melancholily 
melancholily (mel'an-kol-i-li), adv. [< melan- 
choly + -ly 2 .] In a melancholy manner; with 
melancholy. [Bare.] 
On a pedestal is set the statue of this young lady, re- 
pozine herself in a curious wrought osier chair, . . . tnel- 
ancholily inclining her cheek to the right hand. 
Keepe, Monuments of Westminster (1683), p. 6-2. 
melancholiness (inel'an-kol-i-nes), n. The 
state of being melanenoly; disposition to be 
melancholy or gloomy. 
When a boy, he [Hobbes] was playsome enough ; but 
withal! he had then a contemplative melancholiness. 
Aubrey, Anecdotes, II. 600. 
melancholious (mel-an-ko'li-us), a. [< ME. 
melancolioiis, malencolious ; as melancholy + 
-CMS.] 1. Melancholy; gloomy. 
Bom man is to curious 
In studye, or melancolyious. 
Chaucer, House of fame, 1. 30. 
The melancholious, crazy croon 
O' cankrie care. 
Burns, Epistle to Major Logan. 
2. Expressing melancholy or gloom. 
The Hector . . . added, in a melancholious tone, . . . 
"there won't be above thirty to divide." 
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xi. 
melancholistt (mel'an-kol-ist), . [< melan- 
choly + -ist.] One who is affected with melan- 
cholia; a melancholiac. 
The melancholist was afraid to sit down for fear of being 
broken, supposing himself of glass. Glanville, Essays, iv. 
melancholizet (mel'an-kol-iz), v. [< melancholy 
+ -ize.] I. intrans. To be or become melan- 
choly ; indulge in gloomy musings. 
A most incomparable delight it is so to melancholize, 
and build castles in the air. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 154. 
II. trans. To make melancholy. 
That thick cloud you are now enveloped with, of mel- 
ancholteed old Age, and undeserved Adversity. 
Dr. H. More, Philos. Poems, Epis. Ded. 
melancholy (mel'an-kol-i), . and a. [< ME. 
melancolie, melincolu, malencolye, < OF. melan- 
eolie, merencolie, P. melancolie = Pr. melancolia 
= Sp. melancolia = Pg. melancolia = It. melanco- 
lia, melanconia, malinconia = D. melankolie == 
G. melancholic = Dan. Sw. melankoli, < LL. 
melancholia, < Gr. /ie),ayxo'Aia, the condition of 
having black bile (L. atra nilis), jaundice, mel- 
ancholy, madness, < ^t Aay^o^of , with black bile, 
< jie/aaf (/ie%av-), black, + x^>/t bile: see cholic 1 . 
In the adj. use the word is later, standing for 
melancholic.'] I. n. 1. Same a,a melancholia; in 
old use, insanity of any kind. 
Anone into melancolie, 
As though it were a fransie, 
He fell. Sower, Conf. Amant., iii. 
Yf he bite her in his rage, 
Let labouryng his melincoly swage. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 136. 
Moping melancholy, 
And moon-struck madness. Milton, P. L., xi. 485. 
2. A gloomy state of mind, particularly when 
habitual or of considerable duration; depres- 
sion of spirits arising from grief or natural dis- 
position; dejection; sadness. Also, in techni- 
cal use, melancholia. 
Melancholy, that cold, dry, wretched saturnine humor, 
creepeth in with a leane, pale, or swartysh colour, which 
reigneth upon solitarye, carefull-musyng men. 
BuUein, quoted in More's Utopia (tr. by Robinson), 
Iii. 7, note. 
Cle. What is his malady? 
Cam. Nothing but sad and silent melancholy, 
Laden with griefs and thoughts, no man knows why nei- 
ther. Fletcher, Wife for a Month, i. 2. 
Step, Ay, truly, sir, I am mightily given to melancholy. 
Mat. Oh, it's your only fine humour, air ; your true met. 
ancholy breeds your perfect fine wit, sir : I am melancholy 
myself, divers tunes, sir, and then do I no more but take 
pen and paper presently, and overflow you half a score or 
a dozen of sonnets at a sitting. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1. 
3. Sober thoughtfulness ; pensiveness. [Rare.] 
Hail, thou Goddess, sage and holy, 
Hail, divinest Melancholy ! 
Whose saintly visage is too bright 
To hit the sense of human sight, 
And therefore to our weaker view 
O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue. 
Milton, H Penseroso, 1. 12. 
4f. Bitterness of feeling ; ill nature. 
And if that she be riche and of parage, 
Thanue seistow it is a tormentne 
To soflren hire pride and hire malencolie. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 262. 
Manly in his malycoly he metes another. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2204. 
= Syn. 2. Hypochondria, gloominess, despondency. 
II. a. 1. Produced by melancholia or mad- 
ness of any kind. 
Duke Byron 
Flows with adust and melancholy choler. 
Chapman, Byron's Conspiracy, U. 1. 
Luther's conference with the devil might be, for aught 
I know, nothing hut a melancholy dream. 
