📖 M — The English dictionary · page 19

measles — Everyday, meaning 1: An illness caused by a virus that spreads very easily; it gives a high fever, a cough, red eyes and a red, blotchy rash all over the body.↗ Example: My grandad had measles when he was a boy.↗ · Measles gives you a red, spotty rash.↗ · The MMR vaccine protects you against measles.↗ · Measles spreads through coughs and sneezes.↗ · There was an outbreak of measles in the town.↗ · A child with measles must stay at home.↗ · Measles is caused by a virus.↗ · Cowslip, during the autumn, had either the measles, or some eruption that looked very much like it, but was hardly sick a day.↗

measurable — Everyday, meaning 1: Measurable means able to be measured.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Measurable also means big enough to be noticed, like a measurable difference.↗ Example: Height is measurable with a tape measure.↗ · Is happiness measurable?↗ · There was a measurable rise in temperature.↗ · Set a measurable goal, like reading 20 pages a day.↗ · The plant showed measurable growth in a week.↗ · Kindness isn't easily measurable.↗

measurably — Everyday, meaning 1: By an amount that can be measured or noticed: «measurably better».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Clearly and noticeably, not just a tiny bit.↗ Example: The plant was measurably taller after a week in the sun.↗ · Her running speed improved measurably over the term.↗ · The air in the room was measurably warmer after the heater was on.↗ · Washing hands measurably reduces germs.↗ · The new road made the journey measurably shorter.↗ · Our test scores went up measurably after extra practice.↗ · The two balls were measurably different in weight.↗ · The pond is measurably lower in summer.↗

measure — Everyday, meaning 1: To measure is to find out the size, length, weight, time or amount of something with a tool, like a ruler, a tape, scales or a clock.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «It measures 5 cm» tells how big something is.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A measure is an amount or a unit for it, like a cup or a metre.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A measure is also a step taken to do something: «safety measures».↗ Everyday, meaning 5: In music, a measure is one short part of a tune (a bar).↗ Example: The pencil measures 12 cm.↗ · Measure the length of the table.↗ · She measured 3 cups of flour.↗ · The room measures 4 m by 5 m.↗ · The nurse measured my height: 1 metre 32.↗ · We measured the temperature of the water every hour.↗ · The school took safety measures after the storm.↗ · Add one more cookie for good measure.↗ · They were measured and found to be correct.↗ · Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.↗ (Torah LEV.19.35, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small.↗ (Torah DEU.25.14, JPS 1917)↗ · The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain; the eleven curtains had one measure.↗ (Torah EXO.36.15, JPS 1917)↗ · Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?↗ (Writings JOB.38.5, JPS 1917)↗ · He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.↗ (Prophets EZK.42.18, JPS 1917)↗ · And above were costly stones, after the measure of hewn stones, and cedar-wood.↗ (Prophets 1KI.7.11, JPS 1917)↗

measurement — Everyday, meaning 1: A measurement is a number with a unit that tells how long, heavy, big, hot or fast something is.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Measurement is the act of measuring.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Your measurements are the sizes of your body, such as waist and height, used for clothes.↗ Example: The measurement of the table is 120 cm by 80 cm.↗ · Write each measurement with its unit.↗ · We took measurements of the plant every week.↗ · The tailor took my measurements for a suit.↗ · Measurement of time uses seconds, minutes and hours.↗ · Check your measurements twice before cutting.↗

meat — Everyday, meaning 1: Meat is the flesh of animals, such as cows, pigs, sheep and chickens, eaten as food.↗ Early Modern English, meaning 1: Food of any kind.↗ Example: We had meat and vegetables for dinner.↗ · Wash your hands after touching raw meat.↗ · Make sure the chicken meat is cooked all the way through.↗ · Lions are carnivores; they eat meat.↗ · My sister doesn't eat meat; she's vegetarian.↗ · Keep raw meat on the bottom shelf of the fridge.↗ · Beef is meat from cows.↗ · "Some wine and meat," she replied.↗ · And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house: 'Bring the men into the house, and kill the beasts, and prepare the meat; for the men shall dine with me at noon.'↗ (Torah GEN.43.16, JPS 1917)↗ · She hath prepared her meat, she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.↗ (Writings PRO.9.2, JPS 1917)↗ · If the men of my tent said not: 'Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?'↗ (Writings JOB.31.31, JPS 1917)↗ · And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house: 'Bring the men into the house, and kill the beasts, and prepare the meat; for the men shall dine with me at noon.'↗ (Torah GEN.43.16, JPS 1917) · "Some wine and meat," she replied.↗ (Grimm's Fairy Stories) · "What are you waiting for, dog's-meat?"↗ (Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore)

meatless — Everyday, meaning 1: Meatless means without meat.↗ Example: We have a meatless dinner on Mondays.↗ · This pizza is meatless; it has only cheese and vegetables.↗ · In Lent some Christians eat meatless meals.↗ · Meatless burgers are made from beans or soy.↗ · The café has a meatless menu.↗ · During the war, families had meatless days to save food.↗

