A New Dictionary of the English Language

The

merry

larke her mattins sings aloft.
Spenser. Epithalamion.
Secondly, according as the said stars begin either to shine
out or be hidden in the morning before the sun be up, or at
evening after the sunne is set, they be said to rise and goe
downe, and thereupon are named matutine or vespertine.
oriental or occidentall, according as the one or the other
happeneth unto them in the twy-light, morning or evening.
Certes, when they are to be seene matutine or vespertine, it
must be at the least three quarters of an houre either before
the sunne is up, or after he is downe: for within that
space there is no looking after them.
Holland. Plinie, b. xviii. c. 25.

He raised his spouse ere malin bell was rung,
And thus his morning canticle he sung.

Pope. January & May.

Nor scorn'd to mark the sun at matins due
Stream through the storied windows' holy hue.

Warton. On the Birth of the Prince of Wales. Another matutinal expression in ancient use was-"Give you (i. e. God) good day," implying a hope that the day might end as well as it had begun.

Pegge. Anecdotes of the English Language, p. 277. MATTOCK. A. S. Mattuc, meottuc, meottoc; which Somner calls-a trident, a spade, a shovell, a delving toole, a mattock, Minshew derives it from Dut. Met haecke, with hooke, from hacken, to hack, ridiculously, says Skinner,-who proposes A. S. Meos, moss, or any low herb, and tog-en, to tug or pull, because it (a mattock) pulls or

tears up.

In the kynges hoost ther were a fiue hundred varlettes, wt matockes and axes to make euyn the waies for the caryage to passe.-Berners. Froissart. Cron. vol. i. c. 207.

For feare of being stifled with the vapour arising from thence, they are forced to giue ouer such fire-workes, and betake themselves oftentimes to great mattockes and pickaxes.-Hakewill. Apologie, b. iv. c. 5. s. 2.

Who left the mattock, and the spade,
And, in the robes of war array'd,
In their rough arms, departing took
Their helpless babes, and with a look
Stern and determin'd, swore to see
Those babes no more, or see them free.

MATTRESS.
MATURE, v.
MATU'RE, adj.
MATU'RELY.
MATURITY.

MATURATION.
MATU'RATIVE.

Churchill. The Duellist, b. ii.
See MAT.

Fr. Mature; It. Maturo;
Sp. Maduro; Lat. Maturus
(of uncertain origin.) That
is properly said to be mature,
which is neither too quick or
early, nor too slow or late,

Maturitie is a mean between two extremities, wherein nothynge lacketh or excedeth, and is in such a state, that it may neither encrease nor minysshe without losinge the denomination of maturilie. Whan they (the actes of man) be doone with suche moderation, that nothing in the doing may be sene superfluous or indiget, we say, that they be maturely doone.-Sir T. Elyot. The Governor, b. i. c. 22.

The apples covered in the lime and ashes were well matured, as appeared both in their yellowness and sweetness. Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 320.

Which images here figur'd in this wise,
I leave unto your more mature survey.

Daniel. Tragedy of Philotas, Ded.
Thy full maturity
Of years and wisdom, that discern what shows,
What art and colours may deceive the eye,
See res our trust.

Id. A Panegyric to the King.

Maturation is seen in liquors and fruits; wherein there is not desired, nor pretended, an utter conversion, but onely an alteration to that form, which is most sought, for man's use; as in clarifying drinks, ripening of fruits, &c. Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 838. As in the body, so in the soul, diseases and tumours must have their due maturation ere there can be a perfect cure. Bp. Hall. The Balm of Gilead.

The same [linseed] applyed with figs is an excellent ma-
turative, and ripeneth all imposthumes.
Holland. Plinie, b. xx. c. 22.

Your lordship, therefore, may properly be said to have
chosen a retreat and not to have chosen it until you had
maturely weighed the advantages of rising higher with the
hazards of the fall.-Dryden. Virgil. Georgics, Ded.

But this I only repeat historically, till further observation
shall discover, whether these are diamonds not yet fully ripe,
and capable of growing harder by further maturation.
Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 453.
The heat could never be greater than now it is at our 10th
of March, or the 11th of September, and therefore not suffi-
cient to bring their fruits and grain to maturity.
Ray. On the Creation, pt. ii.
As rolling years matur'd his age,
He flourish'd bold and sinewy as his sire:
While the mild passions in his breast assuage
The fiercer flames of his maternal fire.

Smollett, Ode to Independence.
His deep and piercing eye
Look'd wisdom, and mature sedateness weigh'd
To doubtful counsels.
Hamilton. The Thistle.

MAUDLIN is the name of a plant, Herba
Magdalena, and, used as an adjective, is a corrup- |
tion of Magdalen, (which Sir T. More writes
Mawdleyne,) who is depictured with eyes wet and
swelled with tears and is applied when the eyes
are watery, and the countenance swollen, with

sottishness; weakness of mind.

Sir Edmonbury first, in woful wise,
Leads up the show, and milks their maudlin eyes.

And put them in a maude and brynge them in the maunde w the oxe and the ii rammes.-Bible, 1551. Exod. c. 29.

Take the first of all the frute of the erthe, whiche thou hast brought in oute of the lande that the Lord thy God geueth the, and put it into a maude, and go vnto the place whiche the Lorde thy God shall chose to make his name dwel there.-Id. Deut. c. 25.

A thousand favours from a maund she drew
Of amber, crystal, and of bedded jet,
Which one by one she in a river threw,

Upon whose weeping margent she was set.

Shakespeare. A Louer's Complaint.

So rides he mounted on the market day,
Upon a straw stufft pannel all the way,
With a maund charg'd with household merchandize.

MAUND, v.
MA'UNDER, V.
MA'UNDER, N.
MAUNDERING, n.

Bp. Hall, b. iv. Sat. 2. To maunder, Skinner says, is to murmur, parum deflexo sensu, from the Fr. Maudire: (Lat. Male-dicere :)-Serenius, from the Sw. Mana, ciere, provocare, (i. e. the A. S. Man-ian.) But it is very probably merely a consequential usage of maund, a basket, intending,

To bear or carry the basket, the beggar's basket, to receive the dole of charity; hence, to beg. And to maunder,—

To use the speech, or mode of speech, customary with beggars; their whine or mutter, (their cant,) either of solicitation or discontent : hence, to whine or mutter, to grumble or com

Dryden. Prologue to the Royal Brothers. plain. Mr. Grose says,—

The maudlin hero, like a puling boy
Robb'd of his plaything, on the plains of Troy
Had never blubber'd at Patroclus' tomb.

Churchill. The Times.

MA'UGRE. Fr. Maulgré, i. e. malgré; It. Malgrado; Sp. Mal grado; malè gratum, not at all grateful or agreeable; for gre and grado (says Skinner) are manifestly from gratum. Minshew notices a common expression, "In spight of his nose." See the quotation from R. Gloucester.

