Malignance, Malignancy Ma·lig"nance, Ma·lig"nan·cy noun [ See Malignant .] 1. The state or quality of being malignant; extreme malevolence; bitter enmity; malice; as, malignancy of heart.

2. Unfavorableness; evil nature.

The malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemner yours.

Shak.

3. (Medicine) Virulence; tendency to a fatal issue; as, the malignancy of an ulcer or of a fever.

4. The state of being a malignant.

Syn. -- Malice; malevolence; malignity. See Malice .

Malignant Ma·lig"nant adjective [ Latin malignans , -antis , present participle of malignare , malignari , to do or make maliciously. See Malign , and confer Benignant .] 1. Disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress; actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently inimical; bent on evil; malicious.

A malignant and a turbaned Turk.

Shak.

2. Characterized or caused by evil intentions; pernicious. " Malignant care." Macaulay.

Some malignant power upon my life.

Shak.

Something deleterious and malignant as his touch.

Hawthorne.

3. (Medicine) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria.

Malignant pustule (Medicine) , a very contagious disease, transmitted to man from animals, characterized by the formation, at the point of reception of the virus, of a vesicle or pustule which first enlarges and then breaks down into an unhealthy ulcer. It is marked by profound exhaustion and usually fatal. Called also charbon , and sometimes, improperly, anthrax .

Malignant Ma·lig"nant noun 1. A man of extreme enmity or evil intentions. Hooker.

2. (Eng. Hist.) One of the adherents of Charles I. or Charles II.; -- so called by the opposite party.

Malignantly Ma·lig"nant·ly adverb In a malignant manner.

Maligner Ma·lign"er noun One who maligns.

Malignify Ma·lig"ni·fy transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Malignified ; present participle & verbal noun Malignifying .] [ Latin malignus malign + -fy .] To make malign or malignant. [ R.] "A strong faith malignified ." Southey.

Malignity Ma·lig"ni·ty noun [ French malignité , Latin malignitas .] 1. The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite.

2. Virulence; deadly quality.

His physicians discerned an invincible malignity in his disease.

Hayward.

3. Extreme evilness of nature or influence; perniciousness; heinousness; as, the malignity of fraud. [ R.]

Syn. -- See Malice .

Malignly Ma·lign"ly adverb In a malign manner; with malignity.

Malinger Ma·lin"ger intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle MAlingered ; present participle & verbal noun Malingering .] To act the part of a malingerer; to feign illness or inability.

Malingerer Ma·lin"ger·er noun [ French malingre sickly, weakly, probably from mal ill + Old French heingre , haingre , thin, lean, infirm, from Latin aeger .] In the army, a soldier who feigns himself sick, or who induces or protracts an illness, in order to avoid doing his duty; hence, in general, one who shirks his duty by pretending illness or inability.

Malingery Ma·lin"ger·y noun The spirit or practices of a malingerer; malingering.

Malison Mal"i·son noun [ Old French maleicon , Latin maledictio . See Malediction , and confer Benison .] Malediction; curse; execration. [ Poetic]

God's malison on his head who this gainsays.

Sir W. Scott.

Malkin Mal"kin noun [ Dim. of Maud , the proper name. Confer Grimalkin .] [ Written also maukin .] 1. Originally, a kitchenmaid; a slattern. Chaucer.

2. A mop made of clouts, used by the kitchen servant.

3. A scarecrow. [ Prov. Eng.]

4. (Mil.) A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.

Mall Mall (mal; 277) noun [ Written also maul .] [ Middle English malle , French mail , Latin malleus . Confer Malleus .] 1. A large heavy wooden beetle; a mallet for driving anything with force; a maul. Addison.

2. A heavy blow. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

3. An old game played with malls or mallets and balls. See Pall-mall . Cotton.

4. A place where the game of mall was played. Hence: A public walk; a level shaded walk.

Part of the area was laid out in gravel walks, and planted with elms; and these convenient and frequented walks obtained the name of the City Mall .

Southey.

