Mer"i*tot (?), n. A play of children, in swinging on ropes, or the
like, till they are dizzy.
Merk (?), n. [See Marc.] An old Scotch silver coin; a mark or marc.
[Scot.]
Merk, n. A mark; a sign. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Merke (?), a. Murky. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
Mer"kin (?), n. Originally, a wig; afterwards, a mop for cleaning
cannon.
{ Merl (?), Merle, } n. [F. merle, L. merula, merulus. Cf. Ousel.]
(Zoöl.) The European blackbird. See Blackbird. Drayton.
Mer"lin (?), n. [OE. merlion, F. émerillon ; cf. OHG. smirl, G. schmerl
; prob. fr. L. merula blackbird. Cf. Merle.] (Zoöl.) A small European
falcon (Falco lithofalco, or F. æsalon).
Mer"ling (?), n. (Zoöl.) The European whiting.
Mer"lon (?), n. [F., perh. fr. L. moerus, for murus a wall, through
(assumed) dim. moerulus.] (Fort.) One of the solid parts of a
battlemented parapet; a battlement. See Illust. of Battlement.
Mer"luce (?), n. [F. merluche, merlus.] (Zoöl.) The European hake; --
called also herring hake and sea pike.
Mer"maid (?), n. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.] A
fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part
like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea
woman, or woman fish.
Chaucer uses this word as equivalent to the siren of the ancients.
Mermaid fish (Zoöl.) the angel fish (Squatina). -- Mermaid's glove
(Zoöl.), a British branched sponge somewhat resembling a glove. --
Mermaid's head (Zoöl.), a European spatangoid sea urchin (Echinocardium
cordatum) having some resemblance to a skull. -- Mermaid weed (Bot.),
an aquatic herb with dentate or pectinate leaves (Proserpinaca
palustris and P. pectinacea).
Mer"man (?), n.; pl. Mermen (&?;). The male corresponding to mermaid; a
sea man, or man fish.
Mer"o*blast (?), n. [Gr. &?; part + -blast.] (Biol.) An ovum, as that
of a mammal, only partially composed of germinal matter, that is,
consisting of both a germinal portion and an albuminous or nutritive
one; -- opposed to holoblast.
Mer`o*blas"tic (?), a. (Biol.) Consisting only in part of germinal
matter; characterized by partial segmentation only; as, meroblastic
ova, in which a portion of the yolk only undergoes fission; meroblastic
segmentation; -- opposed to holoblastic.
Me"ro*cele (?), n. [Gr. &?; thigh + &?; tumor.] (Med.) Hernia in the
thigh; femoral hernia .
Mer`o*is"tic (?), a. [Gr. &?; part + &?; an egg.] (Zoöl.) Applied to
the ovaries of insects when they secrete vitelligenous cells, as well
as ova.
Me*rop"i*dan (?), n. [L. merops a bee-eating bird, Gr. me`rops.]
(Zoöl.) One of a family of birds (Meropidæ), including the bee-eaters.
Me*rop"o*dite (?), n. [Gr. &?; thigh + poy`s, podo`s, foot.] (Zoöl.)
The fourth joint of a typical appendage of Crustacea.
Mer*or`gan*i*za"tion (?), n. [Gr. &?; part + E. organization.]
Organization in part. [R.]
||Me"ros (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; part.] (Arch.) The plain surface
||between the channels of a triglyph. [Written also merus.] Weale.
||Me"ros, n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; the thigh.] (Anat.) The proximal segment
||of the hind limb; the thigh.
Mer"o*some (?), n. [Gr. &?; part + - some body.] (Zoöl.) One of the
serial segments, or metameres, of which the bodies of vertebrate and
articulate animals are composed.
||Mer`o*stom"a*ta (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; thigh + &?;, -&?;,
||mouth.] (Zoöl.) A class of Arthropoda, allied to the Crustacea. It
||includes the trilobites, Eurypteroidea, and Limuloidea. All are
||extinct except the horseshoe crabs of the last group. See Limulus.
||Mé`rou" (?), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) See Jack, 8 (c).
Mer`o*vin"gi*an (?), a. [From Merovaeus, the Latin name of a king of
the Franks.] Of or pertaining to the first Frankish dynasty in Gaul or
France. -- n. One of the kings of this dynasty.
Mer"ri*ly (?), adv. [From Merry.] In a merry manner; with mirth; with
gayety and laughter; jovially. See Mirth, and Merry.
Merrily sing, and sport, and play.
Granville.
Mer"ri*make` (?), n. See Merrymake, n.
Mer"ri*make`, v. i. See Merrymake, v. Gay.
Mer"ri*ment (?), n. Gayety, with laughter; mirth; frolic. "Follies and
light merriment." Spenser.
Methought it was the sound Of riot and ill-managed merriment.
Milton.
Mer"ri*ness, n. The quality or state of being merry; merriment; mirth;
gayety, with laughter.
Mer"ry (?), a. [Compar. Merrier (?); superl. Merriest.] [OE. merie,
mirie, murie, merry, pleasant, AS. merge, myrige, pleasant; cf. murge,
adv.; prob. akin to OHG. murg, short, Goth. gamaúrgjan to shorten; cf.
L. murcus a coward, who cuts off his thumb to escape military service;
the Anglo-Saxon and English meanings coming from the idea of making the
time seem short. Cf. Mirth.] 1. Laughingly gay; overflowing with good
humor and good spirits; jovial; inclined to laughter or play ;
sportive.
They drank, and were merry with him.
Gen. xliii. 34.