mechanic

But he (Pope] (his musical finesse was such,

So nice his ear, so delicate his touch)
Made poetry a mere mechanic art.

Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 654.
Must sleepy bards the flattering dream prolong,
Mechanic echoes of the Mantuan song?
Crabbe, Works, I. 4.
2t. Belonging to or characteristic of the class
of mechanics; common; vulgar; mean.

The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate.
Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. 200.

3. Supporting the atomistic philosophy.
These mechanic philosophers being no way able to give
an account thereof [of the formation and organization of
the bodies of animals] from the necessary motion of mat-
Ray, Works of Creation, i.
II. n. 1t. Mechanic art; mechanics.

ter.

Of hem that ben artificers,
Whiche vsen craftes and misters,
Whose arte is cleped mechanike.
Gower, Conf. Amant., vii.

24. Mechanism; structure.
The fault being in the very frame and mechanic of the
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 194.
part.

3. A maker of machines or machinery; hence,
any skilled worker with tools; one who has
learned a trade; a workman whose occupation
consists in the systematic manipulation and
constructive shaping or application of mate-
To
rials; an artificer, artisan, or craftsman.
many persons whose business is partly mechanical the
term mechanic is inapplicable, as farmers, surgeons, and
artists. It implies special training, and is therefore in-

gaged in constructive work.

An art quite lost with our mechanicks, a work not to be made out, but like the walls of Thebes, and such an artifiSir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 18. cer as Amphion. Some plain mechanic, who, without pretence To birth or wit, nor gives nor takes offence. Cowper, Retirement, 1. 449. 4. One who works mechanically; one who follows routine or rule in an occupation requiring careful thought or study: used opprobriously: as, a mere literary mechanic; the picture shows the artist to be only a mechanic.-Mechanics' institute, an institution for the instruction and recreation of artisans and others of similar grade, by means of lectures, a library, museum, courses of lessons, etc.-Mechanic's lien. See lien2.

3679

5. Effected by material force or forces; con-
sisting in the play of material forces: as, me-
chanical pressure.

I doubt, however, if a view which recognizes only a me-
chanical course of Nature can logically do anything with
such ideas as those of reverence, and so forth, but reckon
them among the morbid productions of imagination to
which nothing real corresponds, and of which it has al-
ready learnt to reject so many.
Lotze, Microcosmus (trans.), II. 109.
6. Exalting the material forces of the universe
above the spiritual; subordinating the spirit-
ual to the material; materialistic: as, the me-
chanical philosophy (specifically, atomism); a
mechanical view of life.-7. Belonging to or
characteristic of mechanics or artisans, or their
class; mechanic-like; having the character or
status of an artisan; hence (chiefly in old writ-
ings), mean, low, or vulgar.

mechanism

mechanicalness (me-kan'i-kal-nes), n. The
state of being mechanical, or governed by or as
if by mechanism.
[= F. méca-
mechanician (mek-a-nish'an), n.
nicien; as mechanic + -ian.] 1. One who is
skilled in mechanics or in machinery; one who
is versed in the principles of machines or of
mechanical construction.

Even a mechanician, if he has never looked into a piano,
H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, § 1.
or relative value.
will, if shown a damper, be unable to conceive its function

2. A mechanic; an artisan.

A mechanician or mechanicall workman is he whose skil is without knowledge of mathematicall demonstraDee, Preface to Euclid (1570). tion. The engraver was considered in the light of a mechani Ure, Dict., II. 293. not displayed. cian, and, except in a very few instances, his name was mechanicize (mē-kanʼi-sīz), v. t.; pret. and pp. mechanicized, ppr. mechanicizing. [ mechanic +-ize.] To render mechanical. [Rare.]

Because no branch of the race was more mechanicized The American, X. 39. by Lockianism than the American.

I do not here take the term Mechanicks in that stricter and more proper sense wherein it is wont to be taken when it is used only to signify the doctrine about the moving powers (as the beam, the lever, the screws, and the wedge), and of framing engines to multiply force; but I here understand the word Mechanicks in a larger sense, for those disciplines that consist of the applications of the pure mathematicks to produce or modify motion in Boyle, Works, III, 435. inferior bodies.

