📖 M — The English dictionary

ma — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal) «Ma» is a homely word for mother, like «Mum» or «Mom», heard in old stories, in the USA countryside and in Ireland.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (Mandarin, pinyin) «Mā» means «mum»; «ma» with no tone is a little word at the end of a sentence that turns it into a question: «nǐ hǎo ma?»↗ (are you well?).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (abbreviation) «MA» is a Master of Arts, a university degree.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (French) «Ma» means «my» before a feminine noun: «ma mère» is «my mother»; in Italian «ma» means «but».↗ Example: «Ma, can I go out to play?» asked the boy in the old story.↗ · Pa fixed the fence while Ma baked bread.↗ · In Mandarin, «nǐ hǎo ma?» means «how are you?»↗ · «Māma» is the Mandarin word for «mum».↗ · My aunt has an MA in history.↗ · The tiny bulb needed only a few mA of current.↗ · «Me ma says I have to be home for tea», said Sean.↗ · Is you drowndid w'en yo' ma tucks you in de bed?"↗ · Ma Iter for reading fitihe proof-sbeetj ; and also to i)r. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

mac — Everyday, meaning 1: (UK) A mac is a raincoat (short for mackintosh).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A Mac is an Apple Macintosh computer.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal, US) «Mac» is a way of speaking to a man whose name you don't know, like «buddy».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Mac (or Mc) at the start of a name means «son of» in Scottish and Irish names, like MacDonald.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Mac and cheese is a dish of macaroni pasta in cheese sauce.↗ Example: Put your mac on; it's pouring.↗ · Our school computer room has Macs.↗ · «Hey, Mac, you dropped your wallet!»↗ · MacGregor is a Scottish name.↗ · We had mac and cheese for tea.↗ · Her yellow mac kept her dry.↗ · Is this program for Mac or Windows?↗ · Mac an Da’v turned to him.↗ · The Siphra Dtzeniouta, or Book of Concealed Mystery, translated by Mac Gregor Mathers, in his " Kabalah Denudata," opens with a reference to this Equilibrium as a fundamental neces- sity of stable existence.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

macadamia — Everyday, meaning 1: A macadamia is a round, creamy nut with a very hard shell.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It is also the tree it grows on, which comes from Australia.↗ Example: Macadamia nuts come from Australia.↗ · Mum baked white chocolate and macadamia cookies.↗ · The macadamia has a very hard shell.↗ · Macadamia trees grow in warm places like Queensland and Hawaii.↗ · Some children are allergic to macadamias.↗ · Macadamias are rich in oil.↗

macadamize — Everyday, meaning 1: To macadamize a road is to cover it with layers of broken stone, pressed down hard to make a firm, smooth surface.↗ Example: The roofs were gayly painted, and before each house was a flower garden, which separated it from the macadamized high-road.↗

macaque — Everyday, meaning 1: A macaque is a kind of monkey with a short tail or no tail, living mostly in Asia and one kind in North Africa.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Famous macaques include Japanese snow monkeys that bathe in hot springs, rhesus macaques, and the Barbary macaques of Gibraltar.↗ Example: Japanese macaques sit in hot springs to keep warm in winter.↗ · A macaque snatched the banana from my hand in Gibraltar.↗ · Macaques live in big family groups.↗ · The scientist watched a macaque washing a sweet potato in the sea.↗ · Don't feed the macaques; they can bite.↗ · Rhesus macaques are found across much of Asia.↗

macaroni — Everyday, meaning 1: A kind of pasta in short, curved tubes.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (history, 18th century) A young man who wore very fancy, showy clothes and a big wig, copying the fashions of Europe.↗ Example: We had macaroni cheese for dinner.↗ · Macaroni is made from wheat flour and water.↗ · Boil the macaroni for ten minutes.↗ · Yankee Doodle «stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni».↗ · In the 1770s a macaroni wore a huge wig.↗ · We made a necklace by threading dry macaroni.↗ · He tried the straw, but, as he chewed away at it, he noticed to his great disappointment that it tasted neither like rice nor like macaroni.↗

macaw — Everyday, meaning 1: A macaw is a large parrot with a long tail, a strong curved beak and very bright feathers, such as red, blue, yellow and green, from the rainforests of Central and South America.↗ Example: A scarlet macaw flew over the rainforest canopy.↗ · Macaws crack hard nuts with their strong beaks.↗ · The macaw at the zoo said «hello» to us.↗ · Hyacinth macaws are the biggest parrots that can fly.↗ · Macaw pairs often stay together for life.↗ · Many macaws are taken illegally from the wild to be sold as pets.↗ · The macaw's feathers were red, yellow and blue.↗

