mortally 
mortally (mor'tiil-i), mli: [< ME. iiinrliillii . 
< mortal + -''/'-'.J 1. In the manner of a mor- 
tal. 
Vet I was ui'Ttallii brought forth, anil am 
No other than I appear. Hhak., Porlclcs, v. 1. 106. 
2. Iu such a manner that death must ensue; 
fatally: as, moi-billy wounded. 3. Extremely; 
intensely; grievously. [Now chiefly colloq.] 
He wol vow haten mortally, certeyn. 
Chaucer, Manciple's Tale, 1. 211. 
A little after, hut still with swollen eyes and looking 
mortally sheepish, Jean-Marie reappeared and went osten- 
tatiously about his business. 
11. L. Stevenson, Treasure of Franchard. 
mortalness (mor'tal-nes), n. The state of be- 
ing mortal ; mortality. 
In the one place the martalnesse, in the other the misery 
of their wounds, wasted them all. 
Sir H. Savile, tr. of Tacitus, p. 40. 
mortar 1 (m6r'tar),. [Formerly more prop, mor- 
ti-r, the spelling mortar being in mod. imitation 
of the L.; < ME. mortcr, < AS. mortere = M M i . 
mortcr, mortcr, LG. morter = OHO. mortmi, 
morsari, MHG. mors(ere, morser, Q.mitrser, OHG. 
also morsali, MHG. morsel, G. morsel = Sw. mor- 
tal = Dan. morter, a mortar (def. 1) = OF. mor- 
tirr, a mortar, a kind of lamp, F. mortier (> P. 
mortier) = Pr. mortier = Sp. mortero = Pg. 
morteiro = It. mortajo, a mortar (defs. 1 and 
2), < L. mortarium, a vessel in which substances 
are pounded with a pestle, hence a vessel in 
which mortar is made, mortar (see mortar"*); 
akin to niarnix, dim. 
marculus, martulus, 
a hammer, < y mar, 
pound, grind : see 
mill 1 , meaft. Hence 
ortor 2 .] 1. A ves- 
sel in which sub- 
stances are beaten 
to powder by means 
of a pestle . The chief 
use of mortars now is in Diamond-mortar, a, section. 
the preparation of drugs. 
Mortars are made of hard and heavy wood, such as lignum- 
vita), of stone, marble, pottery, metal, and glass. 
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among 
wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart 
from him. Prov. xxvil. 22. 
2. In a stamp-mill, the cast-iron box into which 
the stamp-heads fall, at the bottom of which is 
the die on which they would strike if it were 
not for the interposed ore with which the mor- 
tar is kept partly filled, and on whose side is the 
grating or screen through which the ore escapes 
as soon as it has been broken to sufficient fine- 
ness to pass through the holes in the screen. 
3f. A kind of lamp or candlestick with a broad 
saucer or bowl to catch the grease and keep 
the light safe; hence, the candle itself: in 
modern times, chiefly in ecclesiastical use, in 
the French form mortier. 
For by this marttr, which that I se brenne, 
Know I ful wel that day Is not ferre henne. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1246. 
Mony morteres of wax merkked with-oute 
With mony a borlych best al of hrende golde. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1487. 
A mortar was a wide bowl of Iron or metal ; it rested 
upon a stand or branch, and was filled either with flue oil 
or wax, which was kept burning by means of a broad wick 
[at funerals or on tomhsj. 
Dugdale, Hist. St. Paul's (ed. Ellis), p. 27. 
4f. A cap shaped like a mortar. Compare mor- 
tar-bonrd. 
So that methinkes I could flye to Rome (at least hop to 
Rome, as the olde Prouerb Is) with a morter on my head. 
Ded. Epistle to Kempt Nine Dales Wonder (1600). 
He did measure the stars with a false yard, and may now 
travel to Rome with a -mortar on 's head, to see If he can 
recover his money that way. 
Fletcher (and another), Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. 
6. A piece of ordnance, short in proportion to 
the sue of its bore, used in throwing bomb- 
shells in what is called vertical fire. The shells 
are thrown at a high angle of elevation, so as to drop 
from above into the enemy's intrenchment See cut In 
next column. 
Cannons full flve they brought to the town, 
With a lusty, large, great mortar. 
Undaunted Londonderry (Child's Ballads, VII. 250). 
Life-saving mortar. See life-taving. 
mortar 1 (mor'tar), v. t. [< mortar 1 , n.] To 
bray in a mortar. 
Such another rraftie mortring druggeir or Italian pur- 
redge seasoner. Kmh, Haue with you to Saffron-Walden. 
mortar- (mor'tar), . [Formerly more prop. 
mortcr, the spelling mortar being in mod. imi- 
tation of the L.; < ME. miirti r. mortier. < OF. 
mortier, F. mortier = Pr. mortier = Sp. mortem 
= Pg. morteiro = It. mortajo = D. mortel = M I A ' . 
386B 
Mortan in the Federal Mortar-bMtery before Yorktown. Virginia. 
mortgage-deed 
mort d'ancestor (mort dim 'si s-inr). [OF.: 
/"iV,death; '!',"(; ttiu-ixlnr. nm-estor.] In /'.'.</ 
In a- . ;i writ of assize by which n demandant sued 
to recover possession of un inln-rit;uiec (com- 
iiiK from his father or mother, brother or sister, 
uiH'le or aunt, nephew ur niece) of which a 
wrong-doer had deprived him on the death of 
the ancestor. It was repealed by 3 and 4 Will. 
IV., c. -11. 
mort-de-chien (mor'de-shian'), n. [F., lit. 
dog's denth: mort, death; a*, of; chien, dog.] 
Spasmodic cholera. 
morteiset, r. t. A variant of HorMtA 
morter't, An obsolete form of mortar 1 . 
morter'-'t, An obsolete form of mortar'*. 
mortgage (mdr'gaj), . [Formerly also mor- 
gage: < M K. mortgage, morgage, < OF. morgage, 
mortgaige, morgage, morouage, prop, separate. 
mort gaar, morti/ni/e, F. mortgage, lit. a dead 
pledge, (mort, dead, + gage, a pledge : see mort 1 
and gage 1 ."] 1. (a) At common law (and accord- 
ing to the present rule in some of the United 
States, and in form in nearly all, if not all, the 
States), a conveyance of real estate or some in- 
terest therein, defeasible upon the payment of 
morter, MHG. mortere, morter, mortel, G. mortel, 
< L. mortarium, mortar, a mixture of lime and 
sand, so called from the vessel in which it was ? r r _^ 
made, a mortar : see mortori.] A material used money or the performance of some other con- 
(in building) for binding together stones or dition. (6) By the law of most of the United 
bricks so that the mass may form one compact States, a lien or charge upon specific property, 
whole. The use of mortar dates back to the earliest re- re al or personal, created by what purports to be 
corded history, but various materials were employed for an expre8s transfer of title, with or without pos- 
but accompanied by a condition that 
Ion and Nineveh. Plaster (calcined sulphate of lime) was 
the cement employed on the Great Pyramid, and appa- 
rently by the Egyptians generally, but not to the entire ex- 
clusion of what is now ordinarily called mortar. The sub- 
stances mentioned are frequently designated as mortar in 
non-technical works. What is now generally understood 
by this term among buiMere and architects is a mixture of 
lime with water and sand, In various proportions, accord- 
Ing to the "fatness" of the lime and the desire to econo- 
mize the more costly material. This kind of mortar was 
well known to both Greeks and Romans. Mortar made 
of ordinary lime "sets" (hardens) in the air (not under 
water) and slowly, since the absorption of carbonic acid 
and the consequent conversion of the hydrate of lime into 
the carbonate is by no means a rapid process. The hard- 
ening of the mortar depends in large part on the crystal- 
lization of the carbonate of lime around the grains of 
sand, by which these are made to cohere firmly ; hence, 
a clean sand of which the grains are angular Is of impor- 
tance In forming a durable mortar. The kind of mortar 
which sets under water is sometimes called hydraulic 
mortar, but is more generally known as hydraulic cement, 
or simply cement. See cement and cement-slant. 
A morter fast is made aboute the tree. 
Palladium Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 108. 
So brycke was their stone and slyme was theyr morter. 
Bible oj 1551, Gen. xl. 3. 
mortar 2 (mor'tftr), r. t. [< mortar 2 , .] To 
fasten or inclose with mortar. 
Electricity cannot be made fast, mortared up, and ended 
like London Monument. Emerson, Eng. Traits, xiii. 
mortar-battery (m6r'tar-bafer-i), n. See bat- 
tery. 
mortar-bed (m6r'tar-bed), . The frame of 
wood and iron on which the piece of ordnance 
called a mortar rests. 
mortar-board (mor'tar-bord), n. 1. A board, 
generally square, useil by masons to hold mor- 
tar for plastering. Hence 2. A square- 
crowned academic cap. [Colloq.] 
mortar-boat (mdr'tar-bot),. n. A vessel, usu- 
ally of small size, upon which a mortar (or very 
rarely more than one) is mounted. 
mortar-carriage (mor'tar-kar'aj), n. See sea- 
coast artillery, under artillery. 
mortar-mant (mor'tar-man), n. A mason. 
Those morter-men . . . whose work deserved the nick- 
name of Babel or confusion. 
Up. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 513. (Dariet.) 
the transfer shall be void if in due time the 
money be paid or the thing done to secure 
which the transfer is given. It differs from & pledge 
in that it is not confined to personal property, and in that 
it is in form a transfer of title, while a pledge Is of chat- 
tels and is usually a transfer of possession without the 
title, but with authority to sell and transfer both title and 
possession in case of default. (See pledge.) At common 
law a mortgage was regarded (as in form It Is still almost 
universally expressed) as actually transferring the title. 
(See (a), above.) Courts of equity established the rule that 
a mortgager of real property could, by payment or per- 
formance, redeem It even after default, at any time before 
the court had adjudged his right foreclosed or the mort- 
gagee had caused a sale of the property to pay the debt 
(see equity of redemption, under equity); consequently 
mortgages ceased to be regarded In most jurisdictions 
as a transfer of the title, and are now generally held to 
create a mere lien, although the form of the instrument 
Is unchanged. The term mortgage is applied indifferent- 
ly (a) to the transaction, (6) to the deed by which it is ef- 
fected, and (c) to the rights conferred thereby on the 
mortgagee. 
2. A state or condition resembling that of 
mortgaged property. 
His trouth pllte lieth in morgage, 
Whiche If he brekc, it is falsehode. 
Gotper, Conf. Amant., Tii. 
Though God permitted the Jews, in punishment of their 
rebellions, to be captivated by the devil in idolatries, yet 
the Jews were but as in a mortgage, for they had been 
God's peculiar people before. Donne, .sermons, iii. 
Chattel mortgage. See chattel. Equitable mort- 
gage, a transaction which has the intent out not the form 
of a mortgage, and which a court of equity will enforce to 
the same extent as a mortgage, as, for instance, a loan on 
the faith of adeposit of title-deeds. General mortgage- 
bond. See ftond i. Mortgage debentures. See de- 
benture, 1. Welsh mortgage, a kind of mortgage for- 
merly used in Wales and Ireland, by which the mortgager, 
without engaging personally for the payment of the debt, 
transferred the title and possession of the property to the 
mortgagee, who was to take the rents and profits and apply 
them on the interest ; and there might be a stipulation that 
any surplus should be applied on the principal, t'nder 
this form of mortgage the mortgagee could not compel 
the mortgager to redeem or be foreclosed of his right to 
redeem, for no time was fixed for payment, and the mort- 
gager was never In default ; but the mortgagee had the 
right at any time to redeem (and, though there were no 
personal debt, an account might be taken as if there were, 
in order to ascertain what he must pay to redeem) ; and 
the statute of limitations did not begin to run against his 
claim until after full payment of the principal, 
mortar-mill (m6r'tar-mil), . A mixing and mortgage (mdr'gaj), r. t. ; pret. and pp. mort- 
stirring machine for combining lime, sand, and gaged, ppr. niortgai/ing. [< mortgage, n.] 1. 
other materials to make mortar. Such machines To grant (land, houses, or other immovable 
take the form of pug-mills and Chilian mills, and are property) as security for money lent or con- 
'orked by hand- or steam-power. 
mortar-piecet (mor'tar-pes), w. A mortar 
(piece of ordnance). 
They raised a strong batter)', and planted upon It a mor- 
tar-piece that cast stones and granadoes of sixteen inches 
diameter. Baker, Charles I., an. 1648. 
mortar-vessel (rodr'tar-ves'el), n. Same as 
mnftiir-liixit. 
mortaryt, An erroneous form of mortuary. 
They will not dreame I made him away 
When thus they see me with religious pompe, 
To celebrate his tomb-blacke mortarie. 
Greene, Selimus. 
mortast, An obsolete form of mortise. 
mortcloth (mdrt'kloth), n. [< morfi + cloth.'] 
A pall. [Scotch.] 
And let the bed-clothes for a mart-doth drop 
Into great laps and folds of sculptor's work. 
Broirninr/, The Bishop Orders his Tomb. 
tracted to be paid, or other obligation, on con- 
dition that if the obligation shall be discharged 
according to the contract the grant shall be 
void, otherwise it shall remain in full force. 
See mortgage, n., 1. Hence 2. To pledge; 
make liable ; put to pledge ; make liable for the 
payment of any debt or expenditure ; put in a 
position similar to that of being pledged. 
Mortgaging their lives to Covetise, 
Through wastfull Pride and wanton Riotise, 
They were by law of that proud Tyrannesse. 
Spemer, F. Q., I. T. 46. 
I suppose Samuel Rogers Is mortgaged to your ladyship 
for the autumn and the early part of the winter. 
Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland, vii. 
Already a portion of the entire capital of the nation is 
mortgaged for the support of drunkards. Lyman Beecher. 
mortgage-deed (mor'gaj-ded), n. A deed given 
by way of mortgage. 
