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That which is thrown into a scale to make weight; something of little account added to supply a deficiency or fill a gap.

A little bag or budget. [Obs.] Shelton.

A little man; a dwarf; a pygmy; a manakin.

A little man. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

a characteristic mode of action, bearing, or treatment, carried to excess, especially in literature or art. Mannerism is pardonable,and is sometimes even agreeable, when the manner, though vicious, is natural . . . . But a mannerism which does not sit easy on the mannerist, which has been adopted on principle, and whi…

A literary or musical composition written with the hand, as distinguished from a printed copy.

he Maharastri Prakrit, spoken by the Marathas and neighboring peoples. It has an abundant literature dating from the 13th century. It has a book alphabet nearly the same as Devanagari and a cursive script translation between the Devanagari and the Gujarati.

A little ball of marble, or of some other hard substance, used as a plaything by children; or, in the plural, a child's game played with marbles.

Lit., closed sea; hence, a body of water within the separate jurisdiction of the nation; -- opposed to open sea, the water open to all nations and over which no single nation has special control.

A bombastic literary style marked by the use of metaphors and antitheses characteristic of the Italian poet Giambattista Marini (1569-1625). -- Ma*ri"nist (#), n.

To be a mark upon; to designate; to indicate; -- used literally and figuratively; as, this monument marks the spot where Wolfe died; his courage and energy marked him for a leader.

A small line composed of two strands a little twisted, used for winding around ropes and cables, to prevent their being weakened by fretting. Marline spike, Marling spike (Naut.), an iron tool tapering to a point, used to separate the strands of a rope in splicing and in marling. It has an eye in the thick end to which…

Composed of different sorts; as, maslin bread, which is made of rye mixed with a little wheat. [Written also meslin, mislin, etc.]

obtained as a yellow amorphous powder, the fused and crystalline form of which is called litharge; lead ocher. It is used as a pigment.

A young gentleman; a lad, or small boy. Where there are little masters and misses in a house, they are impediments to the diversions of the servants. Swift.

A kind of cement composed of burnt clay, litharge, and linseed oil, used for plastering walls, etc. Barbary mastic (Bot.), the Pistachia Atlantica. -- Peruvian mastic tree (Bot.), a small tree (Schinus Molle) with peppery red berries; -- called also pepper tree. -- West Indian mastic (Bot.), a lofty tree (Bursera gum…

cover for holding slow matches for firing cannon, esp. on board ship. The tub contains a little water in the bottom, for extinguishing sparks from the lighted matches. -- Quick match, threads of cotton or cotton wick soaked in a solution of gunpowder mixed with gum arabic and boiling water and afterwards strewed over…

Early; soon. [A Latinism, little used] Bentley.

rt of the seventeenth century. The Maurists have been distinguished for their interest in literature.

Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean. Meager were his looks; Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. Shak.