metropolitan

tical superintendence over the bishops and churches of his province, confirmed, ordained, and when necessary excommunicated the bishops, and convened and presided over the provincial synods. The superiority in rank of the bishops of the principal sees was so early established that many authorities have held that the office of metropolitan (including also under this title the primates of patriarchal sees) was of apostolic origin. In the developed organization under the Christian emperors a metropolitan ranked above an ordinary bishop and below a patriarch or exarch. In medieval times the power of most of the metropolitans in western countries became much diminished, while that of the diocesan bishops and the pope was relatively in

creased. See archbishop and primate.

By consent of all churches, . . . the precedency in each province was assigned to the Bishop of the Metropolis, who was called the first Bishop, the Metropolitan. Barrow, The Pope's Supremacy. The bishops [of Cyprus] were... subjected to the Latin metropolitan, who was bound to administer justice among them. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 167. (b) In modern usage, in the Roman Catholic and other episcopal churches, any archbishop who has bishops under his authority.

These be, lo, the verye prelates and bysshoppes metropolitanes and postles of theyr sects. Sir T. More, Works, p. 1091. The archbishops of Canterbury and York are both metropolitans. Hook. An Oath of obedience to the metropolitan... was added to the Oath of Supremacy. R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xvi.

(e) In the Greek Church, the bishop of the municipal capital of a province, who is in rank intermediate between a patriarch and a bishop or titular archbishop.

At length the gilded portals of the sanctuary are reopened, and the Metropolitan, attended by the deacons, comes forward, carrying the Holy Eucharist. Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 197.

3t. A chief city; a metropolis. It [Amiens] is... the metropolitan of Picardy. Coryat, Crudities, I. 15.

metropolitanate (met-ro-pol'i-tan-āt), n. [< ML. metropolitanatus, <LL. metropolitanus, a metropolitan: see metropolitan.] The office or see of a metropolitan bishop.

As his wife she [Heloisa] closed against him [Abelard] that ascending ladder of ecclesiastical honours, the priorate, the abbacy, the bishopric, the metropolitanate, the cardinalate, and even that which was beyond and above all. Milman, Latin Christianity, viii. 5. metropolitanism (met-ro-pol'i-tan-izm), n. The state of being a metropolis or great city. The return of New York to oil-light illumination is not very encouraging to braggers of our metropolitanism. Electric Rev., XV. ix. 4. metropolitanize (met-ro-pol'i-tan-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp. metropolitanized, ppr. metropolitanizing. [<metropolitan +-ize.] To impart the character of a metropolis to; render metropolitan. The intermediate space [between Philadelphia and New York] must be metropolitanized.

3744 metrorrhea, metrorrhoea (mē-tro-rē ́ä), n. [NL. metrorrhea, Gr. uhrpa, womb, +peiv, flow.] A morbid discharge from the uterus, as of mucus. metroscope (metro-skop), n. [ Gr. uhrpa, womb, +OKOTεiv, view.] An instrument for listening to the sounds made by the heart of the fetus in the womb through the vagina. metroscopy (me-tros'ko-pi), n. [< Gr. μhτpa, womb, +-okonia, OKOTEIV, view: see metroscope.] Investigation of the uterus. Metrosiderea (metro-si-de'rē-e), n. pl. [NL. (Bentham and Hooker, 1865), Metrosideros + -ea.] A subtribe of plants of the natural order Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, typified by the genus Metrosideros. It is characterized by many free stamens, arranged in one or many series, or connate in clusters, opposite the petals, myrtle-like or large and feather-veined leaves, and flowers almost always in corymbs or short racemes. It embraces 11 genera and about 60 species, which are found principally in Australia and New Metrosideros (metro-si-de'ros), n. [NL. (Banks, 1788), Gr. uhrpa, the pith or heart of a tree, lit. womb, +aidnpos, iron: see siderite.] A genus of plants

Caledonia.

of the natural order Myrtaсее and the tribe Septospermeæ, type of the subtribe Metrosiderea. They are trees or shrubs, sometimes climbers -a few climbing when young, and independent when old. The ovules are arranged in many

series, and hori zontal or ascending; the leaves are opposite and fea

Ironwood (Metrosideros vera).

ther-veined; the flowers are usually showy, prevailingly red, strongly marked by their crown of very numerous long erect stamens, and borne in dense terminal threeforked cymes. There are about 20 species, growing chiefly Islands, one species each in tropical Australia, the Indian in the Pacific islands, from New Zealand to the Sandwich archipelago, and South Africa. M. vera is the iron-tree of Java, and M. robusta the rata of New Zealand. Various species are known in cultivation. Nine fossil species of this genus have been described, chiefly from the European Tertiary, but one occurs in the Middle Cretaceous of Greenland. metrotome (mē'tro-tōm), n. [ Gr. pipa, womb, + Touós, cutting, <TEμvei, Taμeiv, cut.] In surg., an instrument used to divide the neck of the uterus.