In spight of their hearts, against their wills, whether they will or no, (Cotgrave.)

Spenser says, (b. ii. c. 5. st. 12,) “Maulgre her
spight," i. e. fortune; by which he appears to
mean-Spight on her spight.

Ac thoru the emperour, that seththe com, y hote Theodose
Maximian was seththe y slaw magrei ys nose.
R. Gloucester, p. 94.
Egyne, that was an abbes, out of hir hous had
Maugre hire will in hordom his life with hir lad.
R. Brunne, p. 58.
That gifte nought to praysen is
That man yeueth maugre his.-Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose.
That maulgre where she woll or none,
Myn herte is euermo in one,
So that I can none other chese,
But whether that I winne or lese,
I mote hir loven till I deye.

Gower. Con. A. b. i.

It were better nought begonne,
Than take a thyng without leue
Whiche thou must after needes leue,
And yet haue maugre forth with all.-Id. Ib. b. v.
Rather woulde we most earnestly entreate him, that as
oft as we wander a wronge waye from hym, he woulde (draw
we neuer so faste backward) by sharpe correccion magry
our minde bryng vs into the right way again.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 1366.
"Then tell," quoth Blandamour, "and feare no blame;
Tell what thou saw'st, maulgre whoso it heares."
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 1:
Untill that Talus had his pride represt,
And forced him, maulgre, it up to rear.-Id. Ib. b. v. c. 1.
He shall (maugre) be forced to confesse, that either there
were never true Orders in the Church of England (which he
dares not say) or else that they are still ours.

Bp. Hall. The Honour of the Maried Clergie, b i. § 17.
MAUKIN. See MALKIN.

"Maundy, abusive, saucy. Hence maundering,-Glouc."

P. Ca.

A rogue,

A very canter, I sir, one that maunds
Vpon the pad.-B. Jonson. Staple of Newes, Act ii. sc. 5.
Devet. Beg, Beg, and keep constables walking, wear out
stocks and whipcord, maunder for butter-milk.

Beaum. & Fletch. Thierry & Theodorat, Act v. sc. 1.
Hig. Thou art chosen, venerable Clause,
Our king and soveraign: monarch o' th' maunders.
Id. The Beggar's Bush, Act ii. sc. 1.

The maunderings of discontent are like the voyce and behaviour of a swine, who, when he feels it rain, runs grumbling about, and, by that, indeed, discovers his nature, but does not avoid the storm.-South, vol. vii. Ser. 14.

MAUNDY. This word is applied by our old writers at the time of the Reformation to the command which Christ gave to his disciples for the commemoration of his last supper. Spelman, however, thinks that Maundy-Thursday, on the evening of which day the commaund was given, may be so called from mande, a basket, (see ante,) baskets being formerly brought on that day to receive the charitable donations of the king.

In his second parte, he treateth the maundye of Christ with his apostles vpon the sheare Thursday, wherin our Sauiour actually dyd institute the blessed sacrament, and therein verylie gaue hys owne verye fleshe and bloude to hys twelue apostles.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 1038.

For vnto those wordes he putteth and forthwith ioineth. the rehersing of his bitter passion, begynning with his maundy, and therein his humble wesshynge of his disciples feete. Id. Ib. p. 1305.

The mynde and exposition of the old douctours vppon the wordes of Christes maundey.-Fryth. Workes, p. 125.

That is to say he admitted hym (saith S. Austě) vnto the maundye wherein he did betake and deliuer vnto the disciples ye figure of his body and bloud.-Id. Ib. p. 127. MAUSOLEUM.Mausolée; It. and Sp.MauLat. Mausoleum ; Fr.

MAUSOLE'AN.

soleo.

See the quotation from Pliny.

This mausoleum was the renowned tombe or sepulchre of Mausolus, a petie king of Carie, which the worthie ladie Artemisia (sometime his queene, and now his widow) caused to be erected for the said prince her husband, who died in the second yeere of the hundreth Olympias: and verily so sumptuous a thing it was, and so curiously wrought, by the artificers especially, that it is reckoned one of those matchlesse monuments which are called the seven wonders of the world.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxxvi. c. 5.

The whole chapel called by his [Henry VII.] name, is properly but his mausoleum, he building it solely for the burial place of himself and the royal family, and accordingly ordering by his will that no other person should be interred there. Dart. Antiquities of Westminster Abbey, vol. i. p. 32.

Some [Great Princes] have amused the dull, sad years of life,

(Life spent in indolence, and therefore sad,)

With schemes of monumental fame; and sought

By pyramids and mausolean pomp,

Short liv'd themselves, t' immortalize their bones. Cowper. Task, b. v. MAUTHER. Ray says,-a modher, or modder, methther, a girl or young wench; used all over the eastern parts of England, viz. Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge; and he quotes the etymology of the word from the Dan. Moer, virgo, puella, (see MAID, or MAY,) given by Spelman in his Glossary, in v. Moer. Norfolk, from its situation, was much exposed to Danish settlers, and Spelman imagines those of Norfolk, who sprang from the Danes, preserved the word, though with a corrupt pronunciation. See Nares, Moor, and Ray,

I know. Away, you talk like a foolish mawther.

B. Jonson. The Alchymist, Activ. sc. 6. MAVIS. Fr. Mauvis; It. Malviccio. The French also call it La Grive de Vigne, because it feeds upon the ripe grapes, (Pennant ;) and it is said to have received its name mauvis, Lat. Malus, from the mischief it does to the vintage. See Menage.

A name of the thrush, still commonly used in Scotland.

And thrustles, terins, and mauise

That songen for to win hem prise,

And eke to surmount in hir song

That other birdes hem emong

By note made faire seruise.-Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose.

The merry larke her mattins sings aloft;
The thrush replyes; the mavis descant playes.
Spenser. Epithalamion.

MAW. A. S. Maga; Dut. Maeghe; Ger. Mage; Sw. Mage. See MEAT, and MOUTH.

The stomach, wherein the meat is received and digested.

And smot hym thoru foundement, and so vp to the mawe. R. Gloucester, p. 311. The man that muche honeye eet, is mawe hit engleymeth.

Piers Plouhman, p. 275.

Who kept Jonas in the fishes mawe,
Til he was spouted up at Ninivee.
Chaucer. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 4907.
Like to the rauening wolves,
Whom raging furie of their empty mawes
Drives from their den.

Surrey. Virgile. Eneis, b. ii.

Beating their empty mawes that would be fed
With the scant morsels of the sacrist's bread.

MA/WMET, or MA'MMOT.

MA'WMETRY.

