MAST n.
A pole, or long, strong, round piece of timber, or spar, set upright in a boat or vessel, to sustain the sails, yards, rigging, etc. A mast may also consist of several pieces of timber united by iron bands, or of a hollow pillar of iron or steel. The tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of some great am…
MAY n.
arts of England by the crowning of a May queen with a garland, and by dancing about a May pole. -- May dew, the morning dew of the first day of May, to which magical properties were attributed. -- May flower (Bot.), a plant that flowers in May; also, its blossom. See Mayflower, in the vocabulary. -- May fly (Zoöl.),…
METAMORPHOSIS n.
cess of growth or development; as, the metamorphosis of the yolk into the embryo, of a tadpole into a frog, or of a bud into a blossom. Especially, that form of sexual reproduction in which an embryo undergoes a series of marked changes of external form, as the chrysalis stage, pupa stage, etc., in insects. In these in…
METER; METRE n.
and is very nearly, the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an arc of a meridian. See Metric system, under Metric. Common meter (Hymnol.), four iambic verses, or lines, making a stanza, the first and third having each four feet, and the second…
NORTH a.
ard the north, or coming from the north. North following. See Following, a., 2. -- North pole, that point in the heavens, or on the earth, ninety degrees from the equator toward the north. -- North preceding. See Following, a., 2. -- North star, the star toward which the north pole of the earth very nearly points, a…