{ Motor cycle, or Mo"tor*cy`cle }, n. A bicycle having a motor attached so as to be self-propelled. In Great Britain the term motor cycle is treated by statute (3 Ed VII. c. 36) as limited to motor cars (self-propelled vehicles) designed to travel on not more than three wheels, and weighing unladen (that is, without water, fuel, or accumulators necessary for propulsion) not more than three hundred weight (336 lbs.).
Mo`tor-driv`en, a. (Mach.) Driven or actuated by a motor, esp. by an individual electric motor. An electric motor forms an integral part of many machine tools in numerous modern machine shops.
Motor generator. The combination consisting of a generator and a driving motor mechanically connected, usually on a common bedplate and with the two shafts directly coupled or combined into a single shaft.
Mo"tor*ing (?), n. Act or recreation of riding in or driving a motor car or automobile.
Mo"tor*ing, a. Pertaining to motor cars or automobiles, or to the technology of such; addicted to riding in or driving automobiles; as, motoring parlance; my motoring friend.
Mo"tor*ize (m"tr*z), v. t. [Motor + -ize.] To substitute motor- driven vehicles, or automobiles, for the horses and horse-drawn vehicles of (a fire department, city, etc.). -- Mo`tor*i*za"tion (#), n.
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Mount, n. (Palmistry) Any one of seven fleshy prominences in the palm of the hand which are taken as significant of the influence of "planets," and called the mounts of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, the Sun or Apollo, and Venus.
Moun"tain spec"ter. An optical phenomenon sometimes seen on the summit of mountains (as on the Brocken) when the observer is between the sun and a mass of cloud. The figures of the observer and surrounding objects are seen projected on the cloud, greatly enlarged and often encircled by rainbow colors.
Moun"tain State. Montana; -- a nickname.
Mount"ing, n. (Aëronautics) = Carriage.
||Mous`que*taire" (?), n. [F.] 1. A musketeer, esp. one of the French royal musketeers of the 17th and 18th centuries, conspicuous both for their daring and their fine dress.
2. A mosquetaire cuff or glove, or other article of dress fancied to resemble those worn by the French mosquetaires.
Mousquetaire cuff. A deep flaring cuff.
Mousquetaire glove. A woman's glove with a long, loosely fitting wrist.
Mousse (ms), n. [F.] (Cookery) A frozen dessert of a frothy texture, made of sweetened and flavored whipped cream, sometimes with the addition of egg yolks and gelatin. Mousse differs from ice cream in being beaten before -- not during -- the freezing process.
||Mousse`line de soie" (?). [F.] A soft thin silk fabric with a weave like that of muslin.
Mov"ie (?), n. A moving picture or a moving picture show; -- commonly used in pl. [Slang or Colloq.]
Moving picture. A series of pictures, usually photographs taken with a special machine, presented to the eye in very rapid succession, with some or all of the objects in the picture represented in slightly changed positions, producing, by persistence of vision, the optical 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.
Muck rake. A rake for scraping up muck or dung. See Muckrake, v. i., below.
Muck"rake` (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. -raked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. -raking (?).] To seek for, expose, or charge, esp. habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on "The Man with the Muck Rake," in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muck"rake`, in the above sense, and the noun muck"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.
Mu"coid (?), n. [Mucin + - oid.] (Physiol. Chem.) One of a class of mucinlike substances yielding on decomposition a reducing carbohydrate together with some form of proteid matter.
Mud"sill`, n. Fig.: A person of the lowest stratum of society; -- a term of opprobrium or contempt. [Southern U. S.]
Muf"fler, n. (Mach.) Any of various devices to deaden the noise of escaping gases or vapors, as a tube filled with obstructions, through which the exhaust gases of an internal-combustion engine, as on an automobile, are passed (called also silencer).
