malconstruction 
malconstruction (mal-kou-struk'shon), n. [< 
mal- + construction.] Faulty construction. 
The boiler was torn into fragments. The cause of the 
explosion is given as malconstruction. 
The Engineer, LXVII. 156. 
malcontent (mal'kou-tent), a. and . [For- 
merly also malecontent; < F. malcontent (= Sp. 
malcontento), dissatisfied; as mal- + content^.] 
I. a. Dissatisfied; discontented; especially, dis- 
satisfied or discontented with the existing order 
of things, as with the constitution of society, or 
the administration of government. 
I speak not much : yet in my little Talk 
Much vanity and many Lies do walk ; 
I wish too-earnest, and too-oft (in fine) 
For others Fortunes, male-content with mine. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, li., The Lawe. 
Nicholas Durantius, a Knight of Malta, sirnamed Villa- 
gagnon, in the yeere 1555 (malecontent with his estate at 
home) sayled into Francia Antarctica. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 837. 
II. . A discontented person ; specifically, a 
discontented subject of government; one who 
murmurs at the laws and administration, or 
who manifests his dissatisfaction by overt acts, 
as in sedition or insurrection. 
He that wrote the Satyr of Piers Ploughman seemed to 
haue bene a malcontent of that time, and therefore bent 
himself e wholy to taxe the disorders of that age. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 50. 
In Connecticut and New Hampshire the body of the 
people rose in support of government, and obliged the 
malcontents to go to their homes. 
Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 70. 
malcontented (mal-kon-ten'ted), a. [Fonner- 
galso malecontented; as malcontent + -ed 2 .] 
iscontented; dissatisfied: as, "the malecon- 
tented multitude," Sp. Hall. 
malcontentedly (mal-kon-ten'ted-li), adv. In 
a malcontented manner; with discontent. 
malcontentedness (mal-kon-ten'ted-nes), n. 
The state or character of being malcontented. 
malcontently (mal-kon-tent'li), adv. As a 
malcontent ; discontentedly. 
malcontentment(mal-kon-tent'ment), n. [For- 
merly also malecontentment; < malcontent + 
-ment.] Discontent. 
They had long agone by vniuersall male-contentment of 
the people . . . procured a great distraction of the king's 
leeges heartes. HoKnshed, Hist. Scotland, an. 1585. 
Maldanidae (mal-dan'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Mal- 
dane + -idte.'] A family of polychsetous anne- 
lids, containing marine worms in which the ap- 
pendages are all much reduced: named from 
the genus Maldane. Also Maldania;. Savigny, 
1817. 
Maldivian (mal-div'i-an), a. and . [< Mal- 
dive (see def.) + -ian.] I. a. Of or belonging 
to the Maldives or Maldive Islands, a chain of 
coral islands in the Indian ocean: as, Mal- 
divian customs. 
II. n. A member of the race inhabiting the 
Maldive Islands. 
maldonite (mal'don-it), n. [< Maldon in Vic- 
toria, where it is found, 4- -zte 2 .] In mineral., 
a variety of native gold, supposed to contain a 
considerable amount of bismuth. 
male 1 (mal), a. and n. [< ME. male, < OF. male, 
masle, F. mdle = Pr. mascle = Sp. Pg. macho = 
It. maschio, < L. masculus, male, dim. (in form), 
< mas (mar-), a man, a male (human being or 
animal). Hence also (from L. mas) E. mascu- 
line, marital, marry 1 , etc.] I. a. 1. Pertaining 
to the sex of human kind, and by extension to 
that of animals in general, that begets young, 
as distinguished from the female, which con- 
ceives and gives birth: as, a male child; a male 
beast, fish, or fowl. 
These were the male children of Manasseh, the son of 
Joseph. Josh. xvii. 2. 
2. In bot., staminate: said of organs or flow- 
ers. In old usage plants were called male or female for 
fanciful reasons (for example, see male-fern). 
3. Pertaining to or characteristic of males of 
the human kind, or men as opposed to women ; 
appropriate to men ; masculine : as, male attire ; 
a mate voice. 4. Composed of males ; made up 
of men and boys : as, a mate choir. 5. Possess- 
ing some quality or attribute considered as 
characteristic of males. [Rare.] 6. Genera- 
tive; fruitful, as an idea. In this sense, Ba- 
con entitles one of his treatises the "Male 
Birth of Time."- Estate tall male. See estate.- 
Male coffee-berry. Seeco/ee, ]. Male conceptacle, 
in bot., in lower cryptogams, a conceptacle producing only 
male organs. See conceptacle, 2. Male die, the upper 
one of a pair of dies. Male flower, gage, knot-grass. 
See the nouns. Male Incense, frankincense or olibanum 
in the form of tears or globular drops, regarded as the 
best kind. 
3592 
May virgins, when they come to mourn, 
Male incense burn. 
Herrick, Dirge of Jephthah's Daughter. 