mace — Everyday, meaning 1: A heavy club with a metal head, often with spikes, used as a weapon by knights in the Middle Ages.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A decorated staff (a fancy stick) carried in ceremonies to show the power of a mayor, parliament or university.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A spice made from the red covering of the nutmeg seed.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (US) A spray that stings the eyes, used by some police; often called by the brand name Mace.↗ Example: The knight swung his mace at the enemy shield.↗ · The mace is carried into Parliament at the start of each day.↗ · The mayor walked in behind a man carrying a silver mace.↗ · Gran puts a pinch of mace in her Christmas cake.↗ · Mace comes from the same fruit as nutmeg.↗ · In the museum we saw a spiked iron mace.↗ · Without the mace on the table, the House of Commons cannot do its business.↗ · The university mace is used at graduation.↗ · Thereupon he said, "This mace will do for the Snake!"↗

macedonian — Everyday, meaning 1: From or to do with North Macedonia, a country in the Balkans, its people or its language.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The Macedonian language: a Slavic language written in Cyrillic letters, spoken in North Macedonia.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (history) From ancient Macedonia, the kingdom of Philip II and Alexander the Great.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: From Macedonia, a region of northern Greece.↗ Example: Alexander the Great was a Macedonian king.↗ · The Macedonian army crossed into Asia.↗ · Skopje is the capital of North Macedonia.↗ · Macedonian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet.↗ · My friend's family is Macedonian and speaks Macedonian at home.↗ · Thessaloniki is the main city of the Greek region of Macedonia.↗ · The ancient Macedonians spoke a form of Greek.↗

machine — Everyday, meaning 1: A machine is a thing with moving parts that uses power to do a job, like a washing machine or a sewing machine.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A machine is a device that sells or gives things: a vending machine, a ticket machine.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In science, a simple machine (lever, pulley, wheel and axle, ramp, wedge, screw) makes work easier.↗ Example: A machine makes 50 toys an hour.↗ · How many toys in 6 hours?↗ · Two machines work together.↗ · A drink from the machine costs 2 dollars.↗ · Put your dirty clothes in the washing machine.↗ · A lever is a simple machine.↗ · The ticket machine took my coins.↗ · Robots are machines that can follow instructions.↗ · Unplug the machine before you clean it.↗ · Strange that he should think of this, which had never troubled him before; perhaps the sewing machine brought it to his mind.↗

machinery — Everyday, meaning 1: Machines in general, especially large ones: farm machinery, heavy machinery.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The moving parts of a machine.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The system or organisation that makes something work: the machinery of government.↗ Example: The farm machinery is kept in the barn.↗ · Never play near heavy machinery.↗ · The noise of the machinery filled the factory.↗ · Oil keeps the machinery running smoothly.↗ · Children must not operate machinery.↗ · Workers wear hard hats near the machinery.↗ · The machinery of government moves slowly.↗ · He says everything is done by machinery now; there must be some way of settling these dragons.↗

macrocosm — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: The whole great universe, seen as a large copy of the small world of a human being.↗ Example: 26) Here is meant: ethereal air, ethereal water, ethereal fire, the macrocosm, the courses of time and microcosm.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · Their development in three directions is pointed out, namely in the Macrocosm or Universe ; in the Year or in Time ; and in the Microcosm or Man.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · 42) The meaning is, as God is the centre of the Universe, so have the macrocosm, the seasons and temperature and the microcosm, their centres receiving power from the principal centre to regulate and rule.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗

mad — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal, especially USA) Angry.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (UK and elsewhere, informal) Very silly or foolish; crazy.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: mad about/on: liking something very much.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (old or offensive) Mentally ill; avoid this use about real people.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: (slang) Very, or very great.↗ e.g. "mad skills".↗ Example: Mum was mad at me for being late.↗ · You're mad to go swimming in this cold!↗ · She's mad about horses.↗ · The noise is driving me mad.↗ · We ran like mad to catch the bus.↗ · The crowd went mad when we scored.↗ · (slang) He's got mad skills on the skateboard.↗ · "Den Brer Possum git mighty mad.↗ · so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.↗ (Torah DEU.28.34, JPS 1917)↗ · Madmenah is in mad flight; the inhabitants of Gebim flee to cover.↗ (Prophets ISA.10.31, JPS 1917)↗ · The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad!↗ (Prophets HOS.9.7, JPS 1917)↗ · I said of laughter: 'It is mad'; and of mirth: 'What doth it accomplish?'↗ (Writings ECC.2.2, JPS 1917)↗

