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Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter no matter, and the like. A prophet some, and some a poet, cry; No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden.

The chief 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.

Specifically, dinner; the chief meal. [Obs.] Chaucer. Meat biscuit. See under Biscuit. -- Meat earth (Mining), vegetable mold. Raymond. -- Meat fly. (Zoöl.) See Flesh fly, under Flesh. -- Meat offering (Script.), an offering of food, esp. of a cake made of flour with salt and oil. -- To go to meat, to go to a meal.…

Having (such) meat; -- used chiefly in composition; as, thick- meated.

en in dry masses to float in water. It is a hydrous silicate of magnesia, and is obtained chiefly in Asia Minor. It is manufacturd into tobacco pipes, cigar holders, etc. Also called sepiolite.

A chief city; a metropolis. [R.]

One of a sect, chiefly in Syria and Egypt, which acknowledges the authority of the pope, but adheres to the liturgy and ceremonies of the Eastern Church.

Having limbs; -- chiefly used in composition.

An iron-black or steel-gray mineral, consisting chiefly of the oxides of iron and titanium. It is commonly massive, but occurs also in rhombohedral crystals. Called also titanic iron ore, and ilmenite.

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.

A genus of herbaceous or suffruticose plants, chiefly natives of South Africa. The leaves are opposite, thick, and f

Measure; limit; boundary; -- used chiefly in the plural, and in the phrase metes and bounds.

A species of divination by meteors, chiefly by thunder and lightning, which was held in high estimation by the Romans.

The mother city; the chief city of a kingdom, state, or country. [Edinburgh] gray metropolis of the North. Tennyson.

. -- Micrometer microscope, a compound microscope combined with a filar micrometer, used chiefly for reading and subdividing the divisions of large astronomical and geodetical instruments. -- Micrometer screw, a screw with a graduated head used in some forms of micrometers. -- Position micrometer. See under Position…

The interior or central part or place; the middle; -- used chiefly in the objective case after in; as, in the midst of the forest. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him. Luke iv. 35. There is nothing... in the midst [of the play] which might not have been placed in the beginning. Dryden.…

sp. cows), and persons who make use of the meat or dairy products of infected cattle. Its chief symptoms in man are uncontrollable vomiting, obstinate constipation, pain, and muscular tremors. Its origin in cattle has been variously ascribed to the presence of certain plants in their food, and to polluted drinking wate…

m stock (esp. cows), and persons using the meat or dairy products of infected cattle. Its chief symptoms in man are uncontrollable vomiting, obstinate constipation, pain, and muscular tremors. Its origin in cattle has been variously ascribed to the presence of certain plants in their food, and to polluted water.…

r to the natural objects among which they live, -- a characteristic which serves as their chief means of protection against enemies; imitation; mimesis; mimetism.

r animals. -- Mineral oil. See Naphtha, and Petroleum. -- Mineral paint, a pigment made chiefly of some natural mineral substance, as red or yellow iron ocher. -- Mineral patch. See Bitumen, and Asphalt. -- Mineral right, the right of taking minerals from land. -- Mineral salt (Chem.), a salt of a mineral acid. -…