MAIL n.
The bag or bags with the letters, papers, papers, or other matter contained therein, conveyed under public authority from one post office to another; the whole system of appliances used by government in the conveyance and delivery of mail matter. There is a mail come in to-day, with letters dated Hague. Tatler.…
MANILA; MANILLA a.
by the native name abaca. From it matting, canvas, ropes, and cables are made. -- Manila paper, a durable brown or buff paper made of Manila hemp, used as a wrapping paper, and as a cheap printing and writing paper. The name is also given to inferior papers, made of other fiber.
MAT n.
An ornamental border made of paper, pasterboard, metal, etc., put under the glass which covers a framed picture; as, the mat of a daguerreotype. Mat grass. (Bot.) (a) A low, tufted, European grass (Nardus stricta). (b) Same as Matweed. -- Mat rush (Bot.), a kind of rush (Scirpus lacustris) used in England for making m…
METALLIC a.
in the state of the metal, as distinquished from its ores, as magnetic iron. -- Metallic paper, paper covered with a thin solution of lime, whiting, and size. When written upon with a pewter or brass pencil, the lines can hardly be effaced. -- Metallic tinking (Med.), a sound heard in the chest, when a cavity communi…
METEORIC a.
ric politician." Craik. Meteoric iron, Meteoric stone. (Min.) See Meteorite. -- Meteoric paper, a substance of confervoid origin found floating in the air, and resembling bits of coarse paper; -- so called because formerly supposed to fall from meteors. -- Meteoric showers, periodical exhibitions of shooting stars, o…
MO a.
r to the numerals themselves, to indicate the number of leaves made by folding a sheet of paper; as, sixteenmo or 16mo; eighteenmo or 18mo. It is taken from the Latin forms similarly used; as, duodecimo, sextodecimo, etc. A small circle, placed after the number and near its top, is often used for -mo; as, 16°, 18°, etc…
MORSE ALPHABET n.
Morse's telegraph. The letters are represented by dots and dashes impressed or printed on paper, as, .- (A), -... (B), -.. (D), . (E), .. (O), ... (R), -- (T), etc., or by sounds, flashes of light, etc., with greater or less intervals between them.