marshalship 
state of being a marshal; also, the term of 
office of a marshal. 
The Duke of Norfolk, with the rod of marshalship, a 
coronet on his head. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1, Order of Coronation, 7. 
marshbankert (marsh'bang"ker), . An ob- 
solete form of mossbunker. 
marsh-beetle (marsh ' be " tl), . [< marsh + 
beetle*.] The cattail or reedmace, Typha Ititi- 
fnlia. Also marish-beetle, marsh-pestle. 
marsh-bellflower (marsh'bel"flou-r), n. A 
plant, Campanula aparinoides, growing in bogs 
and wet meadows of North America. 
marsh : blackbird (marsh'blak'bferd), n. An 
American blackbird of the subfamily Agelceince, 
and especially of the genus Agelaius, of which 
there are several species, chiefly inhabiting 
marshes. See cut under Agelceinie. 
marshbunker (marsh'bung' / ker), n. Same as 
mossbunker. 
marsh-buttercup (marsh'but"6r-kup), . A 
plant of the genus Vittarsia of the gentian fam- 
ily. [Australia.] 
marsh-cinquefoil (marsh'singk"foil), n. Same 
as marsh-fivefinger. 
marsh-cress (mSwh'kres), n. A plant, Nastur- 
tium palustre. Also called marsh-watercress. 
marsh-diver (marsh'dl"ver), n. Some marsh- 
bird, perhaps the bittern. 
Marsh-divers, rather, maid, 
Shall croak thee sister. Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
marsh-elder (marsh'ei'der), n. 1. Seeeldert. 
2. The wild guelder-rose, Viburnum Opu- 
lus. 
marsh-fern (marsh'fern), i. One of the shield- 
ferns, Aspidium Thelypteris. 
marsh-fever (marsh'fe"ver), n. Same as inter- 
mittent fever (which see, under fever 1 ). 
marsh-fish (marsh'fish), . The mudfish, Amia 
calra. 
marsh-fivefinger (marsh'fiv"fing-g6r), . See 
five-finger, 1, and Potentilla. 
marsh-flower (marsh'flou"er), n. See Limnan- 
themum. 
marsh-gas (marsh'gas), . Light carbureted 
hydrogen. See fire-damp. 
marsh-goose (m'arsh'gos), n. 1. The graylag. 
2. Hutchins's goose, Sernicla hutchin.fi. 
[North Carolina.] 
marsh-grass (marsh'gras), n. 1. Any grass 
that grows in marshes. 2. Specifically, any 
grass of the genus Spartina, or cord-grass'; also', 
Distichlis maritima. [U. S.] 
marsh-harrier (marsh'har"i-er), n. A harrier 
of the genus Circus, especially C. arruginosus : 
so called from their fondness for hunting for 
frogs in marshy places. See harrier 2 , 2. 
marsh-hawk (marsh 'hak), n. The common 
American marsh-harrier, Circus hudsonius, the 
only member of the Circinee found in North 
America : so called from frequenting marshes 
and wet meadows in search of its prey, which 
consists chiefly of frogs and other reptiles. 
The adult male is mostly bluish above and white below ; 
the female and the young of both sexes are dark-brown 
above, with conspicuous white upper tail-coverts, and be- 
low of a light-reddish brown with darker markings. See 
cut under CircinCR. 
marsh-hen (marsh 'hen), ti. One of several 
different birds of the family Ballidce. (a) The 
king-rail, Rallus elegans: more fully called fresh-water 
marsh-hen, (b) The clapper-rail, Rallus erepitans or lonyi- 
rostris: more fully called salt watcrmarsh-henor salt-marsh 
hen. Also meadow-hen mud-hen, sedye-hen. (c) The com- 
mon American gallinule, Oattinula galeata. See cut un- 
der GaUintde. [Local, U.S.] (d) The American coot, Fnlica 
americana. [New Eng.] (e) The European gallinule, Gal- 
linula chloropits. 
Also moat-hen. 
marshiness 
(mar'shi-nes), 
n. The state of 
being marshy, 
marshland 
(marsh ' land), 
"mershland, 
AS. merscland, 
<mersc, marsh, 
+ land, land.] 
A marshy dis- 
trict; marsh. 
Edinburgh . 
Rev., CLXVI. ] 
301. 
marshlyt 
(marsh'li), a. 