Hang him, mechanical salt-butter rogue. Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 290. The lower part [containeth] the houses of artificers and mechanical men that keepe their shops there. Coryat, Crudities, I. 217. a. [< mechanic + chemical.] Pertaining to or 8. Engaged in operating machines or machin- mechanicochemical (me-kan"i-kō-kem'i-kal), ery, or in superintending their operation: as, a mechanical engineer.-9. Exhibiting or indi- dependent on both mechanics and chemistry: cating skill in contrivance, invention, or the applied specifically to the sciences of galvanuse of tools and machines: as, a mechanical ism, electricity, and magnetism, which exhibit genius; a mechanical turn of mind.-10. Ef- phenomena that require for their explanation an application of the laws of mechanics and fected or controlled by physical forces that are not chemical: as, a mechanical mixture (that chemistry. [Pl. of mechanic: see -ics.] 1. The theory of machines. This is applicable to unskilled laborers, though they may be en- is, one in which the several ingredients still re- mechanics (mē-kanʼiks), n. tain their identity, and are held together by the old meaning of the word, especially before the develno special force whether of cohesion or chemical attraction); mechanical decomposition.-opment of the modern doctrine of force. Mechanical construction of a curve, a construction performed by means of a mechanical contrivance. - Me-Mechanical drawing. chanical curve. See curve.Same as geometrical drawing (which see, under drawing). -Mechanical engineering, finger, firing. See the nouns. Mechanical equivalent of heat. See equivalent.-Mechanical impermeator, involution, leech. See the nouns.- Mechanical lamp. Same as carcel-lamp. -Mechanical linet. See line2.-Mechanical mancuvers (milit.), the mounting, dismounting, and transportation of cannon and gun-carriages.-Mechanical mixture. See chemical combination, under chemical.-Mechanical philosophy, physics considered as affording a basis for philosophy or the explanation of the universe.Mechanical pigeon. See pigeon.- Mechanical powSee machine, 2.-Mechaniers, the simple machines. cal solution of a problem, a solution by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses or other instruments.-Mechanical See microscope.- Mechanical telestage, in micros. graph, an automatic telegraph in which a message represented by a series or succession of dots on a paper ribbon is passed under a key or stylus, the circuit being made or broken by the simple mechanical passing through of the ribbon. Mechanical theory in med., an ancient theory that all diseases were principally caused by lentor, or morbid viscidity of the blood.-Mechanical work, work consisting in the moving of a body through space, generally in opposition to gravity.- Rocks of mechanical origin, in geol., rocks composed of sand, pebbles, fragments, and the like: a term used by some (not aptly) as the equivalent of clastic or fragmental. Syn. Mechanical, Physical, Chemical. These epithets are thus distinguished: Those changes endured by bodies which concern their masses without altering their constitution-i. e. losing their identitysuch as changes of place, of figure, etc., are mechanical; those which concern the position of the molecules-i. e. which change the molecular state of bodies, as when iron is melted-are physical; those which concern the

mechanical (me-kan'i-kal), a. and n. [<mechanic +-al.] I. a. 1. Pertaining to or exhibiting constructive power; of or pertaining to mechanism or machinery; also, dependent upon the use of mechanism; of the nature or character of a machine or machinery: as, mechanical inventions or contrivances; to do something by mechanical means.

Arts mechanical contract brotherhoods in commonalties. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 116. 2. Machine-like; acting or actuated by or as if by machinery, or by fixed routine; lacking spontaneity, spirit, individuality, etc.; as applied to actions, automatic, instinctive, unconscious, etc.: as, the mechanical action of the heart; a mechanical musician.

Any man with eyes and hands may be taught to take a likeness. The process, up to a certain point, is merely Macaulay, History. mechanical.

I call that part of mental and bodily life mechanical which is independent of our volition. O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 261. Human action is either mechanical or intelligent, either conventional or rational. J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 166. 3. Having the characteristics of that which is produced by machinery or is artificially contrived; artificial; not spontaneous; not genuine or of natural growth; lacking life or spirit;

humdrum.

None of these men of mechanical courage have ever made any great figure in the profession of arms. Steele, Spectator, No. 152. I always thought fit to keep up some mechanical forms of good breeding, without which freedom ever destroys Goldsmith, Vicar, iv. friendship.

It is the limitation to rigid instruments already prepared, and to an external connection between them, that gives mechanical work that uncanny appearance which causes us to feel most repugnance to a comparison of it Lotze, Microcosmus (trans.), I. 72. with life.

tions.

He would not tolerate a mechanical lesson, and took delight in puzzling his pupils and breaking up all routine business by startling and unexpected questions and asserH. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 425. 4. Of or pertaining to the material forces of nature acting on inanimate bodies or masses; specifically, pertaining to the principles or laws of mechanics: as, the mechanical effects of frost; the mechanical powers.

The tumult in the parts of solid bodies when they are
compressed, which is the cause of all flight of bodies
through the air, and of other mechanical motions,
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 98.
not seen at all.

is

number or arrangement of atoms within the molecule
and cause a change of constitution are chemical, as when
iron rusts-i. e. oxidizes—or gunpowder explodes.
II. n. A mechanic.

A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,

That work for bread upon Athenian stalls.
Shak., M. N. D., III. ii. 9.
mechanicalize (mē-kanʼi-kal-iz), v. t.; pret. and
pp. mechanicalized, ppr. mechanicalizing. [For-
merly mechanicallize; < mechanical + -ize.] To
render mechanical; reduce to a mechanical
level or status. Cotgrave. [Rare.]
1. In
mechanically (me-kan 'i-kal-i), adv.
agreement with mechanical principles; accord-
ing to the laws of mechanism or good workman-
ship: as, the machine is mechanically perfect.
The chick with all its parts is not a mechanically con-
Boyle, Works, III. 68.
trived engine.
2. By mechanical force or means; by physical
power: as, water mechanically raised.-3. In a
manner resembling a machine; without care
or reflection; by the mere force of habit; auto-
matically; not spontaneously: as, to play on
an instrument mechanically.

Guards, mechanically formed in ranks.
Couper, Table-Talk, 1. 136.
4. Without loss of the constitution or identity
of elements; in a manner involving change of
place or figure without change of structure or
constitution; without the aid of chemical at-
traction: as, elements mechanically united in
air; a body mechanically decomposed.

2. The mathematical doctrine of the motions and tendencies to motion of particles and systems under the influence of forces and constraints; in a narrower sense, this doctrine as applied to systems of rigid bodies. Mechanics is now commonly divided into kinematics and dynamics, and the latter into statics and kinetics. Mechanics treated by means of the infinitesimal calculus is called analytical mechanics. The fundamental principles of mechanics are stated under energy and force; but the science is characterized by the great number of derived principles made use of. See principle.

=

Newton defined the laws, rules, or observed order of the phenomena of motion which come under our daily obser vation with greater precision than had been before attained; and, by following out with marvellous power and subtlety the mathematical consequences of these rules, he almost created the modern science of pure mechanics. Huxley, in Nineteenth Century, XXI. 489. mechanism (mek'a-nizm), n. [=F. mécanisme Pg. mechanismo = It. mecSp. mecanismo canismo, ML. *mechanismus, LL. mechanisma, <Gr. *unxávioua, contrivance, < *unxavišeiv, contrive, unxavn, contrivance: see machine, mechanic.] 1. The structure of a machine, engine, or other contrivance for controlling or utilizing natural forces; the arrangement and relation of parts, or the parts collectively, in any machine, tool, or other contrivance; means of mechanical action; machinery; hence, the structure of anything that is conceived to resemble a machine.

The mechanism- that is, the bulk and figure of the bone and muscles, and the insertion of the muscle into the bone. N. Grew, Cosmologia Sacra, ii. 6. Although many authors have spoken of the wonderful mechanism of speech, none has hitherto attended to the far more wonderful mechanism which it puts into action behind the scene. D. Stewart, Human Mind, II. ii. 2.

It will not do therefore to say that light is propagated through air in one way, by one sort of mechanism, when the air is very rare, and by another when the air is very Stokes, Light, p. 79. dense. The mind is not content to have connections of ideas im

posed on it by the mechanism of perception and memory.

Lotze, Microcosmus (trans.), I. 232.

2. A mechanical contrivance or agency of any kind; in general, the apparatus, means, or mode by which particular effects are produced or purposes accomplished: as, the mechanism of a musical instrument (the apparatus by means of which the performer acts upon it); the mechanism of a play or of a poem; the mechanism of government.-3t. Action according to the laws of mechanics; mechanical action.

After the chyle has passed through the lungs, nature continues her usual mechanism to convert it into animal Arbuthnot, Aliments. substances.

mechanist

mechanist (mek'a-nist), n. [< mechan(ic) +
ist.] 1. A maker of machines, or one skilled
in machinery or in mechanical work; a mecha-
nician.

The mechanist will be afraid to assert before hardy con-
tradiction the possibility of tearing down bulwarks with
a silk-worm's thread.
Johnson, Rambler, No. 117.
What titles will he keep? will he remain
Musician, gardener, builder, mechanist,
A planter, and a rearer from the seed?
Wordsworth, Excursion, vii.

2. One of a school of philosophers who refer
all the changes in the universe to the effect of
merely mechanical forces.
mechanistic (mek-a-nis'tik), a. [< mechanist
+ic.] Of or pertaining to mechanism or
to mechanists: as, "mechanistic combination,"
Nature, XXX. 383.
mechanize (mek'a-niz), v. t.; pret. and pp.
mechanized, ppr. mechanizing. [OF. mecha-
niser, mechanizer; < Gr. *unxaview, contrive,
unxavý, a contrivance: see machine, mechanic.]
To render mechanical; bring into the form of
mechanism; form mechanically; bring into a
mechanical state or condition.

The human frame a mechanized automaton. Shelley. mechanizer (mek'a-ni-zér), n. One who mechanizes; a believer in mechanical order or system; a utilitarian or formalist.

Our European Mechanizers are a sect of boundless diffusion, activity, and cooperative spirit: has not Utilitarianism flourished. . . within the last fifty years?

Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, iii. 5.

3680

=

meconarceine (mek-o-när'se-in), n. [<meco(nic)
narcotic) + -ine2.] An alkaloid obtained
from opium: said to be a useful hypnotic.
meconate (mek'o-nāt), n. [< mecon (ic) +-ate1.]
A salt of meconic acid.
meconic (me-kon'ik), a. [< Gr. unкwVIKós, per-
taining to a poppy,<unkov (L. mecon), a poppy,
poppy-seed, poppy-juice, opium, OBulg. ma-
ku=OHG. *mahan, MHG. *mahen, man, G.mohn,
also OHG. mago, MHG. mage = OSw. (val)mu-
= Dan. (val)mue, poppy; the
ghi, Sw. (vall)mo
Teut. forms prob. not of native origin.] Per-
taining to or derived from the poppy.-Meconic
acid, CH407, the peculiar acid with which morphine is
combined in opium. When pure, it forms small white
crystals. Its aqueous solution shows a deep-red color
with the persalts of iron, which therefore are good tests
for it. It is a tribasic acid, but most of its salts contain
but two equivalents of the base.

=

=

=

medallic medal (med'al), n. [< OF. medaille, F. médaille (D.G. medaille Dan. medalje Sw. medalj) = Sp. medalla = Pg. medalha: It. medaglia, ML. reflex medallia, medalia, medalea, medalla, medale ( OHG. medilla, medila, MHG. medele), a medal, < LL. as if *metallea, L. metallum, metal: see metal.] A piece of metal, usually circular in form, bearing devices (types) and inscriptions, struck or cast to commemorate a person, an institution, or an event, and distinguished from a coin by not being intended to serve as a medium of exchange. The word is also sometimes used to designate coins, particularly ancient coins in the precious metals, or fine medieval or Renaissance coins, in collections. Some of the Greek and Roman coin-types are commemorative, and the Roman medallions were of a quasi-medallic character. Strictly speaking, however, the medal is a creation of modern times. The earliest, and in point of portraiture the finest, medals were produced in Italy about the middle of the fifteenth century by Vittore Pisano of Verona. Fine medals were also exe

meconidia, n. Plural of meconidium.
meconidine (me-kon'i-din), n. [<mecon(ic)+cuted in Italy, Germany, and France during the sixteenth
-id-+-ine2.] One of the alkaloids contained in
opium

meconidium (mek-o-nid'i-um), n.; pl. meconidia (-a). [NL., < Gr. unkov, part of the intestines of testaceous animals, also the ink-bag of a cuttlefish, lit. poppy, poppy-seed (see meconic), + dim. -udiov.] The fixed generative medusoid of some calyptoblastic hydroids, as of the genus Gonothyrea, in which the sexual elements are matured and from which the embryos are discharged in the form of ciliated planulas. These generative buds or zooids develop upon the gonotheca, several in succession from above downward, mechanograph (me-kan'o-gràf), n. [< Gr. retaining their direct communication with the blastostyle; unxavn, a machine,+ypápe, write.] A mawhen fully matured they are sacs hanging to the gonotheca by a narrow stalk or peduncle, having an opening or mouth chine-made copy, as of a writing, a work of at the far end surrounded by a circlet of tentacles, through art, etc. which mouth the ova escape; the cavity of the hollow mechanographic (mek "a-no-graf'ik), a. [< meconidium communicates with that of the blastostyle, and the medusoid, after performing its function, decays mechanograph-y+ic.] 1. Treating of meupon its stem, never becoming detached as a free zooid. chanics. [Rare.]-2. Pertaining to mecha- meconin (mek'o-nin), n. [mecon(ic) + in2.] nography. mechanographist (mek-a-nog'ra-fist), n. [opium. It is white, fusible, and crystalline. A neutral substance (C10H1004) existing in mechanograph-y+ist.] One who by mechani- meconioid (me-ko'ni-oid), a. [< meconium + cal means multiplies copies of any work of art, oid.] Resembling meconium. writing, or the like. mechanography (mek-a-nog'ra-fi), n. [Gr. Gr. unkávov, poppy-juice, the first feces of inmeconiorrhoea (me-kō"ni-o-re'), n. [NL., < unxavý, a machine, +-ypapia, ypage, write.] fants, + poía, a flow, peiv, flow.] A morbidly The art of multiplying copies of a writing or a work of art by the use of a machine. increased discharge of meconium. meconium (mē-kō'ni-um), n. [K L. meconium, mechanology (mek-a-nol'o-ji), n. [<Gr. unxa, Gr. unkávov, poppy-juice, the first feces of a machine, oyia, eye, speak: see -ology.] infants, <μnkov, the poppy: see meconic.] 1. The knowledge of, or a treatise on, mechanics Poppy-juice.-2. The feces of a new-born inor mechanism. [Rare.]

The science of style, considered as a machine, in which words act upon words, and through a particular grammar, might be called the mechanology of style. De Quincey, Style, i.

fant.-3. In entom., the feces of an adult insect just transformed from the pupa. meconology (mek-o-nol'o-ji), n. [ Gr. μήκων, the poppy, opium, +-2oyia, éуew, speak: see mechanurgy (mek'a-nèr-ji), n. [<Gr. unxavovp-ology.] A treatise on the poppy, or on opium. γία, < μηχανουργός, an engineer, < μηχανή, a mameconophagism (mek-o-nofa-jizm), n. [As chine,+pyer, work.] That branch of mechan- meconophag-ist +-ism.] Opium-eating; the opiics which treats of moving machines. [Rare.] um habit. meche1t, mechelt, a. Middle English variants of much.

meche2+, n. An obsolete form of match2.
Mechitarist, n. See Mekhitarist.
Mechlin (mek lin), a. and n. I. a. Pertaining
to or produced at Mechlin or Malines in Belgi-
um.-Mechlin embroideryt, an old name for Mechlin
lace, because its peculiar manufacture gives it somewhat
the look of embroidery. Dict. Needlework. - Mechlin
lace. See lace.

