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Their architecture comprised elaborately carved temples and places, and they possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to about 700 a. d.

distances. -- Liquid measure, the measure of liquids. -- Square measure, the measure of superficial area of surfaces in square units, as inches, feet, miles, etc. -- To have hard measure, to have harsh treatment meted out to one; to be harshly or oppressively dealt with. -- To take measures, to make preparations; t…

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 persons condemned to death. -- To be at the mercy of, to be wholly in the power of.

Middle; intervening; as, a mesne lord, that is, a lord who holds land of a superior, but grants a part of it to another person, in which case he is a tenant to the superior, but lord or superior to the second grantee, and hence is called the mesne lord. Mesne process, intermediate process; process intervening between t…

Preternatural or supernatural. [Obs.] The golden round *Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal. Shak.

The superior or presiding bishop of a country or province.

Martial law, under Martial. -- Military order. (a) A command proceeding from a military superior. (b) An association of military persons under a bond of certain peculiar rules; especially, such an association of knights in the Middle Ages, or a body in modern times taking a similar form, membership of which confers s…

The master or superintendent of a mint. Also used figuratively.

lished constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the universe is governed. They considered not the miracle of the loaves. Mark vi. 52.

Of the nature of a miracle; performed by supernatural power; effected by the direct agency of almighty power, and not by natural causes.

s fly." Dryden. Letters missive, letters conveying the permission, comand, or advice of a superior authority, as a sovereign. They are addressed and sent to some certain person or persons, and are distinguished from letters patent, which are addressed to the public.

bearing a glutinous fruit. When found upon the oak, where it is rare, it was an object of superstitious regard among the Druids. A bird lime is prepared from its fruit. [Written also misletoe, misseltoe, and mistleto.] Lindley. Loudon.

title of courtesy formerly prefixed to the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman. Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul). Cowper.

Imitating reality, but not real; false; counterfeit; assumed; sham. That superior greatness and mock majesty. Spectator. Mock bishop's weed (Bot.), a genus of slender umbelliferous herbs (Discopleura) growing in wet places. -- Mock heroic, burlesquing the heroic; as, a mock heroic poem. -- Mock lead. See Blende (a).…

In the University of Oxford, an examiner for moderations; at Cambridge, the superintendant of examinations for degrees; at Dublin, either the first (senior) or second (junior) in rank in an examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

ommonplace. [Obs.] We have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Shak. Modern English. See the Note under English.

ed appearance produced upon either textile fabrics or metallic surfaces. Moire antique, a superior kind of thick moire.

One superior to all others of the same kind; as, an oak is called the monarch of the forest.

Something to preserve memory; a reminder; a monument; hence, a mark; an image; a superscription; a record. [Obs.] Spenser.

Greater; superior; increased; as: