masoola-boat 
of a coming wave to drive it high on the beach, where it 
is quickly run up out of the reach of the next rolling wave. 
Also called chelingue. Imp. Diet. 
Masora, Massorah (mas'o-rii), . [Hel>., tra- 
dition.] 1. The tradition by which Jewish 
scholars endeavored to fix the correct text of 
the Old Testament, so as to preserve it from 
all corruption. 2. After the ninth century, 
the book, or the marginal notes to the Hebrew 
text, in which the results of such tradition are 
preserved, embodying the labor of several cen- 
turies. There is a twofold Masora, a Babylonian or 
Eastern, and a Palestinian or Western, the former being 
the more important. The Masora not only takes account 
of various readings, but also contains notes of a gram- 
matical and lexicographical character, including the sys- 
tem of Hebrew vowel-points first established by it. With 
much that is valueless, it contains all the material from 
which a critical revision of the Old Testament text can 
now be derived. Also written Masorah and Massora. 
A more accurate and lasting masoreth than either the 
synagogue of Ezra or the Galiljean school at Tiberias hath 
left us. Milton, Divorce, To the Parliament. 
Masorete, . Same as Masorite. 
masoretic, massoretic (mas-o-ret'ik), a. [< 
Masorete + -ic.] Relating or belonging to the 
Masora, or to the compilers of the Masora ; per- 
taining to the method or system of the Masora : 
as, masoretic points that is, the vowel-points 
furnished by the Masora. 
The text which the Revisers used was the so-called mas- 
soretic or traditional text. Bibliotheca Sacra, XLIII. 559. 
masoretical, massoretical (mas-6-ret'i-kal)' 
a. [< masoretic + -al.~\ Same as masoretic. 
Masorite, Massorite (mas'o-rit), . [< Masora 
+ -*te 2 .] One who made the Jewish tradi- 
tional interpretation of the Bible his special 
study; specifically, one of that body of Jewish 
scholars which first put the Masora into written 
form. See Masora. Also Masorete, Masoret, 
Massorete, Hassoret. 
The Masorites extended their care to the vowels. 
Mather, Vindication of the Bible, p. 257. (Latham.) 
masque, . and r. See maskZ. 
masquelonge, n. Same as maskalonge. 
masquer, . See masker. 
masquerade (mas-ke-rad'), n. [= D. G. Dan. 
maskerade = Sw. maskcrad, < F. masquerade = 
It. mascherata, < Sp. Pg. mascara-da, a masque- 
rade, < mascara, a mask: see mask^."] 1. An 
assembly of persons wearing masks and usu- 
ally other disguises, or rich and fantastic dress : 
usually, a dancing-party or ball. See mask-ball. 
The world's masquerade ! the maskers, you, you, you. 
Goldsmith, Epil. to Mrs. Lennox's Comedy, Sisters. 
Warton says that certain theatrical amusements were 
called masquerades very anciently in France. 
Stmtt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 342. 
2. Disguise effected by wearing a mask or 
strange apparel; hence, concealment or appa- 
rent change of identity by any means ; disguise 
in general. 
And, after all, what is a lie ? 'Tis but 
The truth in masquerade. 
Byron, Don Juan, xi. 37. 
Old Adam will smile at the pains that have made 
Poor winter look fine in such strange masquerade. 
Wordsworth, Farmer of Tilsbury Vale. 
3. The costume of a person who joins in a mas- 
querade; disguising costume of any sort. 4. 
A Spanish diversion on horseback'. See the 
quotation. 
The masquerade is an exercise they learned from the 
Moors, performed by squadrons of horse, seeming to 
charge each other with great fierceness, with bucklers in 
their left hands and a kind of cane in their right. 
Clarendon, Life, I. 223. 
5. A changeable or shot silk. Fairholt. 
masquerade (mas-ke-rad'), v. ; pret. and pp. 
masqueraded, ppr. masquerading. [< masque- 
rade,^'] I. intrans. 1. To wear a mask; take 
part in a masquerade. 2. To disguise one's 
self. 
