Chapter M (1)

=M,= abbreviation for Master as a conventional title. Phr. _to have_ (or _carry_) _an M under one’s girdle_, to use a respectful prefix (Mr. or Mrs.) when addressing or mentioning a person; ‘You might carry an M under your girdle to Mr. Deputy’s worship’, B. Jonson, &c., Eastward Ho, iv. 1 (Constable); ‘Have you nere an M under your girdle’, Great Britons Honycombe (Nares); ‘You might have an M under your Girdle, Miss’, Swift, Polite Conversation; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 133. [‘Ye might hae had an M under your belt for Mistress Wilson of Milnwood’, Scott, Old Mortality, xxix.]

=mace-proof,= proof against fear of bailiffs or mace-carrying serjeants. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Bonamico); Gamester, iii. 1 (Lord F.).

=mackrel gale,= a fresh gale, when mackerel are more easily caught. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 456.

=maculate,= to stain, defile. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 26, § 8; _maculated_, spotted, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v, c. 29, § 9. L. _maculare_, to spot; from _macula_, a spot.

=mad=(=de,= a maggot or grub, esp. the larva which causes a disease in sheep. Tusser, Husbandry, § 50; Best, Farming Books (Surtees Soc., 6); Worlidge, Syst. Agric. 273; an earthworm, ‘Mooles take mads’, Warner, Alb. England, ii. 9, st. 52; Holland, Pliny, ii. 361. See =mathe.=

=maddle-coddle,= foolish. Three Lords and Three Ladies, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 391. See EDD. (s.v. Maddle).

=Madrill,= Madrid. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 1 (Pedro); ii. 1 (Alvarez); Marvell, Appleton House. Cp. Span. _Madrileño_, a native or inhabitant of Madrid.

†=magar,= some kind of ship. Only in Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 86; p. 90, col. 2.

=mage,= a magician. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 14. L. _magus_, pl. _magi_, ‘the Wise Men’ (Vulgate, Matt. ii. 1).

=maggot-pate,= a light-headed whimsical person. Beaumont and Fl., Span. Curate, iv. 5 (Milanes).

=maggot-pye,= a magpie. Macbeth, iii. 4. 125; ‘_Gazzotto_, a maggot-a-pie’, Florio. ‘Magot’ was a pet name for Margaret, see Bardsley, English Surnames, 76. F. _Margot_, ‘diminutif très familier de Marguerite, nom vulgaire de la pie’ (Littré). ‘Maggotty-pie’ is in prov. use in Wilts., Somerset, and Cornwall for the magpie, see EDD. (s.v. Maggot, sb.^{2}).

=magisterium,= lit. mastery; a name for the ‘philosopher’s stone’. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle). See Ducange.

=magnificate,= to magnify; ‘A church reformed state, The which the female tongues magnificate’, Marston, Sat. ii. 42; ridiculed by Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1 (Tucca); p. 130.

=magnificence,= liberality of expenditure combined with good taste. Massinger, Renegado, ii. 4 (Vitelli); Duke of Milan, iii. 1 (Charles). Cp. Chaucer, C. T. I. 736.

=magnificent,= munificent, liberal. Massinger, Emp. of the East, ii. 1 (Theodosius); Parl. of Love, iv. 1 (Dinant).

=maid,= a name given to the thornback and skate, when young. A Woman never vexed, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 112; Drayton, Pol. xxv. 104; Gay, Trivia, ii. 292. In prov. use in Ireland and various parts of England, see EDD.

=mail,= in hawking, to tie or wrap up a hawk with a girdle or kerchief, to secure her. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain); Fletcher and Rowley, Maid in the Mill, iii. 3 (Gerasto). See NED. (s.v. Mail, vb.^{3} 2).

=main,= in the game of hazard, a number (from five to nine inclusive) called by the caster before the dice are thrown; 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 47; _mains_, throws at dice; Marston, What you Will, iv. 1 (Quadratus). See NED. (s.v. Main, sb.^{3} 1).

=mainprize,= suretyship, acceptance of suretyship. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 60; Heywood, Eng. Traveller, iv. 1 (Reignald); ‘_Mainprise_, the receiving a man into friendly custody, that otherwise is or might be committed to prison, upon security given for his forthcoming at a day assigned’, Cowell, Interpreter (ed. 1637). Anglo-F. _maynprys_ (Rough List).

=maiordomo,= ‘major-domo’, the chief officer or servant of a princely or wealthy household. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 4 (ed. Arber, 158). Span. _mayordomo_, a steward (Stevens).

=maistry,= a competitive feat of strength or skill. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 17, § 4; _masteries_, Bacon, Essay 19, § 3.

=make,= a companion, husband, wife. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 7; iii. 11. 2. Hence _makeless_, widowed, Shak., Sonnet 9. ME. _make_, a mate, equal, match; a wedded companion, husband or wife (Chaucer). Still in use in these senses in Scotland, also in England in many parts from the north to Glouc. OE. _gemaca_.

=makeless,= matchless, incomparable, Mirror for Mag, Buckingham,
st. 13.

=make-bate,= a mischief-maker, promoter of quarrels. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 573 (ed. Arber, 62); BIBLE, 2 Tim. iii. 3 (margin); Titus ii. 3 (margin); ‘Satan the author and sower of discord stirred up his instruments, certain Frenchmen, tittivillers and makebaits about the King’, Foxe, Bk. Martyrs (ed. Cattley, ii. 648); Heywood, A Woman Killed, iii. 2 (Nicholas). In prov. use in Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Make, vb.^{1} 3).

=making,= a match-making, matching. Middleton, A Trick to catch, iii. 3 (Witgood).

=malakatoon,= a quince, a peach grafted on a quince. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio); _malicatoon_, Rowley, All’s Lost, i. 3. 15. See =melocotone.=

=malander, mallander,= a dry scabby eruption behind the knee in horses. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 94; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Knockem). F. _malandre_; Late L. _malandria_, pl. pustules on the neck, esp. in horses (Vegetius).

=male,= a bag, wallet, pack. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 142. 2; ‘Male or wallet, to putte geare in’, Palsgrave; Tusser, Husbandry, § 102. 4. ME. _male_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3115). See Dict. (s.v. Mail, 2).

=male-ease,= indisposition, illness. Morte Arthur, leaf 169, back, 2; bk. viii, c. 41. F. _malaise_.

=malefice,= an evil deed. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1154. L. _maleficium_, evil deed.

=malengin, malengine,= evil contrivance, ill intent, deceit. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 53; v. 9. 5. ME. _malengin_: ‘The florin Was moder ferst of malengin’ (Gower, C. A. v. 345). Anglo-F. _malengin_, evil device (Gower, Mirour, 6544); cp. _engin_, device, trickery, id., 2102.

=maleur,= misfortune. Spelt _maleheure_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 169. 1; _maleure_, id., lf. 244, back, 22. OF. _maleur_; L. _malum augurium_, evil destiny.

=maleurous,= unlucky. Spelt _malewreus_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 82. 26. OF. _maleuros_ (F. _malheureux_).

=maleurtee,= misfortune. Spelt _maleheurte_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 338. 15. See NED.

=male-uryd,= ill-omened, unlucky. Skelton, Against the Scottes, 111. See =ure= (destiny).

=malgrado,= ‘maugre’, in despite of, to the loss of; ‘Malgrado of his honour’, Greene, Orl. Fur. v. 2 (Orlando); Marlowe, Edw. II, ii. 5. 5. Ital. _malgrado_, ‘in despight of’ (Florio). Cp. =maugre.=

=malice,= to regard with malice, seek to injure. Surrey. Complaint of a Lover that defied Love, 34 (in Tottell’s Misc., p. 8); North, tr. of Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 13 (in Shak. Plut., p. 23). See Nares.