II. n. Same as Mechlin lace.
Mechoacan root. See root.
Mecistops (mē-sis'tops), n. [NL., Gr. unкio-
TOÇ, μáкIOTоç, superl. of pakpóc, long, +, face.]
A genus of African gavials of the family Gavia-
lida, founded by J. E. Gray in 1862. They have
the hind feet webbed, the plates of the back and neck

connected, and the jaws slender, not enlarged at the end. M. bennetti or cataphractus is an example. Meckelian (me-ke lian), a. [< Meckel (see def.) +-ian.] Pertaining to J. F. Meckel (17811833), a German anatomist.-Meckelian ganglion, rod, etc. See the nouns. Mecoceras (me-kos'e-ras), n. [NL. (Guenée, 1857), Koç, length, + Képaç, horn.] A genus of geometrid moths, typical of the subfamily Mecocerina, comprising a single beautiful species from South America. Mecocerina (me-kos-e-ri'ne), n. pl. [NL., Mecoceras + -ina.] A subfamily of geometrid moths, typified by the genus Mecoceras. Also raised to family rank as Mecocerida. mecockt, n. See meacock. mecometer (me-kom'e-tér), n. [< Gr. μnkоç, length (cf. uakpós, long: see macron), + uerpov, a measure.] A kind of graduated compass used at the Maternity Hospital in Paris for measuring new-born infants.

The death of the patient being attributed to causes
which are supposed to be disconnected from the meco-
nophagism.
Alien. and Neurol., VII. 463.
meconophagist (mek-o-nof'a-jist), n. [< Gr.
un, the poppy, opium, + payeiv, eat, + ist.]
An opium-eater; one who has contracted the
opium or morphine habit.

century. English medals begin practically with the reign of Henry VIII. The earliest specimens are cast, but in employed. Thomas Rawlins, Thomas Simon, and Abrathe reign of James I. the process of striking began to be ham Simon (seventeenth century) are the principal medalists who were natives of England; but some of the best English medals were the productions of foreign artists, as N. Briot (Charles I.), the Roettier family (Charles II.), Trezzo (time of Philip and Mary), Simon Passe (James I.), and J. Croker (Anne).

An antique medal, half consumed with rust.

Boyle, Works, V. 545. Italian and French writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries use medaglie and médailles to signify coins which, being no longer in circulation, were preserved in the cabinets of collectors as curiosities. Even in the last century our own word medal was so employed. The medals of the Roman Emperors to which Gibbon often alwhat are now known as coins; and Addison's "Dialogue ludes in his notes to the "Decline and Fall" are, of course, upon the Usefulness of Medals" is, for the most part, a treatise on Roman imperial coins.

W. Wroth, in Coins and Medals (1885), p. 236. medal. See madonna. Counterfeit Medals Act. See counterfeit.- Madonna medal (med'al), v. t.; pret. and pp. medaled or n.] To decorate with a medal; confer a medal medalled, ppr. medaling or medalling. [< medal, upon; present with a medal as a mark of honor. [Rare.]

by the university, crowned, and honoured, and admired.

Irving went home, medalled by the king, diplomatized

Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, Nil nisi Bonum.
medal-cup (med' al-kup), n. A drinking-ves-
sel of metal, usually silver, in which coins or
medallions are in-
crusted and form

a part of the deco-
ration. Usually these Te

coins are so inset that
both sides can be seen,
the interior of the cup
as well as the exterior

being in this way made
ornamental.

In some
cases a series of coins
of a single sovereign or
of a succession of sov-
ereigns is used.
medalet (med' al-
et), n. [< medal +
-et.] Any medal of
small size.

When

not larger than, for
example, the English
florin or half-crown, or all of the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfen-
Silver Medal-cup. (The medals are
United States half-dol- büttel.)
lar, medals are gener-
ally called by this name; but numismatists do not make
any rigid distinction between medals and medalets.

I shall beg leave to give this class the appellation of medalets, as the genius of our language admits of this diminu

tive in ringlet, bracelet, and the like.

Pinkerton, Essay on Medals, I. § 13. [< F. mémedalist, medallist (med'al-ist), n. Sp. medallista; as medalist.] 1. An engraver, stamper, or molder of medals.

dailliste =

Sculptors, painters, and medallists exerted their utmost skill in the work of transmitting his features to posterity. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii.

If they happen to find solace in opium readily, they be-
come meconophagists. Alien. and Neurol., VII. 471.
Meconopsis (mek-o-nop'sis), n. [NL. (Vigier,
1821), Gr. μnkov, the poppy, +ous, appear-
ance.] A genus of plants of the natural order
Papaveracea, the poppy family, and the tribe
Eupapaverec, characterized by a capsule which
splits open for a short distance, and by a club-
shaped style bearing from four to six radiate-
deflexed stigma-lobes. They are herbs, having a yel-
low juice, entire or lobed leaves, and showy yellow, purple,
or blue flowers, which droop in the bud, and are borne on
long peduncles. Nine species are known, natives of west-
America. M. cambrica, the Welsh poppy, a plant of rocky 2.
ern Europe, the central part of Asia, and western North
green hairy pinnate leaves, slender stems, and large ter-
and woody places in parts of western Europe, has bright-
minal sulphur-yellow flowers. This and several other spe-
cies are cultivated for ornament.
Mecoptera (me-kop'te-rä), n. pl. [NL., Gr.
unKoç, length, + TTEрóv, a wing, = E. feather.]
In some systems, an order of neuropterous in-
sects corresponding to the Panorpida or scor-
pion-flies, proposed for uniformity of nomen-
clature instead of Brauer's term Panorpata.
Also, incorrectly, Mecaptera. Packard, 1888.
med. An abbreviation of medicine, medical.
Meda (me'da), n. [NL. (Girard, 1856); a made
word.] A genus of cyprinoid fishes, typical of
the subfamily Medina, containing such as M.
fulgida of the Gila river in Arizona.

One who is skilled in medals.

Nothing could be more Civil and Franc than this Gen

tleman, whom I believe to be the best Medalist in Europe.
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 98.
As a medallist, you are not to look upon a cabinet of med-
als as a treasure of money, but of knowledge.
Addison, Ancient Medals, i.

3. One who has gained a medal as a reward of

merit.

Chancellor's Medalist, and to be a Medalist at all he must I backed my man to be not only Senior Classic, but First be a Senior Optime in Mathematics.

C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 215. medallic (me-dal'ik), a. [< medal + -ic.] Pertaining to, of the character of, or represented on a medal or medals: as, the medallic art; a medallic coin or portrait.

medallic

I have lately seen, says Eugenius, a medallic history of the present King of France. Addison, Ancient Medals, iii.

If it is possible to conceive literature destroyed, and modern cities and their monuments in ruin and decay, medallic coins would become the most durable memorials.

Jevons, Money and Mech. of Exchange, p. 63. medallion (mē-dal'yon), n. [< F. médaillon (= Sp. medallon), a large medal, a medallion, locket, etc., médaille, a medal: see medal.] 1. A medal of large size. Some Greek coins of unusually large module are popularly, though incorrectly, so called: as, the Syracusan medallions. The pieces called by numis

Obverse.

Reverse.

Medallion of Maximus I. (Size of the original.) matists the Roman medallions are generally struck in copper, though sometimes in the precious metals, and bear a general resemblance to the sestertii or large bronze coins of the earlier Roman emperors; but they are often of finer workmanship than the coins, and are not inscribed with the letters S. C. (for senatus consulto). These medallions (the ancient name of which is not known) did not circulate as money, but were given by the emperors as presents to state officials and others. Their types are of a more or less

commemorative character.

Medallions [were]. ... in respect of the other coins, the same as modern medals in respect of modern money. They were exempted from all commerce, and had no other value but what was set upon them by the fancy of the owner. They are supposed to have been struck by emperors for presents to their friends, foreign princes, or ambassadors." Addison, Ancient Medals, iii. 2. Anything resembling the classical medallion. (a) A circular or oval disk decorated with figures, as a portrait with legends, and cast in metal. figures, as a this sort were common at the epoch of the Renaissance, and are among the most interesting specimens of the sculptures of that time. (b) In arch., a tablet, circular, oval, square, or of any other form, bearing on it objects represented in relief, as figures, heads, animals, flowers, etc., and applied to an exterior or interior wall, a frieze, or other architectural member; a cartouche. (c) A member in a decorative design resembling a panel; a space reserved for some special work of art, as a landscape, a portrait, etc., or merely filled with ornamentation different from the surface around it: as, a medallion in a carpet, on a painted vase, etc. A

medallion-carpet (mē-dal'yon-kärpet), n. carpet woven in one piece, with a large central figure, surrounded by a plainer surface, and usually a border.

medallioned (me-dal'yond), a. [< medallion +
-ed2.] Ornamented with a medallion or me-
dallions.

An elaborate medallioned title-page of birds, by Mr. J.
G. Millais.
Athenæum, No. 3156, p. 503.

medallion-pattern (me-dal'yon-pat"èrn), n.
In decorative art, a design for the ornamenta-
tion of a surface of which a medallion or medal-
lions form an important part.
medallist, n. See medalist.
medallurgy (med ́al-ér-ji), n. [< medal + Gr.
*pyew, work. Cf. metallurgy.] The art of de-
signing and striking medals. [Obsolescent.]
medal-machine (med ́al-ma-shēn“), n.
A ma-
chine for copying medals and similar works in
relief or in intaglio, on a scale larger or smaller
than the originals. It is an adaptation of the
carving-machine.

medal-tankard (medʼal-tang’kärd), n.
as medal-cup.

Same

meddle (med'l), v.; pret. and pp. meddled, ppr. meddling. [Early mod. E. also medle; <ME. medlen, medelen, OF. medler, mesler, assimilated meiler, meller, F. mêler = Pr. messlar Sp. mezclar Pg. mesclar It. mischiare, mescolare, mix, ML. as if *misculare, < L. miscere, mix: see mix1. Cf. mell1, medley, intermeddle, etc.] It trans. To mix; mingle.

Wordly [worldly] selynesse,
Which clerkes callen fals felicitee,
Ymedled is with many a bitternesse.

Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 815.
Six sexter with a pounde

Of honey meddel thai, and save it sounde.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 118.
He cutt a lock of all their heare,
Which medling with their blood and earth he threw
Into the grave.
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 61.
A medled estate of the orders of the Gospel and the
ceremonies of popery is not the best way to banish popery.
Quoted in Hooker's Eccles. Polity, iv. 8.

He tok his seurd in hand, the croyce let he falle,
And medeled him in the pres, among the barous alle.
Rob. of Brunne, p. 18.

3681

II. intrans. 1t. To be mixed or mingled; mix.

More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts.
Shak., Tempest, 1. 2. 23.
2t. To mingle in association or interest; con-
cern one's self; take part; deal: generally re-
quiring with in construction.

ness.

