MAS 
MAS 
MASTER-STRING, /. Principal firing •. 
He touch’d me 
Ev’n on the tender’ll point; the wafer-firing 
That makes moll harmony or difcord to me. 
I own the glorious fubjerf fires my bread. Rowe. 
MASTER-STRO'KE,/ Capital performance;^ 
Ye fkilful maders of Machaon’s race, * 
Who nature’s mazy intricacies trace : 
Tell who your fearch has here eluded been, 
How oft amaz’d and ravifh’d you have feen 
The conduct, prudence, and dupendous art. 
And mafiif firokes in each mechanic part. Blechmore. 
MASTER-TEETH, /. The principal teeth.—Some 
living creatures have their mafer-teeth indented one within 
another like faws ; as lions and dogs. Bacon. 
MASTER WORT,/. [Saxon.] A plant. See Impe- 
ratoria. — Majier wort is railed of feeds, or runners from 
the roots. Mortimer’s Hujbandry. 
MASTER-WORT (Black). See Astrantia. 
MASTER WORT (Wild). See AaoPODtim. 
MAS'TERDOM,/. Dominion; rule. Not in ufe: 
You fhall put 
This night’s great bufinefs into my difpatch, 
•Which (hall to all our nights and days to come 
Give folely fovereign fway and mafcrdom. Skakefpcare. 
MASTERING,/. The a cl of overcoming. 
MASTERLESS, adj. Wanting a mailer or owner : 
When all was pad, he took his forlorn weed ; 
His filver fhield now idle, maferlefs. Fairy Oucen. 
The foul opinion 
You had of her pure honour, gains or ufes 
Your fword or mine, or majlerlefs leaves both 
To who fhall find them. Shakefpeare's Cynibeline . 
Ungoverned; unfubdued. 
MASTERLINESS,/ Eminent fkill. 
MASTERLY, adj. Suitable to a matter; artful; fkilful. 
—A man either difcovers new beauties, or receives dronger 
imprellions from the majierly drokes of a greatautlior, every 
time he perufes him. Addifon. 
That clearer drokes of majierly defign, 
Of wife contrivance, and of judgment, fhine 
In all the parts of nature, we affert. 
Than in the brighted works of human art. Blackmore. 
Imperious ; with the fway of a mader. 
MASTERLY, adv. With the fkill of a mader.—I read 
a book; I think it very majierly written. Swift. 
Thou dod fpeak maferly, 
Young though thou art. Shakefpeare. 
MASTERPIECE, / Capital performance; any thing 
done or made with extraordinary fkill.—The fifteenth fs 
the majerpiece of the whole metamorphofes. Dryden. 
This wond’rous majerpiece I fain would fee; 
This fatal Helen, who can wars infpire. Dryden. 
Chief excellence.—Beating up of quarters was his majier - 
piece. Clarendon. —Didimulation was 'ri\%ma(lerpiece\ in which 
lie fo much excelled, that men were not afhamed with being 
deceived but twice by him. Clarendon. 
MASTERSHIP,/. Dominion; rule; power.'—Supe¬ 
riority ; pre-eminence : 
For Python flain he Pythian games decreed. 
Where noble youths for maflerfaip fhould drive, 
To quoit, to run, and deeds and chariots drive. Dryden. 
Chief work : 
Two youths of royal blood, renown’d in fight. 
The majerjip of heav’n in face and mind. Dryden. 
Skill; knowledge.; 
S32 
You vcere ufed 
To fay Extremity was the trier of fpirits ; 
That, when the fea was cairn, all boats alike 
Show’d maferfiip in doating. Shakefpeare’s Cortot anus, 
A title of ironical refpeff.—How now, Signior Launce ? 
what news with your majerjtip ? Shakefpeare. 
MASTERY,/ Dominion; rule.— If divided by moun¬ 
tains, they will fight for the mafery of the padages of the 
tops, and for the towns that dand upon the roots. Raleigh's 
F.Jfays. —Superiority; pre-eminence.—Good men Ifuppofe 
to live in a date of mortification, under a perpetual con- 
flifl with their bodily appetites, and druggling to get the 
mafery over them. Atterbury. —Skill; dexterity.—To give 
fufiicient fweetnefs, zmafery in the language is required : 
the poetsmufl have a magazine of words, and have the arc 
to manage his few vowels to the bed advantage. Dryden, 
Chief mafi'ry to diflefl, 
With long and tedious liavock, fabled knights 
In battles feign’d. Milton’s Paradife Lof. 
Attainment of fkill or power.—The learning and mafery 
of a tongue, being unpleafant in itfelf, fhould not be cum¬ 
bered with other difficulties. Locke. 
MAST'FUL, adj. Abounding in mad, or fruit of oak, 
beach, or chelnut: 
Some from feeds inclos’d on earth arife, 
For thus the mafful chefnut mates the fkies. Dryden. 
MASTIC, or Mas'tich, / [French.] A kind of gum 
gathered front trees of the fame name in Scio.—We may 
apply intercipients upon the temples of majich ; frontils 
may alfo be^appiied. Wifcmun .—A kind of mortar or ce¬ 
ment.—We meet with a kind of cement fometimes kept 
in the fhops under the name of mafic. It is compofed of 
this gum, and feveral other ingredients, and is formed 
into cakes for ufe. This is intended for the fervice of la¬ 
pidaries, to fill up cracks in dones, &c. but is by no means 
to be ufed for any medicinal purpofes. Ency. Brit .—The 
jewellers mix tnafic with turpentine and ivory-hlack, and 
lay it under their diamonds, to give them a ludre. Chambers ,. 
—As for the fmall particles of brick and done, the lead 
moiltnefs would join them together, and turn them into a 
kind of mafick , which tbofe infeils could not divide. 
Addifon. 
MAS'TIC, Indian and Peruvian ; feeScniNus. Syrian; 
fee T kucrium. 
MAS'TIC, Thyme. See Satureia and ThymiIs. 
MASTIC-TREE. See Pistacia. —The Chian mafic 
thus began. Cowley Engli/hed. 
MASTICATION, / \_maficatio , Lat ] The aft of 
chewing.—In birds there'is nomafication, or comminution 
of the meat in the mouth ; but in fuch as are not carni¬ 
vorous it is immediately fwallowed into the crop or craw, 
and thence transferred into the gizzard. Ray on the Creation. 
—Mafication is a neceflary preparation of folid aliment, 
without which there can be no good digedion. Ar'outhnot. 
MASTICATORY, / [ maficatoire , Fr.] A medicine 
to be chewed only, not fwallowed.—Remember moficatories 
for the mouth. Bacon .—Salivation and maficatories evacuate 
confiderably ; falivation many pints of phlegm in a day, 
and very much by chewing tobacco. Flayer on Humours 
MASTIC 1 NE, adj. [fro m mafic.'] Belonging to the 
maltic. Cole. 
MAS'TIP’F, / [ mafin , Fr. mafino, Ital. but Manwood 
fays, that it derives its name from may g Vdiepe, Sax. being 
fuppofed to “ frighten away robbers” by its tremendous 
voice.] A dog of the larged fize ; a b.an-dog ; a dog kept 
to watch the houfe. See Canis, vol iil. p. 718.—When 
we knock at a farmer’s door, the firff anfwer (hall be hfs 
vigilant mafjjf. More's Antidote againfi Atheijir,, 
As favage bull, whom two fierce mqfives bait. 
When rancour doth with rage him once engore, 
Forgets with wary ward them to await, 
But with his dreadful herns them drives afore. Spenfr . 
4 MAS'TIFF, 