=malkin,= an untidy female servant, a slut, slattern. Coriolanus, ii. 1. 227; Pericles, iv. 3. 34; used as a term of abuse, a lewd woman, spelt _maukin_, Beaumont and Fl., The Chances, iii. 1 (Landlady); Death of E. Huntington, ii. 1 (Hubert), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 258. ‘Malkin’ (‘Mawkin’) is in gen. prov. use in England and Scotland for a slattern, and as a term of abuse, see EDD. (s.v. Mawkin, 2). It is prop. a dimin. of the Christian name _Maud_ (ME. _Malde_), a F. equivalent of _Matilda_.

=mall,= a club. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 51; an iron club, id., iv. 5. 42. As vb., to beat down, id., v. 11. 8.

=malleation,= the test of hammering. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Face). From L. _malleus_, a hammer.

=malleted,= infixed as if by a ‘mallet’. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 649.

=maltalent,= ill-will. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 61. ME. _maltalent_, ill-will, ill-humour (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 273 and 330); Anglo-F. _maltalant_, ill-humour (Ch. Rol. 271).

=mammer,= to waver, to be undecided. Othello, iii. 3. 70; Drant, tr. Horace, 2 Sat. 3. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. _mamere_, ‘mutulare’ (Voc. 668. 26). See Nares.

=mammet,= a puppet, an odd figure, freq. used as a term of abuse. Romeo, iii. 5. 186; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 3. 95; spelt _maumet_, Machin, The Dumb Knight, iii. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mommet). ME. _maumet_, an idol, a false god (Chaucer, C. T. I. 860); OF. _mahumet_, an idol, orig. Mahomet, who was supposed to be one of the false gods of the Saracens (Ch. Rol. 2590).

=mammock,= a scrap, shred. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 654; to tear into shreds, Coriolanus, i. 3. 71. ‘Mammock’, a broken piece, scrap, slice of food; to cut into pieces—in prov. use (EDD.).

=mammothrept,= a spoiled child, weakling. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iv. 1 (Amorphus). Gk. μαμμόθρεπτος, brought up by one’s grandmother.

=man,= to ‘squire’, or accompany a lady, to escort. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 291); Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 7 (Amaranta).

=manable,= used of a girl of marriageable age. Middleton, Family of Love, iv. 4 (Gudgeon); ‘She’s manable’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, ii. 1 (Otrante).

=manage,= management, control. Richard II, iii. 3. 179; Edw. III, iii. 3. 224.

=manchet,= a small loaf of white bread. Drayton, Pol., Song, xvi. 229; Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Roger). In prov. use in Yorks., Lanc., and in the west country (EDD.). Norm. F. _manchette_, ‘pain à croûte dure, inégale, fait en forme de couronne’ (Moisy). Prob. the same word as F. _manchette_, a cuff (Hatzfeld).

=manderer;= see =maunder.=

=mandilion,= a soldier’s cloak. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, x. 120; Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iv. 3 (Lazarillo). See Nares. Ital. _mandiglione_, a jacket (Florio), deriv. of Med. L. _mantile_, cp. Span. _mantilla_. See Dozy, Glossaire, 299.

=mandragora,= mandrake. Othello, iii. 3. 330; Ant. and Cl. i. 5. 4. Gk. μανδραγόρας.

=mandrake,= the plant _Atropa mandragora_; of a strong narcotic quality. Its root was thought to resemble the human figure, and to cause madness by its shriek or groan when torn from the ground. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 310; Romeo, iv. 3. 47; a term of abuse, 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 16; iii. 2. 342.

=mandritta, mandrita,= in fencing, a cut from right to left. Nabbes, Microcosmos, i. 2 (Choler); Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. xi. 56. Ital. _mandritto_, _manritto_, ‘a right handed blow’ (Florio).

=maner, manner:= in phr. _to be taken with the maner_, to be taken in the act. BIBLE, Num. v. 13 (ed. 1611); also, in the Geneva Bible (1562); 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 350; Winter’s Tale, iv. 3 (or 4), 755. ‘If the Defendant were taken with the mainour (or manour)’, Cowell, Interpreter (s.v. Mainour); ‘He is taken with the maynure’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii. c. 7, § 6. Compare the Anglo-F. legal phrase _pris ov mainoure_, and the L. _cum manuopere captus_, i.e. taken with the thing stolen in one’s possession (Ducange, s.v. Manopera); _mainoure_, lit. hand-work, acquired the legal sense of ‘thing stolen’. Later, to be taken _in the_ (_i’th_) _manner_, Fletcher, Rule a Wife, v. 4. 8. See Dict. (s.v. Mainour).

=mangonize,= to sell men or boys for slaves. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1 (Tucca). L. _mangonizare_, to trim up an article for sale (Pliny); _mango_, a dealer in slaves and wares.

=manicon,= the name of a narcotic, obtained from a kind of night-shade, so called from its supposed power of causing madness; ‘(Who) Bewitch hermetic men to run Stark staring mad with manicon’, Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 324. See Alphita, 176 (under Strignus manicon, and Solatrum mortale). Cp. Gk. στρύχνος μανικός (Dioscorides).

=maniple,= a handful, bundle. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Sir Dia.); a band of men, Milton, Areopagitica (ed. Hales, 48). See Dict.

=manner;= see =maner.=

=manred,= the men whom the lord could call upon in time of war; hence, a supply of fighting men; ‘Manred and retinew’, Holland, Camden’s Brit., Scot. ii. 17 (NED.); Phaer, Aeneid vii, 644 and 710 (L. orig. ‘cohors’). OE. _mannrǣden_, homage, service due from tenants.

=manticore,= a fabulous animal, compounded of a lion, porcupine, and scorpion, with a human head. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 118 and 124; ‘Mantichoras, monstrous beasts’, Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, v (Butler). Gk. μαντιχώρας, a corrupt reading for μαρτιχόρας in Aristotle; from a Persian word meaning ‘man-eater’. See NED.

=manto,= a cloak. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 700. Ital. _manto_.

=mantoon,= a mantle. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio). Ital. _mantone_, _manto_, a cloak (Florio).

=manurage,= cultivation of land. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, c. 14, st. 1.

=map,= a mop. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Soto); ‘Map’ is a Yorks. pronunc. of ‘mop’ (EDD.).

=maquerelle,= a bawd, a procuress. Westward Ho, v. 3; Shirley, Triumph of Peace (Second Antimasque). F. _maquerelle_, ‘a (woman) bawd, the solicitrix of Lechery’ (Cotgr.).

=marablane,= an Oriental aromatic. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Spaniard). See =myrobalane.=

=marasmus,= a wasting away of the body. Milton, P. L. xi. 487. Gk. μαρασμός.

=marchesite;= ‘marcasite’; a kind of iron pyrites. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Ital. _marchesita_, _marcasita_, ‘a marquesit, or fire-stone, good to make mill-stones’ (Florio).

=marcussotte,= to cut the beard in a particular way; ‘And with a sythe doth marcussotte his bristled berd’, Golding, Metam. xiii. 766; fol. 163 (1603). F. _Barbe faicte à la marquisotte_, ‘Cut after the Turkish fashion; all being shaven away but the mustachoes’ (Cotgr.).

=mare,= the nightmare. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 83. ME. _mare_ or nyȝhte mare, ‘epialtes’ (Prompt.). OE. _mare_, Icel. _mara_.

=mare:= in phr. _to ride the wild mare_, to play at see-saw. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 268; _the two-legged mare_, the gallows, Like Will to Like, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 335, 345.

=mare;= ‘the blues’, melancholy; ‘Away the mare’, Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 110; ‘Let pass away the mare’, Calisto and Melibæa, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 57.

=mare,= a term in wrestling; a particular kind of grip. Drayton, Pol. i. 244. Also called _the flying mare_; see NED.