Whan these iiij kynges saugh that these were a-monge
hem medelinge, thei departed her peple in tweyne, and
lefte viijml fighting stille. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 207.
Study to be quiet, and to meddle with your own busi-
Tyndale, 1 Thes. iv. 11.
Meddle not with them that are given to change.
Prov. xxiv. 21.
The shoemaker should meddle with his yard, and the
tailor with his last.
Shak., R. and J., i. 2. 40.
3. To interfere or take part inappropriately,
improperly, or impertinently; concern or busy
one's self with or about something without
necessity or warrant; act in a matter with
which one has no business: used absolutely,
or followed by in or with.

Why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt? 2 Ki. xiv. 10.
In those days nobody meddled with concerns above his
comprehension.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 163.
Miss Alethen was a lady of excellent sense, and did not
meddle with him any more.
J. E. Cooke, Virginia Comedians, I. xxx.
To meddle or make, to have to do; take part; interfere.
[Colloq.]

For such kind of men, the less you meddle or make with
them, why, the more is for your honesty.
meddler (med'ler), n. One who meddles; one
Shak., Much Ado, iii. 3. 55.
which he has no personal or proper concern; an
who interferes or busies himself with things in
officious person; a busybody.

Do not drive away such as bring thee information as med
dlers, but accept of them in good part.
Bacon, of Great Place.
meddlesome (med 'l-sum), a.
Layer-overs for meddlers. See layer-over.
Kmeddle +
-some.] Given to meddling; apt to interpose in
the affairs of others; inclined to be officiously
intrusive.

Honour, that meddlesome, officious ill,
Pursues thee e'en to death. Blair, The Grave.

meddlesomeness (med 'l-sum-nes), n. Officious
interference in or with the affairs of others.
I shall propound some general rules according to which
such meddlesomeness is commonly blameable.
Barrow, Sermons, I. xxi.

meddling1 (med'ling), n. [< ME. medlyng,
meddelynge; verbal n. of meddle, v.] 1. The
act or habit of interfering in matters not of
one's proper concern.

Most of the vices of Frederic's administration resolve
themselves into one vice, the spirit of meddling.
Macaulay, Frederic the Great.
24. Contention in battle; fighting.
Whan Agravayn hadde the horse, he lepte vp as soone
as he myght, and than be-gan the meddelynge amonge hem
full crewell and fell.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 199.

meddling2 (med'ling), p. a. Officious; unwar-
rantably busy or officiously interposing in other
men's affairs: as, a meddling neighbor.

A medling man is one that has nothing to do with his
businesse, and yet no man busier than hee, and his busi-
nesse is most in his face.

Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Medling Man.

meddlingly (med'ling-li), adv. In a meddling
medelt, mede2t, n.
manner; officiously.

Mede3 (mēd), n. [=
mead and meed.
F. Mède, L. Medus,
pl. Medi, Gr. Midos,
usually in pl. Mido,
the Medes,
= Heb.
Madhai, the Medes,
Mede, < OPers. and
Media, Madhi, a
Zend Mada, a Mede.]
habitant of Media,
A native or an in-
an ancient kingdom
of Asia, south of the
Caspian Sea, and
later a part of the
Persian empire.

Middle English forms of

median
næus, 1737), L. Medea, Media, Gr. Mhdela,
Medea, famed as a sorceress.] A genus of
liliaceous plants of the tribe Medeolea. It is
characterized by a whorl of leaves at the middle of the
stem, and by the flowers being in a terminal umbel, sur-
rounded by three involucrate leaves. There is but a sin-
gle species, M. Virginica, the Indian cucumber-root, which
is common in damp, rich woods in North America. See
cucumber-root.

Medeoleæ (me-de-ō'lē-ē), n. pl. [NL. (Bentham
and Hooker, 1883), < Medeola +-ea.] A tribe
of plants of the natural order Liliacea. It is char-
acterized by a bulbless stem (the few leaves radical, or
whorled on the stem), terminal solitary or umbelled flow-
ers, extrorse anthers, and an indehiscent fleshy fruit. It
contains 5 genera and about 25 species, natives of North
America and the northern and temperate parts of Europe
and Asia.
medial (meʼdi-ä), n.
dle: see medium.] In anat., the middle tunic
[L., fem. of medius, mid-
of an artery or a lymphatic vessel. Leidy, Anat.
(1889).
media2, n. Plural of medium.
mediacy (me'di-ṛ-si), n. [< media(te) +-cy.] 1.
The state of being mediate; the state or fact of
being a medium or mean cause.-2. Mediation.

Were there in these syllogisms no occult conversion of an undeclared consequent, no mediacy from the antecedent, they could not in their ostensible conclusion reverse the quantities of Breadth and Depth. Sir W. Hamilton. mediad (mēʼdi-ad), adv. [< medial + -ad3.] In anat. and zool., to or toward the meson or middle line or plane in situation or direction; mesiad.

Almost all the Lamellibranchiata have two pairs of these gills on either side: an inner pair, which are placed mediad, and an outer pair at the sides of these. Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 336. mediæval, mediævalism, etc. See medieval, etc. medial (mē'di-al), a. and n. [< LL. medialis, of the middle, <L. medius, middle: see medium.] I. a. 1. Pertaining to the middle; situated or existing between two extremities or extremes; the medial letters of a word; a medial mark on intermediate in situation, rank, or degree: as, an insect's wing.

