migration 
the southern United .States. The faculty which enables or 
compels animals to migrate has been named the " Instinct 
<>f inanition ' ; but tlic phrase Is rat her a statement of fact 
i b:ui an explanation of the phenomenon, except In so far 
as this instinct may be regarded as originating in and 
being highly developed from the simple necessity of mov- 
ing about to secure food. 
All our adventures were by the fireside ; and all our 
miijratinnt from the blue bed to the brown. 
Ooldfinith, Vicar. 
Adventures that beguiled and cheered 
Their grave migration. Wordsworth, Excursion, vii. 
Our remote forefathers must have made endless earlier 
miyratiuH* as parts of the great Aryan body, as parts of the 
smaller Teutonic body. But our voyage from the Low- 
Dutch mainland to the isle of Britain was our first nUpro- 
(ton aa a people. K. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 31. 
2. A number of animals migrating together; 
the total of the individuals or species which per- 
form any particular migration; also, the time 
or period occupied in migrating. 3f. Change 
of place ; removal. 
such alterations, transitions, migration, of the centre 
of grarity, and elevations of new islands, had actually hap- 
pened. Woodward, Essay towards a Nat. Hist, of the 
(Earth. (Latham.) 
4f. Residence in a foreign country ; banish- 
ment. 
Wo is me, too too long banished from the Christian world, 
with such animosity, as If it were the worst of enemies, and 
meet to be adjudged to a perpetual mi<fratwn. 
Bp. Uatt, Invisible World, The Epistle. 
Bathic migration, migration of fishes from one depth of 
water to another ; vertical oraltitudinal change of habitat 
in the sea : distinguished from equatorial migration. 
The fishes of any region may nud water of suitable 
warmth by moving north or south along the shores of the 
continent, or by changing to waters of less or greater depth. 
The former may be called equatorial, the latter bathic mi- 
gration. Bathic migration is the most common. 
Ooode, Menhaden. 
Equatorial migration, ordinary meridional migration 
from or toward the equator. See def. 1. 
migrationist (mi-gra'shon-ist), n. [< migra- 
tion + -i'sf.] One who or that which migrates. 
The descendants of previous ages of miorationists. 
Jour. Anthrop. Inst., XVII. ISO. 
migration-station (mi-gra'shon-sta'shon), n. 
A station or post for observing facts concerning 
the migration of birds. 
Migration-stations now exist in every state and territory 
of the Union excepting Delaware and Nevada. 
Science, IV. 874. 
migration-wave (mi-gra'shpn-wav), n. The 
migration of many birds simultaneously, so that 
they appear at once at a given place in great 
numbers in comparison with those that go be- 
fore or come after ; the height of the migration 
of a given species. Cones. 
migrator (mi'gra-tor), n. [< LL. migrator, a 
wanderer, < L. migfare, pp. migratus, migrate : 
see migrate.'] One who or that which migrates. 
These wild miyraton. The New Mirror (1848), II. 121. 
migratory (mi'gra-to-ri), a. [= P. migratoire 
= Sp. It. migratdrid; as migrate + -ory.~] 1. 
Given to or characterized by migration ; roving 
or removing from place to place ; unsettled: as, 
the pastoral tribes of uncivilized men are gen- 
erally migratory; to lead a migratory life. 
Yet, sweet Nightingale ! 
From the warm breeze that bears thee on, alight 
At will, and stay thy migratory flight. 
Wordsworth, Evening Voluntaries, v. 
The same species is often sedentary In one part of Eu- 
rope, and migratory In another. 
A. R. Wallace, Distribution of Animals, I. 20. 
2. Pertaining or relating to migration or to a 
tendency to migrate. 
This purpose is sometimes carried on by a sort of migra- 
tory instinct, sometimes by a spirit of conquest. 
Burke, Abridg. of Eng. Hist, li. 2. 
Migratory anlT"M, those animals whose Instincts 
prompt them to remove from one place to another at the 
regularly recurring changes of season or of their natural 
means of subsistence. Migratory cells, white blood- 
corpuscles which, by means of the amoeboid movement of 
their protoplasm, penetrate the walls of the blood-vessels 
and wander Independently in the tissues, particularly the 
connective tissue. Migratory locust. See loctud, 1. 
Migratory pigeon, the passenger-pigeon. See Ecto- 
pistes, and cut under passenger-pigeon. 
migrenet, A Middle English form of megrim. 
Minelmesset, . A Middle English form of 
Micliiii'liiiiin. 
mihrab (mih-riib '),n. [Ar., praying-place.] A 
niche, or sometimes merely a decorated slab, 
in one of the interior walls of a mosque, mark- 
ing the direction of Mecca, to which the faith- 
ful ought to turn in prayer. In the niche a copy of 
the Koran is usually kept, and In front of it the imam 
stands when he leads the congregation In prayer. 
mihtt.mihtit. Obsolete forms of might 1 , mii/lili/. 
mikado (mi-kii'do), n. [Jap., lit. ' exalted gate ' 
(like the Sublime Porte, applied to the Sultan 
of Turkey), < mi. exalted, + kadn, gate.] The 
3759 
Kmpfror of Japan, sometimes erroneously spo- 
ken of as the spiritual emperor. See shogun. 