=mareyse,= a marsh. Morte Arthur, leaf 113. 5; bk. vi, c. 14; lf. 217. 17; bk. x, c. 1. OF. _mareis_; Med. L. _mariscus_ (Ducange).

=margaret, margarite,= a pearl. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 76; p. 90, col. 1; A Looking-Glasse, i. 1. 100 (Rasni). F. _Marguerite_, ‘Margaret (a woman’s name); also a (Margarite) pearl’ (Cotgr.). L _margarita_, Gk. μαργαρίτης, a pearl.

=marge,= margin, brink, border. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 6. Drayton, Pol. ii. 25. F. _marge_.

=margery-prater,= a hen (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p. 83. _Prater_ = cackler.

=marginal finger,= an index-hand in the margin of a book (☞); used to direct attention to a striking passage. Massinger, Fatal Dowry (Romont; towards the end).

=mark,= a coin worth 13_s._ 4_d._, or 2/3 of the £ sterling. Measure for M. iv. 3. 7; King John, ii. 530.

=mark-white,= white mark, centre. Phr. _at the marke white_, at the white mark in the centre of a target, Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 35; cp. _the white_, Tam. Shrew, v. 2. 186. And see =rove.=

=marle,= to marvel, wonder. Eastward Ho, iii. 2 (Gertrude); B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, Induct. (Carlo); a marvel, B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iii. 1 (Mrs. Otter). A Devon and Somerset pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Marl, vb.^{3}).

=marlian,= a merlin, small hawk. Song in Tottel’s Misc., p. 132, l. 1. A Cornish pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Marlin).

=marling,= a ‘marline’, a small tarred cord used for binding ropes. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 148. See Dict. (s.v. Marline).

=marmaritin,= a plant. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 3 (Hecate). L. _marmaritis_; Gk. μαρμαρῖτις, a plant that grows in marble quarries (Pliny).

=marmoll,= an enflamed sore, esp. on the leg. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1932. See =mortmal.=

=marrow,= a companion, partner, mate. Tusser, Husbandry, § 57, st. 40; Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, 195. In common prov. use in the north to Cheshire and Derbyshire, see EDD. (s.v. Marrow, sb.^{2} 1). ME. _marwe_, ‘socius, sodalis, compar’ (Prompt.).

=marry gip= (an exclamation); ‘Marry gip, thought I, with a wanion!’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Waspe); cp. the oath, _By Mary Gipcy_ (i.e. by S. Mary of Egypt), Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1455.

=marry gup= (an exclamation); _marie gup!_, Lyly, Midas, v. 2 (Licio) See NED. (s.v. Marry, int., c).

=marry muff,= some kind of cheap textile fabric; ‘A sute of Marrymuffe’, Meeting of Gallants (NED.). Used as a derisive exclamation, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront).

=Mars,= an alchemist’s name for iron. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Face).

=mart:= phr. _letters of mart_, _letters of marque_, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, i. 3 (Goswin); Wife for a Month, ii. 1 (Tony). See Dict. (s.v. Marque).

=martagan,= martagon, Turk’s-cap lily; _Lilium martagon_. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Aiken). F. ‘_martagon de Constantinople_, the Byzantine Lilly’ (Cotgr.); Ital. _martagone_; Turk. _martagān_, a kind of turban, a martagon-lily.

=martel,= to hammer. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 42. OF. _marteler_, deriv. of OF. _martel_, a hammer.

=martern,= the ‘marten’, an animal of the weasel kind. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert); Harrison, Descript. England, ii. 19 (ed. Furnivall, 310). See Dict. (s.v. Marten).

=martialist,= a military man. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 17.

=Martlemas,= Martinmas. St. Martin’s day, Nov. 11. Meat was often killed at this time to be salted for use at Christmas, Greene, George-a-Greene (ll. 439, 1001), ed. Dyce, p. 260, col. 1; p. 266, col. 1; _Martilmas_, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 134. 21; Tusser, § 12. 3. An E. Anglian form of Martinmas (EDD.).

=mary, maree,= marrow. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 66; _maree_, Golding, tr. of Met. ix. 172. ME. _mary_ (Chaucer, C. T. C. 542); _mary-bones_, marrow-bones (id., C. T. A. 380).

=maryhinchco, maryhinchcho,= a disease to which horses are subject; ‘She has had a string-halt, the maryhinchco’, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iii. 1 (Knockem). Markham explains it thus: ‘The string-halt, of some called the mary-hinchcho, is a sodaine twitching up of the horses hinder legges’ (NED.).

=mash,= to become enmeshed or entangled. Warner, Albion’s England, vi. 29, st. 27. See NED. (s.v. Mesh, vb.).

=maship,= a shorter form of _mastership_, as a term of respect. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2 (Merygreek).

=mask,= the ‘mesh’ of a net. Brewer, Lingua, ii. 6 (Mendacio). A Cheshire pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Maske). ME. _maske_, ‘macula’ (Prompt.); OE. _max_, cp. Dan. _maske_. See NED. (s.v. Mask, sb.^{1}).

=masticot, masticote,= ‘massicot’, yellow protoxide of lead, used as a pigment. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 13; pp. 130, 132. F. _massicot_, ‘oaker [ochre] made of Ceruse, or white lead’ (Cotgr.).

=mastlin,= mixed corn, esp. a mixture of wheat and rye. Tusser, Husbandry, § 63. 23; ‘_Metail_, Messling or Masslin, Wheat and Rie mingled, sowed and used together’, Cotgrave. ME. _mestlyon_ or mongorne, ‘mixtilio’ (Prompt. EETS. 286). ‘Meslin’ is in gen. prov. use in England and Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Maslin, sb.^{1}).

=mastlin, maslin,= a kind of brass. Brewer, Lingua, iv. 1 (Heuresis). In prov. use as an attrib.: maslin kettles, pans, pots, spoons, see EDD. (s.v. Maslin, sb.^{2}). ME. _maslin_, also, _mestling_ (NED.); OE. _mæs_(_t_)_ling_ (B. T.).

=masty,= a mastiff. Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 4 (Witgood); used _fig._ of a cannon (from its noise). Shirley, Maid’s Revenge, iv. 1 (near the end). In prov. use in the north (EDD.). F. _mastin_, a mastive (Cotgr.); with change of suffix, cp. _haughty_ (F. _hautain_).

=matachin,= a kind of sword-dancer in a fantastic costume; ‘They looked upon one another as if they had been Matachines’, Luna’s Pursuit (NED.); see Douce, Illustrations of Shakespeare, ii. 435, quotation in Nares. Also, the dance performed by ‘matachins’, Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 48; Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, v. 1 (Miramont); spelt _mattacina_, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 38). Span. _matachin_, ‘a sword-dancer; as _dança de matachines_, a dance with swords, in which they fence and strike at one another, as if they were in earnest; receiving the blows on their bucklers, and keeping time’ (Stevens). Of Arab. origin, see Dozy, 309.

=matador,= the slayer of the bull in a Spanish bull-fight. Dryden, Span. Friar, i. 2 (Elvira). Also, in the card-games of ombre and quadrille, a ‘killing’ or principal card, Pope, Rape of the Lock, 321, 335; Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1 (Medley). Span. _matador_, a killer; ‘At the game of Hombre on the cards, there are four _Matadores_; that is, four murdering cards; so called because they win all others’ (Stevens).

=matchecold,= machicolated; i.e. furnished with machicolations, which are openings between the corbels that support a projecting parapet of a tower; Morte Arthur, leaf 113, back; bk. vii, c. 10 (beginning). F. _maschecoulis_, ‘the stones over a gate resembling a grate through which offensive things are thrown upon Pioneers and other assailants’ (Cotgr.).

=matchless,= of things that are not a match, or pair. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 1. 28.