Mahomet :-generally, an idol, a graven image; mawmetry, the religion of Mahomet; idolatry; the worship of graven images. Any thing set up as an object of adoration: a popet or puppet, a fondling.

A temple heo fonde fair y now, and a maumed a midde,
That ofte tolde wonder gret, and what thing mon bitide.
R. Gloucester, p. 14.
Errid mislyuyng, haunted maumetrie.-R. Brunne, p. 320.
And what consent to the temple of God with mawmetis?
Wiclif. 2 Cor. c. 6.
An idolastre peraventure ne hath not but o maumet or
florene in his coffre is a maumet.
two, and the avaricious man hath many; for certes, every
And certes, the sinne

of maumetrie is the first that God defended in the ten com-
mandments, as bereth witnesse Exod. c. xx. Thou shalt
have no false Gods before me, ne thou shalt make to thee no
graven thing.-Chaucer. The Persones Tale.

In destruction of maumetrie

And in encrese of Cristes lawe dere, They ben accorded so as ye may here.

Id. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 4656.

The hole people of the world in effecte falle from knowledge or beleue of God, unto Idolatry and worship of mammollys.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 128.

There you shall find in every corner a maumet; at everye
doore a beggar; in every dish a priest.-Bp.Hall, Ep.1. Dec.1.
And then to haue a wretched puling foole,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
To answer, Ile not wed, I cannot loue.

Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet, Act iii. sc. 5.

We charge the prelatical clergy with popery, to make them odious, tho' we know they are guilty of no such thing: just as heretofore they call'd images mommets, and the adoration of images mammetry; that is, Mahomet and Mahometry; odious names, when all the world knows the Turks are forbidden images by their religion.

Selden. Table Talk. Popery. MAXILLARY. Fr. Maxillaire; It. Mascel lare; Sp. Maxilla; Lat. Maxillaris, from maxilla, which is formed from masso, maxo, maxa, maxula, maxilla, (whence mala,) the jaw. (Scaliger, De Causis, L. L. c. 31.) Massare,-to reduce to one

mass, to crush.

Of, pertaining, or belonging to the jaw.

For there is the skull of one entire bone; there are the teeth; there are maxillary bones, there is the hard bone, that is the instrument of hearing, and thence issue the horns.-Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 747.

MAXIM. Fr. Maxime; It. Massima; Sp. Maxima; Low Lat. Maxima; because it is of Bp. Hall, b. iv. Sat. 6. the greatest authority, and in greatest estimation. In like manner, axiom, from acios, dignus. There are certain legal maxims unquestioned in our courts. See Fortescue, ch. 8; and Blackstone, vol. i. p. 68.

Your warlike remedy against the maw-worms.
Beaum. & Fletch. Bonduca, Act i. sc. 1.

The giant, gorg'd with flesh, and wine, and blood,
Lay stretcht at length and snoring in his den,
Bekhing raw gobbets from his maw.

MAWKING.

Addison. Millon's Style Imitated.

See MALKIN. Applied toMAWKINGLY. A servant who does the dirty MAWKISH. house-work; a dirty wench; Sattern; one careless of cleanliness, dress or nament. And mawkingly, mawkish,—— Tasteless, insipid, unsavoury, disgusting.

Thou tookst me up at every word I spoke,

As if I had been a mawkin.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Chances, Act iii. sc. 1.

A deformed queane, a crooked carkass, a mankin, a witch, Se post, an hedge stake may be set out and tricked up, shall make as faire a show, as much enamour as the -Burion. Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 469.

Se silly souls are prone to place much piety in their Vause more comely and costly curiosities. plainness, and in their censoriousness of others

Bp. Taylor. Artificial Handsomeness, p. 87.

Their little breasts would burst with ire;
And the most heedless mawkin there,

The loveliest idiot drop a tear.

Whitehead. The Goat's Beard.

Others look loathsome and diseased with sloth,
Take a faint traveller whose dusty mouth
Cows dry with heat, and spits a maukish froth.

It is a maxime held of all, knowe plaine,
Thrust nature off with forks, she'll turn again.

Browne. Britannia's Pastorals, b. i. s. 2.

There are a sort of propositions, which under the name
of maxims and axioms have passed for principles and
science; and because they are self-evident, have been sup-
pos'd innate, although nobody (that I know) ever went about
to show the reason and foundation of their clearness or
cogency.-Locke. Hum. Underst. b. iv. c. 7. s. 1.

Who means to build his happy reign
On this blest maxim, wise and plain-
Though plain, how seldom understood!
That to be great he must be good.

Mallet. Truth in Rhyme.
MAY. Goth. and A. S. Mag-an; Ger. Mogen;
Dut. Mog-en; Sw. Mae, to be able,- Can, (qv.)
is, consequentially, to be able; may, literally,

To be able; to have power, strength, or ability;
to be possible.

To have power, (sc.) given, granted, or conceded; and, thus, to be free, or have freedom, or liberty, or permission; to be permitted or suffered.

It is written mowe, moun, continually, in old authors. See MoWE, MIGHT; also MAN, MAID,

Few Welsted flow! like thine inspirer, beer;
Thangh stale, not ripe; though thin, yet never clear;
eetly mawkish, and so smoothly dull:
deady not strong: o'erflowing, though not full.
Pope. The Dunciad, b. iii.

Addison. Virgil, Geor. 4. MARE.

Plente me may in Engelond of alle gode y se.

Now helpe me, lady, sith ye may and can.

Id. Ib. v. 739.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 2314
Wel may men knowen, but it be a fool,
That every part deriveth from his hool.-Id. Ib. v. 3007.
He may not spare, although he were his brother
Men maie recouer losse of good,
But so wise a man yet neuer stood.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv.
"How may a man," said he, "with idle speach
Be wonne to spoyle the castle of his health?"
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 9.
Great joy was made that day of young and old,
And solemne feast proclaym'd throughout the land,
That their exceeding merth may not be told.
Id. Ib. b. i. c. 12.

Yes, you despise the man to books confin'd,
Who from his study rails at human-kind;
Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance
Some general maxims, or be right by chance.
Pope. Moral Essays, Ep. 1.

Yet lives there one, whose heedless eye
Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near?
With him, sweet bard, may fancy die
And joy desert the blooming year.

Collins. On the Death of Mr. Thomson.

MAY, n. Fr. May; It. Maggio, Sp. Mayo; MA'YING. Lat. Maius; for which various etymologies are given. See Vossius and Martinius. The latter prefers a majoribus, from the growth (q. strength,-see MAY, ante) of vegetable nature at that period of the year.

Applied (met.) to the spring or early season of life; also to the flower of the hawthorn, then in season to the whole plant.

Till it felle ones in a morwe of May
That Emelie, that fayrer was to sene
Than is the lilie upon his stalke grene,
And fresher than the May with flowres newe.
Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 1036.