Mikania (mi-ka'ni-it), . [NL. (Willdenow), 
named after J. C. Afikan, a Bohemian botanist 
(1769-1844).] A genus of composite plants 
of the suborder Tvbuliflorir, the tribe Eui>at<>- 
riacece, and the subtribe Ageratea;. The principal 
characteristic* are an involucre of four slightly unequal 
bracts, four-flowered heads which are racemed or panlcled, 
and pappus with very numerous scabrous bristles arranged 
In one row. The plants are shrub* or herbs, which are 
almost always climbing or twining, with opposite leaves, 
and small white, flesh-colored, or pale-yellowish heads. 
About 140 species have been enumerated, but they may 
probably be reduced to 100. They are native* of the 
warmer parts of America, with the exception of one spe- 
cies, which is found in Asia and tropical Africa. M. 
scaiidcns, the climbing hempweed, is a high twiner, with 
cordate somewhat deltoid or hastate leaves and heads of 
pale flesh-colored flowers In dense cymes, climbing over 
copses along streams ; it ranges through the eastern and 
southern UnltedStates into Mexico and to Brazil. M.Qvaco 
la one of the guaco- plants of tropical America. 
mikelt, ". and n. A Middle English form of 
Hlifkli: 
mil. An abbreviation of military. 
milaget (mi'laj), n. See mileage. 
Milanese (nul-an-eV or -ez'), a. and n. [< It. 
Milanese (< L. "Mediolanensin), < Milano, < L. 
Mediolanum, the city now called Milan.] I. a. 
Of or belonging to Milan or the people of Milan, 
a city of northern Italy, or to the province or 
the former duchy of Milan. 
II, K. sing, and pi. A citizen or citizens of 
Milan. The Milanese, the territory of the former 
duchy of Milan In northern Italy. 
In 1499 the king crossed the Alps into the Milanese. 
Encyc. Brit., IX. 554. 
milarite (mil'iir-it), n. [< Milar (the Val Milar, 
in Switzerland, where it was supposed to occur ; 
the true locality, however, has been found to be 
Val Giuf) + -iC2.] A silicate of aluminium and 
calcium, allied in composition to petalite. It 
occurs in colorless or greenish hexagonal (per- 
haps pseudohexagonal) prisms. 
milcet, f. t. See milse. 
milch (milch), a. [< ME. milche, melch, < AS. 
melc, melee, meolce (= LG. melke = OHG. MHG. 
melch, G. melk = Icel. milkr, mjdlkr), giving 
milk, < meolc, milk: see milk.'] 1. Giving milk; 
furnishing milk: as, a milch covi: now applied 
only to domestic animals, and chiefly to cows. 
Take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke. 
1 Sam. vl. 7. 
Get me three hundred milfh bats, to make possets to pro- 
cure sleep. Webster, Duchess of Malfl, iv. 2. 
2f . Milky : said of plants. 
Hem [plants] beth melch in veer novelles grene 
Beth nought to feede. 
PaUadiui, Husbondrle (E. E. T. 8.), p. 99. 
3f. Yielding liquid; distilling drops (namely, 
tears). [Poetical and rare.] 
The Instant burst of clamour that she made, 
Unless things mortal move them not at all, 
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven, 
And passion in the gods. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 540. 
milch-wencht (milch' wench), n. A wet-nurse. 
Such exceptions were made against all but one country 
iniMi-Mvnrh, to whom I was committed, and put to the 
breast. Steele, Taller, No. 15. 
milch-woman (milch 'wum 'an), n. A wet- 
nurse. [Rare.] 
We find not above fifty -one to have beentarved, except- 
ing helpless Infants at Nurse, . . . being caused . . . oy 
carelessness, Ignorance, and infirmity of the Milch-women. 
J. Oraunt, quoted in Kibton-Turner's Vagrants and 
(Vagrancy, p. 168. 
milchy (mil'chi), a. [< milfh + -yi. Cf. milky.'] 
1. Milk-giving; abounding in milk. 
There milchy goats come freely to the paile. 
Sir T. Hawkins, tr. of Ode* of Horace, Epode, xvi. (Danes.) 
