mainspring 
mainspring (man'spring), n. 1. The principal 
spring of any piece of mechanism, as, in a 
gun-lock, the spring which operates the ham- 
mer; specifically, the coiled spring of a watch 
or other timepiece. 
God 's the mainspring, that maketh every way 
All the small wheels of this great Engine play. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 7. 
Hence 2. The impelling cause of any action; 
the inciting motive. 
It was no longer the savage love of plunder or the ne- 
cessities of providing subsistence, the mainspring of the 
barbarian's inroads, that excited men to war-like enter- 
prise. Brougham. 
mainstay (man'sta), . 1. The rope which 
secures the head of the mainmast of a vessel 
forward. Hence 2. Chief support ; main de- 
pendence : as, their mainstay is fishing. 
The cocoanut, bread-fruit, taro, and banana form the 
mainstay and daily food of the people. 
The Centum, XXXVIII. 16. 
mainstaysail (man'sta-sal or -si), n, A storm- 
sail set sometimes on the mainstay. 
mainswear, v. i. See manswear. 
main-tack (man'tak), n. The weather-clue of 
a square mainsail. 
maintain (man-tan'), v. [< ME. mainteinen, 
maintenen, < OF. maintenir, F. maintenir = Pr. 
mantener = Sp. mantener = Pg. manter = It. 
mantenere, keep, maintain, < L. manu tenere, 
hold in the hand: manu, abl. of manus, hand; 
tenere, hold: see main& and tenant. Cf. attain, 
contain, detain, etc.] I. trans. 1. To hold in an 
existing state or condition ; keep in existence or 
continuance ; preserve from lapse, decline, fail- 
ure, or cessation; keep up: as, to maintain an 
upright attitude ; to maintain a conversation. 
Your richesses ne sufflcen not werres to mainteine. 
Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus. 
Go you, and maintain talk with the duke, that my char- 
ity be not of him perceived. Shak., Lear, iii. 3. 16. 
The kings had no easy part to play, to avoid quarreling 
with the clergy and yet to maintain a hold upon them. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 886. 
2. To furnish means for the subsistence or ex- 
istence of ; sustain or assist with the means of 
livelihood ; provide for ; support : as, to main- 
tain a family or an army ; to maintain a costly 
equipage. 
Among all honest Christian people, 
Whoe'er breaks limbs maintains the cripple. 
Prior, To F. Shepherd. 
A time there was, ere England's griefs began, 
When every rood of ground maintain'd its man. 
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 58. 
It is a mistake to suppose that the rich man maintains 
his servants, tradesmen, tenants, and labourers : the truth 
is, they maintain him. Paley, Moral Philos., III. ii. 2. 
3. To hold fast; keep in possession ; preserve 
from capture or loss: as, to maintain one's 
ground in battle or in argument; to maintain 
an advantage. 
Thei meyntenen hem self right vygouresly. 
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 155. 
I stand upon the ground of mine own honour, 
And will maintain it. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iii. 5. 
To maintain the frontiers of the Rhine and the Danube 
was, from the first century to the fifth, the great object 
of Rome's European policy and warfare. 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects.,p. 107. 
4. To give support or encouragement to ; up- 
hold ; countenance ; vindicate, as by defense or 
adjudication. 
We will put cure bodyes in auenture of deth for to en- 
crece holy chirche and the cristin f eith to mayntene. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 580. 
For thou hast maintained my right and my cause ; thou 
satest in the throne judging right. Ps. ix. 4. 
5. To uphold by argument or assertion ; hold 
to : as, to maintain the doctrine of the Trinity. 
We maintain that in Scripture we are taught all things 
necessary unto salvation. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8. 
The Lutheran churches maintain consubstantiation. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885), II. 299. 
This glittering, fanciful system of fencing which he 
kept upon all subjects, maintaining with equal brilliancy 
and ingenuity this to-day and that to-morrow. 
H. B. Stow, Oldtown, p. 360. 
6f. To represent ; denote. 
This side is Hiems, Winter, this Ver, the Spring ; the 
one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. 
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 902. 
=Syn. 4 and 5. Defend, Vindicate, etc. See assert. 
II. intrans. 1. To behave; conduct one's 
self. [Prov. Eng.] 2. To hold as true ; hold. 
maintainable (man-ta'na-bl), . [< maintain 
+ -able. ] Capable of being maintained, kept up, 
supported, or upheld ; sustainable; defensible. 
They perhaps, if they were urged, could say little else 
than that without such a second voyage their opinion were 
not maintainable. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. i. 3. 
3584 
maintainer (man-ta'ner), n. One who main- 
tains, supports, sustains, or upholds. In legal 
use, maintainor (which see). 
O ye traitours and maintainers of madnesse, 
Unto your folly I ascribe all my paine. 