Metroxylon (me-trok'si-lon), n. [NL. (Rottböll), Gr. uhrpa, the pith or heart of a tree, +uhov, wood.] A genus of palms, known to older writers as Sagus (Blume), of the tribe

It puts us on our mettle to see our old enemies the French taking the work with us. Lever, Davenport Dunn, xiii. (Hoppe.) Not that we slacken in our pace the while, not we: we rather put the bits of blood upon their mettle. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxvi. (Hoppe.) mettled (met'ld), a. [Formerly spelled metaled; mettle, metal, +-ed2.] Full of mettle or courage; spirited.

In manhood he is a mettled man,

And a mettle-man by trade.

Robin Hood and the Tinker (Child's Ballads, V. 237). I am now come to a more chearful Country, and amongst a People somewhat more vigorous and metaled, being not so heavy as the Hollander, or homely as they of Zealand. Howell, Letters, I. i. 12.

A horseman, darting from the crowd,
Spurs on his mettled courser proud.

Scott, Marmion, i. 3. mettlesome (met 'l-sum), a. [< mettle +-some.] Full of mettle or spirit; courageous; fiery.

Jockies have particular Sounds and Whistles, and Stroakings, and other Methods to sooth Horses that are mettlesome. N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 247. mettlesomely (met'l-sum-li), adv. In a mettlesome manner; with spirit. mettlesomeness (met l-sum-nes), n. The quality of being mettlesome or spirited. metusiast (me-tu'si-ast), n. [Gr. uerovoía, participation, communion, <uerá, along with, + be.] One who maintains the doctrine of tranovoía, being, substance, ovca, ppr. fem. of eiva, substantiation. [Rare.]

The Metusiasts and Papists.

T. Rogers, On the Thirty-nine Articles, p. 289. (Davies.) metwandt (met'wond), n. An obsolete form of metewand.

Metzgeria (mets-je'ri-ä), n. [NL. (Raddi, 1820), named after Johann Metzger, a German botanist.] A small, widely diffused genus of dicecious jungermanniaceous Hepatica, the type of the former order Metzgeriea. The capsule is ovate, the antheridia one to three, inclosed by a one-leafed inMetzgerieæ (mets-je-ri'e-ē), n. pl. [NL. (Nees von Esenbeck, 1833-38), < Metzgeria +-ea.] A former tribe of Jungermanniacea, typified by the genus Metzgeria.

volucre on the under side of the midrib.

meum1 (me' um). [L., neut. of meus, mine,

metropolitet (me-trop'o-lit), n. and a. [<LL. metropolita, a bishop in a metropolis, <LGr. unTроTоíτηs, a native of a metropolis, a bishop in a metropolis, < Gr. unτрóжоhis, metropolis: see metropolis.] Same as metropolitan.

The whole Countrey of Russia is termed by some by the name of Moscouia the Metropolite city. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 479. metropolitic (met-ro-pol'i-tik), a. [< ML. metropoliticus, ( LGr. μητροπολιτικός, < μητροπολίτης, a bishop in a metropolis: see metropolite.] Same as metropolitical.

Canterbury, then honoured with the metropolitic see. Selden, Illustrations of Drayton's Polyolbion, xviii. metropolitical (met "ro-po-lit'i-kal), a. [< metropolitical.] 1. Pertaining to or being a metropolis; metropolitan. This is the chief or metropolitical city of the whole R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 332). 2. Eccles., pertaining to the rank, office, or see of a metropolitan.

island.

The erection of a power in the person of Titus, a metropolitical power over the whole island of Crete. Abp. Sancroft, Sermons, p. 4. (Latham.) Mepeham himself fell a victim to the pope's policy, for he died of mortification at being repelled in his metropolitical visitation by Grandison, bishop of Exeter, who announced that the pope had exempted him from any such jurisdiction. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 384.