{ Mug"ger (?), n. Also Mug"gar, Mug"gur }. [Hind. magar, fr. Skr. makara sea monster.] The common crocodile (Crocodilus palustris) of India, the East Indies, etc. It becomes twelve feet or more long.
Mug"gins (?), n. [Etym. unknown.] 1. A game of dominoes in which the object is to make the sum of the two ends of the line some multiple of five.
2. A game at cards which depends upon building in suits or matching exposed cards, the object being to get rid of one's cards.
Mug"gins, v. t. In certain games, to score against, or take an advantage over (an opponent), as for an error, announcing the act by saying "muggins."
Mule killer. Any of several arthropods erroneously supposed to kill live stock, in the southern United States, by stinging or by being swallowed; as: (a) A whip scorpion. [Florida] (b) A walking- stick insect. [Texas] (c) A mantis. (d) A wheel bug.
Mul"ti*graph (?), n. [Multi- + -graph.] A combined rotary type-setting and printing machine for office use. The type is transferred semi-automatically by means of keys from a type-supply drum to a printing drum. The printing may be done by means of an inked ribbon to print "typewritten" letters, or directly from inked type or a stereotype plate, as in a printing press.
Mul"ti*phase (?), a. [Multi- + phase.] Having many phases; specif. (Elec.), pertaining to, or designating, a generator producing, or any system conveying or utilizing, two or more waves of pressure, or electromotive force, not in phase with each other; polyphase.
Mul"ti*plane (?), a. Having several or many planes or plane surfaces; as, a multiplane kite.
Mul"ti*plane, n. [Multi- + plane.] (Aëronautics) An aëroplane with three or more superposed main planes.
Mul`ti*po"lar (?), a. [Multi- + polar.] 1. Having many poles; in Anat., designating specif. a nerve cell which has several dendrites.
2. (Elec.) Having, or pertaining to, many poles, as a field magnet or armature of a dynamo, or a dynamo having such a field magnet or (sometimes) armature.
Mum"bo Jum"bo (?), n. [Perh. fr. the native name of an African god.] Among the Mandingos of the western Sudan, a bugbear by means of which the women are terrified and disciplined by societies of the men, one of whom assumes a masquerade for the purpose; hence, loosely, any Negro idol, fetish, or bugaboo.
Mun"go (?), n. A material of short fiber and inferior quality obtained by deviling woolen rags or the remnants of woolen goods, specif. those of felted, milled, or hard- spun woolen cloth, as distinguished from shoddy, or the deviled product of loose-textured woolen goods or worsted, -- a distinction often disregarded.
Mu*nic"i*pal*ize (?), v. t. [Municipal + -ize.] To bring under municipal oversight or control; as, a municipalized industry.
London people are now determined to centralize and to municipalize such services.
The Century.
Mus"cle read`ing. The art of making discriminations between objects of choice, of discovering the whereabouts of hidden objects, etc., by inference from the involuntary movements of one whose hand the reader holds or with whom he is otherwise in muscular contact.
Mush (?), n. [Perh. short for mush on, a corrupt of E. marchons, the cry of the voyageurs and coureurs de bois to their dogs.] A march on foot, esp. across the snow with dogs; as, he had a long mush before him; -- also used attributively. [Colloq., Alaska & Northwestern U. S.]
Mush, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Mushed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Mushing.] To travel on foot, esp. across the snow with dogs. -- v. t. To cause to travel or journey. [Rare] [Colloq., Alaska & Northwestern U. S.]
Mush, v. t. To notch, cut, or indent, as cloth, with a stamp.
Mu"sic dra`ma. 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 fusion of poetry, music, action, and scene into an organic whole. The term is applied esp. to the later works of Wagner: "Tristan und Isolde," "Die Meistersinger," "Rheingold," "Walküre," "Siegfried," "Götterdämmerung," and "Parsifal."
Music hall. A place for public musical entertainments; specif. (Eng.), esp. a public hall for vaudeville performances, in which smoking and drinking are usually allowed in the auditorium.