[<ME. merssch- 
/!/; < marsh + "^^ 
->yl.] Marshy. "^Tu'c'ra^^.^Te'Sit ' """ 
3640 
A mersschly lond called Holdernesse. 
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 2. (Harl. MS.) 
marsh-mallow (marsh'mal"6), . [< ME. 
* mershmalwe, < AS. merscmealwe (-mealewe, 
-mealuwe), < mersc, marsh, + mealwe, mallow.] 
1 . A shrubby herb, Althwa officinalis, growing in 
marshy places, especially maritime, in the tem- 
perate regions of the Old World, and on the 
coast of New England and New York. The flow- 
ering stalks are two or three feet high, the leaves broadly 
ovate, the moderate-sized flowers pale rose-color, chiefly 
in a terminal spike, but some peduncled in the upper axils. 
The mucilaginous root is used as a demulcent; it also 
forms the basis of well known confections. The name has 
been locally applied to other plants, as Malm sylvestris. 
See Althaea and althein, and cut in preceding column. 
2. A paste or confection made from the root of 
this plant. [In this sense usually written 
marshmallow."] 
marsh-marigold (marsh ' mar *i- gold), n. A 
golden-flowered plant, Caltha palustris : in the 
United States also called cowslip. See Cciltha 
and gowan. 
The wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in swamps and 
hollows gray. Tennyson, May Queen. 
marsh-miasma (marsh'mi-az // ma), . Miasma 
from marshes or boggy spots ; the infectious 
vapors which arise from certain marshes and 
marshy soils, and produce intermittent and re- 
mittent fevers. 
marsh-nut (marsh'nut), . Same as marking- 
nut. 
marsh-parsley (marsh'pars"li), n. 1. A plant, 
Apium graveolens, varieties of which form the 
cultivated celery. 2. A European umbellifer- 
ous plant, Peucedanum (Selinum) palustre. Its 
root has been used as an antispasmodie. 
marsh-peep (marsh'pep), n. The least stint or 
Wilson's sandpiper, Tringa (Aetodromas) minu- 
tilla, the smallest and one of the most abun- 
dant of its tribe in North America. 
marsh-pennywort (marsh'pen"i-wert), n. A 
creeping umbelliferous plant of Europe, Hy- 
drocotyle rulgaris. It is also called white-rot. 
See flukewort, and cut under Hydrocotyle. 
marsh-pestle (marsh'pes"!), n. Same as marsh- 
beetle. 
marsh-plover (marsh'_pluv' / er), n. The pecto- 
ral sandpiper, Aetodromas maculata : a gunners' 
misnomer. [Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts.] 
marsh-pullet (marsh'puFet), n. The common 
American gallinule, Gal/inula galeata. See cut 
under gallinule. [Washington, D. C.] 
marsh-quail (miirsh'kwal), n. The meadow- 
lark, UtitrneUa mngna. [Local, New Eng.] 
marsh-ringlet (niarsh'ring'let), n. A kind of 
butterfly, Ccenoni/mpha darns. 
marsh-robin (marsh'rob"in), .. The chewink 
or towhee-bunting. Pipilo cri/throphthalmus: so 
called from its hatints, and the reddish color on 
the sides of the breast. [Local, U. 8.] 
marsh -rosemary (miirsh'r6z"ma-ri), n. 1. A 
plant, Stutice Limonium, the root of which is a 
strong astringent, and is sometimes used in 
medicine. [U. S.] 2. An occasional name of 
the wild rosemary. See Ledum. 
marsh-samphire (marsh 'sam'fir), n. A leaf- 
less, much-branched, jointed, succulent plant, 
Salicornia herbacea, found on muddy or moist 
sandy shores in both hemispheres. It is eaten 
by cattle, and makes a good pickle. See glass- 
u-ort and Kalicornia. 
marsh-shrew (marsh ' shro), n. An aquatic 
shrew of North America, Neosorex palustris, and 
other species of the same genus. The technical 
characters are similar to those of the water-shrew of Eu- 
rope, Crossopusfodiens. They inhabit the northern United 
States and British America, ranging further south in alpine 
regions. See Neosorex. 
marsh-snipe (marsh ' snip), n. The common 
American snipe; the meadow-snipe. [Mary- 
land, U. S.] 
marsh-tackey (m&nh'tak'i), n. A small horse 
peculiar to the coast-line of the southern United 
States; a swamp-pony. Sportsman's Gazetteer. 
marsh-tea (marsh'te), n. See Ledum. 
marsh-tern (marsh'tern), n. The gull-billed 
tern or sea-swallow, Gelochelidon tMotica or ati- 
glica, of Europe, Asia, and America. See cut 
under Gelochelidon. 
marsh-tit (marsh'tit), n. A European titmouse, 
Parva pahlftris. closely resembing the coal-tit. 
marsh-trefoil (marsh ' tre " foil), n. See bog- 
bean and Meni/anthes. 
marsh-watercress (marsh' wa'ter-kres), n. 