Canterbury is... the metropolitical cathedral-i. e., the cathedral of the metropolitan. N. and Q., 5th ser., X. 397. metrorrhagia (mē-tro-ra'ji-ä), n. [NL., < Gr. uhrpa, womb (see matrix), +-payia, < pyvival, break, burst.] Uterine hemorrhage; an effusion of blood from the inner surface of the uterus in the menstrual period, or at other times. Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, III. 28.

bear fruit but once, and are characterized by robust stems and branching spikes. They are large trees with terminal suberect pinnately cut leaves having opposite linear-lanceolate segments; the spadix has a coriaceous prickly spathe. Seven species are known, indigenous in the Malay archipelago. New Guinea, and the Fiji Islands. M. laevis and M. Rumphii, natives of Siam, the Malayan islands, etc., are the proper sago-palms. The former grows from 25 to 50 feet high, and has a rather thick trunk, covered with leaf-scars, which bears a graceful crown of large pinnate leaves, from the center of which arise the pyrami dal flower-spikes. The latter is a much smaller tree, further distinguished by the sharp spines borne on its leaves and flower-sheaths. These trees flower when about fifteen years old, and require nearly three years to ripen their fruit, after which they die. (See sago.) M. Rumphii is a littoral tree which forms dense growths; M. laevis grows in swamps. M. amicarum, a species in the Friendly Islands, yields seeds which serve as a vegetable ivory. mettadelt, n. [< It. metadella, a liquid measure.] A measure of wine, containing one quart and nearly half a pint, two of which make a flask. Bailey, 1731.

mettelt. An obsolete preterit of meet1. mette2t. Preterit of mete2.

mettle (met'l), n. [A former vernacular spelling of metal, in all uses; now confined to fig. senses.] 1t. Same as metal.

2.

Then John pull'd out his good broad sword,
That was made of the mettle so free.

Johnie Armstrang (Child's Ballads, VI. 43).
Physical or moral constitution; material.
My name is John Little, a man of good mettle;
Ne'er doubt me, for I'll play my part.
Robin Hood and Little John (Child's Ballads, V. 221).
Every man living. . . shall assuredly meet with an hour
temptation, a certain critical hour, which shall more es-
pecially try what mettle his heart is made of.
South, Sermons, VI. vii.
Romsdal's Horn . . . will try the mettle of the Alpine
Club when they have conquered Switzerland.

of

Froude, Sketches, p. 83.

that which is mine.-Meum and tuum, mine and thine; what is one's own and what is another's: as, his ideas of meum and tuum are somewhat confused (a humorous way of insinuating dishonesty).

Meum2 (me'um), n. [NL. (Tournefort, 1700), L.meum, Gr.unov, spignel. Hence ult. mew7.] A genus of umbelliferous plants of the tribe Seselineæ and the subtribe Selinea. It is characterized by an oblong fruit, with the ribs very much raised and partially winged, by having no oil-tubes, and by the face of the seed being concave or furrowed. There is but a single species, M. athamanticum, which grows in the mountainous parts of central and western Europe. It is a smooth herb, known as spignel or baldmoney, also as mew, micken, and bearwort, and bears a tuft of radical leaves, the segments of which are deeply cut into numerous very fine but short lobes, so that they have the appearance of being whorled or clustered along the stalk. The flowers are white or purplish, and grow in compound umbels. See mutes. meute, n. mevablet, a. A Middle English form of movable. mevet, v. A Middle English form of move.

Chaucer.

mevy (mev'i), n.; pl. mevies (-iz). [A dial. dim. of mew1.] A sea-mew; a gull.

About his sides a thousand sea gulls bred,
The mery and the halcyon.

W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 1. mew1 (mu), n. [Also dial. (Sc.) maw, dim. mery; <ME. mewe, mawe, mowe, < AS. maw, in glosses also meáu, meu, meg MD. D. meeuw = MLG. mewe, LG. mewe = OHG. meh, megi (G. mewe, möwe, LG.) = Icel. mar = Sw. måke Dan. maage (cf. F. dial. mauwe, F. dim. mouette, < Teut.), a mew; perhaps orig. imitative of the bird's cry.] A gull; a sea-mew. See cut under gull2.

Here it is only the mew that wails.
Tennyson, The Sea-Fairies.

mew

=

mew2 (mu), r. i. [Formerly also meaw; also with diff. pron. miaw, myaw, miau, meow; = D. maauwen = MHG. mawen, miauzen, G. mauen, miauen Dan. miaue, miave W. mewian, mew; also freq. meul, miaul, etc. (see mewl); cf. Slav. Serv. maukati Pol. miauczać Russ. myaukati, mew; Hind. miyaun, mewing; imitative of a cat's peculiar cry.] To cry as a cat. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Shak., Macbeth, iv. 1. 1.