Must (mst), n. [Hind. mast intoxicated, ruttish, fr. Skr. matta, p.p. of mad to rejoice, intoxicate.] (Zoöl.) Being in a condition of dangerous frenzy, usually connected with sexual excitement; -- said of adult male elephants which become so at irregular intervals. -- n. (a) The condition of frenzy. (b) An elephant in must.
Mus`tah"fiz` (?), n. [Turk. & Ar. mustafi who trusts to another's keeping, a soldier of a garrison.] See Army organization, above.
Mu*ta"tion (?), n. 1. (Biol.) Gradual definitely tending variation, such as may be observed in a group of organisms in the fossils of successive geological levels.
2. (Biol.) (a) As now employed (first by de Vries), a sudden variation (the offspring differing from its parents in some well-marked character or characters) as distinguished from a gradual variation in which the new characters become fully developed only in the course of many generations. The occurrence of mutations, and the hereditary transmission, under some conditions, of the characters so appearing, are well-established facts; whether the process has played an important part in the evolution of the existing species and other groups of organisms is a disputed question. (b) The result of the above process; a suddenly produced variation.
Mu*tes`sa*rif" (?), n. [Turk. & Ar. muteçarif freely disposing of anything, master.] In Turkey, an administrative authority of any of certain sanjaks. They are appointed directly by the Sultan.
Mu*tes`sa*ri*fat" (?), n. [Turk. & Ar. muteçarifah office of a mutessarif.] In Turkey, a sanjak whose head is a mutessarif.
Mu"to*scope (?), n. [L. mutare to change + -scope.] A simple form of moving-picture machine in which the series of views, exhibiting the successive phases of a scene, are printed on paper and mounted around the periphery of a wheel. The rotation of the wheel brings them rapidly into sight, one after another, and the blended effect gives a semblance of motion.
||My*ce`to*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL.; Gr. &?;, &?;, fungus + &?; pl. of &?; an animal.] (Zoöl.) The Myxomycetes; -- so called by those who regard them as a class of animals. -- My*ce`to*zo"an (#), a.
My"kiss (?), n. [Russ. muikize, prob. fr. a native name.] (Zoöl.) A salmon (Salmo mykiss, syn. S. purpuratus) marked with black spots and a red throat, found in most of the rivers from Alaska to the Colorado River, and in Siberia; -- called also black-spotted trout, cutthroat trout, and redthroat trout.
Myr"me*co*phyte` (?), n. [Gr. my`rmhx, my`rmhkos, ant + fyto`n plant.] (Bot.) A plant that affords shelter and food to certain species of ants which live in symbiotic relations with it. Special adaptations for this purpose exist; thus, Acacia spadicigera has large hollows thorns, and species of Cecropia have stem cavities. -- Myr`me*co*phyt"ic (#), a.
||Myx`œ*de"ma (?), n. [NL. fr. Gr. &?; mucus + œdema.] (Med.) A disease producing a peculiar cretinoid appearance of the face, slow speech, and dullness of intellect, and due to failure of the functions of the thyroid gland. -- Myx`œ*dem"a*tous (#), a., Myx`œ*dem"ic (#), a.
||Myx`o*my*ce"tes (?), n. pl. [NL.; Gr. &?; mucus, slime + myceles.] (Bot.) A class of peculiar organisms, the slime molds, formerly regarded as animals (Mycetozoa), but now generally thought to be plants and often separated as a distinct phylum (Myxophyta). They are found on damp earth and decaying vegetable matter, and consist of naked masses of protoplasm, often of considerable size, which creep very slowly over the surface and ingest solid food. -- Myx`o*my*ce"tous (#), a.
||Myx*oph"y*ta (?), n. pl. [NL.; Gr. &?; mucus, slime + &?; plant.] (Bot.) A phylum of the vegetable kingdom consisting of the class Myxomycetes. By some botanists it is not separated from the Thallophyta.