Same as marsh-cress. 
marshwort(marsh'wert),n. 1. The cranberry, 
Vaccinimn Oxycoccus. 2. The umbelliferous 
plant Helosciadium (Siuni) nodifloriim. [Eng.] 
Marsilea 
marsh-wren (marsh'ren), n. One of several 
different wrens which breed exclusively in 
marshes. Two are common in the United States, of 
which the best-known is the long billed marsh-wren, Cis- 
tuthnrus palustris, found in suitable localities throughout 
most of North America. It is scarcely 5 inches long, 
above brown with a dorsal patch of black streaked with 
white, below white shpded on the sides, flanks, and cris- 
sum, the tail with fine blackish bars on a brown ground. 
This little bird is noted for its great globular nests with a 
hole in the side, affixed to the reeds and other rank herb- 
Long-billed Marsh-wren (.Cistothorus pal* 
age of the marshes it colonizes. It lays from 6 to 10 eggs 
of chocolate-brown color, but many of the nests never 
have eggs in them, being apparently built and used by the 
males alone. A variety of this species found in California 
is known as the tide wren. The short-billed marsh-wren, 
C. ttellaris, isquitedifferent, being almost entirely streaked 
above with black and white, besides the distinction im- 
plied in the name. It nests differently, lays white eggs, is 
less abundant* and is chiefly observed in the United States 
east of the Mississippi. Other kinds of marsh-wrens, 
mostly like the short-billed, inhabit Mexico, Central and 
South America, and the West Indies, but none of this ge- 
nus are found in the Old World. 
marshy (mar'shi), a. [< ME. mershy, merschy; 
< marsh + -y 1 ."] 1. Partaking of the nature of a 
marsh; swampy; fenny. 
No natural cause she found, from brooks or bogs 
Or marshy lowlands, to produce the fogs. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., i. 
2. Produced in or peculiar to marshes. 
Feed 
With delicates of leaves and marshy weed. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iii. 277. (Latham.) 
In snipes the colours are modified so as to be equally in 
harmony with the prevalent forms and colours of marshy 
vegetation. A. S. Wallace, Nat. Select, p. 53. 
Marsian (mar'si-au), a. [< Marsi (see Mamie) 
+ -an.'] Same as Marsic. 
The ruins of the old Marsian city of Alba. 
C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 21. 
Marsic (miir'sik), a. [< L. Marsicus, < Marsi (see 
def. ).] Of or pertaining to the Marsi, a Sabine 
people of ancient Italy, living in the Apennines 
around Lake Fucinus : as, the Marsic or Social 
War (a contest against Kome, 90-88 B. c., of 
confederated tribes under the lead of the Marsi). 
Marsilea(mar-sirf-a),. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1767), 
named after Aloysius Marnili, an early Italian 
naturalist.] A genus of aquatic or subaquatic 
Marsilea guadrifolia. 
a, the sporocarp or conceptacle ; b, a sporocarp with valves opencil 
and emitting the mucilaginous cord, which Itears the sori. 
cryptogamous plants, typical of the order Mar- 
xilfiH'rw. Tht-y have wide-creeping rootstocks, and leaves 
produced singly or in tufts from nodes of the rootstock, 
each consisting of a petiole and four sessile, equally spread- 
ing, deltoid-cuiieate or oblanceolate leaflets with flabellate 
anastomosing veins. The conceptacles or sporocarps are 
ovoid or beaiushaped and two-valved, and emit a mucila- 
ginous cord upon which are borne numerous oblong-cylin- 
drical sori, each sorus containing numerous microsporangia 
and few macrosporangia. The genus is widely distributed, 
and embraces 40 species, of which 4 are North American. 
M. Dnimmfmdii is the Australian nardoo. Sometimes writ- 
ten Marsttia, 