To cry mewt. See cry. mew2 (mu), n. [Formerly also meaw; from the verb.] The cry of a cat.

mews (mu), v. t. [Early mod. E. also mue; <ME. mewen, < OF. muer, change, molt, L. mutare, change: see mute2, molt2. Cf. mew4, n. and v.] To change (the covering or dress); especially, to shed, as feathers; molt.

With that he gan hire humbly to salewe
With dredeful chere, and oft his hewes mewe.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1258.

Methinks I see her as an eagle muing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazl'd eyes at the full mid-day beam. Milton, Areopagitica.

"Tis true, I was a lawyer,

3745

mewler (mü'lėr), ". [Formerly also meawler; mewl + -er1.] One who crys or mewls. mews1 (müz), n. pl. [Formerly also mues; pl. of mew4, n., 4.] 1. The royal stables in London, so called because built where the mews of the king's hawks were situated; hence, a place where carriage-horses are kept in large towns. The Mews at Charing-cross, Westminster, is so called from the word Mew, which in the falconer's language is the name of a place wherein the hawks are put at the moulting time, when they cast their feathers. The king's hawks were kept at this place as early as the year 1377, an. 1 Richard II.; but A. D. 1537, the 27th year of Henry VIII., it was converted into stables for that monarch's horses, and the hawks were removed. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 96.

There was some disturbance last night in consequence of the mob assembling round the King's mews, where the rest of the battalion that had marched to Portsmouth still remained. Greville, Memoirs, June 16, 1820. 2. [Used as a singular.] An alley or court in which stables or mews are situated: as, he lives up a mews.

Mr. Turveydrop's great room was built into a mews at the back. Dickens, Bleak House, xiv.

The mews of London, indeed, constitute a world of their own. They are tenanted by one class-coachmen and grooms, with their wives and families- men who are devoted to one pursuit, the care of horses and carriages.

Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 233. mews2, n. A dialectal form of moss1.

Fressh as blyve

As the haggard, cloister'd in her mew,
To scour her downy robes.
Quarles, Emblems, iii. 1.
Hence-2. An inclosure; a close place; a place
of retirement or confinement.

Where griesly Night, with visage deadly sad,
She findes forth comming from her darksome mew,
Where she all day did hide her hated hew.
Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 20.
Therefore to your Mew:
Lay down your weapons, heer's no Work for you.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Vocation.

3t. A place where fowls were confined for fattening.

Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 349. 4. pl. A stable. See mews1.

I wold fayne my gray horse wer kept in mewe for gnattys. Paston Letters (1471), III. 12. In mewt, in close keeping; in confinement; in secret. Kepe not thi tresure aye Closyd in mewe; suche old tresure wyll the shame ynowe. Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 69. mew4 (mu), v. t. [Early mod. E. also mue; mew4, n.] To shut up; confine, as in a cage or other inclosure; immure.

=

Halli

Mexican (mek'si-kan), a. and n. [= F. Mericain It. Mexicano Sp. Mejicano Pg. Mexicano, NL. Mexicanus, of Mexico; Mexico (Sp. Mejico).] I. a. Native or pertaining to Mexico, a republic lying south of the United States, or to its inhabitants.-Mexican asphalt. Same as chapapote.- Mexican banana, crow, elemi, etc. See the nouns.-Mexican clover. See Richardia. Mexican embroidery, a kind of embroidery in use for the decoration of towels, table-cloths, etc., done with a simple stitch and in outline patterns, and especially adapted to washable materials. The name is derived from the angular and grotesque character of the design, suggesting ancient Mexican carving.- Mexican goose, lily, mulberry, onyx, orange-flower, persimmon, poppy. See the nouns.-Mexican pottery, pottery made by the inhabitants of Mexico before the Spanish conquest, comprising utensils, and also idols and images of grotesque character. Spanish writers of the sixteenth century speak with admiration of the pottery found in use in Mexico by the Spanish invaders. The few specimens that have been spared to the present day have been found in tombs, and occasionally among the ruins of temples.-Mexican shilling. See bit2, 7.- Mexican tea, a weedy plant, Chenopodium ambrosioides, naturalized in the United States from tropical America. Also called (especially the variety anthel

minticum) wormseed.-Mexican thistle, tiger-flower,

etc. See the nouns.-Mexican turkey, Meleagris mexi cana, the supposed original of the domestic turkey. See turkey.-Mexican vine. Same as Madeira-vine. Mexican weasel. Same as kinkajou.-Mexican whisk. Same

as broom-root.

