M E T 
ISO 
Courage and flee!, both of great force, 
Prepar’d for better or for worfe. Iludibras. 
METALEP'SIS,/ [from the Greek ;xzra, between, and 
lauSuvcj, to take.] A continuation of a trope in one word 
through a fucceffion of fignifications. Bailey. 
METALLIC, or Metal'lical, adj. Partaking of me¬ 
tal ; containing metal; confifling of metal.—The ancients, 
obferving in that material a kind of metallical nature, or 
fufibility, feem to have refolved it to nobler ufe; an art 
now utterly loll. Wot ton's Arckitefhtrc. 
The lofty lines abound with endlefs llore 
Of min’ral treafure and metallic ore. Blachmorc. 
METALLIF'EROUS, adj. Producing metals. 
METAL'LINE, adj. Impregnated with metal.— Metal¬ 
line waters have virtual cold in them; put therefore wood 
■or clay into fmith’s water, and try whether it will not 
harden. Bacon. —Confifling of metal.—Though the quick- 
fiiver were brought to a very dole and lovely metalline 
.cylinder, not interrupted by interfperfed bubbles, yet, 
having caufed the air to be again drawn out of the re¬ 
ceiver, fcveral little bubbles difclofed tliemfelves. Boyle. 
METALLISATION, f. The natural procefs by which 
metals are formed in the bowelt of the earth. 
MET'ALLIST, f. A worker in metals ; fkilled in me¬ 
tals.— Metallijls ufe a kind of terrace in their veffels for 
fining metals, that the melted metal run not out; it is 
made of quicklime and ox-blood. Moxon's Mech. Exercifes. 
METALLOG'RAPHIST, f [from vietalluin, Lat. me¬ 
tal, and y^utya, Gr. to write 5 but not much vfed.~\ A writer 
on metals. Scott. 
METALLOG'RAPHY, f. A treatife or defcription of 
metals. Johnfon. 
METALLOID,/! A name propofedto be given to thofe 
metals which have been obtained from the fixed alkalies, 
and fome of the earths, (juft as the newly-difcovered fmall 
.planets were propofed to be called afteroids.) But thefe 
bodies are fo completely metallic, that they may, with 
the utmoft propriety, be clalfed with the ether metals; and 
fuch a diltinChon will therefore be unneceffary. 
MET'ALLERGIST, f. A worker in metals. 
MET'ALLURGY, f [from vietallum , Lat. metal, and 
t^yov, Gr. work.] The aft of working metals. In a more 
general fenfe, it comprehends the whole art of working 
metals, from the ftate of ore to the utenfil; and, in this 
view, allaying, fmelting, refining, parting, fmithery, gild¬ 
ing, &c. are only branches of metallurgy.' But in a more 
limited l'enfe it includes only the operations which are 
followed in feparating metals from their ores. For an 
account of thel'e procefles, fee the articles Chemistry 
and Mineralogy. 
METAMOR'PHISTS, a feCt of heretics in the fif¬ 
teenth century, whole dillinguifhing tenet was, that the 
body of Jefus Chrill was, upon his alcenfion into heaven, 
changed and metamorphofed into God. 
To METAMOR'PHOSE, v. a. [from metamorphofis. ] 
To change the form or fliape of any thing.—They became 
degenerate and metamorphofed like Nebuchadnezzar, who, 
though he had the face of a man, had the heart of a beaft. 
Davies on Ireland. —The impofiibility to conceive fo great 
a prince and favourite fo luddenly metamorphofed into 
•travellers, with no train, was enough to make any man 
nnbelieve his five fenfes. Wot ton. 
Thou, Julia, thou haft metamorphos'd me, 
Made me neglect my ftudies, lofe my time. Shahefpearc. 
From fuch rude principles our form began. 
And earth was metamorphos'd into man. Dryden. 
METAMOR'PHOSE, or Metamor'phosis, f. [Greek} 
formed of pt\a., change, or removal from one place or ftate 
to another, and yogpri, form or figure.] Transformation; 
the change of a perfon or thing into another form.—Ob- 
ficene talk is grown fo common, that one would think we 
were fallen into an age of metamorphofis, and that the 
brutes did not only poetically but really fpeak. Govern - 
M E T 
ment of theTongue. —It is applied by Harvey to the changes 
an animal undergoes, both in its formation and growth; 
and by feveral to the various fhapes fome infeCts in parti¬ 
cular pafs through, as the filk-worm, and the lik^. Quincy. 
The ancients held two kinds of metamorphofes; the 
one real, the other apparent. The metamorphofis of Ju¬ 
piter into a bull, and of Minerva into an old woman, 
were only apparent; that of Lycaon into a wolf, and of 
Arachne into a fpider, and the like, they fay, were of the 
real kind. Moft of the ancient metamorphofes include 
fome allegorical meaning, relating either to phyfics or 
morality. Ovid’s Metamorphofes is a collection of hifto- 
ries of fuch transformations, poetically related. Some 
authors are of opinion that a great part of the ancient 
philofophy is couched under them; and Dr. Hooke has 
made an attempt to unriddle and lay open the hidden 
meanings of feveral of them. 
METAMOR'PHOSING, f. The aft of changing into 
another form. 
METANGIS'MONITES, f. in church hiftory, a feCt 
of Chriftians who held that the Word or Son of God was 
in the Father as one veffel is contained in another. 
METANGi'A,y; [Greek.] A change of mind; achange 
of opinion. 
METAPA'RA, a town of the ifland of Borneo; feventy 
miles fouth-eaft of Negara. 
METAPE'DIUM, J\ in anatomy, that part of the foot 
which anfwers to the metacarpus in the hand; the inftep. 
MET'APHOR, f. [from the Greek pnet, again, and 
(pegea, to carry.] The application of a word to an ufe to 
which, in its original import, it cannot be put; as, he 
bridles his anger; he deadens the found ; the Spring 
awakes the flowers.—A metaphor is a fimile compriled in 
a word. Johnfon. 
The metaphor is the moft common of all the figures of 
fpeech; and is that ufually meant, when we fay a thing 
is fpoken figuratively. An allegory is no more than a 
continued metaphor. 
Quintilian diftinguiflies metaphors into four kinds : 
the firft, when a word is transferred from one animal to 
another; as when Livy fays, that Cato ufed to bark at 
Scipio ; or when our Saviour calls Herod fox. To this 
clafs belong thofe forms of expreflion that occur in the 
facred writings, by which the properties and affections of 
men are aferibed to the Deity; as when God is laid to 
hear, fee, be angry, and repent, &c. The fecond, when 
the word is transferred from one inanimate to another ; 
as bridle for laws ; floods of fire, and clouds of linoke, de¬ 
moting large quantities. The third, when inanimates 
are applied to animates; as the flower of youth. Thus, 
alfo, Homer calls Ajax the bulwark of the Greeks, and 
Cicero brands ill men with the character of being th epe/t 
of the ftate. And the laft, when animates are applied to 
inanimates ; as the river difdained its bounds. Thus Ci¬ 
cero fpeaking of Clodius lays, the very altars, when they 
jaw that monfter fall, feemed to move tliemfelves, and 
ajfert their right againft him. Virgil, fpeaking of the 
impetuous force and rapidity of the river Araxes, fays, 
it difdained a bridge. And it is a very ufual epithet, 
which Homer gives to words, to call them winged, to in¬ 
timate the fwiftnefs of fpeech. And metaphors of this 
kind, which gave life and aCtion to inanimate things, are 
elteemed the rineft and Itrongeft. 
As the metaphor is intended to let things before the 
eyes, it becomes fo much the more perfeCt, as it (hows 
them the more vividly, by reprefenting them in motion 
and aCtion. Cicero, fpeaking of a metaphor, calls it the 
moft florid manner of expreflion, and brighteft ornament 
of language, that conlifts in Angle words. A metaphor 
fliould have nothing in it either coarfe or fliocking, or 
that may raife it above the fimplicity of nature, fo as to be 
forced and harlh ; nor fliould it appear a metaphor to any 
but thofe who view it very clofely. A metaphor fliould 
never be carried too far ; for, in that cafe, it degenerates 
into puerility. 
The 
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