ChiUinijworth, Religion of Protestants, Pref. 
3G94 
2. Affected by depression of spirits ; depressed 
inspirits; dejected; gloomy. 
How now, sweet Frank ! why art thou melancholy? 
Shak.,U. W. of W. ,11.1.156. 
3. Given to contemplation; thoughtful; pen- 
sive. See I., 3. [Rare.] 
A certain music, never known before, 
Here soothed the pensive melancholy mind. 
Thomson, Castle of Indolence, i. 40. 
4. Producing or fitted to produce sadness or 
gloom ; sad ; mournful : as, a melancholy fact ; 
a melancholy event. 
Their Songs are very melancholy and doleful ; so is their 
Musick : but whether it be natural to the Indians to be 
thus melancholy, or the eifect of their Slavery, I am not 
certain. Dampier, Voyages, 1. 127. 
Tis past, that melancholy dream ! 
Nor will I quit thy shore. 
Wordsworth, Poems of the Affections, ix. 
5. Grave or gloomy in character; suggestive 
of melancholy; somber. 
The house is moderne, and seemes to be the seate of 
some gentleman, being in a very pleasant though melan- 
choly place. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 80, 1644. 
Old ocean's gray and melanenoly waste. 
Bryant, Thanatopsis. 
Melancholy euryomia, a beetle, Euryomia melaticho- 
lica. Melancholy flycatcher, Tyrannus melancholicus. 
=Syn. 2. Low-spirited, dispirited, unhappy, hypochon- 
driac, disconsolate, doleful, dismal, sad, downcast. 
melancholy-thistle (meran-kol-i-this*l), . 
A European species of thistle, Cnicus hetero- 
phyllus. once reputed to cure melancholy. 
Melanchthonian(mel-angk-th6'ni-an),.and. 
[< Melanchthon (see Aef.) + -fan. Toe name Jfe- 
lanehthoii is a translation into classical form of 
the G. surname Schwarzerd, lit. 'black earth'; 
< Gr. ftfAaf (fieliav-), black, + x" v i earth.] I. a. 
Of or pertaining to Philipp Melanchthon (1497- 
1560), the German reformer. 
II. . A follower of Melanchthon in his use 
of the Aristotelian philosophy and in his theo- 
logical views. 
The fanatical intolerance of the strict Lutheran party 
against the Calvinists and moderate Lutherans, called af- 
ter their leader Melanchthonians or Philippists. 
P. Schaff, in Amer. Cyc., XIV. 246. 
Melanconieae (mel"an-ko-ni'e-e), n. pi. [NL. 
(Berkeley, 1860), < Melanconium + -ece.~\ One 
of the principal divisions of Fungi Imperfecti, or 
fungi of which the complete life-history is un- 
known. Many are suspected of being asexual stages of 
Ascomycetes. The spores ooze out in tendrils, or form a 
dark mass. Also written Melanconiei. 
Melanconium (mel-an-ko'ni-um), n. [NL. 
(Link, 1809), < Gr. /^Ac (utlMv-), black, + KUTOC, 
a cone.] A genus of fungi, typical of the divi- 
sion Melanconiece, in which the spores are sim- 
ple, globular-oblong, brownish, oozing out in a 
dark mass. About 70 widely distributed spe- 
cies are known. 
Melandrya (me-lan'dri-a), n. [NL., so called 
as found chiefly under the bark of trees; < Gr. 
fitkas (fie^av-), black, + <!pif, tree, oak: see dry- 
ad. ] The typical genus of Melandryida', found- 
ed by Pabriems in 1801. It is represented in north- 
ern Europe and North America. M. caraboides is a Brit- 
ish species. M. slricta of Say is the only one known in 
the United States. 
Melandryidae (mel-an-dri'i-de), n. pi. [NL., 
< Melandrya, + -idee.'] A family of tracheliate 
heteromerous beetles, typified by the genus 
Melandrya. The anterior coxal cavities are open be- 
hind ; the head is not strongly and suddenly constricted at 
base; the middle coxte are not very prominent ; the an- 
tennae are free ; the thorax is margined at the sides ; and 
the disk has basal impressions. They inhabit temperate 
regions of the northern hemisphere. 
melanemia, n. See melancemia. 
Melanerpes (mel-a-ner'pez), n. [NL., < Gr. 
pe%a( (fie/.av-), black, + epireiv, creep: see rep- 
tile.'] A genus of woodpeckers of the family 
Red-headed Woodpecker (Melantrpes erythroctftialits'* 
melaniine 
Picidce, giving name to a subfamily Mclaner- 
pince. M. erythrncephalus, a typical example, is the com- 
mon red-headed woodpecker of the United States, steel- 
blue-black and white with crimson head, one of the most 
abundant, showy, and familiar of its tribe in most of the 
States. M. fonnicivorus is a related species of the south- 
western parts of the United States, noted for its habit of 
storing acorns in holes which it drills in dead timber. 
Many others have been referred to this genus. 
