1. The thirteenth letter 
and tenth consonant in tlm 
English alphabet. It had a 
corresponding position in the 
Latin and Greek alphabets, and 
in their source, the Pheniclan. 
The conspectus of forms in these 
three alphabets, with the Egypt Ian 
characters from which many be- 
lieve the M to be derived (see A), 
is as follows : 
Egyptian. Pheni- 
Hieroglyphic. Hieratic. cian. 
Early 
Greek ana Latin. 
M represents a labial nasal sound, the corresponding nasal 
to 6 and p, as n to rf and t, and ng to g and *. That Is to 
say, in its production the lips are pressed together, or 
form a mute closure, as in p and ft, and the vocal chords 
are set in sonant vibration, as in b; but the passage from 
the pharynx into the nose IB open, so that the tone rings 
in the nasal as well as in the oral cavity, and this gives 
the peculiar quality which we term nasal. (See miaul.) 
Since the nose is incapable of complete closure (except by 
external means, as the fingers^ the sound thus produced 
is resonant and continuable, and hence m and n are ordi- 
narily reckoned as semivocal, or liquid, or the like. But 
i;i does not win, like n, an actual vowel value in English 
syllabication ; though in vulgar pronunciation words like 
elm, spasm, etc., are sometimes resolved into el-uin, fpaz- 
m, etc. The sound m, especially as Initial, Is a very sta- 
ble element In Indo-Euroi>ean language-history : compare 
meant, mind, Latin mens, Greek jierav, Sanskrit y man; or 
mother, oldest traceable form matar (compared with the 
altered father, brother, oldest nntar, bhratar). M has no 
varieties of pronunciation, ana is silent only in a few for- 
eign words, as mnemonic; it is doubled under the same 
circumstances as the consonants in general, as in dimmer, 
'tinnmii'j, dimmed, etc., from dim. 
2. As a numeral, in the Roman system, M de- 
notes 1 ,000. With a dash or stroke over it (H), 
it stands for a thousand times a thousand, or 
1,000,000. 3. As a symbol: (a) In the mne- 
monic words of logic (see mood 2 ), m indicates a 
transposition (metathesis) of the premises in 
the reduction. (6) Formerly, M was a brand 
impressed on one convicted of manslaughter 
and admitted to the benefit of clergy. 4. As 
an abbreviation: (a) In titles, M. stands for 
Maaister or Master, as in A. M.; for Medicina: 
or Medicine, as in M. D.; or for Member, as in 
M. C., member of Congress, and M. P., mem- 
ber of Parliament, (b) In meek., m. stands for 
mass, (c) In dental formula, in zool., m. stands 
for molar, and dm. for deciduous molar, (d) In 
math., M or ft stands for modulus; in luiilnr 
f/i'um., m or /i for the degree of a curve, (e) In 
astro*, and metrol., m. stands for minute (of 
time), and for meter; mm. for millimeter; and ft 
for micron or micromilli meter, (f) In musical 
notation, M. stands for mono (main), mezzo, 
metronome, and in organ-music for manual. See 
M. D., M. M., M. S. ((/) In a ship's log-book, 
m. is an abbreviation of mist. 5. In printing, 
the square or quadrate of any body of type : 
more commonly spelled out, cm (which see). 
To have an M under (or by) the Kirdlet, to have the 
courtesy of addressing by the title Sir., Mias, Mrs., etc.; 
show due respect by using the titles Mr., Mrs., etc. (Col- 
loq.] 
Mins. The devil tike you, Neverout ! besides all small 
curses. 
. 
Lady A. Marry, come up! What, plain Neverout 1 me- 
an M under tjimr girdle, miss. 
Sic\fl, Polite Conversation, i. 
. , 
thinks you might have an 
, a. and utlr. A Middle English form of mo 
ma- (mii), n. [A childish name, usually mama: 
see mama.] A shorter or childish form of 
mama. 
ma 3 (ma), conj. [It. (= F. mais), but, < L. magis, 
more: see mniiixtir.'] In mimic, but: used es- 
pecially in the phrase ma nun tro/i/io, but not 
too much, to limit various indications of musi- 
cal tempo and style, as allciiro i>i n/ni tni/i/m. 
quick, but not too much so, etc. 
ma 4 (mii). [Polynesian.] A slinir useil by 
Polynesian islanders, made from finely braided 
fibers of cocoanut-husk or of similar material. 
M. A. See A. M. (a), 
8M 
maa (ma), n. A dialectal form of mew*. [Shet- 
land.] 
maadt. An obsolete past participle of make 1 . 
I'liaueer. 
maalin (mii'lin), . A dialectal form of merlin. 
[Shetland.] 
ma'am (mam), n. [Also mam, vulgarly marm, 
nmm ; contr. of madam.'] A common colloquial 
contraction of madam, used especially in an- 
swers, after yes and no, or interrogatively, when 
one expects or has not distinctly heard a ques- 
tion. 
ma'am-school (miim'sko!), n. A school kept 
by a woman; a dame-school. [New Kng.] 
I found a girl some eighteen years old keeping a ma'am- 
school for about twenty scholars. 
5. <!. Qoodrich, Recollections of a Lifetime, Iv. 
maatt, a. A form of mate?. Chaucer. 
mab (mab), n. [A dial. var. of woo 1 .] A slat- 
tern. [Prov. Eng.] 
mab (mab), v. i.; pret. and pp. mabbed, ppr. mob- 
bing. [A dial. var. of wo&i; cf. mab, .] To 
dress negligentlv; be slatternly. [Prov. Eng.] 
Maba (ma'bii), n. [NL. (J. B. Forster, 1776), 
the name of the plant in Tonga-Tabu.] A ge- 
nus of dicotyledonous gamopetalous plants be- 
longing to the natural order Kbcnacece, the 
ebony family, characterized by dioecigus flow- 
ers, almost always three-parted, from three to 
an indefinite number of stamens, and three 
styles, sometimes united below. They are shrubs 
or trees, usually of very hard wood, with small entire 
leaves, and flowers either solitary or in cymes. Fifty-nine 
species are known, natives of the warm regions of the 
globe. The ebony-wood of Cochin-China and Coromandel 
is believed to be the product of a tree of this genus. M. 
yeminata and M. laurina, called Queensland ebmy, fur- 
nish, with other species of the region, desirable substi- 
tutes for ebony. M. buxtfolia has been called Eatt In- 
dian tatinwood. The genus is found in a fossil state in 
many Tertiary deposits, the fruiting calyx on its peduncle 
being all that is usually preserved. Eight species are 
thus known. They have been described under the name 
Macreitfhtia, now regarded as a section of Maba. One of 
these fossil species occurs in Colorado. 
mabblet, . t. A variant of moble%. 
mabby (rnab'i), n. [Formerly also mobby; Bar- 
bados.] A spirituous liquor distilled from po- 
tatoes in Barbados. 
Mac. [( Gael, mac = Ir. mac = W. map, mab, 
also ap, ab, a son, = Goth, magus, a son: see 
may 2 . Cf. ap.'] An element, usually a con- 
joined prefix, in many Scotch and Irish names 
of Celtic origin, cognate with the Welsh Ap-, 
signifying 'son, and being thus equivalent to 
the Irish (f, the English -son or -s, and the Nor- 
man Fitz-. The prefix is either written In full, Mae-, or 
abbreviated to Me- or M'-, which in works printed in the 
British Isles almost invariably appears as M' the con- 
tracted form being followed by a capital letter, while Mae- 
takes a capital after it but rarely. Thus a name may be 
variously spelled as MacdonakKrtiiKly MacDonald), M 'Don- 
ald, or McDonald; so Mackenzie, M'Kewie, or McKenzie, 
etc. In catalogues, directories, etc., names with this prefix, 
whether written Mac-, M 1 -, or Me-, are properly entered in 
the alphabetical place of Mae-. Sometimes used separate- 
ly for persons whose names begin with this prefix. 
The Fitzes sometimes permitted themselves to sneak 
with scorn of the O's and Macs, and the O's and Mac* 
sometimes repaid that scorn with aversion. Macattlay. 
Macaberesque (ma-ka-ber-esk'), a. [< Macaber 
(see def.) + -esque. Ct.'M.'Lt.Mackabteorum chora, 
as if the 'dance of the Maccabees.'] Pertain- 
ing to or of the character of the so-called 
"Dance of Death," a favorite subject in the 
literature, art, and pantomime of Europe in the 
middle ages and early Renaissance : apparently 
based on a series of dialogues of death attrib- 
uted to Macaber, an old German poet of whom 
nothing is known. See dance of death, under 
ll'lll/'l'. 
macaco 1 (ma-ka'ko). n. [Formerly also niini- 
ciiiii'o, inimiiii; ; from a Malagasy name.] 1. 
The ring-tailed lemnr or cat-lemur, the *] 
of Lemur earliest known, described under this 
name by Button : the /.. cuttii of Linnreus. 2. 
