightful authority; insubordination.

In every mutiny against the discipline of the college, he was the ringleader.

Macaulay.

2. Violent commotion; tumult; strife. [ Obsolete]

To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves.

Shak.

Mutiny act (Law) , an English statute reënacted annually to punish mutiny and desertion. Wharton.

Syn. -- See Insurrection .

Mutiny intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Mutinied ; present participle & verbal noun Mutinying .]
1. To rise against, or refuse to obey, lawful authority in military or naval service; to excite, or to be guilty of, mutiny or mutinous conduct; to revolt against one's superior officer, or any rightful authority.

2. To fall into strife; to quarrel. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Mutism noun The condition, state, or habit of being mute, or without speech. Max Müller.

Mutoscope noun [ Latin mutare to change + -scope .] A simple form of moving-picture machine in which the series of views, exhibiting the successive phases of a scene, are printed on paper and mounted around the periphery of a wheel. The rotation of the wheel brings them rapidly into sight, one after another, and the blended effect gives a semblance of motion.