The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section M, N, and O

2. As a numeral, M stands for one thousand, both in English and Latin.

M, n. 1. (Print.) A quadrat, the face or top of which is a perfect square; also, the size of such a square in any given size of type, used as the unit of measurement for that type: 500 m's of pica would be a piece of matter whose length and breadth in pica m's multiplied together produce that number. [Written also em.]

2. (law) A brand or stigma, having the shape of an M, formerly impressed on one convicted of manslaughter and admitted to the benefit of clergy.

M roof (Arch.), a kind of roof formed by the junction of two common roofs with a valley between them, so that the section resembles the letter M.

Ma (mä), n. [Cf. Mamma.] 1. A child's word for mother.

2. [Hind.] In Oriental countries, a respectful form of address given to a woman; mother. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

||Ma, conj. [It.] (Mus.) But; -- used in cautionary phrases; as, ||"Vivace, ma non troppo presto" (i. e., lively, but not too quick). ||Moore (Encyc. of Music).

Maa (?), n. [See New a gull.] (Zoöl.) The common European gull (Larus canus); -- called also mar. See New, a gull.

Maad (?), obs. p. p. of Make. Made. Chaucer.

Maa"lin (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The sparrow hawk. (b) The kestrel.

Ma'am (?), n. Madam; my lady; -- a colloquial contraction of madam often used in direct address, and sometimes as an appellation.

Ma"a*ra shell` (?). (Zoöl.) A large, pearly, spiral, marine shell (Turbo margaritaceus), from the Pacific Islands. It is used as an ornament.

||Ma*ash"a (?), n. An East Indian coin, of about one tenth of the ||weight of a rupee.

Maat (?), a. [See Mate, a.] Dejected; sorrowful; downcast. [Obs.] "So piteous and so maat." Chaucer.

Mab (mb), n. [Cf. W. mad a male child, a boy.]

1. A slattern. [Prov. Eng.]

2. The name of a female fairy, esp. the queen of the fairies; and hence, sometimes, any fairy. Shak.

Mab"ble (?), v. t. To wrap up. [Obs.]

Mab"by (?), n. A spirituous liquor or drink distilled from potatoes; -- used in the Barbadoes.

||Ma*bo"lo (?), n. (Bot.) A kind of persimmon tree (Diospyros discolor) ||from the Philippine Islands, now introduced into the East and West ||Indies. It bears an edible fruit as large as a quince.

Mac (?). [Gael., son.] A prefix, in names of Scotch origin, signifying son.

||Ma*ca"co (?), n. [Cf. Pg. macaco.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several species ||of lemurs, as the ruffed lemur (Lemur macaco), and the ring- tailed ||lemur (L. catta).

||Ma*ca"cus (?), n. [NL., a word of African origin. Cf. Macaco, ||Macaque.] (Zoöl.) A genus of monkeys, found in Asia and the East ||Indies. They have short tails and prominent eyebrows.

Mac*ad`am*i*za"tion (?), n. The process or act of macadamizing.

Mac*ad"am*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Macadamized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Macadamizing.] [From John Loudon McAdam, who introduced the process into Great Britain in 1816.] To cover, as a road, or street, with small, broken stones, so as to form a smooth, hard, convex surface.

Mac*ad"am road` (?). [See Macadamize.] A macadamized road.

Ma*ca"o (?), n. (Zoöl.) A macaw.

||Ma`caque" (?), n. [F. See Macacus.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several ||species of short-tailed monkeys of the genus Macacus; as, M. maurus, ||the moor macaque of the East Indies.

Mac`a*ran"ga gum` (?). A gum of a crimson color, obtained from a tree (Macaranga Indica) that grows in the East Indies. It is used in taking impressions of coins, medallions, etc., and sometimes as a medicine. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

Mac"a*rize, v. t. [Gr. &?; to bless.] To congratulate. [Oxford Univ. Cant] Whately.

Mac`a*ro"ni (?), n.; pl. Macaronis (#), or Macaronies. [Prov. It. macaroni, It. maccheroni, fr. Gr. &?; happiness, later, a funeral feast, fr. &?; blessed, happy. Prob. so called because eaten at such feasts in honor of the dead; cf. Gr. &?; blessed, i. e., dead. Cf. Macaroon.] 1. Long slender tubes made of a paste chiefly of wheat flour, and used as an article of food; Italian or Genoese paste.

A paste similarly prepared is largely used as food in Persia, India, and China, but is not commonly made tubular like the Italian macaroni. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

2. A medley; something droll or extravagant.

3. A sort of droll or fool. [Obs.] Addison.

4. A finical person; a fop; -- applied especially to English fops of about 1775. Goldsmith.

5. pl. (U. S. Hist.) The designation of a body of Maryland soldiers in the Revolutionary War, distinguished by a rich uniform. W. Irving.

{ Mac`a*ro"ni*an (?), Mac`a*ron"ic (?), } a. [Cf. It. maccheronico, F. macaronique.] 1. Pertaining to, or like, macaroni (originally a dish of mixed food); hence, mixed; confused; jumbled.

2. Of or pertaining to the burlesque composition called macaronic; as, macaronic poetry.

Mac`a*ron"ic (?), n. 1. A heap of thing confusedly mixed together; a jumble.

2. A kind of burlesque composition, in which the vernacular words of one or more modern languages are intermixed with genuine Latin words, and with hybrid formed by adding Latin terminations to other roots.