=mathe,= a maggot. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 18. 8, § 45; Caxton, Reynard, xxviii (ed. Arber, 69). OE. _maða_ (Voc. 205. 8). See =mad=(=de==.=

=matted,= dulled, deprived of lustre or gloss; ‘Oile colours matted’, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 12a (Appendix D. 116). See NED. (s.v. Mat, vb. 2).

=maugre,= to act in spite of, to defy. Webster, Appius, ii. 3 (App. Claudius). F. _maugréer_, ‘to curse, ban, blaspheme, revile extreamly’ (Cotgr.). See =malgrado.=

=maukin;= see =malkin.=

=maule,= a heavy hammer. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 70. See =mall.=

=maumet;= see =mammet.=

=maund,= to beg (Cant). ‘One that maunds Upon the pad’ [highway], B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (Pennyboy Canter); ‘_Maunde_, aske . . . _hygh pad_, hygh waye’, Harman, Caveat, p. 86; ‘Maund on your own pads’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). Hence, _maunder_, a beggar, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See EDD. (s.v. Maund, vb.). OF. _mandier_ (F. _mendier_), to beg (Bartsch), L. _mendicare_.

=maunder,= to beg. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, v. 1 (De Vitry); hence _maunderer_: ‘a maunderer upon the pad’, a beggar on the road, Dekker and Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Teareat).

=maunder,= to grumble, Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iii. 1 (Margarite). In gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.).

=maundie,= a maundy-dole; hence, almsgiving. Herrick, Noble Numbers (The Widow’s Teares), st. 3. ME. _maundee_, ‘maundy’, the washing of the disciples’ feet (P. Plowman, B. xvi. 140, see note, p. 239); OF. _mandé_,’ lavement des pieds’ (Didot); Eccles. L. _mandatum_, commandment (Vulgate, John xiii. 34); ‘ablutio pedum’ (Ducange).

=mauther,= a young girl. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4 (Kastril). Spelt _moether_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 17, st. 13. An E. Anglian word (EDD.).

=maw,= a game at cards. Rowley, All’s Lost, ii. 1. 16; Chapman, Mayday, Act v (Lodovico). See Nares.

=may,= a maiden. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 39; Greene, Description of the Shepherd, l. 57; ed. Dyce, p. 305. Of frequent occurrence in Scottish Ballads, see EDD. (s.v. May, sb.^{2}). ME. _mai_ (Cursor M. 3238); OE. _mǣg_, a kinswoman, a maiden.

=May-game,= a mirthful spectacle (metaphorically). Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, i. 2. 10. ‘May games’ were the dancings and merry-makings round the May-pole, after the gathering of the May. See Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, pp. 149, 305); Herrick’s Hesperides (Corinna’s going a-Maying), &c.

=May-lord,= a young man chosen to preside over May-day festivities. Beaumont and Fl., Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto); Knight of the B. Pestle, iv. 5.

=mayneal;= see =menial.=

=maynure;= see =maner.=

=mazard, mazzard,= the head. Hamlet, v. 1. 97; Othello, ii. 3. 155. Spelt _mazer_, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iv. 2 (Fustigo). A _fig._ use of _mazer_, a bowl. See Dict., and Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 183.

=mazard,= to knock on the head, kill; ‘If I had not been a
spirit, I had been mazarded’, B. Jonson, Love Restored (Robin
Goodfellow).

=meach;= see =mich.=

=meacock,= an effeminate person, a coward; ‘A meacock wretch’, Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 315; spelt _mecocke_, ‘As stout as a stockefish, as meeke as a mecocke’, Appius and Virginia (NED.).

=mean,= in music, the tenor or middle part, Two Gent. i. 2. 95. In use in Warwicksh. as late as 1850, see EDD. (s.v. Mean, sb.^{1} 1). Cp. It. _mezzano_, ‘a mean or countertenor in musick’, Florio. ME. _mene_, of songe, ‘Introcentus’ (Prompt. EETS.), also, ‘A _Meyne_, intercentus’ (Cath. Angl.).

=mean,= to lament, ‘moan’. Mids. Night’s D. v. 1. 331. A north-country word for uttering a moaning sound, see EDD. (s.v. Mean, vb.^{2} 1). ME. _mene_, to bemoan (Cursor M. 18255). OE. _mǣnan_, to lament.

=meane,= mien, look. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 11. Probably an aphetic form of _demean_, see NED. (s.v. Mien).

=mease,= a mess, portion of food. Greene, Looking Glasse, ii. 2 (570); p. 124, col. 2; a group of four, ‘A mease of men, _quatuor_’, Levins, Manip. _Mease_ is a Yorks. form of _mess_, see EDD. (s.v. Mess, sb.^{1}). ME. _mese_, ‘ferculum’ (Cath. Angl.); _mees_ of mete, ‘ferculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 286). F. _més_, ‘a messe or service of meat’ (Cotgr.). See =mess.=

=meath,= ‘mead’; a sweet drink made with honey. Drayton, Pol. iv. 112; B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 1 (Sat.); Milton, P. L. v. 345. ‘Meath’, a drink made with honey, is in prov. use in Cheshire, Pembroke, Somerset, and Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Mead, sb.^{2}).

=meaze,= the ‘form’ of a hare. Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (Amoretto). See =muse.=

=mechal,= adulterous. Only in Heywood, Eng. Traveller, iii. 1 (O. Ger.); Rape of Lucrece, iv. 3 (Sextus). Gk. μοιχός, an adulterer.

=mecocke;= see =meacock.=

=meddle, medle,= to mingle, mix. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 61; Shep. Kal., April, 68. OF. _medler_, _mesler_ (F. _mêler_), to mix.

=meech;= see =mich.=

†=meered;= ‘He being the meered question’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 10. Formation and sense doubtful; Schmidt explains: he being the only cause and subject of the war.

=meet,= to be even with; ‘I have heard of your tricks . . . I may live To meet thee’, Fletcher, Hon. Man’s Fortune, iii. 3 (Montague); id., Rule a Wife, v. 3 (Leon). Also, _to meet with_; ‘I’ll meet with you anon for interrupting me so’, Marlowe, Faust, x; ‘I shall find time to meet with them’, Englishmen for any Money, iii. 2 (Pisaro), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 513. See Nares.

=meg,= a guinea. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum). See NED.

=meg-holly, by the,= a mild oath. Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs); vol. i, p. 40.

=meint, meynt,= mingled. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 81; _ment_, F. Q. v. 5. 12; vi. 6. 25. ‘Ment’ is obsolescent in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Ment, pp.). ME. _meynt_, pp. of _mengen_ (Lydgate, Storie of Thebes, 1260). OE. _mengan_, to mix. See Dict. M. and S.

=meiny, meinie,= a body of retainers. King Lear, ii. 4. 35; the common herd, Coriolanus, iii. 1. 65. Of freq. occurrence in north-country ballad literature for a company of followers, also, a crowd, throng, multitude, see EDD. (s.v. Menyie). ME. _meynè_, a household, family (Wyclif, Acts iii. 25). OF. _maisnée_, ‘famille’ (La Curne), see Ducange (s.v. Maisnada). A deriv. of L. _mansio_ (an abode). See =menial.=

=mell,= to meddle, to have to do with. All’s Well, iv. 3. 257; Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 1; v. 12. 35. In common prov. use in Scotland, also in Yorks. and Lanc., see EDD. (s.v. Mell, vb.^{2} 1. to mingle, 2. to meddle). ME. _melle_, to mix (Hampole, Ps. ix. 9). OF. _meller_, _mesler_ (F. _mêler_).

=mell,= honey. Gascoigne, Works, i. 102; Herrick, Hesperides, Pray and Prosper, 4. L. _mel_.