A freak took an ass in the head, and he goes into the 
woods, masquerading up and down in a lion's skin. 
Sir Jt. ^Estrange, Fables. 
II. trans. To cover with a mask or disguise. 
His next shift therefore is ... to masquerade vice, and 
to make it wear the habit and shape of that virtue it most 
resembles. Killingbeck, Sermons, p. 229. (Latham.) 
masquerader (mas-ke-ra'der), n. 1. A person 
dressed and disguised for a masquerade. Hence 
2. A person or thing disguised in any man- 
ner. 
The dreadful masquerader, thus equipt, 
Out sallied on adventures. 
Young, Night Thoughts, v. 860. 
mass 1 (mas), n. [< ME. masse, messe, < AS. 
Hia'fme, the mass, a church festival, =OS. misaa 
= OPries. missa MD. misse, D. mis = MLG. 
misse = OHG. missa, messa, MHG. messe, misse, 
3648 
G. messe = Icel. messa = Sw. messa = Dan. messe 
= F. messe = Sp. misa = Pg. missa = It. messa, 
the mass, < LL. missa, dismissal, esp. the dismis- 
sal of a congregation, the mass, < L. mitterc, 
pp. missus, send: see mission. The name missa 
is usually said to be taken from the words 
ite, missa est, 'go, it is the dismissal,' or 'go, 
dismissed' (the word eoneio, ' congregation,' be- 
ing unnecessarily supposed to be omitted), 
thought to have been used at that point of the 
mass when the catechumens were dismissed, 
and the communion service followed ; but it ap- 
pears to have referred orig. to the dismissal of 
the congregation at the end of the mass, and to 
have been applied, by an easy transfer, to the 
service itself.] 1. The celebration of the 
Lord's Supper or eucharist. 
That Office which was called the Mass by the mediaeval 
and the Latin Church, but which we now call the Lord's 
Supper and the Holy Communion. 
Procter, Hist. Book of Com. Prayer, p. 305. 
The Supper of the Lord, and the Holy Communion, com- 
monly called the Mass. Book of Common Prayer (1549). 
2. The office for the celebration of the eucha- 
rist ; the liturgy. The component parts of the mass 
or liturgy are the ordinary of the mass (ordo miss(e) and 
the canon of the mase(canon missa!), succeeded by the com- 
munion (sometimes counted part of the canon) and post- 
communion. Anciently and technically the part preced- 
ing the offertory is the mass or liturgy of the catechumens 
(missa catechumenorum), the remainder the mass or litur- 
gy of the faithful (missa Jldelium). In the Roman Catholic 
Church different classes of masses are high mass, low mass, 
private mass, votive mass, etc. See the phrases below. 
It nedith not to speke of the meesse ne the seruise that 
the! hadde that day, for it were but losse of tyme. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 375. 
And whan our parish-wwisse was done, 
Our kinge was bowne to dyne. 
Sir Cauline (Child's Ballads, III. 175). 
The time of the Communion shall be immediately after 
that the Priest himself hath received the Sacrament, with- 
out the varying of any other rite or ceremony in the Mass. 
Order of the Communion (1548). 
The maiden buried, not as one unknown, 
Nor meanly, but with gorgeous obsequies, 
And mass, and rolling music, like a queen. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
3. The sacrament of the eucharist or holy com- 
munion. The word mass in this and the preceding senses 
is popularly used of the eucharist as celebrated in the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, or of the teachings of that church 
with regard to the sacrament, as involving not only the 
doctrines of the real presence and the eucharistic sacri- 
fice, held in some other churches also, but the doctrine 
of transubstantiation as denned by the Council of Trent. 