II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Mexico. Meyt, n. An obsolete form of May4. meynet, n. See meiny.

meynealt, a. An obsolete form of menial. Meynert's commissure. Same as commissura basalis of Meynert (which see, under commissura).

meynpernourt, n. A variant of mainpernor. meynpriset, ". See mainprise.

meyntt. An obsolete preterit and past partici

tain.

meyntenet, . An obsolete variant of mainAn obsolete variant of main

mowl. Halliwell. mew6, n. A dialectal variant of mow2. mew7 (mu), n. [Ult. L. meum, spignel: see Meum2.] The herb spignel. mewer (mū ́er), n. [<mew2 + -er1.] One who Cotgrave.

or that which mews or cries. mewett, a. See mutel.

=

lians.

See meseled.

See bark2.

mezuzah (me-zö'zä), n.; pl. mezuzoth (-zoth). [Heb.] Among the Jews, an emblem consist ing of a piece of parchment, inscribed on one side with the words found in Deut. vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-21, on the other with "Shaddai," 'the Al

mezzotint

mighty,' and so placed in a small hollow cylinder that the divine name is visible through an opening covered by a glass. This cylinder is affixed to the right-hand door-post in Jewish houses. The Jews believed that the mezuzah had the virtue of an amulet in protecting a house from disease and evil spirits.

Every pious Jew, as often as he passes the mezuzah, in leaving the house or in entering it, touches the divine name with the finger of his right hand, puts it to his The Lord shall mouth, and kisses it, saying in Hebrew preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore" (Ps. cxxi. 8). McClintock and Strong, Cyc. mezza, a. See mezzo. mezza-majolica (med zä-ma-jol'i-kä), n. Early Italian pottery of decorative character similar to that of true majolica, but less ornamental.

Mezza-majolica.-Italian, 17th century.

(a) Pottery painted and glazed, but without enamel. (b) Pottery having the enamel and richly painted, but without metallic luster. mezzanine (mez'a-nin), n. [< F. mezzanine, < It. mezzanino, < mezzo, middle: see mezzo.] In arch.: (a) A story of diminished height introduced between two higher stories; an entresol. See cut under entresol. (b) A window less in height than in breadth; a window in an en

tresol.

mezzo (med'zo), a.; fem. mezza (med'zä). [It., < L. medius, middle: see mid1, medium.]"In music, middle; half; mean; moderate. Abbreviated M.-Mezza manica, a half-shift in violin-playing.Mezza orchestra, with but half the instruments of an orchestra.-Mezza voce, with but half the voice; not loud. - Mezzo forte, moderately loud. Abbreviated mf.Mezzo piano, moderately soft. Abbreviated mp.- Mezzo punto. Same as Gueuse lace (which see, under lace).Mezzo-soprano, a voice or a voice-part of a compass between those of the soprano and the alto; a low soprano, especially one with a larger, deeper natural quality than a true soprano.- Mezzo-soprano clef, a C clef when placed on the second line of the staff.-Mezzo staccato, moderately or half staccato.- Mezzo-tenore, a voice or a voice-part of a compass between those of the tenor and the bass; a low tenor: more usually called a barytone, though the latter is rather a high bass than a low tenor. mezzo-rilievo (med" zo-re-lya'vo), n. [It., < mezzo, middle, half, rilievo, relief: see relief.] 1. In sculp., relief higher than bas-relief but lower than alto-rilievo; middle relief.-2. A piece of sculpture in such relief. mezzotint (mez'o- or medʼzo-tint), n. [< It. tinctus), painted, pp. of tingere, paint: see tint, mezzotinto, mezzo, middle, half, tinto (< L. tinge.] A method of engraving on copper or steel of which the essential feature is the burnishing and scraping away, to a variable extent, of a uniformly roughened surface consisting of minute incisions, accompanied by a bur, produced by an instrument called a cradle or rocker.

This surface is left nearly undisturbed in the deepest shadows of the subject, but is partially removed in the middle tints, and completely in the highest lights. Thus treated, the plate, when inked, prints impressions graded in light and shade according to the requirements of the design, from a rich velvety and perfectly uniform black up through every variation of tone to brilliant white, or showing, when desirable, the sharpest contrasts between the extremes. This style of engraving, invented by Van Siegen, a Dutchman, in 1643, though erroneously ascribed to his pupil Prince Rupert, has been pursued with most success in England. The defect of the process is that it does not admit of clear and sharp delineation of forms; hence in modern practice the outline of the design is strongly etched with acid before the cradle is used, and texture is often given to the finished plate by lines produced by dry-point etching.