Melanerpinae (mel"a-ner-pi'ne), n. pi. [NL., < 
Melanerpes + -inai.'] A subfamily of Picidce, ex- 
emplified by the genus Melanerpes, of uncer- 
tain limits. The group includes many American wood- 
peckers, generally of spotted, striped, or otherwise varie- 
gated coloration, such as the species of Melanerpes and 
Centurus. 
Melanesian (mel-a-ne'shan), a. and . [< 
Melanesia (see def.), lit. 'the islands of the 
blacks,' < Gr. fie^af (fiefaiv-), black, 4- wyo-of, an 
island.] I. a. Of or belonging to Melanesia or 
a race inhabiting it. 
II. n. A native of Melanesia, a collection of 
islands in the western part of the Pacific, in- 
cluding New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, Sol- 
omon Islands, New Hebrides, New Britain, 
etc. (some geographers include Papua and ex- 
tend the term to comprise some of the lesser 
islands of the Malay archipelago) ; a member 
of one of the black or dark-brown races in- 
habiting the Melanesian islands. In race and 
language the Melanesians appear to have affinities with 
both the Papuans and the Polynesians. 
Melanetta (mel-a-net'a), H. [NL., < Gr. /tiAaf, 
black, + vffrra, v^aaa, duck: see Anas.] A ge- 
nus of marine ducks of the family Anatidce and 
subfamily Fuligulince; the white-winged black 
scoters, surf-ducks, or sea-coots. The males are 
black or blackish, with a large white area on the wing 
and a bright party-colored bill. The common Nort h Ameri- 
can species is M. velvetina or M. defflandi, very closely re- 
lated to M. fusca of Europe and Asia, if really distinct. 
Also written Melanitta, and more correctly Melanonetta. 
melange (ma-lonzh'), n. [F., a mixture, < me- 
ler, mix: see mclft, meddle.] 1. A mixture; a 
medley ; usually, an uncombined mingling or 
association of elements, objects, or individuals; 
in lit., a miscellany. 2. A French dress-goods 
of cotton chain and woolen weft. E. H. Eniglit. 
Melania (me-la'ni-a), n. [NL., < L. melania, 
< Gr. /i&avia, blackness, < /ie?.af (fiefav-), black.] 
1. In conch., the typical genus of fresh-water 
snails of the family Melaniidce and subfamily 
Melaniince, having a shell covered with thick and 
usually dark or blackish epidermis. The extent of 
the genus has varied much with different writers. There 
are about 400 species, mostly Asiatic and Polynesian. 
2. In etttom. : (a) A genus of dipterous insects. 
(6) A genus of lepidopterous insects. 
Melaniacea (me-la-ni-a'se-a), n. pi. [NL., < 
Melania + -acea.'] Same as Melaniidte. 
melaniacean (iiie-la-ni-a'se-an), a. Of or per- 
taining to the Melaniacea. 
melanian (me-la'ni-an), a. and n. [< Melanin 
+ -OH,] I. a. Pertaining to the Melaniida', or 
having their characters. 
II. . A member of the family Melaniidoi. 
melanic (me-lan'ik), a. [< Gr. /tehaf (ue/.av-), 
black, + -'(-.] 1. Black; dark: as, a melanic 
race. 2. Of or pertaining to melanosis Me- 
lanic cancer, melanocarcinoma or melanosarcoma. Me- 
lanic deposit, a deposit of dark pigment in the tissues. 
Melanic variety or race, in zoot., a variety or race char- 
acterized by a darker color or a greater extension of the 
dark markings than in others of the species. Such varie- 
ties have frequently been described as distinct species. 
Melaniidae (mel-a-ni'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Me- 
lania + -;V?<E.] A family of gastropods of the 
order Prosobranchiata, typified by the genus 
Mi'lania. The shell is spiral, turreted, and covered with 
dark epidermis ; the aperture is often channeled or notched 
in front; the outer lip is acute; and the operculum is 
horny and spiral. The very numerous species, referable 
to many genera, are mostly fiuviatile and ovoviviparous. 
They are found in nearly all the wanner parts of the world. 
The family is divided, both on structural characters and 
on geographical distribution, into two subfamilies, 3lela- 
niince and Strepmnatince. Also Melaniacea, Melaniadae., 
Melanidce. 
melaniiform (me-la'ni-i-form), a. [< NL. Me- 
la ilia + L. forma, form.] Having the form of 
the melanians; resembling a melanian. 
Melaniinae (me-la-ni-i'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Mela- 
nia + -ina!.] One of two subfamilies of Mela- 
niidtc, typified by the genus Melania, contain- 
ing chiefly Asiatic and Polynesian species, onlv 
a few of which are found in America: dis- 
tinguished from StrepomaUntB. The aperture is 
usually rounded in front and not produced, though often 
notched; the mantle-margin is fringed. The species are 
ovoviviparous. 
melaniine (me-la'ni-iu), a. and . I. a. Mela- 
nian in a strict sense ; of or pertaining to the 
MelwmiintE. 
II. a. A member of the Melaniinn. 
