Search the Dictionary

occupies in passing from any given velocity to the same velocity again, if its motion be variable; -- called also the efficiency of the machine. Mosley. Rankine. -- Modulus of a system of logarithms (Math.), a number by which all the Napierian logarithms must be multiplied to obtain the logarithms in another system.…

A qualification involving the idea of variation or departure from some general rule or form, in the way of either restriction or enlargement, according to the circumstances of the case, as in the will of a donor, an agreement between parties, and the like. Bracton.

A kind of millet (Setaria Italica); German millet.

A trailing plant (Lysimachia Nummularia), with rounded opposite leaves and solitary yellow flowers in their axils.

A lofty coniferous Chilian tree (Araucaria imbricata), the branches of which are so crowded and intertwisted "as to puzzle a monkey to climb." The edible nuts are over an inch long, and are called piñon by the Chilians.

The fruit of two South American trees (Lecythis Ollaria, and L. Zabucajo), which have for their fruit large, pot-shaped, woody capsules containing delicious nuts, and opening almost explosively by a circular lid at the top. Vases and pots are made of this capsule.

A division of Radiolaria; -- called also Monocyttaria. -- Mon`o*zo"ic, a.

ion, primarily for use with normal children aged from three to six years, devised by Dr. Maria Montessori while teaching in the "Houses of Childhood" (schools in the poorest tenement districts of Rome, Italy), and first fully described by her in 1909. Leading features are freedom for physical activity (no stationary de…

Like the moon; variable. Being but a moonish youth. Shak.

In Ireland, one of a band that engaged in agrarian outrages by night.

Any fern of the genus Botrychium, esp. B. Lunaria; -- so named from the crescent-shaped segments of its frond.

ames. The dancers, grotesquely dressed and ornamented, took the parts of Robin Hood, Maidmarian, and other fictious characters.

ee Miller, 3, (a). -- Moth mullein (Bot.), a common herb of the genus Verbascum (V. Blattaria), having large wheel-shaped yellow or whitish flowers.

hicken (Zoöl.), any one of several species of small petrels, as the stormy petrel (Procellaria pelagica), and Leach's petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), both of the Atlantic, and O. furcata of the North Pacific. -- Mother Carey's goose (Zoöl.), the giant fulmar of the Pacific. See Fulmar. -- Mother's mark (Med.), a cong…

and its flowers white, growing in fragrant clusters. The European species is the P. aucuparia, or rowan tree. -- Mountain barometer, a portable barometer, adapted for safe transportation, used in measuring the heights of mountains. -- Mountain beaver (Zoöl.), the sewellel. -- Mountain blue (Min.), blue carbonate of…

lso mulita. See Illust. under Armadillo. -- Mule deer (Zoöl.), a large deer (Cervus, or Cariacus, macrotis) of the Western United States. The name refers to its long ears. -- Mule pulley (Mach.), an idle pulley for guiding a belt which transmits motion between shafts that are not parallel. -- Mule twist, cotton yarn…

An opera in which the text and action are not interrupted by set arias, duets, etc., the music being determined throughout by dramatic appropriateness; musical drama of this character, in general. It involves the use of a kind of melodious declamation, the development of leitmotif, great orchestral elaboration, and a f…

A state of confusion or disorder; -- prob. variant of mess, but influenced by muss, a scramble. [Colloq. U.S.]

m, state, or essential character; susceptibility of change; changeableness; inconstancy; variation. Plato confessed that the heavens and the frame of the world are corporeal, and therefore subject to mutability. Stillingfleet.

, which are often furnished with a trapdoor. The South American bird spider (Mygale avicularia), and the crab spider, or matoutou (M. cancerides) are among the largest species. Some of the species are erroneously called tarantulas, as the Texas tarantula (M. Hentzii).