Male order, in arch., the Doric order : so styled because, 
according to the fancy of Vitruvius, its sturdy proportions 
were modeled after those of the male human form, the 
proportions of the more slender and rounded Ionic order 
after those of the female form. Male rimes, rimes in 
which only the final syllables correspond, as disdain and 
complain. Male screw, a screw of which the threads, 
carried about the exterior surface of a cylinder, correspond 
to and enter spiral grooves formed in the surface of a cylin 
malefic 
maledict (mal-e-dikf), a. [ME. maledight (q. 
v.), < OF. maledict, also maldit, maitdit, F. mau- 
dit = Sp. Pg. maldito = It. maledetto; < L. 
maledictus, pp. of maledicere: see maledict, v.] 
Execrated ; accursed ; damned. [Bare.] 
As the wings of starlings bear them on 
In the cold season in large band and full, 
So doth that blast the spirits maledict. 
Longfellow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, v. 42. 
malediction (mal-e-dik'shon), n. [< ME. male- 
to illKl eilicr spiral grooves it >j i j nu 111 uic .im i.u .; u* * VJUM- ****** w**w ^^ r . / r i_ t 
drical hole and constituting a female screw. Male sys- dicrion, < OF. malediction, also (maletfon, malets- 
getsyoung: opposed to female. In zoology the sign <MWO.J *-vu speaKing ; a cursing ; the utter 
universally used tor a male toV (Mars), the sign s (Venus) ance of a curse or execration ; also, a curse, 
signifying female. 
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first 
year. Ex. xii. 5. 
Bring forth men-children only ! 
For thy undaunted mettle should compose 
Nothing but males. Shale., Macbeth, i. 7. 73. 
2. In plants characterized by sexual differ- 
ences and reproduced by sexual generation, 
that individual of which the special function is 
to form the substance essential to the fertility 
of the germ developed by the female Comple- 
mental or supplemental male, in zool. See comple- 
mental, 2, and quotation under Scalpellum. Dwarf 
male. See dwarf. 
male 2 t, An obsolete form of mail 2 . 
male 3 t, a. [< OF. mal, fern, male, F. mal, fern. 
male = Pr. mal, mau = 
= Sp. mal, malo = Pg. maledictory (mal-e-dik'to-ri), a. Pertaini 
moo, mau, ma = It. malo, < L. malus, bad, evil to, containing, or consisting in malediction or 
Now ye shall [haue] malediccimi. 
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L 5636. 
My name perhaps among the circumcised . . . 
With malediction mention'd. JMUton, S. A., 1. 978. 
= Syn. Malediction, Curse, Imprecation, Execration, Anath- 
ema. All these are strong words ; they are all presumably 
of the nature of prayers, malediction having the least of 
this meaning. Malediction in its derivation contains the 
idea that is common to them all/that of expressing a de- 
sire for evil upon another. Curse, imprecation, and exe- 
cration are often used of the wanton calling down of evil 
upon those with whom one is angry, but all five may indi- 
cate a formal or official act. Execration expresses most 
of personal hatred ; indeed, the word is sometimes used 
simply to express an intense and outspoken hatred : as, 
he was held in execration. Anathema has kept within its 
original limits, as expressing a curse pronounced formally 
by ecclesiastical authority. 
Pertaining 
(neut. malum, > It. male = Sp. Pg. mat = F. mal, cursing ; imprecatory 
an evil). Hence, from L. malus, E. malice, mal- ghe poure d out ... a flood of maledictory prophecy 
ady,mal-, etc.] Bad; evil; wicked. Examplesof against the doers of the deed; . . . she cursed with out- 
this word in English are rare, it being almost always com- stretched arms. 
pounded with the following noun. (See mal-.) 6eo. MacDonald, What s Mine a Mine, p. 318. 
The Lord Cromwell wold have excused hymself of all the maledightt, O- [ME., < OF. maledit, maledict, < 
steryng of moevyng of the male journey of Seynt Albones. L ma l ea j c tiis, pp. : see maledict.] Cursed. 
I aston Letters, I. 345. 
male 4 !, [ME., also mete; < L. malum = Or. 
[if/tov, an apple.] An apple. 
Nowe peres and meles over thicke ar tome 
Away the vicious, lest juce ylorne 
On hem sholde be that gentil frnyt myght spende. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (K E. T. S.), p. 161. 
male 5 (mal) n. [Origin obscure.] The knot, 
1 V . rr. - fl n . rT-1 'IIUIIKU14U /It .' *' *Vf *V, At. *sl\*v., Aw UU*. A*1*ut/l 
a sandpiper, Trmga canutus. C.Swainson. [Es- , - A . , i - < i / v, \ IVTT 
sex Ens 1 malefaction (mal-e-fak'shon), n. [< LL. 
, ' ,* ," ,, ,-,-. . . i -i rm_ J ft<ntititm-\ \-r\\vtw frtooA nYllvlTl ^A1*ivfiH *>1 
male 6 (mal), n. [Origin obscure.] The dan- 
Cometh a childe maledict, 
Axeyn Jhesu to rise he tijt. 