Michaelmas

+ masse, messe, mass: see mass1.] 1. A festival celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican, and some other churches on September 29th, in honor of the archangel Michael. The festival is called in full the Festival or Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It appears to have originated in a local celebration or celebrations, and seems to have already existed in the fifth century. The Greek Church dedicates November 8th to St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and All Angels; the Armenian and Coptic churches also observe this day.

For lordes and lorelles luthere and goode, Fro Myhel-masse to Myhel-masse ich fynde mete and drynke. Piers Plowman (C), xvi. 215. 2. September the 29th as one of the four quarter-days in England on which rents are paid. And when the tenants come to pay their quarter's rent,

They bring some fowl at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent, Gascoigne (1675), quoted in Chambers's Book of Days,

At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose.

-

(II. 390. All this, though perchance you read it not till Michaelmas, was told you at Micham, 15th August, 1607. Donne, Letters, x. Michaelmas daisy. See daisy.- Michaelmas headcourt. See head-court. Michaelmas moon, the harvest moon. Jamieson. [Scotch.] michaelsonite (mik ́el-son-it), n. [Named after C. A. Michaelson, a Swedish chemist.] In mineral., a rare mineral found in the zirconsyenite of Norway: it is related to allanite. miche1 (mich), v. i. [Formerly also mych, myche: also meech, meach, and mooch, mouch; ME. michen, moochen, mouchen, ‹ OF. muchier, mucier, musier, mucer, musser, F. musser, hide, conceal oneself, skulk.] 1. To shrink from view; lie hidden; skulk; sneak.

Straggle up and downe the countrey, or miche in cor ners amongest theyr frendes idlye, as Carooghs, Bardes. Spenser, State of Ireland.

Jesters.

3747

Nowe thou shalt full sore abie That ilke stelthe of micherie. Gower, Conf. Amant., v.

micro

Jacchus. H. argentatus is white, with black tail and flesh-colored face and hands.-2.

For no man of his counsaile knoweth What he maie gette of his michynge. Gower, Conf. Amant., v. Oph. What means this, my lord? Ham. Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 149. but other boys did, and the process was freely talked of We never, in our whole school course, once played truant; among us. We called it miching, pronouncing the i in mich long, as in mile. P. H. Gosse, Longman's Mag.

miching (mich'ing), p. a. [Also meeching, meach-
ing; ppr. of michel, v.] Skulking; sneaking;
dodging; pilfering; mean.

Sure she has some meeching rascal in her house.
Beau. and Fl., Scornful Lady, iv. 1.
A cat... grown fat
With eating many a miching mouse.
Herrick, His Grange, or Private Wealth.

But I ain't o' the meechin' kind, thet sets an' thinks fer
weeks

The bottom's out o' th' univarse coz their own gillpot
leaks.
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., p. 13.
"How came the ship to run up a tailor's bill?" "Why,
them's mine," said the cap'n, very meaching.
S. O. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 159.
micken (mik'en), n. [Origin obscure.] The
herb spignel: also called Highland micken. See
Meum2. [Scotch.]
mickle (mik'l), a. and n. [I. a. Also dial, muckle,
meikle: ME. mikel, mekel, mukel, mykel (also
assibilated michel, mechel, muchel, mochel, > ult.
E. much), < AS. micel, mycel = OS. mikil =OLG.
mikil, MLG, michel =OÉG, michil, mihhil, MHG.
michel Icel. mikill, mykill — Goth. mikils, great,
= Gr. μéyaç (μeyaz-), great, akin to L. magnus,
great (OL. majus, great), compar, major: see
main2, magnitude, etc., major, mayor, etc. II.
n. <ME. mikel, etc., mochel, etc.; partly (in sense
of 'size') < AS. *micelu, mycelu, size (= OHG.
michili, greatness, size, Goth. mikilei, great-
ness), micel, mycel, great; and partly the adj.
used as a noun: see I. Mickle is a more orig.
form, now obs. or dial., of the word which by
A Middle English form of assibilation and loss of the final syllable has
become much: see much.] I. a. 1. Great;
large.

You, sir, that are miching about my golden mines here.
Chapman, Mask of Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn.

I never look'd for better of that rascall
Since he came miching first into our house.

Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness. 2. To be guilty of anything sly, skulking, or mean, such as carrying on an illicit amour, or pilfering in a sneaking way. See micher.