2. Milky, as an oyster. 
mild (mid), a. [< ME. mild, milde, mold, < AS. 
milde = OS. mildi = OFries. milde = D. mild = 
MLG. LG. milde = OHG. milti, MHG. milte, G. 
mild, milde, mild, = Icel. mildr = Sw. Dan. mild, 
mild, gentle, = Goth, 'milds (or mildeis 1) (in 
comp. a a mi III.--, without affection); perhaps = 
L. mollis (if that be taken as reduced from orig. 
"mo/rig, 'moldvis), soft, gentle (see molfl, mol- 
lify, etc.). Otherwise akin to OBulg. n7i>, 
compassionate, Russ. miliiii. amiable, kind, 
Pol. Bohem. mily, dear, = Lith. melas, dear: 
cf. Gr. fie&ixS> kind, Skt. \/ mard, be gracious, 
pity.] 1. Possessing softness or gentleness of 
disposition; soft-mannered; kindly disposed; 
good-tempered. 
So galnly a god and of goste mulde ! 
Alliterative Poems (ea. Morris), ii. 728. 
O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous ! 
Shak., Rich. III.. 1 2. 104. 
mildew 
2. Exercising gentleness in conduct or action ; 
not harsh or unfeeling; considerate; concilia- 
tory. 
To smooth his fault I should have been more mild. 
Shak., Rich. II., L 8. 24O. 
3. Marked by softness or kindness ; gentle in 
character, method, or appearance; manifest- 
ing or expressing mildness; mollifying; tran- 
quil ; placid : as, mild words or manners ; a 
milil reouke ; a unlit aspect. 
Rushing sound 
Of onset ended toon each milder thought 
Milton, V. L., vl. 98. 
Ah! dearest friend ! In whom the gods had Joined 
The mildest manners with the bravest mind. 
Pope, Iliad, xxlv. 968. 
4. Gentle or moderate in force, operation, or ef- 
fect ; not harsh or irritating ; emollient ; bland : 
genial : as, mild medicine ; mild winds ; a milil 
remedy. 
The folding gates diffused a silver light, 
And with a milder gleam refreshed the sight. 
Addisou, tr. of Ovid's Metamorpb., II. 
5. Moderate in quality or degree ; of mitigated 
force; weak in Kind; free from harshness or 
roughness; hence, not hard to endure, man- 
age, etc.: as, mild fruit; mild dissipation ; mild 
efforts. 
This horrour will grow mild, this darkness light. 
Milton, t. L., II. 220. 
1 pass more innocent, In infant state, 
To the mild limbo of our father Tate. 
Pope, Dunclad, I. 288. 
Upon a mild declivity of hill. 
Byron, Childe Harold, Iv. 67. 
Modena, Roman, and Sardinian [oak| are what the work- 
men call milder in character that is to say, they are ea- 
sier to work, and a little less hard. Latlelt, Timber, p. 84. 
6. Hence, new; not having gained the taste 
that comes by keeping: said of malt liquors: 
as, mild ale. 7. See the quotation. 
A body which can have its form permanently changed 
without any flaw or break taking place is called mild. 
Encyc. Brit., VI. 312. 
l.t/i'M forms the first element in a nnmber of compounds 
of obvious signification : for example, mild-flapored, mild- 
looking, mild-mannered, mild-spirited, mild-tempered.} 
Mild steel. See steel. to draw It mild. See draw. 
Syn. Bland, Soft, etc. (see gentle\ tranquil, soothing, 
pleasant, pacific. 
mildt (mild), . [< ME. milde (= OHG. milti = 
Icel. mildi), mildness; < mild, a."] Mildness; 
gentleness. 
Phy on the cruel crabbed heart 
Which was not movde with milde. 
Gascoigne, Complaint of Philomene (ed. Arberji 
mildt, f. [ME., < AS. m i ill in n. become mild (cf. 
gemildsian, gemiltsian, make mild, pity: see 
milse), < milde, mild: see mild, .] I. intrant. 
To become mild. 
II. trans. 1. To make merciful. 2. To pity; 
pardon. Halliiccll. 
milden (mil'dn), v. [= Dan. mildne; as mild + 
-en 1 .] I. intrant. To become mild ; grow less 
severe, stringent, or intense ; soften : as, the 
weather gradually mildew*. Imp. Diet. 
II. trans. To render mild, in any sense ; make 
less severe, stringent, or intense ; soften. 
The political tone Is also mildened In the revision. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 216. 
mildernixt, A coarse linen used for sail- 
cloth. Draper's Diet. 
mildew (mirdu), n. [Early mod. E. also mel- 
dewe; < ME. mt Metre, mildeti, meldeiee, honey- 
dew, also blight, < AS. mildedv, 'miledeaw, mele- 
dedw (= D. meeldautf = MLG. meldouw = OHG. 
/ 6 
Powdery Mildew, magnified. 
I. Erysipht commttnis, upon the epidermis of the leaf of LMJIHUJ 
frrnNtr. a, the sporocarp and mycelium ; *, conidia bearing hyphii ; 
anascus. containing eight ascospores. 
