MARBLE n.
limestone; a variety of calcite, capable of being polished and used for architectural and ornamental purposes. The color varies from white to black, being sometimes yellow, red, and green, and frequently beautifully veined or clouded. The name is also given to other rocks of like use and appearance, as serpentine or ve…
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…
MELON n.
A large, ornamental, marine, univalve shell of the genus Melo. Melon beetle (Zoöl.), a small leaf beetle (Diabrotiea vittata), which damages the leaves of melon vines. -- Melon cactus, Melon thistle. (a) (Bot.) A genus of cactaceous plants (Melocactus) having a fleshy and usually globose stem with the surface divided…
MENSURATION n.
; the result of an act or process; state or condition; as, aliment, that which nourishes, ornament, increment; fragment, piece broken, segment; abridgment, act of abridging, imprisonment, movement, adjournment; amazement, state of being amazed, astonishment.