meadow-land 3672 
ma-dire, meadow, + land, land.] Land used as Gallinagotoilsoniordelicattila S.S. Barton 1799. 
a meadow; also, meadows collectively. See cut under Gallinago. [Local, U. b.J 
meadow-lark (med'6-lark'),n. l.Awell-known meadow-sweet (med'6-swet), . Any plant of 
bird of the family Icterida;, or American star- the genus Sjiirtea, primarily 8. Vlmaria of the 
lings ; the field-lark, Stiirnella magna. The upper Old World ; in the United States more especial- 
parts are mottled gray, brown, and black, the under are ly ,S. salicifqlia. 
See cut on preceding page. 
Is this more pleasant to you than the whirr 
Of meadow-lark and her sweet roundelay? 
Longfellow, Birds of Killingworth. 
2. The meadow-pipit, Anthtis pratensis. [Lo- 
cal, Eng.] 
meadow-mouse (med'6-mous), n. A field- 
meadowy (med'o-i), a. [< meadow + -y l .\ 
Pertaining to, resembling, or consisting of 
meadow. 
Thy full and youthful breasts, which, in their meadowy 
Are branc'h'd with rivery veines meander-like that glide. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, x. 
mouse or vole of North America; any member nieadwortt, n. [< ME. medwitrt; < mead 1 + 
of the subfamily Arvicolines. The commonest worfl-.] A plant, probably the same as meadow- 
in the United States is Anicola riparius. 
See cut under Arvicola. 
meadow-mussel (med'o-mus'l), n. A kind of 
mussel found on tide-flats or salt meadows, 
^fodir>l(^ plicatula. [New York.] 
meager, meagre (me'ger), a. and n. [Early 
mod. E. also nieigre; < ME. megre, < OF. megre, 
meadow-ore (med'6-6r), re. In mineral., bog- 
iron ore, or limonite. See limonite. 
meadow-parsnip (med'6-par"snip), n. 1. A 
coarse umbelliferous plant, Heracleum Splion- 
dylium. [Great Britain.] 2. Any plant of 
the genus Thaspium. [U. S.] 
meadow-pea (med'o-pe), n. A perennial legu- 
minous plant, Lathyrus pratensis, of Europe and 
Asia, available as a pasture-herb for sheep. 
meadow-pine (med'6-pm), n. Same as slash- 
pine. 
meadow-pink (med'6-pingk), n. 
geA-rob'm, Lychnis Flos-cueuli. -2. The maiden- 
pink, Dianthus deltoides. 
meadow-pipit (med'6-pip"it), n 
A European 
pipit or titfark, Anthus p'ratensis. 
maigre, magre, F. maigre (see maigre) = Pr. 
magre, maigre = Sp. Pg. It. magro, < L. macer 
(macr-), lean, thin, meager; cf. AS. mager = 
D. MLG. mager = OHG. magar, MHG. G. ma- 
ijer = Icel. magr = Sw. Dan. mager, lean, thin, 
meager: the Teut. forms being prob. not de- 
rived, like the Bom., from the L. macer (the 
adoption into Teut., at so early a date (AS. 
OHG.) of an un technical word, esp. an adj., 
from the L., being very improbable), but cog- 
nate with it, the L. macer (macr-), thin, with 
the Teut., being prob. = Gr. lumpbc,, long (see 
macron); cf. lajimq, length, [laKedvoe, /ir/xeSavif, 
1. The rag- tall.] I. a. 1. Lean; thin; having little flesh. 
Be nowe of good chore, Titus, . . . that. . . yourchekes 
meiyre and leane be nat the cause of your discoueringe. 
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 12. 
meadow-queen (med'6-kwen), n. 
meadow-siceet. 
meadow-rue (med'6-ro), . Any plant of the 
genus Tlidlictrum, especially the Old World spe- 
cies T. flavum. The latter is an annual herb 2 or 3 
feet high,'with compound leaves, the petiole twice or thrice 
divided, in this regard resembling the true rue. 
A stranger stepped on shore, a lofty, lordly kind of man, 
tall and dry, with a meatjre face, furnished with huge 
moustaches. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 179. 
The root 
2. Without richness or fertility ; barren : said 
of land. 3. Without moisture ; dry and harsh: 
said of chalk, etc. 4. Without fullness, 
strength, substance, or value; deficient in quan- 
tity or quality ; scanty; poor; mean. 
But thou, thou meagre lead, . . . 
Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence. 