I forthe ferde
To walke, as I you tell maie,
And that was in the moneth of Maie.-Gower. Con. A. b. i.
Many hearynge of his gooyng a maiyng were desirous to
se hym shote.-Hall. Hen. VIII. an. 2.

And sayd, that for that noise and gallant sport
All other mirthes and maygames he wold shoon,
His onely ioy was on his pipe to play.

Turbervile. Agaynst the jelous Heades, &c.
The may-moone in mine age, I mean the gallant time
When coales of kinde first kindled loue, and plesure was
in prime.-Gascoigne. Complaint of the Greene Knight.
Some light huswife belike, that was dressed like a May-
lady, and as most of our gentlewomen are, was more solicitous
of her head tiers, than of her health,
Burton. Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 473.
See, see, O see, who here is come a maying!
The master of the ocean;
And his beauteous Orian:
Why left we our playing?

B. Jonson, s. 13.

Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Milton. On May Morning.

To gather may-buskets and smelling brere;
And home they hasten the postes to dight.

Spenser. Shepheard's Calender. May,
So have I seene
Tom Piper stand upon your village greene,
Backt with the may-pole.

Browne. Britannia's Pastorals, b. ii. s. 2.

To greet glad nature, and the god of day,
And flowery Venus, blooming queen of May;
The songs of praise their tuneful breasts employ
Charm every ear, and wrap the soul in joy.
Fawkes. Description of May.

By this stream and the may-blossom'd thorn That first heard his love-tale and his vows, My pale ghost shall wander forlorn, And the willow shall weep o'er my brows.-Mickle, s. 4. MA'YOR. Fr. Maieur; It. Maggiore; MAYORALTY. from the Lat. Major; the MAYORESSE. greater or principal (man or magistrate, of a city, town, &c.) In our elder authors it is commonly written Maior; upon a presumption, no doubt, that we owed the word (as Menage insists) to the Latin; but the more ancient writing was Meyer, and in Ger. and Dut. it is Meyer or Meier; and in Fr. also Maire; which Skinner derives (with Verstegan) from the verb to may, posse; whence Lat. Maj-or itself is See MAJOR, and MAGNIFY; also MAY.

R. Gloucester, p. 1. Wiclif. Pilipensis, c. 4. derived.

I mai alle thingis in him that coumfortith me.

The pint pot has so belaboured you with wit, your brave acquaintance that gives you ale, so fortified your mazard, that now there's no talking to you.

Beaum. & Fletch. Wit without Money, Act ii. sc. 1.
Od's precious, mistris,
Were I his wife, I would so mall his mazard.
Id. Women Pleased, Act ii. sc. 4.

I heard some talk of the carpenters' way, and I attempted that; but there the wooden rogues let a huge trap-door fall o' my head: If I had not been a spirit, I had been mazarded. B. Jonson. Masques at Court.

Mor. Are thy mad brains in thy mazer now, thou jealous bedlam.-Ford. The Fancies, Act iv. sc. 1.

Fust. Break but his pate, or so, only his mazer, because I'll have his head in a cloth as well as mine.

Dekkar. The Honest Whore, Act i. sc. 11.

His countenance harmonized with his humour, and Christian's mazard was a constant joke.

MAZE, v.
MAZE, n.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iv. c. 2.

MA'ZEDNESS.
MA'ZY.

From the Dut. Missen, (i. e. the A. S. Miss-ian,) to miss, to err, to wander or stray away from.

To wander or stray away; to be or become bewildered, confounded, or astonished; to bewilder, confound, or astonish, to perplex or puzzle; to wind, to intertwine, confusingly, perplexingly.

"Ye mase, ye masen, goode sire," quod she,
"This thank have I for I have made you see."

Chaucer. The Marchantes Tale, v. 10,260.

Men dreame al day of oules and apes,
And eke of many a mase therwithal;
Men dreame of thing that never was, ne shal.

Id. The Nonnes Preestes Tale, v. 1599.

She ferde as she had stert out of a sleepe,
Til she out of hire masednesse abraid.

Id. The Marchantes Tale, v. 8889.

And all my brayne is ouertourned,
And my maner is mistorned,
That I foryete all that I can,
And stonde like a mased man.-Gower. Con, A. b. vi.

O negligent and heedlesse discipline,

How are we park'd and bounded in a pale?

A little heard of England's timorous deere,
Max'd with a yelping kennell of French curres.

Shakespeare. 1 Pt. Hen. VI. Act iv. sc. 2.

Thus while they studie how to bring to passe that religion may seeme but a matter made, they lose themselues in the very maze of their owne discourses, as if reason did purposely forsake them, who of purpose forsake God, the author thereof.-Hooker. Ecclesiasticall Politie, b. v. §2.

[I] thus wrapt in mist

Of midnight vapor glide obscure, and pry
In every bush and brake, where hap may finde
The serpent sleeping, in whose mazy foulds
To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ix.
The fam'd Mæander, that unweary'd strays
Through mazy windings, smokes in every maze.
Addison. Ovid. Metam. b. ii.
Lend me your song, ye nightingales! oh! pour
The mazy-running soul of melody
Thomson. Spring.
Into my varied verse!
Chance led my travel from the beaten road
Through the deep muzes of a tangled wood,
Where loud resounding from the nighbouring shade,
I heard a female voice that call'd for aid.
Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. XXV.
When now the setting sun more fiercely burn'd,
Blue vapours rose along the mazy rills,
And light's last blushes ting'd the distant hills.
Lyttleton. The Progress of Love, Ecl. 1.
MA'ZER. Du Cange says that cups of a more
valuable kind or material, are universally called
mazer, mazerinus, &c., but that with respect to
Skinner says,-
this material, opinions differ.

Poculum ligneum, from Dut. Maeser, the wood of
the maple tree, (qv.) of which wood these cups
were usually made.

They fet him first the swete win,
And mede eke in a maselin,
And real spicerie.

Chaucer. Rhime of Sire Thopas, v. 13,780.
Pourde out a pace, and fillde the mazor vp.
Gascoigne. Dauid's Salutacions to Berzabe.
Dance upon the mazer's brim,
In the crimson liquor swim.
Beaum. Fletch. Valentinian, Act iv. sc. 7.
Cud. Fayth, of my soule, I deeme eche have gained;
Forthy let the lambe be Willie his owne;
And for Perigot, so well hath him payned
To him be the wroughten mazer alone.

Spenser. Shepheard's Calender. August.

As particularly in the third pastoral, where one of his
shepherds describes a bowl, or mazer curiously carved.
Dryden. Virgil. Ded. to Lord Clifford.

ME. Goth. Mic; A. S. Me; Dut. Mij; Ger.
Mich, mir; Sw. Mig; Fr. Moy, me; It. Me; Sp.
Mi; Lat. Me; Gr. Me.