=melocotone,= a peach grafted on a quince. Bacon, Essay 46; melicotton, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Winwife). Span. _melocoton_, Med. L. _melum cotoneum_, Gk. μῆλον Κυδώνιον, ‘Cydonian apple’ (NED.). See =malakatoon.=

=melotte,= a garment of skins, worn by monks. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 866. L. _melota_ (Vulgate); Gk. μηλωτή, a sheepskin; also, a skin of any animal (Heb. xi. 37). See Prompt. EETS. 191 (and Latin Glossary, p. 819).

=menial,= a servant of the household; ‘The great Housekeeper of the World . . . will never leave any of his menials without the bread of sufficiency’, Bp. Hall, Balm Gilead, xii. § 4; _mayneal_, Morte Arthur, leaf 215, back, 35; bk. x, c. 11. See =meiny.=

=ment;= see =meint.=

=merce,= to ‘amerce’, to fine. Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, i (Sir Wil. Scarborow; l. 12 from end).

=merchant,= a fellow, a chap. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 57; Romeo, ii. 4. 153; Latimer, Serm., 115 (Nares). Phr. _to play the merchant with_, to get the better of, to cheat, Rowley, Woman never Vext, iv. 1. 51.

=mercify,= to pity. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 32.

=mercurial finger,= the little finger. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle). In chiromancy the little finger was assigned to Mercury.

=merds,= fæces, excrement. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). L. _merda_.

=mere, mear,= a boundary, limit; spelt _meare_. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 46; Drayton, Pol. xix. 405. Hence, _meer-stone_, Bacon, Essay 56, § 1. In gen. prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mear). ME. _mere_ (Prompt, EETS. 286). OE. _ge_)_mǣre_, boundary.

=mere, mear,= to mark out by means of ‘meres’; ‘The Latine name Which mear’d her rule with Africa’, Spenser, Ruines Rome, xxii; _to mear on_, to abut upon, border upon, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iii. 520.

=mere,= absolute, complete, unqualified, Merry Wives, iv. 5. 64; wholly, completely, All’s Well, iii. 5. 58; Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 4. 9; _merely_, absolutely, entirely, Temp. i. 1. 21; Hamlet, i. 2. 137.

=meridian,= a period of repose at noon; ‘Ye, a meridian to lul him by daylight’, Mirror for Mag., Cobham, st. 30. Monastic L. _meridiana_, ‘somnus meridianus’ (Ducange). Cp. Ital. _meriggiána_, ‘midday; a pleasant shady place to feed, to rest, or sleep, and recreate in at noon, or in the heat of the day’ (Florio).

=mermaid,= a cant term for a courtesan. Massinger, Old Law, iv. 1 (Agatha).

=merrygall, merrygald,= a gall or sore produced by chafing; ‘Heales a merrygald’, Turbervile, Hunting, p. 139; ‘Merry-gals and raw places’, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxi, c. 18; vol. ii. 101.

=mesel,= a foul person; used as a term of abuse; spelt _messel_, London Prodigal, ii. 4. 74; iv. 1. 78. In Devon and Somerset, _meazle_ is used as a term of abuse, meaning a filthy creature. ME. _mesel_, a leper (Wyclif, Matt. x. 8). OF. _mesel_ ‘lépreux’ (Didot); O. Prov. _mezel_, ‘lépreux’, _mezelia_, ‘lèpre’ (Levy).

=mesprise,= contempt, scorn. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 39. F. _mespris_, ‘contempt, neglect’ (Cotgr.), deriv. of _mespriser_, to fail to appreciate. F. _mépris_.

=mesprize,= mistake. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 19. Anglo-F. _mesprise_, error, offence (Gower, Mirour, 1548). F. _méprise_, cp. _mesprendre_, to mistake (Cotgr.).

=mess,= a group of four persons or things; ‘Where are your mess of sons to back you now?’, 3 Hen. VI, i. 4. 73; L. L. L. iv. 3. 207; ‘There lacks a fourth thing to make up the mess’, Latimer, Serm. v; ‘A mess of most eminent men, Nicolaus Lyra . . . Hieronymus de Sanctâ Fide . . . Ludovicus Carettus . . . Emmanuel Tremellius’, Fuller, A Pisgah Sight, Pt. ii, bk. 5; Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, 393); Heywood, Witches of Lanc. i. 1 (Shakstone), in Wks. iv. 173. A ‘mess’ at the Inns of Court still consists of four. See Trench, Select Glossary. See EDD. (s.v. Mess, sb.^{1} 4). F. _més_, ‘a messe or service of meat’ (Cotgr ). Med. L. _missus_ (Ducange). See =mease.=

=messe:= phr. _by the messe_, by the mass, used in oaths and asseverations. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2201; ‘By the Mes’, Hen. V, iii. 2. 122; also, _mess_ by itself, ‘Mess! I’d rather kiss these Gentlewomen’, Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 3 (Ben). This asseveration is still in prov. use in various forms in the north country: _By th’ mass_ (Lanc.); _By th’ mess_ (Westm.); _Amess, Mess_ (Cumb.), see EDD. (s.v. Mass, sb.^{1} 3). F. _messe_, the mass, the Eucharist.

=messling;= see =mastlin.=

=met,= measure. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 333. A north-country word for a measure, gen. a bushel, see EDD. (s.v. Mete). ME. _mette_, ‘mensura’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. _ge_)_met_, ‘mensura, modius, satum’ (B. T.).

=mete,= to measure; _met_, pt. t., Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 327; _mete_, pp. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii. 1. ME. _meten_ (Wyclif, Matt. vii. 2). OE. _metan_.

=metely,= moderately; ‘Metely good’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 16. OE. _ge_)_met ice_.

=metereza,= mistress. Middleton, More Dissemblers, v. 1 (Sinquapace); _metreza_, Marston, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole). Neither French nor Italian, but a mixture of the two (Nares). An alteration of F. _maîtresse_, with an Italian termination.

=metoposcopy,= divination by observing the forehead. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle). Gk. μέτωπο-ν, forehead; σκοπεῖν, to observe.

=meuse;= see =muse.=

=meve,= to move; ‘I meve or styrre from a place, _je meuve_’, Palsgrave; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 7; _meeve_, Damon and Pithias (Nares); _mieve_, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 12. 26. ‘Meve’ is an E. Anglian form (EDD.). ME. _mevyn_, ‘amoveo’ (Prompt.). OF. _moev-_ (_meuv-_), stressed stem of _movoir_, to move.

=mew,= to moult. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, ii. 2 (Martell); Wildgoose Chase, i. 1 (La Castre). F. _muer_; L. _mutare_, to change.

=mew,= a coop for hawks; ‘Mewe for haukes, _meue_’, Palsgrave; a place of confinement, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 20; ii. 5. 27 and 7. 19. F. _mue_, a hawk’s mue or coop; _mue_, a change, the mewing of a hawk (Cotgr.), fr. _muer_, ‘to change, to mew’ (ib.); L. _mutare_. Our word ‘mews’, for a range of stabling, is derived from the _Mews_ by Charing Cross, the name of the place for the King’s horses, orig. the place for the king’s falcons and the royal falconer. See Stow’s Survey of London (ed. Thoms, 167).

=mew:= in phr. _knights of the mew_, knights of the cat-call; the least select among an audience at a theatre. Marston, What you Will, Induction (Doricus).

=mich,= to skulk, to lurk stealthily. Heywood, A Woman Killed (ed. 1874, ii. 113), spelt _meach_, Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 2. 11; hence _micher_, a truant, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 450; a skulker, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 2 (Yo. Loveless); spelt _meecher_, Bonduca, i. 2 (Petillius). ‘Mitch’ and ‘meech’ are in common prov. use (EDD.). ME. _mychyn_, or stelyn prively smale thyngys, ‘surripio, furtulo’ (Prompt. EETS. 301). Of Ger. origin, see Schade, Altdeutsches Wörterbuch (s.v. mûhhan). See NED. (s.v. Miche).