Mall Mall (mal) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Malled (mald); present participle & verbal noun Malling .] [ Confer Old French mailler . See Mall beetle, and confer Malleate .] To beat with a mall; to beat with something heavy; to bruise; to maul.

Mall Mall (măl) noun [ Late Latin mallum a public assembly; confer Old High German mahal assembly, transaction; akin to Anglo-Saxon mæðel , meðel , assembly, mǣlan to speak, Goth. maþl market place.] Formerly, among Teutonic nations, a meeting of the notables of a state for the transaction of public business, such meeting being a modification of the ancient popular assembly. Hence: (a) A court of justice. (b) A place where justice is administered. (c) A place where public meetings are held.

Councils, which had been as frequent as diets or malls , ceased.

Milman.

Mallard Mal"lard noun [ French malari ,fr. mâle male + -art =-ard . See Male , adjective , and -ard .] 1. (Zoology) A drake; the male of Anas boschas .

2. (Zoology) A large wild duck ( Anas boschas ) inhabiting both America and Europe. The domestic duck has descended from this species. Called also greenhead .

Malleability Mal"le·a·bil"i·ty noun [ CF. French malléabilité .] The quality or state of being malleable; -- opposed to friability and brittleness . Locke.

Malleable Mal"le·a·ble adjective [ French malléable , from Late Latin malleare to hammer. See Malleate .] Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals.

Malleable iron , iron that is capable of extension or of being shaped under the hammer; decarbonized cast iron. See under Iron . -- Malleable iron castings , articles cast from pig iron and made malleable by heating then for several days in the presence of some substance, as hematite, which deprives the cast iron of some of its carbon.

Malleableize Mal"le·a·ble·ize transitive verb To make malleable.

Malleableness Mal"le·a·ble·ness noun Quality of being malleable.

Malleal Mal"le·al adjective (Anat.) Pertaining to the malleus.

Malleate Mal"le·ate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Malleated ; present participle & verbal noun Malleating .] [ Latin malleatus hammered, from malleus a hammer. See Mall , transitive verb ] To hammer; to beat into a plate or leaf.

Malleation Mal`le·a"tion noun [ Late Latin malleatio : confer Old French malléation .] The act or process of beating into a plate, sheet, or leaf, as a metal; extension by beating.

Mallecho Mal"le·cho noun Same as Malicho .

Mallee Mal"lee noun [ Native name.] 1. (Botany) A dwarf Australian eucalypt with a number of thin stems springing from a thickened stock. The most common species are Eucalyptus dumosa and E. Gracilis .

2. Scrub or thicket formed by the mallee. [ Australia]

Mallee bird Mal·lee" bird` (Zoology) [ From native name.] The leipoa. See Leipoa .

Mallemock, Mallemoke Mal"le·mock, Mal"le·moke noun (Zoology) See Mollemoke .

Mallenders Mal"len·ders noun plural (Far.) Same as Malanders .

Malleolar Mal·le"o·lar adjective [ See Malleolus .] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the malleolus; in the region of the malleoli of the ankle joint.

Malleolus Mal·le"·o·lus noun ; plural Malleoli . [ Latin , dim. of malleus hammer.] 1. (Anat.) A projection at the distal end of each bone of the leg at the ankle joint. The malleolus of the tibia is the internal projection, that of the fibula the external.

2. " A layer, " a shoot partly buried in the ground, and there cut halfway through.

Mallet Mal"let noun [ French maillet , dim. of mail . See Mall a beetle.] A small maul with a short handle, -- used esp. for driving a tool, as a chisel or the like; also, a light beetle with a long handle, -- used in playing croquet.

Malleus Mal"le·us noun ; plural Mallei . [ Latin , hammer. See Mall a beetle.] 1. (Anat.) The outermost of the three small auditory bones, ossicles; the hammer. It is attached to the tympanic membrane by a long process, the handle or manubrium. See Illust. of Far .

2. (Zoology) One of the hard lateral pieces of the mastax of Rotifera. See Mastax .

