message 
He dyd in expressed commaund to me message his erraund. 
Sianihurst, jEneid, iv. 377. 
messagert, n. A Middle English form of messen- 
ger. 
messageryt, [ME., < OF. messagerie, F. 
messagerie Pr. messatgaria, messatjaria = Sp. 
mensajeria = It. messageria: see message and 
~ry.] The carrying of messages; the going 
between two persons with a message; pro- 
curing. 
Fool-hardynesse, and Flaterye, and Desir, 
Messagerye, and Meede, and other three. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 228. 
Messalian (me-sa'li-an), n. Same as Euchite. 
Also written Massallan. 
messallt, An obsolete form of missal. 
messan, . and a. See messin. 
messandewt, See tneasondue. 
messan-dog, n. See messin-dog. 
mess-chest (mes'chest), n. Naut., on board a 
man-of-war, one of the covered chests belong- 
ing to each mess of the crew, in which small 
articles of mess-gear are kept. 
A mett-chett is rigged to hold the knives, forks, cans, etc. 
T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 851. 
mess-cloth (mes'kloth), n. Naut., in a man- 
of-war, a tarpaulin spread on deck to serve as 
a table-cloth. 
mess-deck (mes'dek), n. Naut., the deck on 
which the crew mess. 
messe 1 !, A Middle English form of mease 1 . 
messe 2 t, **. An obsolete form of mass 1 . 
messelH, messeledt. See mesel, meseled. 
messel 2 !, " [< OF. mesel, < L. mensa, a table: 
see mensafl-.] A table. 
messelinet, See masUn*. 
messelite (mes'el-it), . [< Messel (see def.) 
+ -ite 2 .] A hydrous phosphate of calcium 
and iron occurring in groups of small tabular 
crystals in the brown-coal beds near Messel in 
Hesse. 
messenger (mes'en-jer), n. [< ME. messanger, 
messyngere (with unorig. medial n as also in pas- 
senger, porringer, etc.), iormessager, messagier, 
< OF. messagier, F. messager (= Pr. messatgier = 
OSp. messagero, Sp. mensajero = Pg. mensageiro 
= It. messagiero, messaggiere), a messenger, 
< message, a message: see message.'] 1. One 
who bears a message or goes on an errand; 
the bearer of a verbal or written communica- 
tion, notice, or invitation ; in the civil service, 
one employed in conveying official despatches. 
Whan men holden Sege abouten Cytee or Castelle, and 
thei with innen dur not senden out Messagers with Lettres, 
from Lord to lord, for to aske Sokour. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 118. 
The Msy larke, messager of daye, 
Salueth in hire song the morwe graye. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 633. 
The messagers departeden two and two togeder, and 
passed thourgh many londes and centres in to a tyme that 
iiij of hem sodeynly metten to-geder. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 30. 
Joy touch'd the messenger of heav'n ; he stay'd 
Entranced. Pope, Odyssey, v. 97. 
2. One who or that which foreruns; a har- 
binger ; a precursor ; a forerunner. 
The Angel answerde and seyde that sche scholde have 
no drede of him, for he was verry Messager of Jesu Crist. 
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 133. 
Down to short repose they lay, 
Till radiant rose the messenger of day. 
Pope, Odyssey, xv. 534. 
3. A light scudding cloud regarded as the pre- 
cursor of a storm or gale of wind. 
A southwest wind is blowing over the plains. It drives 
the messengers over the sky, and the sails of the windmill, 
and makes the dead leaves dance. 
Mrs. J. H. Ewing, Jan of the Windmill. 
4. Naut., an endless rope or chain turned 
around the capstan, formerly used to unmoor 
or heave up a ship's anchors, by transmitting 
the power of the capstan to the cable. The 
messenger is gripped to the cable by means of nippers, 
which are shifted from the capstan to the hawse-hole as 
the cable is hauled in. 
5. In law, a person appointed to perform cer- 
tain ministerial duties under bankrupt and in- 
solvent laws, such as to take temporary charge 
of the assets, and to perform some other duties 
in reference to the proceedings. 6. A piece 
of stiff paper, or the like, set upon the end of 
a kite-string held in the hand, to be blown 
up the string to the kite Corbie messenger. 
See corbie. Cuckoo's messenger, the wryneck. Mes- 
senger sword, a sword-like implement, constituting a 
credential of the royal messengers of Ashantee. Two 
of these were brought to England in 1874; they are 
partly of gold and partly of iron, and are elaborately or- 
namented in conventional patterns. Queen's(or king's) 
messenger, an officer of the British government, em- 
3728 
ployed under the secretaries of state, appointed or held in 
readiness to carry official despatches both at home and 
abroad. = Syn. 1. Carrier, intelligencer, courier, herald, 
emissary. 
messenger-at-arms (mes'en-jer-at-armz ), n. 
