marchet 
He \[:il.-,,im III. nl Scotland] alinviiird that wicked 
!;iu, cstuMisliuil by Kiiik' Kwin the third, appointing halfu 
u inurke of miner to he p:til to tin 1 lonlt- of the sollu, In 
ivdi'jiiptioii of the woniiin'.s chu.stitie, which iti vsed to he 
paieit yet vnto this day, mid 18 called the marchett of 
woman. Iliilinthed, Hist. Scotland, an. lost). 
marchioness (miir'shon-es), M. [Formerly also 
marrliioniiixt'; < Ml*, miirfiiiiiisita, fern, of mar- 
i'liin(n-), a prefect of the marches, < marclia, 
murca, a boundary, march: see march*. Cl, 
marquis.] 1. The wife or widow of a marquis. 
2. A size of slate measuring L"2 iuches by 11. 
marchisatet, . An obsolete form of man/iti.i- 
III!'. 
marchland (march ' land), n. [< march 1 + 
laint*.] A border-land ; territory lying on the 
marches or borders of adjoining countries. 
Our special hearth and cradle Is doubtless to be found 
in the immediate marchland of Germany and Denmark. 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. .10. 
march-line (march 'lin), . [< march 1 + line?.] 
A boundary-line between adjacent countries. 
If he did not everywhere know where the march-line 
fell, at least he knew perfectly where It ought to fall. 
Georye MacDonaid, What's Mine's Mine, p. 323. 
March-mad (march'mad), a. Extremely ex- 
cited or excitable, like a March hare (see hare 1 ) ; 
rash; foolhardy. 
Keep him dark, 
He will run March-mad else ; the fumes of battles 
Ascend Into his brains. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i 1. 
marchman (miirch ' man), . ; pi. marchmen 
(-men). A man who lives on the marches or 
border-land of two countries ; a borderer. 
Now Bowden Moor the march-man won, 
And sternly shook his plumed head, 
As glanced his eye o'er Halidon. 
Scott, L. of L. M., i. 30. 
The great Anglican kingdom of the Mercians that Is, 
the Marchmen, the people on the march or frontier seems 
to have been the youngest of all. 
E. A. Freeman, Old Bug. History, p. 39. 
niarch-movemenit (march'mov'ment), n. In 
music, the characteristic rhythm of a march, 
namely duple or quadruple, 
marchpanet (miirch'pan), n. [Early mod. E. 
also marehpain, marchepane (= D. marcipein, 
iiinrsipein = G. marcipan, marzipan = Dan. Sw. 
marsipan), < OF. marcepaiii, F. massepain = Sp. 
masapau = Pg. magapSo = It. marzapane; ac- 
cording to Minsheu, <! L. 'Martius panis, bread 
of Mars. " having towers, castles, and such like 
on them," < Martius, of Mars (see martial), + 
IHtnin, bread. Some see in the first element 
a corrupt form of Gr. /ja(a, a barley-cake.] 1. 
A confection made of pounded pistachio-nuts 
or almonds, with sugar, white of egg, etc. It 
was made into various ornamental devices. 
And whanne Dyner was Don, the Duke sent to the Pil- 
gryms gret basons full of Marchfpanye. 
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel], p. 13. 
Kpigrammes that were sent vsnally for new yeares glftes 
or to be Printed or put vpon their banketting dishes of 
suger plate, or of >n<tr<-lt paitte*. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 47. 
Good thou, save me a piece of marchpane. 
Shot., K. and J., 1. 5. 9. 
Hence 2. Something very fine or dainty. 
Phi. The very march pane of the court, I warrant you. 
I'll" And all the gallants came about you like flies, did 
they not? B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1. 
march-time (march'tlm), . Same as mareli- 
movement. 
march-treason (miirch 'tre'zn), n. Treason 
against a march; betrayal to an enemy of a 
march or border, or of any peculiar interest of 
a bordering territory. 