The use of the word mass (missa) in the Western Church 
is as old as the fourth century. The Greek Church has no 
term precisely corresponding to mass, the sacrament be- 
ing generally called the eucharist or holy communion, and 
the office the liturgy. At-the Reformation the first Prayer- 
Book (1549) of the Church of England retained the name 
mass, which was omitted in the second book (1552) and fell 
into disuse, being popularly regarded as involving a Ro- 
man Catholic view of the sacrament. The use of the word 
has, however, been revived to some extent among Angli- 
cans in the present century. Swedish and Danish Protes- 
tants use the corresponding word for their own commu- 
nion office. 
4. A musical setting of certain parts of the 
Roman Catholic liturgy, also of correspond- 
ing parts of the Anglican liturgy, it consists 
usually of the following sections, each of which is some- 
times divided into separate movements: Kyrie, Gloria (in- 
cluding the Gratias agimus, Qui tollis, Quoniara, Cum 
Sancto Spiritu), Credo (including the Et Incarnatus, Cru- 
ciflxus, Et Resurrexit), Sanctus (including the Hosanna), 
Benedictus (including a repetition of the Hosanna), and 
the Agnus Dei (including the Dona nobis). To these an 
Offertorium (after the Credo and before the Sanctus) is 
sometimes added. The Requiem Mass differs largely 
from the regular mass, and includes settings of several 
of the stanzas of the hymn "Dies Iras." The artistic 
form of musical masses varies widely, from unaccompa- 
nied plain-song to the most elaborate polyphony with or- 
chestral accompaniments. Medieval masses were named 
usually from the melody which was taken as the subject 
for contrapuntal treatment, as Josquin's mass "L'homme 
arme " ; modern masses are named from the key of the first 
movement, as Bach's "Mass in B minor." 
5. A church festival or feast-day: now only 
in composition : as, Candlemas, Childermas, 
Christmas, Lammas, Martinmas, Marymas, Mi- 
chaelmas, Boodmas (compare kermess). By the 
masst, an oath formerly In common use : sometimes ab- 
breviated to mass. 
Mrs. Page. Trust me, he beat him most pitifully. 
Mrs. Ford. Nay, by the mass, that he did not ; he beat 
him most unpitifully, methought. 
Shale., M. W. of W., iv. 2. 214. 
'Mass, here he comes. 
Middleton (and others), The Widow, iii. 3. 
Capitular mass, in collegiate churches, high mass, cel- 
ebrated on Sundays or festivals. Consummation of 
the mass. See consummation. Conventual mass, a 
solemn mass celebrated daily in cathedral and collegiate 
churches, in memory of and for the benefit of their found- 
ers. Dry mass, dry service, a form of service, not 
properly a mass, consisting of part of the eucharistic of- 
fice, but without consecration, such as the naval or naut- 
ical mass, or the mass of the presanctified. The same 
name was also given to an office consisting of part of the 
mass 
ordinary of the mass, and without either consecration, ele- 
vation, or communion : said in some places in the middle 
ages for strangers who came too late for the celebration. 
The Typics of the Greek Church have been compared to such 
an office. What is commonly known as the Ante-commu- 
nion Service has sometimes been called by Anglican writers 
the Dry Service (Missa sicca). High mass, a mass accom- 
panied by music and incense, celebrated on Sundays, feast- 
days, and other special occasions by a priest or prelate, 
attended by a deacon and subdeacon. LOW mass, the 
ordinary mass, said, not sung, by the priest. Mass bell. 
See bett^. Mass for the dead, a mass celebrated for a 
person or persons after their death ; in the Roman Catho- 
lic Church, one celebrated for the purpose of hastening the 
release of a soul or souls from purgatory. The color of the 
vestments, etc., is black. Mass of the Holy Ghost, a sol- 
emn massfor the Pope, the sovereign, or the state, and forall 
in union with the church or with a religious order. It is cel- 
ebrated previous to a council or to the election of a bishop 
or abbot, and also at consecrations and coronations, or to 
obtain from God some special light or favor. Mass of the 
Presanctifled. Same as Liturffy of the Prexanctifled. See 
liturgy. Ordinary Of the mass. See ordinary. Pri- 
vate mass, (a) Low mass. (6) Any mass where only the 
priest communicates, especially such a mass celebrated in 
a private oratory. Votive mass, a mass which does not 
correspond with the office of the day, but is said at the 
choice of the priest. 
mass 1 (mas), r. i. [< mass 1 , .] To celebrate 
mass. 