Lamentation of Mary Magdalen, 1. 253. 
maintaining-wheel (man-ta'ning-hwel), n. In 
a watch, a wheel impelled by a spring, which 
prevents a watch from stopping while being 
wound : a going-wheel. 
maintainor (man-ta'nor), n. [< F. mainteneur, 
< maintenir, maintain: see maintain.] In law, 
one guilty of maintenance (see maintenance, 
4) ; one who maintains a cause depending be- 
tween others in which he has no interest. 
maintenance (man'te-nans), n. [< ME. main- 
tenance, maynetenaunce," meyntenaunce, < OF. 
(and F.) maintenance (= Pr. mantenensa = Sp. 
mantenencia = Pg. mantenga = It. mantenenza), 
maintenance, < maintenir, maintain : see main- 
tain.'] 1. The act of maintaining, keeping up, 
supporting, or upholding; preservation; sus- 
tentation; vindication: as, the maintenance of 
a family ; the maintenance of right. 
He, on the other hand, granting to them a bond of nun* n- 
tenance, or protection, by which he bound himself, in usual 
form, to maintain their quarrel against all mortals, saving 
his loyalty. Quoted in Child's Ballads, VI. 163. 
All Christian soveranty is by law, and to no other end 
but to the maintenance of the common good. 
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
Ability to feel depends on the maintenance of a certain 
temperature. U. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., 42. 
2. That which maintains or supports; means 
of livelihood. 
After such an age no minister was permitted to preach, 
but had his maintenance continu'd during life. 
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 19, 1641. 
3f. Bearing; behavior. 
She had so stedfaste countenaunce, 
So noble porte and 'meyntenaunce. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 834. 
For all their craft is in their countenaunce, 
They bene so grave and full of inayntenaunce. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., September. 
4. In law : (a) An officious intermeddling in a 
suit in which the meddler has no interest, by 
assisting either party with means to prosecute 
or defend it. This is a punishable offense at 
common law. (&) Formerly, a like intermed- 
dling with the controversy of others, as to land, 
by wrongfully taking or holding possession in 
aid of one party, (c) In a more general sense, 
an interfering with the due course of justice. 
J. F. Stephen Cap of maintenance, a cap of dig- 
nity carried before the sover- 
eigns of England at their coro- 
nation ; a kind of abacot or by- 
cocket. The term is also applied 
to an ornament borne before the 
mayors of certain cities on state 
occasions. In heraldry it is in 
use as a symbol of dignity, and is occasionally shown be- 
neath the crest in place of the customary wreath. The 
cap of maintenance (or estate)originally belonged to nobles 
exclusively, but is now granted to gentlemen, and is borne 
irrespective of rank. 
In the later end of thys yere came the thyrde cappe of 
mayntenaunce from the pope. 
Fabyan, Chron., I., an. 1506. 
=Syn. 1. Justification, preservation. 2. Subsistence, Live- 
lihood, etc. See living. 
maintenantlyt (man'te-nant-li), adv. [< *main- 
tenant, < F. maintenant, now, at the present 
moment, ppr. of maintenir, keep, maintain : see 
maintain.] Incontinently ; straightway. 
The Scottes, encouraged a fresh, assayled theyr enimies 
with more egre mimics than they had done at the firste, 
so that mayntenantly both the winges of the Brytishe ar- 
mie were utterly discomfited, flolinshed (1577). (Nares.) 
Maintenon cross (man-te-n6n' kros). A cross 
marked by four diamonds forming its extremi- 
ties, a personal ornament for women: named 
from Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV. 
maintop (man'top), n. Naut., a platform just 
below the head of the mainmast, resting on the 
trestletrees. See top. 
maintopmast(man'top-mastor-mast),n. Naut., 
the mast next above the lower mainmast. 
maintopsail (man'top-sal or -si), n. In square- 
rigged vessels, the sail above the mainsail. 
Maintopsail-yard, the yard on which the maintopsail is 
set. 
main-wales (man'walz), n. pi. Naut., the 
strakes worked from the lower port-sill of the 
gun-deck to the bottom plank. 
main-yard (man'yiird), n. Naut., the lower 
yard on the mainmast. 
Their topmasts and their mainyards 
Were cover'd o'er wi' gold. 
James Herries (Child's Ballads, I. 206). 
maioid (ma'yoid), a. and n. [< Maia + -aid.] I. 
o. Same as maioidean. 
Cap of Maintenance. 
maize-bird 
II. n. A crab of the group Maioidea; a spider- 
crab. 
Also maian. 