What made the Gods so often to trewant from Heauen, and mych heere on earth, but beautie? Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 279. miche2+, a. and n. much.

miche3t, n. See mitch. michelt, a. and n.

See mickle. Michelangelesque (mi-kel-an-jel-esk'), a. [< Michelangelo (see def.) + -esque.] Pertaining to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), a famous Italian sculptor, painter, and architect; resembling the style of Michelangelo, or belonging to his school.

=

=

York Plays, p. 3.

A mercyfull maker, full mekill es thi mighte.
He has tane up a meikle stane,
And flang 't as far as I cold see.
The Wee Wee Man (Child's Ballads, I. 126).

O mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities.
Shak., R. and J., ii. 3. 15.

Michelangelism (mi-kel-an'jel-izm), n. [< 2. Much; abundant.
Michelangelo (see def.) + -ism.] The manner or
tendencies in art of Michelangelo Buonarroti.
See Michelangelesque.

It shuns the Scylla of nullity and bad taste only to fall into the Charybdis of Michelangelism.

C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 350.

Michelia (mi-keli-a), n. [NL. (Linnæus, 1774), named after Micheli, a Florentine botanist of the early part of the 18th century.] A genus of plants of the natural order Magnoliacea and the tribe Magnolieæ, characterized by introrse anthers, by having the cluster of pistils raised on a stalk, and by the many-seeded carpels. They are trees having much the appearance of magnolias, but with the flowers usually smaller and (with one exception) axillary, whereas magnolia-flowers are terminal. About 12 species are known, natives of tropical and mountainous Asia. The most noteworthy species are M. excelsa, the champ, and M. Champaca, the champak, both valuable economically, the latter a sacred tree in India. See champs and champak.

michellevyite (me-shel-lev'i-it), n. [Named
after M. Michel Léry, a French mineralogist.]
A mineral having the composition of barite,
barium sulphate, and probably that species,
but believed by the describer to belong to the
monoclinic system. It is found in a massive cleav
able form occurring in a crystalline limestone near Per
kins' Mill, Templeton, Province of Quebec, Canada.
michert, n. [Also meecher, meacher; <ME. mych-
er, mecher; michel + -er1.] One who skulks
or sneaks; a truant; a mean thief.

Chyld, be thou lyer nother no theffe:
Be thou no mecher for myscheffe.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 401.
Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher, and eat
blackberries?
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 450,

michery (mich'èr-i), n. [< ME. micherie, <OF.
*mucherie, < muchier, mucher, etc., hide, skulk:
see miche1.] Theft; pilfering; cheating.

O cruell Boy, alas, how mickle gall Thy baenfull shaft mingles thy Mell withall! Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Magnificence. There was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either before or since. Scott, Waverley, xviii. Let me laugh awhile, I've mickle time to grieve. Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, xiv. II. n. 1+. Size; magnitude; bigness. A wonder wel-farynge knyght,.. Of good mochel, and ryght yonge therto. Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 454. 2. A great deal; a large quantity: as, many littles make a mickle. micklet, . t. [< ME. mikelen, muclen, muclien, also assibilated muchelen, < AS. micelian, miclian, micclian, also gemiclian (= OHG, mihhilōn Icel. mikla Goth. mikiljan), become great, make great, magnify, <micel, great: see mickle, a. Cf. much, v. To magnify. micklenesst (mik'l-nes), n. [< ME. mekilnesse. AS. micelnes, mycelnes, micel, great: see mickle and -ness.] Bigness; great size.

After this ther com apone thame thane a grete multiwith tuskes of a cubett lenthe.

tude of swyne, that ware alle of a wonderfulle mekilnesse,

MS. Lincoln A. i. 17, f. 28. (Halliwell.) micky (mik'i), n.; pl. mickies (-iz). [A dim. of Mike, a familiar abbreviation of Michael, a favorite name among Irishmen, from that of St. Michael. Cf. Pat, Paddy, similarly derived from the name of St. Patrick.] 1. An Irish boy. [Slang, U. S.]-2. A young wild bull. [Australian.]

There were two or three Mickies and wild heifers, who

determined to have their owner's heart's blood.

