mew 
metropolitan 3744 
tical superintendence over the bishops and metrorrhea, metrorrhcea (me-tro-re'a), ,. 3. Natural temperament; specifically, a mascu- 
churches P ofhs province, confirmed, ordained. [NL. meti-oirtoa, < Gr. rfrpa, womb, + /*>, line and ardent temperament ; spirit; courage, 
and when necessary excommunicated the bish- flow.] A morbid discharge from the uterus, ardor; enthusiasm, 
ops, and convened and presided over the pro- as of mucus. 
vincial synods. The superiority in rank of the bishops metrOSCOpe (me tro-skop), n. [< Gr. 
of the principal sees was so early established that many womb, + OKCHTSIV, view.] An instrumi 
. ...^ principal sees was so early established that many womb, -I- cuoneiv, view.J ATI instrument for 
authorities have held that the office of metropolitan (in- listening to the sounds made by the heart of the 
eluding also uiider^ this ^tiHe the t ^tes^ofjra^archal fetus in the womb through the vagina,. 
tfonu^totheairtatian^mperorB a metropolitan ranked metrOSCOpy (me-tros'ko-pi), n. [< Gr. fi^Tpa, 
above an ordinary bishop and below a patriarch or exarch, womb, + -OKoma, < OKOTTEIV, view : see metro- 
la medieval times the power of most of the metropolitans scot)e _-\ Investigation of the uterus, 
in western countries became much diminished, while that Me ^ ro ^ idereffi ( m e''tro-si-de're-e), n. pi. [NL. 
(Bentham and Hooker, 1865), < Metrosideros + 
-ea3.~] A subtribe of plants of the natural order 
Myrtaeece, the myrtle family, typified by the ge- 
nus Metrosideros. It is characterized by many free 
stamens, arranged in one or many series, or connate in 
of the diocesan bishops and the pope was relatively in- 
creased. See archbishop and primate. 
By consent of all churches, . . . the precedency in each 
province was assigned to the Bishop of the Metropolis, who 
was called the first Bishop, the Metropolitan. 
Barrow, The Pope's Supremacy. 
The bishops [of Cyprus] were . . . subjected to the Latin 
metropolitan, who was bound to administer justice among 
them. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 167. 
(6) In modern usage, in the Roman Catholic and Caledonl . 
other episcopal churches, any archbishop who M e t ro sideros (me " tro - si - de ' ros), n. 
, , 
clusters, opposite the petals, myrtle-like or large and fea- 
fou " d 
in 
They . . . tell me flatly I am no proud Jack, like Falstaff ; 
but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 13. 
Her [a falcon's] mettle makes her careless of danger. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 25. 
The winged courser, like a generous horse, 
Shows most true mettle when you check his course. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 87. 
To put one on or to his mettle, to put one's spirit, cou- 
rage, or energy to the test. 
It puts us on our mettle to see our old enemies the French 
taking the work with us. 
Lever, Davenport Dunn, xin. (Hoppe.) 
Not that we slacken in our pace the while, not we : we 
rather put the bits of blood upon their mettle. 
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxvi. (Hoppe.) 
mettled (met'ld), a. [Formerly spelled metaled; 
- + -gfja.1 Full of mettle or 0011- 
The archbishops of Canterbury and York are both metro- 
politans. Hook. 
An Oath of obedience to the metropolitan . . . was added 
to the Oath of Supremacy. 
Jt. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xvi. 
has bishops under his authority. 
These be, lo, the verye prelates and bysshoppes metro- 
politanes and postles of theyr sects. 
Sir T. More, Works, p. 1091. .. 
of the natural 
order Myrta- 
eece and the 
tribe Septo- 
spermece, type 
(c) In the Greek Church, the bishop of the muni- of the subtribe 
cipal capital of a province, who is in rank inter- 
mediate between a patriarch and a bishop or 
titular archbishop. 
At length the gilded portals of the sanctuary are re- 
opened, and the Metropolitan, attended by the deacons, 
comes forward, carrying the Holy Eucharist. 
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 197. 
3f. A chief city; a metropolis. 
It I Amiens] is ... the metropolitan of Picardy. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 15. 
[NL. 
(Banks, 1788), < Gr. fifirpa, the pith or heart of a 
tree, lit. womb, + ai&ripos, iron : see sklerite."] A 
genus of plants 
metropolitanate (met-ro-pol'i-tan-at), n. [< 
ML. "metropolitanatvs, < 'LL. meiropolitanus, a 
Metrosiderece. 
They are trees 
or shrubs, some- 
times climbers 
a few climb- 
ing when young, 
and independent 
when old. The 
ovules are ar- 
ranged in many 
series, and hori- 
zontal or ascend- 
ing; the leaves are 
opposite and fea- 
Ironwood (Metrosidcros vera). 
metropolitan: see metropolitan.'] The office or 
see of a metropolitan bishop. 
As his wife she [Heloisa] closed against him [Abelard] 
that ascending ladder of ecclesiastical honours, the prior- 
ate, the abbacy, the bishopric, the metropolitanate, the car- 
dinalate, and even that which was beyond, and above all. 