Shot., M. of V., iii. 2. 104. 
As to their Meager Diet, it is much against Nature and 
the improved Diet of Mankind. 
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 19. 
5. Lenten; adapted to a fast. See maigre. 
When Lent arrives they open their magazines, and take 
out of them the best meagre food in the world, for there is 
no dish of fish that they reckon comparable to a ragout of 
snails. Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 517. 
Meager day, a fast-day. See def. 5. Also maigre-day. 
When I arrived at the inn, I called for supper, and, it 
being a meagre day, was fain to put up with eggs. 
Smollett, tr. of Oil Bias, i. 2. 
=Syn. 1. Spare, emaciated, lank, gaunt. 2 and 4. Tame, 
barren, bald, jejune, dull, prosing. 
II. n. If. A sickness. 
tfegre, a sickenesse, [F.] maigre. Palsffraw. 
2f. Same as maigre, 2. 3. A spent salmon, or 
kelt. [Canada.] 
meagert, meagret (me'ger), r. t. [< meager, 
meagre, .] To make lean. 
His ceaseless sorrow for th' unhappy maid 
Meager'd his look, and on his spirits prey'd. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xi. 
meager ly, meagrely (me'ger-li), adv. Poorly ; 
thinly; sparely; feebly. 
meagerness, meagreness (me'ger-nes), n. The 
condition or quality of being meager ; leanness ; 
poorness; scantiness; barrenness. 
_. meagrimt,. An obsolete form of 'megrim. 
barb. There are several American species, as the early meakt (mek), n. [Also meek: var. ot maKe*.\ A 
meadow-rue, T. dioicmn ; the purplish meadow-rue, T. hook with a long handle used in agriculture for 
purpuraecens ; and the tall meadow-rue, 7*. Cornuti. The rmllin" up plants 
panicled flowers are without petals, but are marked in the ' 
males by conspicuous clusters of stamens. A meake for the pease, and to swing up the brake. 
meadow-saffron (med'6-saf''ron),. Most prop- 
erly, the plant Coleliicum autumnale, from its re- meaker (me'ker), n. A minnow. [Prov. Eng.] 
semblance to the true saffron, Crocm satimt. meaking-iron (me'king-i"ern), n. Same as 
The name is extended, however, to the whole genus, some- making-iron. 
times to other closely allied plants. See Colchicum. meal 1 (mel), . [< ME. mele, < AS. melu, melo, 
meadow-sage (med'6-saj), n. See sage. meolo (melw-) = OS. mel = OFries. mel = D. meel 
meadow-saxifrage (med'o-sak'si-fraj), . 1. =MLG. LG. mel = OHG. melo, MHG. mel, G. 
An umbelliferous plant, Silaus pratensis, its mehl = Icel. mjol = Sw. mj&l = Dan. meel, flour, 
leavesresemblingthoseoftheburnet-saxifrage. meal, lit. 'what is ground': from a verb not re- 
Also called pepper-saxifrage. 2. Sometimes, 
a plant of the genus Seseli of the same family, 
meadow-snipe (med'6-snip), n. 1. The grass- 
bird or pectoral sandpiper, Trinr/a(Actodromas) 
maciilata. J. P. Giraud, 1844. [Lqpg Island.] 
2. The common American or Wilson's snipe, 
Flowering Branch of the Male Plant of the Meadow-rue 
( Thalictnttn Cornuti}, 
. a male flower ; b, a female flower with young fn 
leaf. 
c, parts of the 
is said to have aperient and stomachic properties, like rhu- 
corded in AS. (*malan), but found in other 
tongues, namely, OS. malan = D. malen = MLG. 
malen = OHG. malan, malen, MHG. main, G. 
mahlen = Icel. mala = Sw. mala = Dan. male 
= Goth, malan, grind, = Ir. melim = OBulg. 
mcljii, mh'te = Lith. main, malti = L, niolere, 
meal 
grind, > ult. E.HM'Wl, motor, etc.: see wiH 1 . Cf. 
malm, from the same verb, and melloir, from 
the same ult. root.] 1. The edible part of any 
kind of grain or pulse ground to a powder or 
flour; flour: as, oatmeal, "hean-meal. 
Meal and bran together 
He throws without distinction. 
Shak.,CoT., iii. 1.322. 
"Jenny, what meal is in the girnel?" "Four bows o' 
aitmeal, twa bows o' bear, and twa bows o' pease." 
Scott, Old Mortality, xx. 
