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Of or pertaining to the plague or contagious disorders.

e slow in moving; to delay; to linger; to be dilatory; to spend time idly; to saunter; to lag behind. Sir John, you loiter here too long. Shak. If we have loitered, let us quicken our pace. Rogers.

a nickname alluding to the single star on its coat of arms, being the device used on its flag and seal when it was a republic.

a bucket into a well; to lower a sail or a boat; sometimes, to pull down; as, to lower a flag. Lowered softly with a threefold cord of love Down to a silent grave. Tennyson.

To make smooth or slippery; as, mucilaginous and saponaceous remedies lubricate the parts to which they are applied. S. Sharp. Supples, lubricates, and keeps in play, The various movements of this nice machine. Young.

ntaining only large spores; -- opposed to microsporangium. Both are found in the genera Selaginella, Isoctes, and Marsilia, plants remotely allied to ferns.

One of the specially large spores of certain flowerless plants, as Selaginella, etc.

inhabitant of Madagascar, or Madecassee; the language of the natives of Madagascar. See Malagasy.

A South African lemur (Galago maholi), having very large ears. [Written also moholi.]

or copper complexion in the Malay Peninsula and the western islands of the Indian Archipelago.

A genus of plants (Malva) having mucilaginous qualities. See Malvaceous.

Homage or service rendered to a superior, as to a lord; vassalage. [Obs. or Scots Law] Jamieson.

A rover in quest of booty or plunder; a plunderer; one who pillages. De Quincey.

ss of Vertebrata, lower than fishes, characterized by their purselike gill cavities, cartilaginous skeletons, absence of limbs, and a suckerlike mouth destitute of jaws. It includes the lampreys and hagfishes. See Cyclostoma, and Lamprey. Called also Marsipobranchiata, and Marsipobranchii.

A fabric of sedge, rushes, flags, husks, straw, hemp, or similar material, used for wiping and cleaning shoes at the door, for covering the floor of a hall or room, and for other purposes.

Pertaining to, or discovered by, J. F. Meckel, a German anatomist. Meckelian cartilage, the cartilaginous rod which forms the axis of the mandible; -- called also Meckel's cartilage.

An interarticular synovial cartilage or membrane; esp., one of the intervertebral synovial disks in some parts of the vertebral column of birds. Converging meniscus, Diverging meniscus. See Lens.

The bone or cartilage forming the anterior extremity of the lower jaw in some adult animals and the young of others.

The middle one of the three principal basal cartilages in the fins of fishes. -- Me*sop`ter*yg"i*al, a.

A dwelling house, with the adjacent buildings and curtilage, and the adjoining lands appropriated to the use of the household. Cowell. Bouvier. They wedded her to sixty thousand pounds, To lands in Kent, and messuages in York. Tennyson.