Milman, Latin Christianity, viii. 5. s p ecies"are "known in cultivation. Nine fossil species of 
metrODOlitanism (met-ro-pol'i-tan-izm), n. this genus have been described, chiefly from the European 
The State of being a metropolis or great city. Tertiary, butoneoccursintheMiddleCretaceousofGreen- 
The return of New York to oil-light illumination is not metrotome (me ' tro-tom), n. [< Gr. jinrpa, 
very encouraging to braggers of "^"g^^ ^^ 4 _ womb, + To/iof, cutting, < TC/J.VCIV, rafieiv, cut,] 
... In sura., an instrument used to divide the neck 
metropolltanize (met-ro-pol i-tan-iz),>. t; pret. 
and pp. metropolitanized, ppr. metropolitanizing. 
[< metropolitan + -ize.~] To impart the character 
of a metropolis to; render metropolitan. 
The intermediate space [between Philadelphia and New 
York] must be metropolitanized. 
Philadelphia Press, Jan. 5, 1870. 
metropolitet (me-trop'o-lit), n. and a. [< LL. 
metropolita, a bishop in a metropolis, < LGr. fa/- 
Tpoiro'AiTtif, a native of a metropolis, a bishop in 
a metropolis, < Gr. ,i?rpo7ro/l(f , metropolis : see 
metropolis.] Same as metropolitan. 
The whole Countrey of Russia is termed by some by the 
name of Moscouia the Metropolite city. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 479. 
metropolitic (met-ro-pol'i-tik), a. [< ML. me- 
tropoliticus, ( LGr. //^rpoTTOAm/cdV, ^ //^rpoTro/Ur^f, 
a bishop in a metropolis: see metropolite.'] 
Same as metropolitical. 
Canterbury, then honoured with the metropolitic see, 
Selden, Illustrations of Drayton's Polyolbion, xviii. 
Tno-rrnnnlitiVal Cmpfro no lir'i Val) n f<mft- yields seeds wmcn serve as a vegetaoie ivory. 
^wom?c + aJ\ II Canine to or bei a mettadelt, . [< It.tafl! e a,aliquidmeasure.] 
-a?.] 1. Fertami i A meagur ^ of wine> conta ining one quart and 
rage; 
In manhood he is a mettled man, 
And a mettle-man by trade. 
Robin Hood and the Tinker (Child's Ballads, V. 237). 
I am now come to a more chearful Country, and amongst 
a People somewhat more vigorous and metaled, being not 
so heavy as the Hollander, or homely as they of Zealand. 
Hou-ell, Letters, I. i. 12. 
A horseman, darting from the crowd, 
Spurs on his mettled courser proud. 
Scott, Marmion, i. 3. 
mettlesome (met'1-sum), a. [< mettle + -some.'] 
Full of mettle or spirit ; courageous; fiery. 
Jockies have particular Sounds and Whistles, and 
Stroakings, and other Methods to sooth Horses that are 
mettlesome. N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 247. 
mettlesomely (met'l-sum-li), adv. In a mettle- 
some manner ; with spirit. 
mettlesomeness (met'1-sum-nes), n. The qual- 
ity of being mettlesome or spirited. 
metusiast (me-tu'si-ast), n. [< Gr. fierovaia, par- 
ticipation, communion, < pera, along with, + 
ovnia, being, substance, < ovaa, ppr. fern, of nvcu, 
be.] One who maintains the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation. [Rare.] 
ther-veined ; the flowers are usually showy, prevailingly 
red, strongly marked by their crown of very numerous 
long erect stamens, and borne in dense terminal three- 
forked cymes. There are about 20 species, growing chiefly Tne jfetusiasts and Papists. 
In the Pacific islands, from New Zealand to the Sandwich T R oge rs, On the Thirty-nine Articles, p. 289. (Dames.) 
Islands, one species each in tropical Australia, the Indian i_ i j 
archipelago, and South Africa. M. vera is the iron-tree of metwandt (met wond), n. An obsolete torm 
Java, and M. robwsta the rata of New Zealand. Various o f metewand. 
ffietzgeria(mets-je'ri-a),. [NL.(Raddi,1820), 
named after Johann Metzger, a German bota- 
nist.] A small, widely diffused genus of dioe- 
cious jungennanniaeeous Hepaticce, the type of 
the former order Metzgerieos. The capsule is ovate, 
the antheridia one to three, inclosed by a one-leafed in- 
volucre on the under side of the midrib. 
TNL (Rott- Metzgeriese (mets-je-ri'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Nees 
von Esenbeek, 1833-38), < Metzgeria + -ece.~] A 
former tribe of JungermanniacecK, typified by 
the genus Metzgeria. 
ttnui 
(mg-trok'si-lon), n. 