†=miching malicho= (meaning quite uncertain), Hamlet, iii. 2. 148. Textual variants are: _myching Mallico_, _munching Mallico_, _miching mallecho_.

=migniard,= tender, delicate. B. Jonson. Devil an Ass, i. 2 (Fitz.). F. _mignard_, ‘migniard, pretty, quaint; dainty, delicate’ (Cotgr.).

=migniardise,= delicate attention. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Picklock). F. _mignardise_, ‘quaintnesse . . . smooth or fair speech, kind usage’ (Cotgr.).

=mill,= to steal or rob (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); see Harman, Caveat, p. 67.

=mime,= a mimic, jester, pantomimist. B. Jonson, Epigrams, bk. i, cxxix; Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, i. 4 (Satire). Gk. μῖμος.

=mince,= to walk affectedly or primly. Merry Wives, v. 1. 9; _mincing_, BIBLE, Isa. iii. 16; _minsen_, pres. pl., Drayton, Pastorals, vii. 14. Also, to perform mincingly, to parade, King Lear, iv. 6. 122. F. _mincer_, to mince, to cut into small pieces (Cotgr.).

=minchen,= a nun. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 18, § 3. ‘_Mincheon lane_, so called of . . . the _Minchuns_, or nuns of St. Helen’s’, Stow, Survey of London (ed. Thoms, p. 50). OE. _mynecenu_, f. of _munuc_, a monk.

=mind,= to mean, intend. Mids. Night’s D. v. 113; 3 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 8, 64, 106, 140; Evelyn, Diary (May 21, 1645). In common prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mind, vb. 7).

=ming,= to mingle, mix. Surrey, Description of Spring, 11; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 4. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Ming, vb.^{2}). ME. _mynge_, to mix (Wyclif, Rev. xviii. 6); OE. _mengan_.

=minge,= to mention. Hall. Satires, IV. ii. 80 (Davies). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Ming, vb.^{1}). ME. _mynge_ (Pearl, 855); OE. _myn_(_e_)_gian_.

=minikin,= a playful or endearing term for a female. Glapthorne, Hollander, ii (NED.). A Shropshire word for a delicate affected girl, see EDD. (sv. Minikin, 3). Du. _minneken_ (Hexham).

=minikin,= small, delicate; ‘One blast of thy minikin mouth’, King Lear, iii. 6. 45. Cp. the Somerset phr. ‘Her was a poor little minnikin thing’ (EDD.).

=minikin string,= the thin string of gut used for the treble of the lute or viol, Ascham, Tox. 28. Hence, phr. _to tickle the minikin_, to play on the treble string, Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Gerardine); a _minikin-tickler_, a fiddler, Marston, What you Will, v. 1 (Albano).

=minim,= a note, a part of a song or lay. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 28.

=miniments,= ‘muniments’, valuable belongings. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 6.

=minion,= a darling, a favourite, esp. in a contemptuous sense, a mistress, a paramour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 37; ‘A minion wyfe’, a neat, pretty wife, Roister Doister (ed. Arber, 86); the name of a small kind of ordnance, Whitelocke, Memorials (ed. 1853, i. 273); Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iii. 3. 6. F. _mignon_, ‘a minion, favourite, wanton, darling; also, minion, dainty, neat’ (Cotgr.).

=minth,= the plant called mint. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1 (Flora). Gk. μίνθα.

=mint-man,= one skilled in coinage. Bacon, Essay 20, § 7.

=minx,= a pert girl, hussy. Congreve, Love for L., ii. 1; a wanton woman, Dryden, Limberham, i. 1; ‘_Magalda_, a trull or minxe’, Florio; _Mistress Minx_, Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, ii. 2 (Faustus).

=minx,= a pet dog. Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 140.

=mirador,= gallery to gaze from, balcony. Dryden, Conquest of Granada, I. i. 1 (Abdelmelech). Span. _mirador_, a balcony (Stevens). See Stanford.

=mischief,= misfortune, disaster. Merry Wives, iv. 2. 76; Much Ado, i. 3. 13.

=misconster,= to misconstrue. Shirley, Love in a Maze, ii. 1. 8. See =conster.=

=miscreaunce,= misbelief, false belief. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 51; Shep. Kal., May, 91. F. _mescreance_ (Cotgr.).

=misdeem,= to judge amiss of, to think evil of. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 49; iii. 10. 29; Milton, P. R. i. 424; to judge amiss, id., P. L. ix. 301.

=misken,= a ‘mixen’, a manure-heap. Fletcher, Nightwalker, iii. 1 (Toby). A west-midland pronunc. of _mixen_ (EDD.).

=miskin,= a little bagpipe. Drayton, Pastorals, ii. 5. A dimin. (through Dutch?) of OF. _muse_, a bagpipe, cp. F. _musette_, a little bagpipe (Cotgr.).

=misprise,= to mistake; ‘Misprise me not’, B. Jonson, Case is Altered, iii. 3 (Maximilian). See =mesprize.=

=mister:= in phr. _what mister wight_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 23; iii. 7. 14, i.e. a man of what ‘mister’ (occupation), or, a man of what class, what kind of a man. The idiom occurs as an archaism in Spenser, borrowed from Chaucer, ‘But telleth me what mister men ye been’ (C. T. A. 1710). So we find, _what mister thing_, what kind of thing, Beaumont and Fl., Little French Lawyer, ii. 3. 19; _such myster saying_, such a kind of saying, Shep. Kal., Sept., 103. _Mister_ (or _mester_) is very common in ME. in the sense of office, employment, business. OF. _mestier_ (F. _métier_); Med. L. _misterium_, for _ministerium_ (Ducange).

=mister,= to be necessary or needful; ‘As for my name, it mistreth not to tell’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 51. From _mister_, need, necessity, want; cp. Scottish proverb, ‘Mister maks man o’ craft’, Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, 250); Ferguson, Proverbs (ed. 1641, p. 24). See EDD. (s.v. Mister, vb. 1 and 3). ME. _mistere_, need (Cursor M. 3247); OF. (Norman) _mestier_, ‘besoin, nécessité’ (Moisy). The same word as =mister,= above.

=mistery,= occupation, profession. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 221. ME. _misterye_ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 890); Med. L. _misterium_, ‘officium’ (Ducange). See =mister.=

=mistress,= the small bowl, or jack, in the game of bowls. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, ii. 3 (Mis. Low.); cp. ‘His bias was towards my mistress’, Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 2 (Brains); cp. A Woman never vext, iv. 1 (Lambskin).

=misured,= ill-omened, fatal; ‘O foule mysuryd ground, Whereon he gat his finall dedely wounde’, Skelton, Dethe of Erle of Northumberland, 118. Cp. OF. _meseur_, ‘malheur’ (Godefroy); _meseurus_, ‘malheureux’ (Chron. des ducs de Normandie, in Didot). See =eure.=

=mite,= a small coin of very small value; used in negative phrases for a thing of little worth; ‘The price falleth not one mite’, More’s Utopia (ed. Arber, 42). Hence _miting_: ‘Nat worthe a mytyng’, not worth a mite, Skelton, Poems against Garnesche, iii. 115. ME. _myte_: ‘Noght worth a myte’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1558). See Dict.

=mithridate,= a compound regarded as an antidote against all poisons. Fletcher, Valentinian, v. 2 (Val.); Massinger, Maid of Honour, iv. 4 (Adorni). Named from Mithridates, king of Pontus, who was said to have been proof against poison owing to his constant use of antidotes. See Stanford.

=miting,= a diminutive creature; freq. used as a term of endearment or contempt, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 224. ME. _mytyng_ (Towneley Myst. xii. 477).