In Scots law, an officer appointed by and under 
the control of the Lyon king-at-arms. He exe- 
cutes all summonses and letters of diligence connected 
with the Courts of Session and Courts of Justiciary. Exe- 
cution by a messenger-at-arms. See execution, 
messett, [Cf . messin.] A cur ; a messm. 
Dame Julia's messet. Hall, Poems (1646). (HaUiwett.) 
mess-gear (mes'ger), n. Naut., the outfit of a 
mess, such as pots, pans, cans, spoons, knives, 
forks, etc. ; mess-traps. 
Messiah (me-si'a). n. [= F. Messie = Sp. Mesias 
= Pg. Messias == It. Messia D. G. Dan. Sw. 
Messias, < L. Messias, < Gr. Heoaiaf, < Heb. 
Mdskiach, anointed, < mashach, anoint.] A des- 
ignation of Jesus as the Saviour of the world; 
the Hebrew equivalent of Christ, the Anointed, 
but used more frequently as a descriptive title 
(the Messiah) than as a name : from prophetic 
passages in the Hebrew Scriptures (where, ex- 
cept in two instances in Daniel, it is translated 
Anointed, often as a noun) interpreted by Jesus 
and by Christians as referring to him and uni- 
versal in scope, but regarded by the Jews as 
promising a divinely sent deliverer for their 
own race. This belief in a coming Messiah is still 
held as a doctrine by many Jews ; and at various periods 
of the Christian era impostors have assumed the name 
and character, and have had many adherents. The title 
is also applied figuratively to historical characters who 
have been great deliverers. Sometimes written, after the 
Greek of the New Testament, Messias. 
We have found Meisias, which is, being interpreted, 
the Christ. John i. 41. 
In the High Church of Jerusalem, the Christians were 
but another Sect of Jews, that did believe the Messias 
was come. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 33. 
At thy nativity, a glorious quire 
Of angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung 
To shepherds, watching at their folds by night, 
And told them the Messiah now was born. 
Milton, P. B,., i. 245. 
Messiahship (me-si'a-ship), n. [< Messiah + 
-ship.'] The character, state, or office of Jesus 
Christ as the Saviour of the world: also used 
of pretenders to a similar office or mission. 
Christ . . . gave as strong a proof of his Messiahship as 
infinite power, joined with equal veracity, could give. 
South, Works, III. 382. (Latham.) 
One of the chief candidates for the messiahship [among 
the Mohammedans] has already reached Assouan. 
The Century, XXIV. 788. 
Messianic (mes-i-an'ik), a. [= F. Messianique 
= Sp. Mesidnico; as Messiah + -an + -ic.] Re- 
lating or pertaining to the Messiah, or to any 
one supposed to exercise the office of a Mes- 
siah: as, the Messianic prophecies or psalms; 
Messianic pretensions. 
Messias (me-si'as), n. Same as Messiah. 
Messidor (mes-si-dor'), n. [F., one of the fan- 
ciful names concocted to adorn the Revolution- 
ary calendar; < L. messis, harvest, + Gr. 6<jpm>, 
a gift.] The tenth month of the year in the cal- 
endar of the first French republic, commencing 
(in 1794) June 19th and ending July 18th. 
messin (mes'in), n. and a. [Also messan. for- 
merly irreg. messoun; a var. of *mestin, mastin, 
< OF. mastin, F. mdtin, a mastiff: see mastiff.'] 
I. n. A mongrel dog; a cur. [Scotch.] 
We bounds slew the hair, quoth the messoun. 
May's Proverbs (1678), p. 394. 
But wad hae spent an hour caressin', 
E'en wi' a tinkler-gypsy's messin. 
Burns, The Twa Dogs. 
II. a. Mongrel; currish. [Scotch.] 
messin-dog (mes'in-dog), n. [Also messan-dog; 
< messin + dog.] Same as messin. 
mess-kettle (mes'ket' 7 !), n. A camp-kettle 
used in cooking for a mess. 
The richly chased vessels of gold and silver which served 
the Roman household have been displaced by the canteen 
and the mess-kettle of the garrison of the Crescent. 
The Century, XXXVIII. 51. 
mess-kit (mes'kit), n. The cooking- and table- 
utensils of a camp, with the chest in which they 
are kept and transported. 
mess-locker (mes'lok' / er), n. A small locker 
on shipboard for holding mess-gear. 
messmaking (mes'ma"king), n. The act of 
clubbing together, or messing in company. 
This friendship began by messmaking in the Temple 
hall. Roger North, Lord Guilford, I. 62. 
messmate (mes'mat), n. 
mess, espe 
ordinarily 
1. An associate in a 
mess, especially in a ship's mess ; one who eats 
ily at the same table with another. 
Messmates, hear a brother sailor 
Sing the dangers of the sea. 
0. A. Stevens, The Storm. 
Mesua 
2. In 3067., a commensal. 3. In bot., same as 
messmate-tree. 
messmate-gum (mes'mat-gum), n. See gum 2 , 3. 
messmate-tree (mes'mat-tre), n. One of the 
stringy-barked eucalypts, Eucalyptus obliqua. 
