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One of certain public pawnbroking establishments which originated in Italy in the 15th century, the object of which was to lend money at a low rate of interest to poor people in need; -- called also mount of piety. The institution has been adopted in other countries, as in Spain and France. See Lombard-house.…

of American trotting horses; -- so called from the name of the stud from which the breed originated in Vermont.

A thing of Moorish origin; as: (a) The Moorish language. (b) A Moorish dance, now called morris dance. Marston. (c) One who dances the Moorish dance. Shak. (d) Moresque decoration or architecture.

and due to, the minister of a parish on the death of a parishioner. It seems to have been originally a voluntary bequest or donation, intended to make amends for any failure in the payment of tithes of which the deceased had been guilty.

That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix. Alas! poor country! ... it can not Be called our mother, but our grave. Shak. I behold ... the solitary majesty of Crete, mother of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand years. Landor.

custom in England, of visiting one's parents on Midlent Sunday, -- supposed to have been originally visiting the mother church to make offerings at the high altar.

e very large, with a triangular base and rounded angles. It is supposed by some to be the original of the domestic sheep. Called also musimon or musmon. [Written also moufflon.]

nd maker (below). -- Mound builders (Ethnol.), the tribe, or tribes, of North American aborigines who built, in former times, extensive mounds of earth, esp. in the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Formerly they were supposed to have preceded the Indians, but later investigations go to show that they were,…

effect of a continuous picture in which the objects move in some manner, as that of some original scene. The usual form of moving pictures is that produced by the cinematograph.

rak`er, to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him.

A sort of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany. Addison. The clamorous crowd is hushed with mugs of mum. Pope.

A species of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army. It was originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted. This arm has been generally superseded by the rifle.…

Having the rank, pungent, offencive odor and taste which substances of organic origin acquire during warm, moist weather; foul or sour and fetid; moldy; as, musty corn; musty books. Harvey.

A story of great but unknown age which originally embodied a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; an ancient legend of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.; a wonder story of prehistoric origin; a popular fable which is, or…

e not ... consider his history of the fall as an excellent mythologue, to account for the origin of human evil Geddes.

nd Greek from the Phoenician, which probably derived it from the Egyptian as the ultimate origin. It is etymologically most closely related to M. See M.

A species of cloth, of a firm texture, originally brought from China, made of a species of cotton (Gossypium religiosum) that is naturally of a brownish yellow color quite indestructible and permanent.

State of being nascent; birth; beginning; origin.

Arising by birth; having an origin; born. [Obs.] Anaximander's opinion is, that the gods are native, rising and vanishing again in long periods of times. Cudworth.

By natural or original condition; naturally; originally.