See My.

This pronoun probably includes within it the
nominative I; Goth. Ik; A. S. Ic; Ger. Ich; thus,
me-ik, meich; contracted into mic, and mich but
no clue has occurred by which to trace what the
m is, or whence it arises. Can it be the A. S. Ma,
mæ, prefixed for the sake of emphasis, or more
strongly to designate the person? See MORE.
Me-thinketh, him thinketh, i. e. it thinketh or
causeth me or him to think.
Thou ne schalt (bi hym that made me) of scapie to lygte.
R. Gloucester, p. 25.
The dede that I did ille, my foly it was,
I praye the with gode wille, forgyue me that trespas.
R. Brunne, p. 163.
Thanne he seide to him my soule is sorowful to the deeth,
abyde ye heere, wake ye with me.-Wielif. Matthew, c. 26.
So true I have you found,
That aie honour to meward shall rebound.
Chaucer. Troilus & Creseide, b. iv.

For whan I maie hir honde beclip,
With suche gladnes I daunce and skip,
Me thinketh I touche not the floore.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv.
Hym thinketh he shuld nought ben hold
Unto the mother, which hym bare:
Of hym maie neuer man beware,
He wol not knowe the merite.

Id. Ib. b. v.

Than verely in dede dismaide
Did Nisus loudly shryke, not more to lurcke in darknes
staide,

Such torments than him toke, he cried amain, with voice
affaied,

'Tis I, 'tis I, here I am that did, turne all at me.

Phaer. Virgill. Eneidos, b. ix.
And in their songes me-thought they thanked nature much,
That by her licence al that yere to loue their happe was such.
Surrey. Complaint of a Louer that defied Loue, &c.
Me seemeth good, that with some little traine
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fet
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king.

Shakespeare. Rich. III. Act ii. sc. 2.
There with my cries importune heaven, that all
The sentence from thy head remov'd may light
On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe,
Mee, mee onely just object of his ire.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. x.

Some such resemblances methinks I find
Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream,
But with addition strange; yet be not sad.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. v.

Then struck with deep despair,
That cruel sight the lover could not bear;
But from his covert rush'd in open view,
And sent his voice before him as he flew:
"Me, me," he cry'd, turn all your swords alone
On me! the fact confest, the fault my own."

Dryden. Virgil. Eneis, b. ix.
While thus I stood intent to see and hear
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear:
"What could thus high thy rash ambition raise?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise!"

Pope. The Temple of Fame. MEACOCK. Skinner says,- uxorious, too subject and devoted to his wife, also, pusillanimous, delicate, effeminate; either from mes (equivalent to mal, or to our Eng. Mis, Cotgrave), and coq; gallus ignavus, imbecillis, a cowardly cock; or mew-cock, a cock mewed up in a coop. Mr. Steevens, a cowardly, dastardly creature.

Nan. 'Tis your own seeking.
Mir. Yes, to get my freedom;
Were they as I could wish 'em.

La-Cast. Fools and meacocks,

To endure what you think fit to put upon 'em.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Wild Goose Chase, Act v. sc. I.

I held it better, not to be so faint and peeuish a meacocke,
as to shrinke and couch mine head for every mizeling shoure.
Staniherst. To Sir H. Sidneie, Knt. Chron. of Ireland.
O you are nouices-'tis a world to see
How tame when men and women are alone,
A meacocke wretch can make the cursest shrew.

Shakespeare. Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. sc. 1.
MEAD. From A. S. Maw-an; Dut. Maed-
MEADOW. en; Ger. Mehen, (Junius.) From
A. S. Mad, (i. e. maw-ed,) mowed, the past part.
of Maw-an, metere, to mow, (Tooke.)

That which (land, grass-land which) is mowed.
In other alf beth grete wodes, les and mede also.
R. Gloucester, p. 187.
In feldes and in medys to preue her bachelerye.-Id. p 192.
Ine toke the feante, displayed his banere,
& went to the bataile in fulle faire grene,
That is vnder Kampedene a medew I wene.
R. Brunne, p. 2.
Alle mad he wasteyn, pastur, medow, & korn.-Id. p. 75.
Colours ne know I non, withouten drede,
But swiche colours as growen in the mede.

Chaucer. The Frankeleines Tale, v. 1535.
And there the Danish camp then strongly did abide.
Near to a goodly mead which men there call the Hide.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 12.
But end with th' ages past:
When as the state shall yield more supplements
(B'ing well employ'd) than kings can well exhaust,
This golden meadow lying ready still
Then to be mow'd, when their occasions will.

Daniel. A Panegyrick to the King's Majesty.
Thy full and youthful breasts, which in their meadow y
pride
Are branch'd with rivery veines meander-like that glide.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 10.
One way a band select from forage drives

A herd of beeves, faire oxen and faire kine
From a fat meddow-ground.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b.xi

Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot,

Full of fresh verdure, and unnumber'd flowers,
The negligence of nature, wide and wild.

"Twas thus of old,

Thomson. Spring.

My warlike sons a gallant train,
Call'd forth their genuine strength and spread
Their banners o'er the tender mead.

Whitehead. On his Majesty's Birth-day, June 4, 1778.

}

MEAD. A. S. Medo; Dut. Meede; Ger. MEATH.Met, Sw. Mjoed; Mid. Lat. Medus. Wachter thinks the word had its origin in the woods of Poland, where honey called miod abounds. In A. S. Mathe is said to be "wine made of new wine, and until half be boyled away," (Somner. Mathe and Mead (Skinner says) are alike in thei excessive sweetness; and Wachter thinks the former may be from the Gr. Metu, wine; and se METHEGLIN.

He sent hire pinnes, methe, and spiced ale,
And wafers piping hot out of the glede.

Chaucer. The Milleres Tale, v. 3371

And being now in hand to write thy glorious praise,
Fill me a bowl of meath, my working spirit to raise.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 4.

-For drink the grape
She crushes, inoffencive moust, and meathes,
From many a berrie. Milton. Paradise Lost, b. v.

The plenteous horns with pleasant mead they crown,
Nor wanted aught besides in honour of the moon.
Dryden. Palamon & Arcite, b. iii.

ME'AGER, adj. or

ME'AGRE, V.

MEAGERLY.

MEAGERNESS.

A. S. Magre, lean, thin;
Mægeregean,
to make
lean, to macerate; Dut.
Maegher; Ger. Mager;

Fr. Maigre; It. Magro; Sp. Magro; from the
Lat. Macer, (Skinner.) Macer, from the Gr.
(See
Maces, long, and, consequentially, lean.
EMACIATE.) A. S. Migre, Eng. M-eager, seems
to contain within it the A. S. Egor, Eng. Eager.
Lean, thin, poor, hungry; emaciate, without
Besh or fleshy substance; insubstantial; without
nutriment or fertility; barren.