Z tne pit h or heart of a tree, 
+ WQd J A genug of palmgi known to 
older writers as Saqus (Blume), of the tribe 
Lepidocaryece and the subtribe Calamece. They meum 1 (me um). 
bear fruit but once, and are characterized byrpbust stems 
and branching spikes. They are large trees with terminal 
suberect pinnately cut leaves having opposite linear-Ian- 
ceolate segments; the spadix has a coriaceous prickly 
spathe. Seven species are known, indigenous in the 
[L neut. of metis, mine, 
< me (gen. mei, ace. me), me : see me 1 -.] Mine ; 
that which is mine. Meum and ttium, mine and 
thine ; what is one's own and what is another's : as, his 
j<j eas ( memn an d tuum are somewhat confused (a hu- 
. , morous way of insinuating dishonesty). 
Malay archipelago, New Guinea, and the Fiji Islands. ]vi euln 2 (me'um), TO. [NL. (Tournefort, 1700), 
M. terns and M. Rumphii, natives of Siam, the Malayan * ~~ ) , n smo-npl Hpnce lilt mewl i 
islands, etc., are the proper sago-palms. The former grows v L,.meum,<. (jr./ijoj- ' spignei. i( uu,.mew .j 
A genus of umbelliferous plants of the tribe 
Keselineee and the subtribe Settnece. It is charac- 
from 25 to 60 feet high, and has a rather thick trunk, cov- 
ered with leaf-scars, which bears a graceful crown of large 
pinnate leaves, from the center of which arise the pyrami- 
dal flower-spikes. The latter is a much smaller tree, fur- 
ther distinguished by the sharp spines borne on its leaves 
and flower-sheaths. These trees flower when about fifteen 
years old, and require nearly three years to ripen their 
fruit, after which they die. (See mgo.) M. Rumphii is a 
littoral tree which forms dense growths ; M. Icems grows in 
swamps. M. amicarum, a species in the Friendly Islands, 
yields seeds which serve as a vegetable ivory. 
metropolis; metropolitan. 
This is the chief or metropolitical city of the whole 
island. R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 332). 
2. Eceles., pertaining to the rank, office, or see 
of a metropolitan. 
The erection of a power in the person of Titus, a metro- 
political power over the whole island of Crete. 
Abp. Bancroft. Sermons, p. 4. (Latham.) 
Mepeham himself fell a victim to the pope's policy, for 
he died of mortification at being repelled in his metro- 
political visitation by Grandison, bishop of Exeter, who 
announced that the pope had exempted him from any 
such jurisdiction. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 384. 
Canterbury is . . . the metropolitical cathedral i. e., the 
cathedral of the metropolitan. X. and Q., 5th ser., X. 397. 
metrorrhagia (me-tro-ra'ji-a), . [NL., < Gr. 
firfrpa, womb (see matrix), H- -payia, < fayvbvat, 
break, burst.] Uterine hemorrhage; an effu- 
sion of blood from the inner surface of the 
uterus in the menstrual period, or at other times. 
Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, III. 28. 
terized by an oblong fruit, with the ribs very much raised 
and partially winged, by having no oil-tubes, and by the 
face of the seed being concave or furrowed. There is but 
a single species, M. athamanticum, which grows in the 
mountainous parts of central and western Europe. It is a 
smooth herb, known as spignel or baldmoney, also as mew, 
micken, and beancort, and bears a tuft of radical leaves, the 
segments of which are deeply cut into numerous very ftne 
but short lobes, so that they have the appearance of being 
whorled or clustered along the stalk. The flowers are 
white or purplish, and grow in compound umbels. 
nearly half a pint, two of which make a flask, meute, w. See mtitcS 
Baileti 1731 mevablet, A Middle English form of movable. 
metteH. An obsolete preterit of meeft. mevet, v. A Middle English form of move. 
mettle (met'l), . [A former vernacular spell- mevy (mev'i), n.; pi. mevies (-iz). [A dial. dim. 
ing of metal, in all uses; now confined to fig. of weifl.] A sea-mew; a gull. 
!.] If. Same as metal. About his sides a thousand sea gulls bred, 
Johnie Armstrang (Child's Ballads, VI. 43). mew 1 (mu), n. [Also dial. (Sc.) maw, dim. mery ; 
2. Physical or moral constitution; material. 
My name is John Little, a man of good mettle ; 
Ne'er doubt me, for I'll play my part. 
Robin Hood and Little John (Child's Ballads. V. 221). 
Every man living . . . shall assuredly meet with an hour 
of temptation, a certain critical hour, which shall more es- 
pecially try what mettle his heart is made of. 
Smith, Sermons, VI. vii. 
Romsdal's Horn . . . will try the mettle of the Alpine 
Club when they have conquered Switzerland. 
Froude, Sketches, p. 83. 
< ME. mewe, maice, mowe, < AS. mcew, in glosses 
also mean, meti, meg = MD. D. meeitw = MLG. 
mewe, LG. mewe = OHG. meli, mer/i (G. metre, 
mliwe, < LG.) = Icel. mar = Sw. mctt-e = Dan. 
ninaye (of. F. dial, mauwe, F. dim. moiictte, < 
Teut.), a mew; perhaps orig. imitative of the 
bird's cry.] A gull ; a sea-mew. See cut under 
Here it is only the mew that wails. 
Tennyson, The Sea-Fairies. 