Specifically (o) In the United States, ground maize : more 
fully called Indian meal and corn-meal, (b) In Scotland 
and Ireland, oatmeal. 
Blest wi' content, and milk and meal. 
Rums, The Contented Cottager. 
2. Any substance resembling the meal of grain 
or pulse ; especially, any coarsely ground sub- 
stance. 
In the Lond growen Trees, that beren Mele, whereof 
men maken gode Bred and white, and of gode savour. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 189. 
Auriculas enriched 
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves. 
Thomson. Spring, 1. 537. 
3. A sand-heap. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
The cows, during the hot weather when they are attacked 
by the fly, get over the meales, the name given to the sand- 
banks. Freeman, Life of W. Kirby, p. 147. (Daviee.) 
A cat In the meal. See coti. Indian meal See def. 
1 (a). Round meal, meal granulated in the milling ra- 
ther than powdered or pulverized. 
meal 1 (mel), v. [< meal 1 , .] I. trans. 1. To 
grind into meal or the state of meal ; pulver- 
ize: as, mealed powder. 2. To sprinkle with 
meal, or mix meal with. [Rare.] 
II. intrans. To yield or produce meal; be 
productive in meal: applied to grain: as, the 
barley does not meal well this year. Jamieson. 
[Scotch.] 
meal' 2 (mel), n. [< ME. mele, meel, mel, < (a) 
AS. mail, a fixed time, season, occasion, a time 
for eating, a meal, = OS. mal = OFries. mel, 
mat = MD. mael, D. maal, time, a meal, =MLG. 
mal = OHG. mal, MHG. mal, a time, G. -mal, 
as a suffix, -times, = MHG. also mal, a time for 
eating, a meal, G. mahl, a meal; = Icel. mal, 
time, meal, = Sw. mal = Dan. maal, meal, = 
Goth, mel, a time: the word in these_senses 
being appar. identical with (6) AS. mail, mel, 
a measure, also a mark, sign (Cristes mail, 
'Christ's sign,' a cross, crucifix, fyr-matl, grteg- 
mail, etc.); a diff. word from mal, a spot, E. mole: 
see mole 1 ; = QS.*mal (in comp. Mbhidmal, head 
on a coin) = OHG. *mal (in comp. anamdli, a 
spot), MHG. G. mal, a spot, = Icel. mal, a 
measure, the markings or inlaid ornaments of 
weapons, = Sw. mAl = Dan. maal, measure ; 
appar. ult. < \/ wo, measure, as in metan, mete, 
measure: see mete 1 , measure, etc.] 1. The 
supply of food taken at one time for the relief 
of hunger; a provision of food (formerly of 
drink also) for one or more persons or animals 
for a single occasion, as at a customary time 
of eating ; the substance of a repast ; a break- 
fast, dinner, or supper: with reference to do- 
mestic animals, more commonly called a, feed. 
That thei lasse shulden feele, 
Of wyne let fill full a meele, 
And dronken till so was befall, 
That thei her strengthes losen all. 
Qower, Conf . Amant., vi. 
Give them great meals of beef, . . . they will eat like 
wolves. Sltak., Hen. V.. iii. 7. 161. 
A rude and hasty meal was set before the numerous 
guests. Macaulay, Hist Eng , xiii. 
2. The taking or ingestion of a supply of food ; 
an eating; a refection or repast. 
Unquiet meals make ill digestions. 
Shak., 0. of E., v. 1. 74. 
Whatsoever he be that sitting in the company of any 
others at meale ... he will give occasion of offence. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 10B. 
3. The milk which a cow yields at one milking. 
Also called meltith. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
Each shepherd's daughter with her cleanly peale 
Was come a field to milk the morning's meale. 
Brovme, Pastorals, i. i. (Nares.) 
A meal's meat i , meat or food for a meal. 
You ne'er yet hud 
A meal's meat from my table, as I remember. 
Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, ii. 
A meal's victuals, a meal of victuals, food enough for 
a meal. IColloq.] A square meal.a full or plentiful 
meal or repast. [Slang, U. S.] Meal pennant, meal 
pendant, in the United States navy, a red pennant dis- 
played on ships of war during the time that the crew are 
at meals. To make a meal, to take a hearty or sufficient 
supply of food. [Colloq.] To mend one's meaL See 
wend. 
meiTH (mSl), . t [<meal, .] To apportion food 
to : provide with meals or food ; feed ; fodder. 