Not a thane within reach but he knew his family and 
connections, and how many of his ancestors had fallen . . . 
by the hand of the executioner for march-treason. 
Scott, Monastery, Int 
march-ward (march'ward), n. A warden of 
the marches ; a marcher. 
Marciant, a. An obsolete spelling of Martian. 
marcidt (miir'sid), a. [= OF. marcide = Pg. It. 
murcido, < L. marcidus, withered, shrunken, < 
marcere, wither: see marcescent.] 1. Wither- 
ed ; shrunken ; wasted away. 
He on his own flsh pours the noblest oil ; ... 
That, to your marcid dying herbs assigned. 
By the rank smell and taste betrays its kind. 
W. Botries, in Dryden's tr. of Juvenal's Satires, v. 123. 
2. Causing or accompanied by wasting and 
feebleness. 
A burning colliquative fever, the softer parts being melt- 
ed away, the heat continuing its adustion upon the drier 
and fleshy parts, changes into a marcid fever. 
Harvey. (Latham.) 
marcidity (miir-sid'i-ti), w. [< mareiil + -ity.] 
A wasted or withered condition; leanness; 
meagerness. I'crry. 
3627 
Marcionist (mar'shon-ist), n. [< Gr. Mapmu- 
''"""'/?, < MB/JK/'UV, Marcion: see Marcionite and 
-int.] Same as Marcinnii'-. 
Marcionite (miir'slion-it), n. and o. [< LL. 
Miin-iiniilii, < Or. Mu/iKuwin/f, < Mapxiuv, L. Mar- 
cion, (. Mrf/Mcof, L. Marcus, a personal name.] I. 
n. A follower of Marcion of Sinope, a Gnostic 
religious teacher of the second century, and the 
founder at Rome of the Marcionite sect, which 
lasted until the seventh century or later. Mar- 
cion taught that there were three primal forces : the good 
God, first revealed by Jesus Christ ; the evil matter, ruled 
by the devil ; and the Demiurge, the finite and imperfect 
Cod of the Jews. He rejected the Old Testament, denied 
the Incarnation and resurrection, and admitted only a gos- 
pel akin to or altered from that of si. Luke and ten of St. 
Paul's epistles as Inspired and authoritative ; he repeated 
baptism thrice, excluded wine from the eucharist, Incul- 
cated an extreme asceticism, and allowed women to min- 
ister. See Cerdonian. 
U. a. Pertaining to or characterized by 
the principles of Marcion: as, the Marcio-Mte 
Church. 
Marcionitic (mar-sho-nit'ik), a. [< Marcionite 
+ -ic.] Of or pertaining to the Marcionites or 
their doctrines. 
Marcionitism (miir'shon-it-izm), n. [< Mar- 
cionite + -ism.] The doctrines of the Marcion- 
ites. Kncyc. Brit., XV. 485. 
Marcobrunner (mar'ko-brun-r), w. [G.] A 
wine produced in a vineyard in the commune 
of Erbach, near Wiesbaden, and taking its name 
from a neighboring fountain called the Mark- 
brunneu. It ranks among the best of German 
wines. 
Marcomannic (mar-ko-man'ik), a. [< Marco- 
nn i n ni + -ic.] Relating to the Marcomanni, 
an ancient German tribe which harassed the 
Roman empire at intervals from the time of 
Cffisar to the fourth century. 
marcor, marcour (miir'kor), n. [< L. marcor, 
decay, faintness, languor, < marcere, wither, 
decay, fade, faint : see marcescent.] The state 
of withering or wasting ; leanness ; loss of flesh. 
Sir T. Browne. [Rare.] 
Marcosian (mar-ko'si-an), n. [Appar. irreg. < 
Gr. Map/cof, L. Marcus, the name of the founder.] 
