Mal- (ml-). A prefix in composition denoting ill, or evil, F. male,
adv., fr. malus, bad, ill. In some words it has the form male-, as in
malediction, malevolent. See Malice.
The form male- is chiefly used in cases where the e, either alone or
with other letters, is pronounced as a separate syllable, as in
malediction, malefactor, maleficent, etc. Where this is not the case,
as in malfeasance or male-feasance, malformation or male-formation,
etc., as also where the word to which it is prefixed commences with a
vowel, as in maladministration, etc., the form mal is to be preferred,
and is the one commonly employed.
||Ma"la (?), n.; pl. of Malum. [L.] Evils; wrongs; offenses against
||right and law.
Mala in se [L.] (Law), offenses which are such from their own nature,
at common law, irrespective of statute. -- Mala prohibita [L.] (Law),
offenses prohibited by statute, as distinguished from mala in se, which
are offenses at common law.
Mal"a*bar` (?), n. A region in the western part of the Peninsula of
India, between the mountains and the sea.
Malabar nut (Bot.), the seed of an East Indian acanthaceous shrub, the
Adhatoda Vasica, sometimes used medicinally.
Mal`a*ca*tune" (?), n. See Melocoton.
Ma*lac"ca (?), n. A town and district upon the seacoast of the Malay
Peninsula.
Malacca cane (Bot.), a cane obtained from a species of palm of the
genus Calamus (C. Scipionum), and of a brown color, often mottled. The
plant is a native of Cochin China, Sumatra, and Malays.
Mal"a*chite (?), n. [Fr. Gr. &?; a mallow, from its resembling the
green color of the leaf of mallows: cf. F. malachite. Cf. Mallow.]
(Min.) Native hydrous carbonate of copper, usually occurring in green
mammillary masses with concentric fibrous structure.
Green malachite, or malachite proper, admits of a high polish, and is
sometimes used for ornamental work. Blue malachite, or azurite, is a
related species of a deep blue color.
Malachite green. See Emerald green, under Green, n.