That maketh me so megre.

Piers Plouhman, p. 92.

And thereto she was lene and megre.

Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose.

Mealy, having the qualities or appearances of meal, its whiteness, fineness, softness.

Meale-mouthed or faire-spoken,-whose words are mild and soft, as meal, (Minshew.)

The kyngdom of hevenes is lyk to sour dowgh whiche a woman took and hidde in thre mesuris of mele, til it was al soured.-Wiclif. Matthew, c. 13.

The kyngdome of heauen is lyke vnto leuen which a woma
taketh and hydeth in iii peckes of meele, tyl all be leuened.
Bible, 1551. Ib.

Thou shalt a cake of half a bushel find,
That was ymaked of thin owne mele
Which that I halpe my fader for to stele.

Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 4043.

So were more meete for mealy-mouthed men.

Gascoigne. The Fruites of Warre, (86.)
Mene. Consider this: he has bin bred i' th' warres
Since a could draw a sword, and is ill-school'd
In boulted language: meale and bran together
He throwes without distinction.

Shakespeare. Coriolanus, Act iii. sc. 1.

Though the regular spots in their wings [the caterpillar]
seem but a mealie adhesion, and such as may be wiped
away, yet since they come in this variety, out of their cases,
there must be regular pores in those parts and membranes,
defining such exudations.-Brown. Cyrus' Garden, c. 3.
The world's eye bleared with those shameless lyes,
Mask'd in the show of meal-mouth'd poesies.
Bp. Hall. Satires, b. i. Prol.
A lewd fellow was brought forth, who said, that he himself
Spenser. Mother Hubberd's Tale. escaping in a meal-tub, had been entreated by those who
were in peril of drowning, to desire of the people revenge of
their deaths upon the captains.
Ralegh. History of the World, c. 8. s. 10.

- Many a burning sun

Fas sear'd my body, and boil'd up my blood,

Feebl'd my knees, and stampt a meagerness
Upon my figure, all to find out knowledge.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Island Princess, Act iv. sc. 1.
But Poynings (the better to make compensation of the
messe of his service in the warres, by acts of peace,)
ed a parliament.-Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 138.
His ceaseless sorrow for th' unhappy maid
Meeger'd his look, and on his spirits prey'd.

Dryden. Ovid. Melam. b. xi.

He calls for famine, and the meagre fiend
Fas mildew from between his shrivell'd lips,
And taints the golden ear.
Cowper. Task, b. ii.
MEAL. A. S. Mal; Dut. Maal; Ger. Mal;
S. Mael. The A. S. Mal, and Eng. Meal, is-
A part or portion, a measure,-of food or any

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That thei her strengthes losen all.-Gower. Con. A. b. vi.

Vaquiet meales make ill digestions.

Shakespeare. Comedy of Errours, Act v. sc. 1.

As to his meals, I should think it best, that as much as it

can be conveniently avoided, they should not be kept con

stantly to an hour-Locke. Of Education, s. 15.

Beneath whose shade the lusty steers repose
Their cumbrous limbs, mix'd with the woolly tribes,
And leisurely concoct their grassy meal.
Jago. Edge Hill, b. iv.

MEAL. Fr. Mesler; to mix, to mingle;
Fetch, to mell. See MEDLEY, and YMELl.
Were he mealed; were he mixed with; were
here intermixed or intermingled in him—that
which he corrects, then were he tyrannous.

He doth with holy abstinence subdue

That in himselfe, which he spurres on his powre

To qualifie in others: were he meal'd with that

Which he corrects, then were he tirranous,

Some fly with two wings, as birds and many insects, some
with four, as all farinaceous or mealy-winged animals, as
butterflies and moths.-Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. iii. c. 15.
The cameleon had been observed to drink water, and
delight to feed on meal-worms; and although we have not
had the advantage of our own observation, yet have we re-
ceived the like confirmation from many ocular spectators.
Id. Ib. b. iii. c. 21.
Auriculas, enrich'd
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves.

The

Thomson. Spring.
MEAN, adj. Fr. Moyen, moyennant, from
MEAN, n.
the It. Mediante, and that from
the Low Lat. Medianum; Lat. Medium.
Scotch write or wrote moyen. See in Jamieson.
Mediate, being or lying at equal distance, be-
tween the beginning and end; intervening; being
or lying at a distance, between the extreme points;
and thus distant, removed, restrained or with-
held, from extremity, from excess; moderate,
temperate.

Mean, n. that which is mediate, or inter-
mediate; that by the intervention, intercession,
instrumentality or agency of which any thing is

But we (or euer he come neare) are redy in the meane season to kyl him.-Bible, 1551. Actes, c. 23.

And in the meane tyme betwixte that and daye, Paule besoughte them all to take meate.-Id. Ib. c. 27.

O blessed lady be thou meane and medyatryce betwene
thy sonne and wretched synners that hee punysshe vs not

But this being so, he's iust.
Shakespeare. Meas. for Meas. Act iv. sc. 2. euerlastyngely.-Fisher. Seuen Psalmes, Ps. 38.

MEAL.A. S. Mealewe; Dut. Meel; Ger. MEALY. Mal; Sw. Meol; from Goth. Mal-an, De Maelen; Ger. Malen, mulen; Sw. Mala; Lat. Mere; to grind, bruise, or crush, (sc.) to a pow: inte fine, small particles.

Corn or grain ground or crushed to a powder.

For his churche is ye wote wel a church of folke, not

menely good, but of folk so good, so pure, & so cleane, that

ther be not among them al so much as either spot or
wrincle.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 808.

Reserve her cause to her eternal doome;
And, in the meane, vouchsafe her honorable toombe.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 1.

And therefore the mean is the vertue, and not to go too far in this, as in all other things besides, it is the best. North. Plutarch, p. 116.

Ard you know, his meanes

If he improue them, may well stretch so farre
As to annoy vs all: which to preuent,
Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.

Shakespeare. Julius Cæsar, Act ii. sc. 1.
Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou
To make such meanes for her, as thou hast done,
And leaue her on such slight conditions.

Id. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act v. sc. 4.
For by the means of his affinity,

Was lost all that his father conquered;
Ev'n as if France had some Erynnis sent,
Tavenge their wrongs done by the insolent.

Rich. The sonne of Clarence haue I pent vp close,
His daughter meanly haue I matcht in marriage,
The sonnes of Edward sleepe in Abraham's bosome,
And Anne my wife hath bid this world good night.
Shakespeare. Rich. III. Act iv. sc. 3.

That to be less than gods
Disdain'd, but meaner thoughts learned in their flight,
Mangl'd with gastly wounds through plate and maile.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vi.