As for the rumours that have or do go abroad, either of 
our relenting or massing, we trust .that they which know 
God and their duty towards their brethren in Christ will 
not be too light of credence. 
Bp. Ridley, in Bradford's Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 83. 
Massing pliestt, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Christ's doctrine is, that he is "the way " : but this doc- 
trine maketh the massing-priegt the way. 
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 293. 
mass 2 (mas), n. [< ME. masse, < OF. masse, F. 
masse = Pr. massa = Sp. mam = Pg. It. massa = 
OHG. massa, MHG. G. masse = Dan. masse = 
Sw. massa, < L. massa, alump, mass (as of dough, 
pitch, salt, cheese, metal, stone, etc.), prob. < 
Gr. ua^a, a barley cake ; of. fiayjia, a kneaded 
mass, < fiaaaeiv, knead: see macerate. Hence 
ult. NM8MM 1 .] 1. A body of coherent matter; 
a lump, particularly a large or unformed lump : 
as, a mass of iron or lead ; a mass of flesh ; a maxx 
of rock. 
Right in the midst the Goddesse selfe did stand 
Upon an altar of some costly masse. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 39. 
One common mass composed the mould of man. 
Dryden, Sig. and Guis., 1. 602. 
Myro's Statues, which for Art surpass 
All others, once were but a shapeless Mass. 
Cougreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
2. An assemblage or collection of incoherent 
particles or things; an agglomeration; a con- 
geries; hence, amount or number in general: 
as, a mass of sand ; a mass of foliage, of troops, 
etc. 
I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly. 
Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 289. 
In our study of anatomy there is a mass of mysterious 
philosophy. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 36. 
3. The bulk or greater part of anything; the 
chief portion ; the main body. 
The great mass of the articles on which impost is paid 
is foreign luxuries. Jefferson, Works, VIII. 68. 
The great mass of human calamities, in all ages, has 
been the result of bad government. 
Story, Misc. Writings, p. 618. 
4. Bulk in general ; magnitude; massiveness. 
Witness this army of such mass and charge. 
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 4. 47. 
5. The quantity of any portion of matter as ex- 
pressed in pounds or grams, and measured on an 
ordinary balance with the proper reduction for 
the buoyancy of the atmosphere ; otherwise, the 
relative inertia, or power in reaction, of a body. 
For example, if two bodies at rest, but free to move, as a 
gun suspended in vacuo and a bullet in it, are suddenly 
separated by a force acting between them , their respective 
velocities will be inversely as their masses, and this phe- 
nomenon best defines mass. It is usually confounded with 
weight, which is more properly the force with which a body 
is accelerated in the direction in which a plummet points, 
in consequence of the earth's attraction and rotation. 
Thus, if a piece of lead which is found to weigh a pound at 
the base of the Washington monument is transported to 
the top, it will be found to weigh a pound there, for its mass 
is unchanged. But if only the piece of lead and the balance 
are carried to the top of the monument, while the weight 
against which it has been weighed is left at the base, and 
there attached to the balance at the top by means of a long 
string or wire (the weight of which is to be properly al- 
lowed for), the piece of lead would be found to have lost 
the weight of one third of a grain, the weight thus varying 
though the mass does not. 
The destructive effects of a cannon-ball are due entirely 
to its mass and to the relative speed with which it im- 
pinges on the target, and would be exactly the same (for 
the same relative speed) in regions so far from the earth 
or other attracting body that the ball had practically no 
weight at all. . . . When we open a large iron grate prop- 
erly hinged, it is the mass with which we have to deal ; 
if it were lying on the ground and we tried to lift it, we 
should have to deal mainly with its weight. 
Tait, Properties of Matter. 