A follower of Marcus, perhaps of Ephesus, a 
heresiarch of the second century. The leading 
features of his system were a ritual imitating the Christian 
eucharist (at which he apparently caused a miraculous 
change in the color and quantity of the wlneX ministration 
and prophecy of women, a cabalistic use of numbers and 
letters, antinomlan licentiousness, and a Gnostic system 
of eons. He is known chiefly from the writings of Irenaeus. 
and his followers were not numerous. 
marcour, n. See marcor. 
mardt (mard), n. Same as merd. 
mardert, mardernt, n. Same as marten*. 
Mardi gras (mar'de gra). [F., lit. 'fat Tues- 
day': so called from the French practice of 
parading a fat ox (iKeuf gras) during the cele- 
bration of the day: mardi (< L. Mortis difs, 
day of Mars), Tuesday; gras, fat: see grease.] 
Shrove Tuesday ; the last day of carnival ; the 
day before Ash Wednesday (the first day of 
Lent), which in some places, as in New Or- 
leans, fc celebrated with revelry and elaborate 
display. 
mare 1 (mar), w. [< ME. mare, mere, meere, mure. 
< AS. mere, myre = OFries. merie = D. merrie 
= MLG. LG. merie = OHG. mcriha, merha, 
MHG. mericlie, merhe, G. mahre = Icel. merr = 
Sw. marr = Dan. mier, a mare; fern, to AS. 
mi-ar, mearh = OHG. marah, march, marc, 
MHG. march, marc = Icel. marr (Goth, not re- 
corded), a horse, steed, = Ir. Gael, mare = W. 
march = Corn, march (Old Celtic /lapnac, in 
Pausanias), a horse, stallion. The Teut. forms 
may, however, be derived from the Celtic. The 
masc. form has disappeared from E. and G., ex- 
cept as found in the disguised compound mar- 
shal.] 1. The female of the horse, or of other 
species of the genus Equus, 
With him ther was a Plowman was his brother, . . . 
In a tabard he rood upon a mere. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 541. 
2. A few ears of grain left standing and tied 
together, at which the harvesters throw their 
sickles till the knot is out. Halliicell. [Here- 
fordshire, Eng.]- Crying the mare, an old harvest 
sport in Herefordshire. Btount. See aef. 2. Mare's 
nest, an absurd or ridiculous imagined discover}-; some- 
thing of apparent importance which a person fancies he 
has discovered, but which turns out to be a delusion or a 
hoax. Formerly also hane-nett. 
Why dost thou laugh? 
What mare'i not hast thon found ? 
Fletcher, Bonduca, v. 2. 
maresse 
stared Into by the Herman Uelehrter through his >i>ecta- 
cle* pint calculation. 
/,<, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 292. 
Honey makes the mare go, the outlay of money keep* 
thing* going: money will succeed where everythflig else 
falls. (Slang.) 
I'm making the mare go here in Whitford, without the 
money too sometimes. King&ey, Two Years Ago, Int. 
Shanks' mare, one's own legs, as a means of conveyance. 
islaiiv. | The gray mare IB the better horse, the wife 
rules the husband, {.slung. | Timber mare. Hame u 
,. 
mare'^t (mar), . K ME. mare, if "re, < AS. mara, 
an incubus, = MLG. mare, mar, LG. mare, mar, 
mor = OHG. maro, mar, MHG. mar, G. dial. 
mahr, mar = Icel. mara = Sw. mara = Dan. mare, 
nightmare; cf. OF. mare, an incubus, also in 
comp. cauehemare, cochcmare, cauquemare, F. 
caucliemar, nightmare, < OF. cauclier, < L. cal- 
care, tread upon, + mare, incubus ; cf. Pol. 
mara, a vision, dream, nightmare; Bohem. 
mura, incubus; prob. lit. 'crusher,' from the 
root of AS. mirran, myrran, hinder, mar, orig. 
'crush': see mar 1 .] Oppressed sleep ; incubus, 
formerly regarded as an evil spirit of the night 
that oppresses persons during sleep : now used 
only in the compound nightmare. 
Mushrooms cause the Incubus, or the mare In the 
stomach. Bacon, Nat. Hist. 
mare s t, a. and adv. An obsolete form of more*. 
Mareca (ma-re'kft), n. [NL., < Braz. mareca 
(Marcgrave), native name of a teal.] A genus 
of ducks of the family Anatidte and subfamily 
.iiin/iiiii : the widgeons. The common widgeon 
of Europe is M. penelope; that of America is 
M. americana. Bee widgeon. Also written 
Marica. 
marechalt (mar'e-shal), n. [F. martchal, mar- 
shal : see marshal.] A kind of powder used for 
the hair in the eighteenth century. 
His hair powdered with marechal, a cambric shirt, etc. 
Smollett, Koderick Kandom. 
mare clausum.! HLi'rr IJ.V'SIUM i. [L.: mare.sea; 
flu H.-II HI, neut. of clausus, closed: see mere* 
and close?, a.] A closed sea; a sea closed to 
navigation; a sea or a part of the high seas 
within the jurisdiction of a particular nation, 
as distinguished from the open sea, where all 
nations have equal right. The phrase Is not a geo- 
graphical one, but a technical legal terra, the subject of 
which has always been In controversy In international 
law ; and Its meaning therefore varies in extent according 
as it is used by those who claim or who resist an extension 
of territorial Jurisdiction over otherwise open seas. 
marelst, w. A Middle English form of marish. 
marekanite (mar'e-kan-H), n. [< Marekanka 
(seedef.) +-i< 2 .] ' A variety of ^obsidian, found 
in small spherules in the vicinity of the Mare- 
kanka, near Okhotsk in Siberia. It is a form 
of pearlstone. 
Maremmese (mar-e-meV or -mez'), a. [< It. 
Maremme + -ese.] Of or pertaining to the Ma- 
remme, certain marshy tracts extending along 
the coast of Tuscany in Italy, reaching back 
from six to eighteen miles from the sea. The 
soil is of wonderful fertility, but the atmosphere is so pesti- 
lential as to render these districts uninhabitable in the 
warm season. 
marena (ma-re'nS), n. [NL., < G. marane, mo- 
rane, said to be so called from Lake Morin, in 
Brandenburg, Prussia.] A coregonine flsh, 
C'oregonus marania, better known as C. latare- 
ttts: "ny as lavaret. 
marennin (ma-ren'in), M. See the quotation. 
Naviciila ostrearla contains a light-blue pigment, which 
It Is proposed to call marennin, which is diffused throughout 
the protoplasm. Jour, qf Micros. Soc., 2d ser., VI. 1. 53. 
Mareotic (mar-e-ot'ik), . [< L. Mareoticvs, < 
Gr. MapeuT(i)f,< Mapeortf (sc. Mfivti), also lAapeia, 
>'i ).l/in/ f/ Map/a, Lake Mareotis, < TAapfia, Maph/, 
< Egypt. Mer or Mir, a city in Egypt, or the 
lake Mareotis (seedef.) + -ic.] Of or pertain- 
ing to Lake Mareotis in Lower Egypt, or the 
region in which it is situated: as, J/areoHcwine. 
mares, w. Plural of m3. 
mareschal (mar'e-shal), n. An obsolete form 
of marshal: used archaically, especially with 
reference to a marshal of France. 
William, may thy arms advance, 
That he may lose Ditiant next year, 
And so be maretchal [In ed. 1 766, " constable " ] of France. 
Prior, Taking of Samur in 1895. 
mare's-nest (marz'nest), c. i. [< mare's nest (see 
under ia re*).] To discover mare's nests; make 
absurd discoveries ; imagine that one has made 
an important discovery which is really no dis- 
covery at all, or is a hoax. 
It [the average German mind] finds its keenest pleasure 
in divining a profound significance iu the most trifling 
things, and the number of mare'i-nenU that have been maresset, >i. A Middle English form of marish. 
He's always mare'f-negting. 
Lever, Davenport Dunn, I. 306. (Hoppe.) 