Worship ye sages of the east,
The king of Gods in meanness drest.

Bp. Hall. Anthemes. For Christmas Day.

Religion and divinity have the ill-luck to be so meanly thought of, that every half-witted corporation blockhead thinks himself a competent judge of the deepest points of

its doctrine, and the reason of its discipline.

Safe under such a wing, the boy shall show
No spots contracted among grooms below,
Nor taint his speech with meannesses, design'd
By footman Tom for witty and refin'd.

Cowper. Tirocinium.
MEAN, v.
Goth. Mun-an, mun-yan; A. S.
MEANER. Mun-an, man-an; Dut. Meen-
MEANING, n.
Ger. Meynen; Sw. Mena,
significare, denotare, demonstrare, to signify, to
denote, to show; to be or cause to be a sign, or
See MIND, MINT.

mark.

en;

To signify; to design; to have, bear, or keep in mind; in the mind or understanding; to purpose, to intend, to think.

Me troweth he was the lynx al thyng thurlyng, of whiche
Merlyne meneth of.
R. Gloucester, p. 522. Note.
Than spak Philip, "I wote what this menes."

R. Brunne, p. 155.
-Thei wist what it ment.-Id. p. 8.
And saide mcy madame, what may this be to mene.
Piers Plouhman, p. 13.
In menynge that alle men. myghte the same
Lyven thorgh leell by leyve. as oure Lord wittnesseth.
Id. p. 13.

Ther is no soul that fleeth under heven,
That she ne shal wel understond his steven,
And know his mening openly and plaine.

Chaucer. The Squieres Tale, v. 10,474.
Thei wondred, what she wolde mene,
And riden after a softe pas.

Gower, Con. A. b. ii.

He should reject
And not pervse the meaning of the same.
Turbervile. To the rayling Route of Sycophants.
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There alwayes, but drawn up to heav'n sometimes
Viewless.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. iii.

This room was built for honest meaners, that deliver themselves hastily and plainly, and are gone.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Scornful Lady, Act i. sc. 1. But see how much I do myself beguile, And do mistake thy meaning all this while.

Drayton. King John to Matilda.

Seis'd of his prey, heavenwards, uplifted light, On Hermes' nimble wings, he took his flight. Now thoughtful of his course, he hung in air, And meant through Europe's happy clime to steer. Rowe. Lucan, b. ix. I mean, there never was a date or point of time in our history, when the government of England was to be set up anew, and when it was referred to any single person, or assembly, or committee, to frame a charter for the future government of the country; or when a constitution, so prepared, and digested, was by common consent received and established.-Paley. Moral Philosophy, b. vi. c. 7.

The word is always sufficiently original for me in that language where its meaning, which is the cause of its application, can be found and seeking only meaning, when I have found it, there I stop: the rest is a curiosity whose

usefulness I cannot discover.

MEANDER, n. MEA'NDER, U. MEA'NDROUS.

MEA'NDRY.

Tooke. Diversions of Purley, vol. ii. c. 4. Lat.Maander; Gr. Malayδρος ; quasi Μαιονίας ύδωρ, the water of Mæonia, vel quia per Maloviav avadρauel, it runs through Mæonia, (Martinius.) "The Maander fetcheth such windings to and fro, that oftentimes it is taken for to run backe againe from whence it comes," (Pliny, b. v. c. 29.) See the quotations from Selden and Drayton.

Intricate turnings, by a transumptive and metonymical kind of speech, are called meanders: for this river [Meander] did so strangely path itself, that the foot seemed to touch the head.-Drayton. Poly-Olbion. Selden. Illust. Note 2.

As crankling Manyfold,

The first that lends him force: of whose meandred ways
And labyrinth-like turns (as in the moors she strays)
She first received her name.-Id. Poly-Olbion, s. 12.
And in meand'red gyres doth whirl herself about,
That, this way, here and there, back, forward, in, and

out,

And like a wanton girl, oft doubling in her gate,
In labyrinth-like turns, and twinings intricate.

Id. Ib. s. 22. Thy full and youthful breasts which in their meadowy pride

And branch'd with rivery veins, meander-like that glide. Id. Ib. s. 10. But this proverb may better be verifyed of Ouse it self in this shire, more meandrous than Meander, which runneth above eighty miles in eighteen by land.

Fuller. Worthies. Bedfordshire.

The river Styx, with crooked and meandry turnings, encircleth the palace of the infernal Dis.-Bacon.

Wide, deep, unsullied Thames meandring glides
And bears thy wealth on mild majestic tides.

Savage. London and Bristol Delineated.

Near fair Avon's silver tide,
Whose waves in soft meanders glide,
I read to the delighted swains
Your jocund songs and rural strains.

& to meselle houses of that same lond, Thre thousand marke vnto ther spense he fond. R. Brunne, p. 136. For foule meselrie he comond with no man.-Id. p. 140. Rise ye dede men, clense ye mesels.-Wiclif. Matt. c. 10. For peine is sent by the rightwise sonde of God and by his suffrance, be it meselrie, or maime, or maladie. Chaucer. The Persones Tale. Either he repreveth him by som harme of peine, that he hath upon his bodie, as mesel, &c.- Id. Ib.

As for my country, I hate shed my blood,

Not fearing outward force: so shall my lungs
Coine words till their decay, against those meazels
Which we disdaine should tetter us.

Shakespeare. Coriolanus, Act iii. sc. 1.

- He found a youth in tissue brave, (A daintier man one would not wish to have) Was courting of a lothsome, measled sow. Drayton. The Moon-Calf.

From whence they start up chosen vessels,
Made by contact, as men get measles.-Hudib. pt. i. c. 3.
The murian shall infect all kine
And measles will destroy the swine.

Closing the sense within the measur'd time,
'Tis hard to fit the reason to the rhyme.

Dryden. The Art of Poetry, c. 2.

There may yet be a great inequality; because the measurer measures only from some plain piece of ground at the bottom of the hill to the top, whereas it may be, that the country wherein one of these mountains stands, may be exceedingly much higher than that wherein the other is

King. The Art of Love, pt. vi. placed.-Boyle. Works, vol. iii. p. 227.

Last trotted forth the gentle swine,

To ease her itch against the stump, And dismally was heard to whine, All as she scrubb'd her meazly rump. Swift. On cutting down the Old Thorn at Market Hill. MEASURE, v. ME'ASURE, n. MEASURABLE. MEASURABLY. MEASURELESS. MEASURELY. MEASUREMENT. ME'ASURER. MEASURING, N.

Fr. Mesurer; It. Misurare; Lat. Mensurare, from mensus, past part. of met-iri, to mete: metiri dicitur, qui explorat, quæ alicujus rei sit magnitudo, to examine what may be the magnitude of any thing.