Maioidea (ma-yoi'de-a), n. pi. [NL., < Maia + 
-oidea.] A superfamily of brachyurous decapod 
crustaceans, also called Oxyrhyncha; the spi- 
der-crabs. There are several families and more 
than 100 genera. 
maioideau (ma-yoi'de-an). a. Resembling a 
maioid ; having the characters of the Maioidea. 
mair 1 (mar), a. and . A Scotch form of more 1 . 
mair 2 t, mairet, n. Earlier forms of mayor. 
maiset, . An obsolete form of mease 2 . 
maisondewet, n. See measondue. 
maist, a., n., and adv. A Scotch form of most. 
maistert, maistresset, etc. Obsolete forms of 
master, mistress, etc. 
maistOWt. A Middle English contraction of 
may eat thou. 
This maistow understonde and sen at eye. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2168. 
maistri, maistree(mas'tri),. [E.Ind.] In the 
East Indies, a native foreman or master work- 
man: said of masons, carpenters, cooks, etc. 
Labour, 4 annas a day, exclusive of maistries' wages. 
Spans' Encyc. Harm/., I. 714. 
maistringt, a. A Middle English form of mas- 
tering. 
maistriset, [ME., < OF. maistrise, mastery, 
< maistre, master: see mastery. 1 Same as mas- 
tery. 
And eke amidde this purprise 
Was maad a tour of gret maistrise. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1.4172. 
Maitland cord. See coral. 
maitre (ma'tr), . [F. : see master^.] A mas- 
ter. A la maitre d'h&tel, in cookery, a phrase signifying 
that a dish is served with a sauce made of butter melted 
with a little lemon-juice, vinegar, and chopped parsley. 
Maitre de chapelle, a choir-master. See maitrise. 
Maitre d'hotel, the master or superintendent of the table 
in a mansion ; a butler. 
maitrise (ma-treV), n. [F. : see maistrise.] 1. 
In France, a school formerly attached to a ca- 
thedral or collegiate church, for the education 
of singers. The pupils were supported at the expense 
of the church, and educated in other branches as well as 
music. Most French musicians were educated in these 
schools before the Revolution, when they were suppressed. 
Some were afterward reestablished, and a few still exist. 
The master of such a school is called the maitre de cha- 
pelle. 
2. Formerly, in France, a corporation of mas- 
ters in a trade ; a trade-gild. 
The Parisian couturieres, prior to the Revolution, were 
continually persecuted by the mattrise or corporation of 
women's tailors. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLII. 288. 
maize (maz), .. [Formerly also maiz, mais, mayz, 
mays; = F. mats, formerly maiz, < Sp. maiz (NL. 
mays), < "W. Ind. (Haytian) mahiz, mahis, the na- 
tive name of the plant. It was also formerly 
called Turkey corn or Turkey wheat, after F. Vie 
de Turquie, its origin, like that of the Turkey 
cock or turkey, being at one time erroneously 
ascribed vaguely to " Turkey " or the East.] 1. 
A cereal plant, Zea Mays, of the grass family ; 
the Indian corn. In America commonly called simply 
corn; in Europe formerly Turkey corn or Turkey wheat. 
For description, see Zea,. 
2. The grain produced by the maize ; Indian 
corn. It appears in market either in the ear(i. e., on 
the cob) or shelled (i. e., removed from the cob). It is a 
highly nutritious food, starchy matter predominating in 
it. As human food it is used in various forms. (See corn- 
bread, hasty -pudding, Indian meal, hominy, corn-starch, 
samp.) The immature kernels (green corn), boiled, form 
an excellent vegetable, and in this state maize is largely 
preserved by canning. Of late years Indian corn has been 
extensively manufactured into glucose. Maize is said to 
furnish food to a larger part of the human race than any 
other grain except rice. It is also much used for fatten- 
ing cattle and swine, as well as for horses. An enormous 
amount is consumed in the manufacture of spirits ; it is 
the principal grain distilled in the United States. Maize 
was found in cultivation over a great part of America on its 
discovery, and was rapidly diffused throughout the world 
wherever the climate was suitable to it. 
Heer, of one grain of Maiz, a Reed doth spring 
That thrice a year flue hundred grains doth bring. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 3. 
3. A coal-tar color, the sodium salt of the di- 
sulphonic acid of azoxy-stilbene. It dyes silk 
and wool reddish-yellow in an acid bath. Also 
called sun-yellow Japan maize, a variety with or- 
namental variegated leaves. Mountain maize, plants 
of the genus Ombrophytum, said to be eaten like mush- 
rooms. Water maize, the royal water-lily Victoria re- 
ffia: so called on account of its farinaceous seeds. 
maize-bird (maz'berd), n. An American 
blackbird of the family Icteridte and subfam- 
ily Ageltxinw; one of the troopials or ma.rsh- 
blackbirds: so called from its fondness for 
Indian corn. 