It is a large tree forming extensive forests in Australia 
and Tasmania, and furnishing an abundance of cheap fissile 
timber for all kinds of rough work above the ground. 
mess-table (mes'ta'bl), n. The table at which 
a mess eat together. 
mess-traps (mes'traps), n. pi. The articles 
which compose a mess-gear. 
messuage (mes'waj), n. [ME. mesuage, < OF. 
mesuage, maissage, mesnage (ML. reflex mes- 
suaginm), < ML. mansion aticum, a dwelling- 
house, manor-house: see menage, which is a 
doublet of messuage,] In law: (a) A dwelling- 
house. 
I give unto my said son John all that messuage wherein 
I now dwell. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 437. 
(6) A dwelling-house with the adjacent build- 
ings and curtilage, including garden and or- 
chard, appropriated to the use of the household ; 
a manor-house and its appendages. 
There were then greater number of mesuages and man- 
sions almost in euery place. . 
Harrison, Descrip. of Eng., xxii. 
They wedded her to sixty thousand pounds, 
To lands in Kent, and messuages in York. 
Tennyson, Edwin Morris. 
messy (mes'i), a. [< mess 2 + -y 1 .] In a state 
of mess, confusion, or dirtiness ; making a mess : 
littered or littering; untidy. [Rare.] 
The floor of the room[s] ... in which messy work has 
to be done is of asphalt. Science, III. 351. 
mestt, a. A Middle English form of most. 
mestee (mes-te'), n. [Also mustee; short for 
mestizo. Cf. OF. mestis,F.m4tis, mongrel.] The 
offspring of a white and a quadroon. [West 
Indian.] 
mester 1 , n. An obsolete or dialectal form of 
master 1 , mister 1 . 
mester 2 t, n. A variant of mister 2 . 
mestfult, On [Var. of mestive, with substituted 
suffix -fnl.] Sad; gloomy. [Rare.] 
Emong all other birds 
Most mestfvll birde am I : 
Emong all fathered foules 
I first complain and crie. 
Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes (1577). (Nares.) 
mestift, n. An obsolete variant of mastiff. 
mestivet (mes'tiv), a. [< L. maistus, mcestus, sad, 
mournf ul(<ma?rere, mcerere, be sad, mourn), + E. 
-ive. Cf. mestful.] Sad; sorrowful; gloomy; 
dismal. 
The Melancholy 's mestiue, and too full 
Of fearfull thoughts, and cares vnrequisit. 
Davies, Microcosmos, p. 31. (Dames.) 
mestizo (mes-te'zo), n. [= G. mestizo,^. Sp. mes- 
tizo = OF. mestis, F. metis, mixed, mongrel : see 
mastiff.'] The offspring of a person of mixed 
blood; especially, a person of mixed Spanish 
and American Indian parentage. 
To Mexico there is such a great resort, that all the towns 
thereabout which were formerly of Indians are now in- 
habited by Spaniards and Mestizoes. 
S. Clarke, Geographical Description, etc. (1671), p. 261. 
He [Mr. Werner] also saw something of Tippoo Tip dur- 
ing the expeditions between the Falls and Barttelot's camp 
on the Aruwimi; but was not very favourably impressed by 
that wily mestizo. The Academy, June 29, 1889, p. 441. 
mestlingH, See masliri 1 . 
mestling 2 t, See masliri*. 
mestliont, mestlyont, n. See maslin?. 
mestome (mes'tom), n. [NL. (Schwendener), 
appar. < Gr. /icara/ia, fullness, < /axr-rcf, full.] In 
bot., that part of a fibrovaseular bundle whose 
function is mainly conduction. 
To the elements which impart strength to a bundle 
Schwendener has given the name stereome ; to the other 
parts of the bundle, mestome. 
Goodale, Physiological Botany, p. 191. 
Mesua (rnes'u-a), n. [NL. (Linnaaus, 1737), 
named after Musuah, an Arabian physician of 
the 8th and 9th centuries.] A genus of dicoty- 
ledonous polypetalous plants of the natural 
order Guttiferai and the tribe Calophyllea;, char- 
acterized by an ovary which is two-celled and 
contains four ovules, and by a shield-shaped 
stigma. They are shrubs or trees with very narrow leaves 
and large axillary solitary flowers. Eight species have 
been enumerated, all from tropical Asia, but the number 
is probably reducible to three. M. ferrea, one of the iron- 
woods, is common in the East Indies, wild and cultivated. 
It is a straight, erect tree with elegant foliage and large 
f our-petaled flowers, pure white and fragrant. They afford 
a native dye and perfume, and are exported, mostly for 
the latter purpose, under the name nagltasmr. The seeds 
yield a dark thick oil (nagkassar- or nahor-oil), used in 
lamps and medicinally. The hard reddish-brown wood is 
suitable for machinery, railroad-ties, etc. ; it is also used 
for tool -handles and the like. 