3. (Zoology) A genus of bivalve shells; the hammer shell.

Mallophaga Mal·loph"a·ga (măl*lŏf"ȧ*gȧ) noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek mallo`s a lock of wool + fagei^n to eat.] (Zoology) An extensive group of insects which are parasitic on birds and mammals, and feed on the feathers and hair; -- called also bird lice . See Bird louse , under Bird .

Mallotus Mal·lo"tus noun [ New Latin , fr Greek ... fleecy.] (Zoology) A genus of small Arctic fishes. One American species, the capelin ( Mallotus villosus ), is extensively used as bait for cod.

Mallow, Mallows Mal"low, Mal"lows noun [ Middle English malwe , Anglo-Saxon mealwe , from Latin malva , akin to Greek mala`chh ; confer mala`ssein to soften, malako`s soft. Named either from its softening or relaxing properties, or from its soft downy leaves. Confer Mauve , Malachite .] (Botany) A genus of plants ( Malva ) having mucilaginous qualities. See Malvaceous .

» The flowers of the common mallow ( M. sylvestris ) are used in medicine. The dwarf mallow ( M. rotundifolia ) is a common weed, and its flattened, dick-shaped fruits are called cheeses by children. Tree mallow ( M. Mauritiana and Lavatera arborea ), musk mallow ( M. moschata ), rose mallow or hollyhock, and curled mallow ( M. crispa ), are less commonly seen.

Indian mallow . See Abutilon . -- Jew's mallow , a plant ( Corchorus olitorius ) used as a pot herb by the Jews of Egypt and Syria. -- Marsh mallow . See under Marsh .

Mallowwort Mal"low·wort` (măl"lo*wûrt) noun (Botany) Any plant of the order Malvaceæ .

Malm, Malmbrick Malm, Malm"brick` noun [ Confer Anglo-Saxon mealm sand.] A kind of brick of a light brown or yellowish color, made of sand, clay, and chalk.

Malma Mal"ma noun (Zoology) A spotted trout ( Salvelinus malma ), inhabiting Northern America, west of the Rocky Mountains; -- called also Dolly Varden trout , bull trout , red-spotted trout , and golet .

Malmag Mal"mag noun [ French, from native name in Madagascar.] (Zoology) The tarsius, or spectral lemur.

Malmsey Malm"sey noun [ Middle English malvesie , French malvoisie , Italian malvasia , malavagia , from Malvasia , or Napoli di Malvasia , in the Morea.] A kind of sweet wine from Crete, the Canary Islands, etc. Shak.

Malnutrition Mal`nu·tri"tion noun [ Mal- + nutrition .] (Physiol.) Faulty or imperfect nutrition.

Malobservation Mal·ob`ser·va"tion noun [ Mal- + observation .] Erroneous observation. J. S Mill.

Malodor Mal·o"dor noun An offensive odor.
[ 1913 Webster]

Malodorous Mal·o"dor·ous adjective Offensive to the sense of smell; ill-smelling. -- Mal*o"dor*ous*ness . noun Carlyle.
[ 1913 Webster]

Malonate Mal"o·nate adjective (Chemistry) A salt of malonic acid.

Malonic Ma·lon"ic adjective (Chemistry) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid produced artifically as a white crystalline substance, CH ₂ .(CO ₂ H) ₂ , and so called because obtained by the oxidation of malic acid.

Malonyl Mal"o·nyl noun [ Malonic + -yl .] (Chemistry) A hydrocarbon radical, CH ₂ .(CO) ₂ , from malonic acid.

Malpais Mal"pais` noun [ Confer Spanish mal , malo , bad, and país country.] (Geol.) The rough surface of a congealed lava stream. [ Southwestern U. S.]

Malpighia Mal·pi"ghi·a noun [ New Latin See Malpighian .] (Botany) A genus of tropical American shrubs with opposite leaves and small white or reddish flowers. The drupes of Malpighia urens are eaten under the name of Barbadoes cherries .

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 13 of 126.
« Previous ¦5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ¦ Next »