A. C. Grant, Bush-life in Queensland, I. 227. mico (mē kō), n. [S. Amer.] 1. A small squirrel-like monkey of South America. one of the marmosets or oustitis, of the genus Hapale or

botanist.] A large genus of South American plants of the natural order Melastomacea and type of the tribe Miconica. It is characterized by terminal inflorescence, 4- or 8-parted flowers with obtuse petals, and a calyx which has a cylindrical tube and usually a 4- to 8-lobed limb. They are trees or shrubs, with very variable foliage, and white, rose-colored, purple, or yellowish flowers, which are small, and grow in terminal or very rarely lateral clusters. About 490 species have been enumerated, all confined to tropical America. Quite a number are cultivated for ornament. They sometimes receive the name of West Indian currant-bush.

Miconieæ (mi-kō-ni'e-ē), n. pl. [NL. (A. P. de Candolle, 1828), Miconia + -ea.] A tribe of New World plants, belonging to the natural order Melastomacea, typified by the genus Miconia. It is characterized by a berry-like or coriaceous fruit, which breaks open irregularly; by the leaves not being grooved between the primary nerves; and by the anthers opening by one or two pores or slits, with the connective usually having no appendages. The tribe includes 25 genera and nearly 1,000 species, all of which are indigenous to tropical America. micostalis (mi-kos-tā'lis), n.; pl. micostales (lez). [NL. (Wilder and Gage), F. micostal (Straus-Durckheim), supposed to stand for microcostal, < Gr. kpóc, small, + L. costa, rib: see costal.] A muscle of the fore leg of some animals, as the cat, corresponding to the humicrander (mik-ran'der), n. [Gr. Juкpóc, small, man teres minor. + ȧvýp (avdp-), male.] A dwarf male plant produced by certain confervoid algæ. The an drospores, which are peculiar zoospores produced nonsexually in special cells of the parent plant, fix themselves (after swarming) upon the female plant and produce these very small male plants.

Micrastur (mik-ras'ter), n. [NL., < Gr. pukpóc, small, + LL. astur, a species of hawk: see Astur.] A genus of hawks of the family Falconide and subfamily Accipitrina, established by G. R. Gray in 1841, having the tarsus reticulated behind and the nostrils circular with a centric tubercle. It is peculiar to America, the species ranging from southern Mexico to Bolivia and Peru.

Micrathene (mik-ra-the ́nē), n. [NL., <Gr. póç, small, +'An, Athene: see Athene.] A genus of Strigida established by Coues in 1866; the elf-owls. It includes the most diminutive of owls, with small weak bill and feet, relatively long rounded wings, square tail with broad rectrices, tarsi feathered only above, the feet elsewhere covered with bristles, and middle toe with claw as long as the tarsus. The type and only species is M. whitneyi, an insectivorous owl of arboreal habits, found in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico. It is only about six inches long. Also called Micropallas.

micraulic (mik-râ'lik), a. [< NL. micraulicus, <Gr. póc, small, + NL. aula, aula: see aula, 2.] Having the aula small; specifically, of or pertaining to micraulica. micraulica (mik-râ'li-kä), n. pl. [NL.: see micraulic.] Animals whose aula is small and whose cerebral hemispheres are vertically expanded. They are amphibians, dipnoans, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Wilder, Amer. Nat., Oct., 1887, p. 914. Micrembryeæ (mik-rem-brī ́ē-ē), ». pl. [NL. (Bentham and Hooker, 1880), Gr. spóc, small, + Eu3pvov, a germ: see embryo.] A series of dicotyledonous apetalous plants. It is charac terized by an ovary consisting of a single carpel or of sev eral united or distinct carpels, by the ovules being solitary or rarely several in each carpel, and by the seed having copious fleshy or starchy albumen and a very small embryo. It includes 4 orders (Piperaceæ, Chloranthacea, Myristice, and Monimiacea), 39 genera, and nearly 1,300 species.

micrencephalous (mik-ren-sef'a-lus), a. [<Gr. kpós, small, + kipazos, the brain.] Smallbrained; having a small brain. micristology (mik-ris-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. μspóç, small, E. histology.] The science which treats of the minutest organic fibers. Thomas, Med. Dict.

micro (mi'krō), n. [< micro-, as used in Microcoleoptera, etc.] In entom., any small insect. Thus, Microcoleoptera are small beetles, Microdiptera are ing is sufficiently determined by the connection, such small flies, etc.; and in familiar language, when the meanwords are abbreviated to micro. When not so determined, micro always means one of the Microlepidoptera. micro- (usually mi'krō, but also, better, mikʼrō). [L., etc., micro-, ‹ Gr. μukpóc, also juкpóc, small, little.] An element of Greek origin, meaning small, little'; specifically, in physics, a prefix indicating a unit one millionth part of the unit it is prefixed to: as, microfarad, microhm, etc.: