Ma*cart"ney (?), n. [From Lord Macartney.] (Zoöl.) A fire-backed
pheasant. See Fireback.
Ma*cas`sar oil" (?). A kind of oil formerly used in dressing the hair;
-- so called because originally obtained from Macassar, a district of
the Island of Celebes. Also, an imitation of the same, of perfumed
castor oil and olive oil.
||Ma*cau"co (?), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of small lemurs,
||as Lemur murinus, which resembles a rat in size.
||Ma`ca*va"hu (?), n. (Zoöl.) A small Brazilian monkey (Callithrix
||torquatus), -- called also collared teetee.
Ma*caw" (?), n. [From the native name in the Antilles.] (Zoöl.) Any
parrot of the genus Sittace, or Macrocercus. About eighteen species are
known, all of them American. They are large and have a very long tail,
a strong hooked bill, and a naked space around the eyes. The voice is
harsh, and the colors are brilliant and strongly contrasted.
Macaw bush (Bot.), a West Indian name for a prickly kind of nightshade
(Solanum mammosum). -- Macaw palm, Macaw tree (Bot.), a tropical
American palm (Acrocomia fusiformis and other species) having a prickly
stem and pinnately divided leaves. Its nut yields a yellow butter, with
the perfume of violets, which is used in making violet soap. Called
also grugru palm.
Mac`ca*be"an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Judas Maccabeus or to the
Maccabees; as, the Maccabean princes; Maccabean times.
Mac"ca*bees (?), n. pl. 1. The name given in later times to the
Asmonæans, a family of Jewish patriots, who headed a religious revolt
in the reign of Antiochus IV., 168-161 B. C., which led to a period of
freedom for Israel. Schaff-Herzog.
2. The name of two ancient historical books, which give accounts of
Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes, and which
are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are
included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Also applied to three books,
two of which are found in some MSS. of the Septuagint.
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{ Mac"ca*boy (?), Mac"co*boy (?), } n. [From a district in the Island
of Martinique where it is made: cf. F. macouba.] A kind of snuff.
Mac"co (?), n. A gambling game in vogue in the eighteenth century.
Thackeray.
Mace (?), n. [Jav. & Malay. ms, fr. Skr. msha a bean.] A money of
account in China equal to one tenth of a tael; also, a weight of 57.98
grains. S. W. Williams.
Mace (?), n. [F. macis, L. macis, macir, Gr. &?;; cf. Skr. makaranda
the nectar or honey of a flower, a fragrant mango.] (Bot.) A kind of
spice; the aril which partly covers nutmegs. See Nutmeg.
Red mace is the aril of Myristica tingens, and white mace that of M.
Otoba, -- East Indian trees of the same genus with the nutmeg tree.
Mace, n. [OF. mace, F. masse, from (assumed) L. matea, of which the
dim. mateola a kind of mallet or beetle, is found.] 1. A heavy staff or
club of metal; a spiked club; -- used as weapon in war before the
general use of firearms, especially in the Middle Ages, for breaking
metal armor. Chaucer.
Death with his mace petrific . . . smote.
Milton.
2. Hence: A staff borne by, or carried before, a magistrate as an
ensign of his authority. "Swayed the royal mace." Wordsworth.