madam — Everyday, meaning 1: (polite) Madam is a polite way to speak to a woman whose name you do not know, used by shop staff, waiters and in letters: «Dear Madam».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Madam is used before a title when speaking to a woman in an important job.↗ e.g. Madam Chair, Madam President.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK, informal) A little madam is a girl who is bossy, cheeky or spoilt.↗ Example: «Can I take your coat, madam?» asked the waiter.↗ · I began my letter with «Dear Sir or Madam».↗ · Thank you, Madam Speaker.↗ · Gran called my sister a little madam when she sulked.↗ · «This way, madam,» said the usher.↗ · Excuse me, madam, you dropped your glove.↗

madame — Everyday, meaning 1: (French) Madame is the French way of saying «Mrs» or «madam», a polite title for a woman.↗ It sounds like «ma-DAM».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In English it is used for a woman's title in fancy or foreign settings, such as «Madame Curie».↗ Example: «Bonjour, Madame Dupont!» said the children.↗ · Madame Curie won two Nobel Prizes.↗ · Our French teacher likes to be called Madame.↗ · Madame Tussauds is a famous wax museum in London.↗ · «Merci, Madame,» I said to the shopkeeper.↗ · The ballet teacher, Madame Rose, clapped the beat.↗ · Madame was so very fond of Bellissima.↗ · The late Madame Blavatsky, my esteemed teacher of Theosophy, and my personal friend, at whose suggestion a friendly alliance between the Hermetic Order of the G. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · The late Madame Blavatsky, my esteemed teacher of Theosophy, and my personal friend, at whose sugges- tion a friendly alliance between the Hermetic Order of the G. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

maddened — Everyday, meaning 1: Maddened means driven wild with pain, anger or fear.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Maddened can describe a creature that has gone wild and is no longer in control of itself.↗ Example: Maddened with pain the Snake tried every means he could think of to get rid of the creature.↗ · Quickly she opens her sack wide, and the maddened Wolf springs in head downwards.↗

madder — Everyday, meaning 1: Madder is the comparative of mad: more angry.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal, mostly UK) Madder means more crazy, silly or wild.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Madder is a plant with roots that give a red dye, and the red colour made from it, used for thousands of years to dye cloth.↗ Example: The longer she waited, the madder she got.↗ · That's an even madder idea than the last one!↗ · Dad got madder when the car still wouldn't start.↗ · Madder roots were boiled to make red dye.↗ · The painter used rose madder for the sunset.↗ · The soldiers' coats were dyed with madder.↗ · But if they had only known what were Gilguerillo's thoughts they would have thought him madder than ever.↗

madeira — Everyday, meaning 1: (a place) Madeira is a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean that belong to Portugal, famous for mountains, flowers and a warm climate.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A strong, sweet wine made on those islands.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK) Madeira cake: a plain, firm sponge cake, often eaten with a cup of tea.↗ Example: Madeira is a group of islands that belong to Portugal.↗ · We went to Madeira on holiday and walked along the mountain paths.↗ · Mum baked a madeira cake for the school cake sale.↗ · A madeira cake is firm, so it is good for birthday cakes with icing.↗ · Madeira wine is made on the islands.↗ · Cristiano Ronaldo was born in Funchal, on Madeira.↗ · The airport on Madeira is famous for its short runway.↗ · Madeira means «wood» in Portuguese, because the island was covered in trees.↗

mademoiselle — Everyday, meaning 1: (French) «Mademoiselle» is the French word for «Miss», used for a girl or young unmarried woman; it sounds like «mad-mwa-ZELL» to an English ear.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In English it is used in stories and jokes to sound French, or for a French governess or teacher.↗ Example: (French) «Bonjour, mademoiselle!» means «Hello, miss!»↗ · Our French teacher is called Mademoiselle Martin.↗ · In the story, the little girl was called Mademoiselle by the waiter.↗ · (French) «Merci, mademoiselle» means «Thank you, miss».↗ · Mademoiselle is like Miss in English.↗ · Madame is like Mrs or Ms.↗ · The French nanny in the book was known as Mademoiselle.↗ · Short form: Mlle.↗