The inherent use of all medial knowledges, all truths, cognitions, books, appearings, and teachings, is that they bring us in to know God by an immediate knowledge. Bushnell, Sermons on Living Subjects, p. 123. Among the Dipnoi, Protopterus retains the medial row of rays only, which have the form of fine rods of cartilage, Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 477. 2. Mean; pertaining to a mean or average.-3. In modern spiritualism, pertaining to a medium or to mediumship; mediumistic: as, medial faculties; medial phenomena.-4. In zoöl. and anat., same as median1 and mesal.-5. In bot., same as median1.-Alligation medial. See alligation.- Medial cadence. (a) In Gregorian music, a cadence closing with the chord of the mediant of any mode. (b) In modern music, a cadence, final or not, in which the next to the last chord is inverted; an inverted cadence.Medial cells, basal cells of an insect's wing, between the subcostal, median, and submedian veins, distinguished in the Hymenoptera. Also called median and brachial cells.-Medial consonances, in music, a term used by guished from the minor third and minor sixth.- Medial Helmholtz for the major third and major sixth, as distineyes, eyes equally distant from the base of the head and the apex or end of the labrum.- Medial line, a line whose length is a mean proportional between those of two other lines. Medial moraine, stress, etc. See the nouns.

II. n. In Gr. gram., one of the mutes 3, 7, 8, as if intermediate in sound between the surd

mutes T, K, 7 and the aspirates o, x, . The term

medial (Latin media) translates the technical Greek μécor, sc. abwvor, middle mute. medially (me'di-al-i), adv. In or along the middle; as regards the middle; midway: as, medially situated.

medialuna (mē di-a-lū'nä), n. A pimelepteroid fish of the Pacific coast, Casiosoma californica. It has an ovate form, vertical fins not falcate, color blackish above with bluish and lighter tints below, the fins blackish. It is about one foot long, is common along the coast from Point Conception in California southward, and is an esteemed food-fish.

median1 (meʼdi-an), a. [=F. médian = Sp. Pg. It. mediano, L. medianus, that is in the middle, < medius, middle: see medium. Cf. means and mizzen, ult. doublets of median1.] Pertaining to or situated in the middle; specifically, in anat. and zool., intermediate as dividing the body by a longitudinal and vertical plane; medial; mesal: as, the linea alba is the median line of the abdomen; in bot., situated in or along, or belonging to, the middle of a structure having a right side and a left. See below. - Median area, in entom., a large space occupying the center of the wing, from base to end, lying between the median and submedian or internal veins. In Orthoptera it is often marked by a different structure from the rest of the wing.- Median artery, a branch, usually of the anterior interosseous, accompanying the median nerve. It is sometimes of large size, and may arise from the ulnar or the brachial.-Median basilic vein. See basilic.- Median cells. Same

By mediacion of this litel tretis I purpose to teche the The good countess spoke somewhat of your desire of a certein nombre of conclusions. letters; but I am afraid she is not a proper mediatrix to Chaucer, Prol. to Astrolabe. those persons; but I counsel in the dark. 5. In music: (a) In Gregorian music, that part Donne, Letters, xxvi. of a melody which lies between the intonation medibasilic (medi-ba-sil'ik), a. [< medi(an) and the ending-that is, the main part of the basilic.] Connecting the median and the melody. The various "tones" or melodies properly basilic vein of the arm: specifically said of the have but one mediation, which usually appears under median basilic vein. Coues, 1887. three forms, according to the nature of the text to which medic1 (med'ik), a. and n. [= OF. medique = the melody is sung. (b) In an Anglican chant, the Sp. médico = Pg. It. medico, L. medicus, of or rhythmical conclusion of the first half-that belonging to healing, curative, medical; as a is, the two measures after the first reciting- noun, medicus, m., a physician, doctor, surgeon, note, ending frequently in a half-close; the first LL. medica, f., a female physician, midwife; cadence. Syn. 1 and 2. Interference, Intervention, etc. mederi, heal, = Zend madh, treat medically. See interposition. Hence medical, medicine, remedy.] I. a. Same mediative (mé'di-a-tiv), a. [< mediate + -ive.] as medical. [Rare.] Having a mediating function; acting as a mean, medium, or mediator; mediatorial.

1. To make mediate; reduce from an immediate or direct to a mediate or indirect relation through the interposition of a secondary superior or controlling agency. Applied specifically to the process of converting one of the minor German medic3, medick2 (mē'dik), n. [< ME, medike, < states or princely families of the old empire from the semi- OF. medique, L. medica, Gr. μndikh, sc. Toa, independent condition of having a direct share in the im-Median grass,' a kind of clover, fem. of Mŋdikó, perial government, and responsibility to it, to that of subof the Medes or of Media: see Medic2.] A kind ordination to an intervening power, by being annexed to it while retaining all local possessory and governmental of clover, Medicago sativa; Burgundy clover; rights. By this process, especially under the Westphalian lucerne. The black medic, or nonesuch, is M. lupulina. treaties of 1648, and the changes leading to the dissolution Its pods are black when ripe. The spotted medic is M. of the old empire and the formation of the Confederation maculata, whose leaflets bear a purple spot. Purple meof the Rhine in 1806, the number of mediatized states and dic is a name sometimes used for lucerne. princely families became very large.