=mixt,= to mix; ‘_I myxte_, or myngell’, Palsgrave; pres. pt., _mixting_, Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 13, § 4. Hence _mixt_, a mixture; ‘A mixt of both’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, ch. 9 (ed. Arber, 97). From the L. pp. _mixtus_.

=mo, moe,= orig. used as adv.; ‘Gent’lest fair, mourne, mourne no moe’ (mourn no more), Fletcher, Q. Corinth, iii. 2 (Song); _the moe_, the majority, the greater part, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, i. 15 (ed. Arber, 48); _mo_, more in number, ‘mo tymes’, Caxton, Reynard (ed. Arber, 7); ‘Infinite moe . . . He there beheld’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 63. ME. _mo_, adj., more in number, adv., any longer (Chaucer); OE. _mā_; Goth. _mais_, more (adv.). See Wright’s OE. Gram. § 252.

=mobble, moble,= to muffle up one’s head or face; also, with _up_; ‘_Mobled_ queen’, Hamlet, ii. 2. 524; _mobble up_, Shirley, Gent. of Venice, v. 3 (Florelli). A Warw. and Shropsh. word, see EDD. (s.v. Moble).

=mobile,= mob; ‘The mobile’, Dryden, Pref. to Don Sebastian, § 2; id., i. 1 (near the end); iv. 2 (end). Common from ab. 1676 to 1700; shortened to _mobb_, _c._ 1688. It represents the L. _mobile vulgus_, the inconstant crowd. See Dict. (s.v. Mob), and Stanford.

=mockado,= a kind of cloth much used for clothing; ‘Who would not thinke it a ridiculous thing to see a Lady in her milke-house with a velvet gowne, and at a bridall in her cassock of mockado’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, 290); Ford, Lady’s Trial, ii. 1 (Guzman); Lodge, Wit’s Miserie, 14. A quasi-Spanish form from F. _moucade_, ‘the stuffe moccadoe’ (Cotgr.). Of Arab. origin, see NED. (s.v. Mohair), and Thomas, _Essais_ (s.v. Camoiard).

=moder, modere,= to moderate, restrain. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 6, back, 18; Sir T. More, Works, p. 882, col. 2. OF. _moderer_.

=modern,= ordinary, commonplace, common; in a depreciatory sense. As You Like It, ii. 7. 156; Macbeth, iv. 3. 170. The only Shakespearian sense; peculiarly Elizabethan.

=moe;= see =mo.=

=moil, moyle,= a ‘mule’. Ford, Fancies, ii. 2; More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 51); Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1 (Welford). Common in Devon and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. Moyle).

=moil, moyle,= a kind of slipper or shoe; ‘Moyles of velvet to save thy shooes of lether’, J. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (ed. 1867, 214); ‘_Moiles_, a kind of high-soled shoes, worn in ancient times by Kings and great Persons’, Phillips; spelt _mule_, ‘He had ane pair of mules on his feit’, Spalding, Troubles of Charles I (NED.). F. _mules_, ‘moyles, pantofles, high slippers’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Du. _muylen_, pantoffles (Hexham). Med. L. _mula_, ‘crepida’ (Ducange).

=moil, moyle,= to wet; to soil, make dirty. Turbervile, Hunting, 33; to defile, Spenser, Hymn Heavenly Love, 220; to toil, work hard, drudge, Bacon, Essay, Plantations; to weary, fatigue, harass, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i (ed. Arber, 27). In common prov. use in many senses, to plaster with mud, to soil, defile, to work hard, to worry, see EDD. (s.v. Moil, vb.). F. _mouiller_ (Cotgr.).

=mold,= a ‘mole’, spot, blemish. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 7. See =mould.=

=mollipuff;= see =mullipuff.=

=mome,= a blockhead. Com. Errors, iii. 1. 32; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 49; Levins, Manipulus; Drayton, Skeltoniad, p. 1373; Mirror for Mag. 466; Dekker, Gull’s Horne-bk. 5; Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, i. 2. 5. Dialect of Geneva _mome_, ‘sot, nigaud’; cp. F. (argot) _mome_, ‘garçon’ (Sainéan, p. 206).

†=Momtanish= (?); ‘And this your momtanish inhumanytye’, Sir T. More, ii. 4. 162. Dr. H. Bradley conjectures _Moritanish_ (i.e. Moorish).

=moniment,= memorial, anything by which a thing may be remembered. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 38; ii. 10. 56; used of dints on a shield, F. Q. ii. 12. 80; of an inscription stamped on coin, F. Q. ii. 7. 5. L. _monimentum_, deriv. of _monere_, to remind.

=Monmouth cap,= a flat round cap formerly worn by soldiers and sailors, Hen. V, iv. 7. 104; Eastward Ho, iv. 1 (_or_ 2) (Touchstone). Also, _monmouth_, Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 5 (last Song).

=monomachy,= single combat. Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii (Enceladus); vol. iii, p. 50. Gk. μονομαχία; deriv. of μονομάχος, fighting alone.

=monster,= a prodigy, wonder, divine omen. Phaer, Aeneid ii, 680 (L. _mirabile monstrum_); id., iii. 26.

=montant= (a fencing term), an upright blow or thrust. Merry Wives, ii. 3. 27; _montanto_, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 7 (Bobadil). F. _montant_ (Cotgr.).

=month:= phr. _to have a month’s mind_, to have an inclination, a fancy, a liking. Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 464); ‘_Tu es bien engrand de trotter_, Thou hast a moneths mind to be gone’, Cotgrave; Pepys, Diary, May 20, 1660. In prov. use in many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Month, sb.^{1} 3 (b)).

=monthly,= madly; after the manner of a lunatic. Only in Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 2 (Moll).

=moodeles, modeless,= unmeasured, vast, huge; Mirror for Mag., Morindus, st. 17. Frequent in Greene (NED.). From _mode_, measure, size, manner, &c.

=moon,= a fit of frenzy; ‘I know ’twas but some peevish Moone in him’, C. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii (Duke).

=mooncalf,= a false conception, imperfect foetus; hence, monstrosity. Tempest, ii. 2. 111; Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, iv. 1 (Bussy); Drayton, The Mooncalf. Cp. G. _mondkalb_, ‘ungestalte Missgeburt’ (Weigand).

=moonling,= a mooncalf, silly fellow. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Wit.).

=mooting-night,= a night at the Inns of Court, when imaginary cases at law are discussed by the students. Cartwright, The Ordinary, iii. 5 (Song, verse 2). See Dict. (s.v. Moot).

=mooting-time,= the moulting season. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 120. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mout). ME. _mowtyn_, as fowlys, ‘deplumeo’ (Prompt.); cp. Du. _muyten_, ‘to mue as hawkes doe’ (Hexham); Low G. _muten_ (G. _mausen_), to moult (Berghaus); L. _mutare_.

=mop,= a grimace, Temp. iv. 1. 47; to make grimaces, King Lear, iv. 1. 64; ‘To moppe, maw, _movere labia_’, Levins, Manip.

=moppe= (see quot.); ‘I called her (the young lady) Moppe . . . Understanding by this word, a litle prety Lady, or tender young thing. For so we call litle fishes that be not come to full growth, as whiting moppes, gurnard moppes’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, 229). Cp. ME. _moppe_, ‘pupa’ (Prompt. EETS. 292).

=moppet,= a term of endearment applied to a child or a young girl, Massinger, Guardian, iv. 2 (end); The Spectator, no. 277. See above.

=more,= the root of a tree or plant; a plant. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 10. A west-country word from Worc. to Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. More). ME. _more_, root (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 25). OE. _more_, _moru_, an edible root, a carrot, parsnip (B. T.), cp. G. _möhre_, a carrot.