Cursor Mundi. (.Halliwell.) 
maledisantt, n. [Also maldizant; < OF. male- 
disant, F. maldisant, evil-speaking: see male- 
dicent.'] One who speaks evil. Minsheu. 
How then will scoffing readers scape this mark of a 
maledizant ? Florio, It. Diet., To the Header, p. [9). 
delion. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
male-. See maL. 
maladministration!) See maladministra- 
tion. 
maleaset (mal-ez'), n. [< ME. maleise, malese, 
maleese, male-eese, < OF. malaise (F. malaise, > E. 
malaise, q. v.), sickness, < mal, bad, + aise,ease : 
see earn. Cf. disease.] Sickness; malaise. 
Alle manere men that thow myght aspye 
In meschief other in mal-ese and thow mowe hem helpe, 
Loke by thy lyf let hem nouht for-fare. 
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 28a 
Thel broughten to him alle that weren of male-eese. 
WycHf, Mark t 32. 
nialebouchet, n. See maVtouche. 
malecolyei, n. Same as melancholy. 
maleconformationt, See malconformation. 
malecontentt, and n. See malcontent. 
malecotoont, n. See melocoton. 
maledicency (mal-e-di'sen-si), n. [= OF. maldi- 
cence = Sp. Pg. mdkdice'ncia = It. maledicenza, 
factio(n-), injury (used only in derived sense of 
fainting, syncope), < malefacere, do evil, harm, 
< male, evil, + facere, do : see fact. Cf . benefac- 
tion.] Heinous wrong-doing; a criminal deed; 
a crime ; a wrong ; a bane or curse. 
They have proclaim'd their malefactions. 
Shale., Hamlet, ii. 2. 621. 
Such disregard of self as brings on suffering ... is a 
malefaction to others. H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, 72. 
malefactor (mal'e-fak-tqr), n. [Formerly also 
mulefactour ; = Sp. malhechor = Pg. malfeitor 
= It. malfattore, t L. malefactor, an evil-doer, 
< malefacere, do evil: see malefaction. Cf. bene- 
factor.] If. One who does evil or injury to 
another: opposed to benefactor. 
Some benefactors in repute are malefactors in effect. 
Fuller, Hist. Cambridge, viii. 28. 
Goodman Warmhouse was mounted on a round, ambling 
nag, and rode much at his ease by the chariot of his male- 
factor. Brooke, Fool of Quality, I. 312. 
2. A heinous evil-doer ; a law-breaker; a crim- 
inal or felon. 
< L. maledicenUa, an evil speaking, < mate- 
dicen(t-)s, speaking evil of: see maledicent.] 
The practice of evil speaking; reproachful lan- 
guage ; also, proneness to reproach. [Rare.] 
=Syn. 2. Evil-doer, culprit, felon, convict 
We are now to have a taste of the maledtcency of Lu- mo iVp,, .!.., / m .i/23.Vj-,iI'\ , r 
ther's spirit from his book against Henry the Eighth. 
They came out against him as a Malefactor, with swords 
and staves, and having seized his Person, being betray'd 
into their hands by one of his Disciples, they carry him to 
the High Priests house. Stillinyjleet, Sermons, I. vi. 
malefactress (mal'e~-fak-tres), n. [As malefac- 
BprASerbury, Character of Luther, tor + -ess.] A female malefactor; a woman 
5-di'sent), a. [= F. maldisant guilty of crime. 
-Kr> maldiciente = Pe mal malefeasancet, n. See malfeasance, 
tieente maledicente < I/mate male-fern (mal'fern), n. An elegant fern, 
:-)s, ppr. of maledicere, speak evil of : see 4^"' m Filix^ias_(NepJ>rodium Fittx-mas of 
" " slander- 
Possessed with so furious, so maledicent, and so sloven- 
ly spirits. Sir E. Sandys, State of Religion. 
maledict (mal-e-dikf), v. t. [< L. maledictus, 
pp. of maledicere (> It. maldicere, maledire = 
Pg. maldizcr = Sp. maldecir), speak evil of, < 
mate, adv., evil (< malus, evil: see mate 3 ), + 
dicere, speak: see diction.] To address with 
maledictions ; curse. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
She was reproached and maledicted by her father, on 
her return, although he knew not where she had been. 
S. Judd, Margaret, 1. 12. 
and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
See cut under fern Male-fern oil, ananthelmin- 
tic oil obtained from the rhizomesof Asm'dium FHix-man. 
malefic (ma-lef'ik), a. and n. [= F. malefqiic 
= Sp. malefi'-o = Pg. malefico = It. malefico, 
< L. maleficun (also malifictis), evil-doing, hurt- 
ful, mischievous, < malefacere, do evil : see male- 
faction.] I. a. Doing mischief ; producing dis- 
aster or evil ; inauspicious. [Chiefly technical.] 
The Malefic Aspects are the semi quartile, or semi-square, 
the square, the sesquiqtuulrate, and the opposition. 
Zadtiel, Gram, of Astrol., p. 370. 