To examine, to calculate,

to ascertain the magnitude or bulk, the quantity or number, space or distance; to act by or according to a fixed or stated measure; a regular standard of size or quantity; to observe or keep a stated measure, a sufficient measure; to regulate or govern, to moderate; to apportion, to adjust. Measure, n. is also applied to a regulated succession of movements, in dancing; of sounds, in music and poetry.

False einen & measures he brogte al clene adoun. R. Gloucester, p. 429. And he seide to hem, see ye what ye heren, in what measure ye meten: it shal be meten to you again. Wiclif. Mark, c. 4. Take hede what ye heare, wyth what measure ye mete, wyth the same shall it be measured vnto you agayne. Bible, 1551. Ib. And many folke mesuren and gessen, that souerayne good be ioye and gladnesse.-Chaucer. Boecius, b. iii.

She nas to sobre ne to glad,
In all things more measure,
Had never I trowe creature.
Of his diete measurable was he,
For it was of no great superfluitee.

Id. Dreame.

Id. Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, v. 437.
She was ful measurable, as women be.
Id. The Squieres Tale, v. 10,675.
He sayth also: The goodes that thou hast ygeten use
them by measure, that is to sayn, spende mesurably.
Id. The Tale of Melibeus.

So as the philosophre techeth
To Alisander, and him betecheth
The lore, howe that he shall measure
His bodie, so that no measure

Of fleshly lust he shulde excede.-Gower. Con. A. b. vii.
Here hath he comfort when he doth measure
Measureless mercye to measureless faulte.-Wyatt, Ps. 51.
Each day to be feasted, what husbandry worse,
Each day for to feast, is as ill for the purse;
Yet measurely feasting, with neighbours among,
Shall make thee belov'd, and live the more long.

Tusser. Husbandly Lessons, c. 10.
With that the rolling sea, resounding soft,
In his big base them fitly answered;
And on the rocke the waves breaking aloft
A solemne meane unto them measured.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 11. In all which the king measured and valued things amisse, as afterwards appeared.-Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 45.

I cannot but second and commend that great clerk of Paris, who (as our witty countryman Bromaird reports) when King Lewis of France required him to write down the best word that ever he had learnt, call'd for a faire skin of parchment, and in the midst of it wrote this word measure, and sent it sealed up to the king.

Bp. Hall. Christian Moderation, b. i. s. 1.
But after these, as men more civil grew,
He did more grave and solemn measures frame,
With such fair order and proportion true,

And correspondence ev'ry way the same,
That no fault finding eye did ever blame.

Davies. On Dancing.
The World's bright eye, Time's measurer, begun
Through wat'ry Capricorn his course to run.

Howell. Letters, p. 7. The Note. A Poem. Although he buy whole harvests in the spring, And foyst in false strikes to the measuring

Bp. Hall, b. iv. Sat. 6. O soveraigne lord, O soveraigne happiness To see thee, and thy mercie measurelesse! Spenser. Virgil. Gnat.

God is infinite; and an infinite mind, both in its knowledge and purposes, proceeds not according to the methods and measures of a finite understanding. South, vol. viii. Ser. 4

But all ye lovers of game and glee,
And feast and frolic, come follow me!
To nature's measureless licence free,
And follow, follow, follow me!

Brooke. Songs from Jack the Giant Queller, Air 30. It seems amazing to me, that artists, if they were as convinced as they pretend to be, that proportion is a principal cause of beauty, have not by them at all times accurate measurements of all sorts of beautiful animals to help them to proper proportions.

Burke. On the Sublime and Beautiful, pt. iii. § 4.
MEAT, n.
Goth. Mats; A. S. Met, mete,
MELATED.
mate; whatever is eaten, the past
MEATLESS.

A. S. Metian, edere, to eat, (Tooke.)
That which is eaten: usually applied to-
The flesh of animals, to animal food.
Thre dawes & thre nygt mete les hii wuste hem so,
That hii nuste hou on take, ne wat vor hunger do.

That this fole was ney meteles.

R. Gloucester, p. 170. ld. p. 251.

In S. Edward tyme the erle suld with him ete,
A seruitour ther was that serued at the mete.

R. Brunne, p. 55.
It neghed nere metesel, than rose vp alle the route.
Id. p. 334.

Meteles and moneyles. on Malverne hulles.

Piers Ploukman, p. 162. His mete was honey soukis and honey of the wood. Wiclif. Matthew, c. 3. His meate was locusts and wylde hony.-Bible, 1551. Ib. And on his meate borde there shal been borde clothes and towelles many paire.-Chaucer. Testament of Loue, b. ii.

But euery lust he shall forbere

Of man, and like an oxe his mete

Of grasse he shall purchace and ete.-Gower. Con. A. b. i Is not thys a royall feast to leue these beggers meateles, & the send mo to dynner to theim?

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 302. Strong oxen and horses, well shod, and well clad, Well meted well used, for making thee sad.

Tusser. September's Husbandry, c. 16. As fire converts to fire the things it burns; As we our meats into our nature change.

Davies. The Immortality of the Soul, s. 4. The meat-offering consisted of fine flower, or parched corn, with oyl, salt, and frankincense. Grew. Cosmo. Sacra, b. iv. c. 8. s. 124. Them-their despairing creditors may find Lurking in shambles; where with borrow'd coin They buy choice meats and in cheap plenty dine.

MECHANISM.

MECHANIST.

MECHANICIAN. MECHANICK, adj. MECHANICK, n.

MECHANICKS.

MECHANICAL.

MECHANICALLY.

Congreve. Juvenal, Sat. 11.

Fr. Méchanique; It. Mecanico; Sp. Mecanico; Lat. Mechanicus; Gr. Mnxavixos, from μηχανη, a machine, (qv.)

See the first quotation from Boyle.

Of hem that ben artificers,
Whiche vsen craftes and misters,

Whose arte is cleped mechanike.-Gower. Con. A. b. vii. But (we are to consider) how the mechanism, that is, the bulk and figure of the bone and muscules, and the insertion of the muscule into the bone, are more advantageous to some certain motions, in one man, than in another.

Grew. Cosmo. Sacra, b. ii. c. 6. How many chimaeras, antics, golden mountains and castles in the aire doe they build unto themselves? I appeale to painters, mechanicians, mathematicians. Burton. Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 92. He [a friend] is not accustomed to any sordid way of gaine, for who is any way mechanicke will sell his friend upon more profitable termes.

Habington. Castara, pt. ii. 4 Friend. An art quite lost with our mechanicks, a work not to be made out, but like the walls of Thebes, and such an artificer as Amphion.-Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. vii. c. 18.

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A New Dictionary of the English Language: Combining Explanation with ...