=morelle,= a dark-coloured horse. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 15, l. 11; i. 24, l. 17. ME. _morel_, hors (Prompt. EETS. 293). Norm. F. _morel_, _cheval morel_, ‘cheval noir’ (Moisy). F. _morel_, _moreau_, _cheval moreau,_ a black horse (Cotgr.).

=morfound,= a disease in horses, sheep, &c., due to taking a chill. Spelt _morfounde_, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 100. Palsgrave has: ‘I morfonde, as a horse dothe that waxeth styffe by taking of a sodayne colde.’ F. _se morfondre_, to take cold (Cotgr.).

=Morglay,= the name of the sword belonging to Sir Bevis, Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 332; used allusively for a sword, Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, i. 1 (Longueville); Stanyhurst, Aeneid, ii (Arber, 60); Cleaveland’s Poems (Nares). We may perhaps compare _claymore_ (_glaymore_), see NED.

=Morian,= of the Moorish race, pertaining to the Moors; a Moor; _the Moryans land_, Great Bible, 1539, Ps. lxviii. 31 (rendering of ‘Aethiopia’ in Vulgate); _the Morians londe_, Coverdale (1535), ib.; cp. Luther’s rendering, _Mohrenland_, land of the Moors. See Bible Word-Book. OF. _Morien_ (NED.). See =Murrian.=

=morigeration,= deference, obsequiousness. Bacon, Adv. of Learning, i. 3. 10; Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. V, p. 29. L. _morigeratio_, compliance.

=morisco,= a morris-dance. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, v. 2. 7. Also, a morris-dancer, 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 365. Properly, a Moorish dance; see Stanford. Span. _morisco_, a man descended from Moors or converted from them (Stevens). See =morris-pike.=

=mornifle;= ‘Mornyfle, a maner of play, _mornifle_’, Palsgrave. F. _mornifle_, a trick at cards (Cotgr.); ‘réunion de quatre cartes semblables’ (Hatzfeld). _Mornifle_ also meant a cuff, a blow: ‘_donner mornifle_, c’est-à-dire un soufflet’ (Oudin, 1640); see Sainéan, L’Argot ancien, p. 206. See =mournival.=

=morphew,= a disease of the skin; ‘_Morféa_, the morphew in some womens faces’, Florio; ‘Morfewe, a sickenesse’, Palsgrave. Hence, _morphewed_, afflicted with the disease, Webster, Duchess of Malfi, ii. 1 (Bosola). ME. _morfu_, ‘morphea’ (Prompt.). Med. L. _morfea_, ‘cutis foedacio maculosa’ (Sin. Bart.).

=morpion,= a kind of louse. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 437. F. _morpion_, a crab-louse (Cotgr.); cp. Rabelais, II. xxvii; deriv. of _mordre_ + _pion_, ‘ce pou ayant infesté surtout les anciens corps d’infanterie’ (Hatzfeld).

=morris-pike,= a form of pike supposed to be of Moorish origin, Com. Errors, iv. 3. 28; _morispike_, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 67). See =morisco.=

=mort= (a hunting term). The note sounded on a horn at the death of the deer, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 118; ‘He that bloweth the Mort before the fall of the Buck’, Greene, Card of Fancie (Nares).

=mort= (Cant), a girl or woman. B. Jonson, Gypsies Met. 65; a female vagabond, harlot, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). Later, written _mott_ (_mot_), London slang for a woman of the town, see NED.

=mortar:= in phr. _to fly to Rome with a mortar on one’s head_, app. a legendary achievement of some wizard; Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Soto); Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2 (Clown); Kemp, Nine Daies Wonder, Ep. Ded. (NED.). F. _mortier_, ‘a morter to bray things in’ (Cotgr.).

=mortmal, mormal,= an inflamed sore, esp. on the leg; ‘The old mortmal on his shin’, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2 (Maudlin); ‘Mormall, a sore, _loup_’, Palsgrave. ME. _mormale_, ‘malum mortuum’ (Prompt.). OF. _mortmal_; cp. Med. L. _malum mortuum_, ‘morbi genus pedum et tibiarum’ (Ducange). See =marmoll.=

=mort-pays,= the taking of the King’s pay by a captain in service for men who were dead or discharged; ‘The severe punishing of mort-pays’, Bacon, Hist. Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 93). See =dead pay.=

=most an end,= generally, usually; continually. Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 1 (Merchant). _Honest_ (addressing _Greatheart_): ‘Knew him! I was a great companion of his; I was with him most an end’; Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Pt. II. In common prov. use from Yorks. to E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Most, 7, 2a).

=mot, motte,= a word, saying, motto, proverb. Rape of Lucrece, 830; ‘To gull him with a motte’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2 (E. Knowell). F. _mot_, a word.

=mote,= a note of a horn or bugle. Morte Arthur, leaf 112. 20 (bk. vii, ch. 8); ‘Mote, blaste of a horne’, Palsgrave; _mot_, Chevy Chace, 16; _mott_, Turbervile, Hunting, 86. ME. _moote_ of an horne, blowyng (Prompt. EETS. 294, see note, no. 1431). F. _mot_, ‘the note winded by an huntsman on his horn’ (Cotgr.).

=mote,= a pleading in a law-court. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 14, § 7. OE. _mōtian_, to address a meeting, to discuss, ‘moot a question’ (B. T.). See Dict. (s.v. Moot).

=mote,= may, must; ‘I mote dye’, Morte Arthur, leaf 34. 9; bk. i, c. 20; ‘Now _mote_ ye understand’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 46. ME. _mot_, _moot_, pres. (I or he) may, must; _moten_, _mote_, pl.; _moste_, pt. t. OE. _mōt_, (I, he) may; _mōst_, 2 sing.; _mōton_, pl.; _mōste_, pt. t.

=mother,= a young girl. Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, iii. 2 (Franio). See =mauther.=

=mother, the,= hysteria. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront); King Lear, ii. 4. 56.

=mothering,= the custom of visiting one’s mother, and giving and receiving of presents of food, &c., on Mid-Lent Sunday; ‘Thou go’st a-mothering’, Herrick, To Dianeme, A Ceremonie in Gloucester. See EDD. (s.v. Mothering) for accounts of the customs connected with ‘Mothering Sunday’ (Mid-Lent Sunday) in various parts of England from Yorks. to Devon.

=moting,= mooting; i.e. discussion, debate. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1075. ME. _motyng_, or pletynge, ‘placitatio’ (Prompt. EETS. 294). See =mote= (a pleading).

=motion,= a puppet-show. Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 103; a puppet, Two Gent. ii. 1. 100; B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, v. 3. 3.

=mott,= measured; pt. t. of =mete= (q.v.). Spenser, Colin Clout, 365. See NED. (s.v. Mete, vb.^{1}).

=motte;= see =mot.=

=mouch,= to act by stealth; to idle and loaf about, Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Clown), ed. Dyce, p. 193. See _Mooch_ in NED. and EDD. The word is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and in Australia.

=mouchatoes,= moustaches. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Juliffe). See =mutchado.=

=mought,= a moth; ‘Mought that eates clothes, _ver de drap_’, Palsgrave. Hence _moughte-eaten_, ‘Olde and moughte-eaten lawes’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 53). ME. _mouȝte_ (Wyclif, Matt. vi. 19); _moghte_, ‘tinea’ (Cath. Angl.); OE. _mohða_.

=mought,= _pt. t._ might. Bacon, Essays (very common, see Abbott’s ed., Index); Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 42. ME. _maht_, 2 pr. s.; _mahte_, pt. t. of _mæi_, (I, he) may; OE. _meaht_, 2 pr. s.; _meahte_, pt. t. of _mæg_, (I, he) may, can.

=mould,= a ‘_mole_’, a spot on the skin, birthmark. Gascoigne, Supposes, v. 5 (Cleander); _mold_, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 7. See Dict. (s.v. Mould, 3).