The technical specific name of the rnffed lemur, 
L. macaco. Hence 3. Any lemur; a maki. 
4. The so-called yellow lemur or kinkajou, Cer- 
colejili * i-ttiiitii-olrultix: a misnomer. See cut 
under kinkajoii. 
macaco 2 (ma-ka'ko), . [Formerly macaquo 
(Marcgrave, 1648); said to be of African (Con- 
go) origin. See macaque, Macacug.] A ma- 
caque. See Maciicii-i. 
macaco-worm (ma-ka'ko-werm), . The larva 
of a dipterous insect of South America, Der- 
matobia noxialis, which infests the skin of ani- 
mals, including man. 
Macacus (ma-ka'kus), n. [NL. (F. Cuvier) ( Ma- 
caca, Lacp6de, 1801), < F. macaque (Buffon), 
from a native name, macaco: see macaco 2 .] A 
genus of Old World catarrhine monkeys of the 
family CercopitkccidaiorCynopithecida'; the ma- 
caques. The genus formerly Included monkeys between 
the doucs(SnnopifAci7we)and the baboons or drills(Ci/no- 
cephaliiue). It was next restricted to species inhabiting the 
East Indies, having cheek-pouches, ischial callosities, and 
a fifth tubercle on the back molar, such as the wanderoo 
(M. silenus\ the bonnet-macaque (M. rinicus), the rhesus 
monkey (M. rhesus), the common toque (M. cynomolmuf), 
etc. It is now restricted to species resembling the last- 
named. The leading genera which have been dissociated 
from Macatus are Cercocebus, Inutu, Theropititecui, Cyno- 
pithems, and Cercopithcmu. 
macadam (mak-ad'am), w. [Short for Maead- 
amparement: see macadamize.] Macadamized 
pavement. 
There are many varieties of pavement in London, from 
primitive macadam to the noiseless asphalte. 
Contemporary Rev., LIV. 432. 
Macadamia (mak-a-da'mi-ii), n. [NL. (F. von 
Muller, 1857), named after one Mac Adam.] A 
genus of dicotyledonous apetalous plants be- 
longing to the natural order Proteactce and the 
tribe Grevilleea; characterized by having two 
pendulous ovules, seeds with unequal and fleshy 
cotyledons, anthers on short filaments inserted 
a little below the laminsp, and a ring-like 
four-lobed or four-parted disk. There are two 
species, found only In eastern Australia. They are tall 
shrubs or trees with whorled leaves, either entire or ser- 
rate, and flowers pedicellate in pairs, in terminal or axil- 
lary racemes, the pedicels not connate. M. ternifotia is 
the Queensland nut-tree, a smalt tree with dense foliage, 
a firm, fine-grained wood, and an edible nut with the taste 
of hazel, an inch or more in diameter. 
macadamization(mak-ad' l 'am-i-za'8hon), H. [< 
macadamize + -ation.] The process of laying 
carriage-roads according to the system of John 
London Macadam, a Scottish engineer (1756- 
1836), who carried it out very extensively in 
England. In the common process, the top soil of the 
roadway is removed to the depth of 14 inches. Coarse 
cracked stone is then laid in to a depth of 7 inches, and 
the interstices and surface-depressions are filled with 
fine cracked stones. Over these as a bed is placed a layer 
7 inches deep of road-metal or broken stone, of which no 
piece is larger than 2J inches in diameter. This is rolled 
down with heavy steam- or horse-rollers, and the top ia 
finished with stone crushed to dust and rolled smooth. 
Also spelled macadamisation. 
macadamize (mak-ad'am-iz), r. t.; pret. and pp. 
macadamized, ppr. macadamizing. K Macadam, 
the name of the inventor, + -ize. The F. mara- 
damiser is from E.] To cover (a road or path) 
with a layer of broken road-metal. See rnwc- 
adamization. Also spelled maciiilniiiisi . 
macadamizer (mak-ad'am-I-zer), w. One who 
lays macadamized roads. Also spelled macad- 
am iner. 
Macaja butter. See Coco. 
macaque (ma-kak'), . [< F. macaque, < ma- 
caco, macaquo, a native name: see macaco 2 , 
Macacus.] A monkey of the genus Macacus; 
one of the several kinds of monkeys coming 
between baboons and the African mangabeys. 
The term has undergone the same restriction of meaning 
as Macacun; and most of the macaques, in a former sense 
of the word, have received special names. The Javan ma- 
caque, M. cifwmioltrus, with neetling brows and tail about 
:i:- long as tiie Inniy', is a fair example of the arboreal forms. 
The munga, M. nnicwtol Intlia, i* known as the bonnet- 
macaque,froiu the top-knotwhichparUin themiddle. The 
bunder, or rhesus macaque, M. rhems, is a very common 
Indian species. The bnih, or pi^-tailed macaque, M. neme- 
strinvi, b a long-limbed form inhabiting the 1'hilippinee, 
of moderate length. In the Uoraese black 
with the tall of i 
