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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,055 words match “AMERICAN”

MARSH n.
rnia herbacea) found along seacoasts. See Glasswort. -- Marsh St. John's-wort (Bot.), an American herb (Elodes Virginica) with small opposite leaves and flesh-colored flowers. -- Marsh tea. (Bot.). Same as Labrador tea. -- Marsh trefoil. (Bot.) Same as Buckbean. -- Marsh wren (Zoöl.), any species of small American
MARTEN n.
he European beech, or stone, marten (Mustela foina); the pine marten (M. martes); and the American marten, or sable (M. Americana), which some zoölogists consider only a variety of the Russian sable.
MATAMATA n.
The bearded tortoise (Chelys fimbriata) of South American rivers.
MATTOWACCA n.
An American clupeoid fish (Clupea mediocris), similar to the shad in habits and appearance, but smaller and less esteemed for food; -- called also hickory shad, tailor shad, fall herring, and shad herring.
MAY n.
of small white flowers along the slender branches. -- May apple (Bot.), the fruit of an American plant (Podophyllum peltatum). Also, the plant itself (popularly called mandrake), which has two lobed leaves, and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drast…
MAYAN a.
Designating, or pertaining to, an American Indian linguistic stock occupying the Mexican States of Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of Guatemala and a part of Salvador. The Mayan peoples are dark, short, and brachycephallic, and at the time of the discovery had attained a higher g…
MAYFISH n.
A common American minnow (Fundulus majalis). See Minnow.
MAYOR n.
ef magistrate of a city or borough; the chief officer of a municipal corporation. In some American cities there is a city court of which the major is chief judge.
MAYPOP n.
The edible fruit of a passion flower, especially that of the North American Passiflora incarnata, an oval yellowish berry as large as a small apple.
MEADOW a.
The American bittern. See Stake-driver. (b) The American coot (Fulica). (c) The clapper rail. -- Meadow lark (Zoöl.), any species of Sturnella, a genus of American birds allied to the starlings. The common species (S. magna) has a yellow breast with a black crescent. -- Meadow mouse (Zoöl.), any mouse of the genus Ar…
MEADOWSWEET; MEADOWWORT n.
e genus Spiræa, especially the white- or pink-flowered S. salicifolia, a low European and American shrub, and the herbaceous S. Ulmaria, which has fragrant white flowers in compound cymes.
MEDICINE n.
A physician. [Obs.] Shak. Medicine bag, a charm; -- so called among the North American Indians, or in works relating to them. -- Medicine man (among the North American Indians), a person who professes to cure sickness, drive away evil spirits, and regulate the weather by the arts of magic. -- Medicine seal, a small g…
MEDINA EPOCH n.
A subdivision of the Niagara period in the American upper Silurian, characterized by the formations known as the Oneida conglomerate, and the Medina sandstone. See the Chart of Geology.
MELEAGRIS n.
A genus of American gallinaceous birds, including the common and the wild turkeys.
MENHADEN n.
An American marine fish of the Herring familt (Brevoortia tyrannus), chiefly valuable for its oil and as a component of fertilizers; -- called also mossbunker, bony fish, chebog, pogy, hardhead, whitefish, etc.
MENOBRANCH; MENOBRANCHUS n.
A large aquatic American salamander of the genus Necturus, having permanent external gills.
MERCY n.
lin in the year 1827. Communities of the same name have since been established in various American cities. The duties of those belonging to the order are, to attend lying-in hospitals, to superintend the education of girls, and protect decent women out of employment, to visit prisoners and the sick, and to attend perso…
METIS; METISSE n.
The offspring of a white person and an American Indian.
MEXICAN a.
A native or inhabitant of Mexico. Mexican poppy (Bot.), a tropical American herb of the Poppy family (Argemone Mexicana) with much the look of a thistle, but having large yellow or white blossoms. -- Mexican tea (Bot.), an aromatic kind of pigweed from tropical America (Chenopodium ambrosioides).
MI n.
ale of C, i. e., to E, in European solmization, but to the third tone of any scale in the American system.
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