meaty — Everyday, meaning 1: Full of meat or tasting of meat: «a meaty stew».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Big, thick and strong: «meaty arms».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Full of interesting, important ideas: «a meaty book».↗ Example: The dog chewed a meaty bone.↗ · Dad made a meaty pasta sauce.↗ · The mushrooms had a meaty taste.↗ · The wrestler had big meaty hands.↗ · This is a meaty chapter with lots of facts.↗ · Vegetarians can eat meaty-tasting burgers made from beans.↗

mecca — Everyday, meaning 1: Mecca (also spelled Makkah) is the holiest city of Islam, in Saudi Arabia; it is where the Prophet Muhammad was born and where Muslims go on the hajj.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Muslims everywhere face towards Mecca when they pray.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (a mecca, lower case) A place that many people with the same interest love to visit: «Paris is a mecca for artists.».↗ Example: Muslims face towards Mecca when they pray.↗ · Millions travel to Mecca for the hajj.↗ · The Kaaba stands in the middle of the Great Mosque in Mecca.↗ · The Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca.↗ · That shop is a mecca for comic fans.↗ · The beach town is a mecca for surfers.↗ · A few days later, Ali Cogia mounted the camel that he had laden with merchandise, joined the caravan, and arrived in due time at Mecca.↗

mechanic — Everyday, meaning 1: A person whose job is to repair and look after engines and machines, especially cars.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (games) A rule or way something works in a game: a jumping mechanic.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (mechanics, plural) The science of how forces make things move; or the way something works: the mechanics of a bike.↗ Example: The mechanic fixed our car's brakes.↗ · My uncle is a mechanic at a garage.↗ · The bike mechanic pumped up my tyres.↗ · We need a mechanic; the engine is making a strange noise.↗ · Mechanics is the part of physics about forces.↗ · The game has a fun new jumping mechanic.↗ · She wants to be an aircraft mechanic.↗ · Let's learn the mechanics of how a clock works.↗

mechanical — Everyday, meaning 1: To do with machines or worked by machines, with moving parts like gears, levers and wheels.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Done without thinking, like a machine, out of habit.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Mechanical engineering: designing and building machines.↗ Example: The old clock has mechanical parts inside.↗ · We built a mechanical toy with a cam.↗ · The bus stopped because of a mechanical problem.↗ · My mechanical pencil never needs sharpening.↗ · She answered in a mechanical voice, as if she wasn't listening.↗ · A mechanical engineer designs machines and engines.↗ · The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.↗

mechanically — Everyday, meaning 1: Mechanically means by a machine or using machinery.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Mechanically also means doing something without thinking, like a robot.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Mechanically can mean about how machines work, as in «mechanically minded».↗ Example: The doors are opened mechanically.↗ · She answered mechanically, without looking up.↗ · The car is mechanically sound.↗ · He is mechanically minded and loves fixing bikes.↗ · The crops are harvested mechanically now.↗ · I read the words mechanically and didn't understand them.↗ · Mechanically he laid his hand on the bridle and led the white horse out of the stable.↗

mechanism — Everyday, meaning 1: A mechanism is a set of moving parts in a machine that work together, such as the mechanism of a clock or a lock.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A mechanism is a way or system by which something happens or is done, as in the body's mechanism for keeping warm.↗ Example: The clock's mechanism is full of tiny gears.↗ · We made a pop-up card with a lever mechanism.↗ · Shivering is the body's mechanism for warming up.↗ · The lock mechanism was jammed.↗ · A hedgehog's spines are a defence mechanism.↗ · The toy car has a wind-up mechanism.↗

meconium — Everyday, meaning 1: (science, health) The first poo of a newborn baby: dark green, thick and sticky, made from what the baby swallowed in the womb.↗ Example: A newborn baby's first poo is called meconium.↗ · Meconium is dark green and sticky.↗ · The midwife checked that the baby had passed meconium.↗ · After a few days, a baby's poo changes from meconium to yellow.↗ · My aunt, who is a nurse, told us about meconium.↗ · Meconium is made of things the baby swallowed before it was born.↗

med — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal) Short for «medicine» or «medication», usually in the plural: «meds».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Short for «medical», as in «med school» (medical school) or «med student».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (the Med, UK informal) The Mediterranean Sea, or the countries around it.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (abbreviation) Short for «medium», as on clothes or menus.↗ Example: Grandma takes her meds every morning.↗ · My cousin is at med school to be a doctor.↗ · We went on holiday to the Med, to Spain.↗ · The T-shirt says «Med» on the label, for medium.↗ · Don't take any meds unless an adult gives them to you.↗ · The med student shadowed the doctor all day.↗ · Cruise ships sail around the Med in summer.↗

medal — Everyday, meaning 1: A medal is a flat piece of metal, often round and on a ribbon, given as a prize or to honour someone.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In sport, to medal means to win a medal.↗ Example: She won a gold medal for swimming.↗ · Everyone who finished the race got a medal.↗ · The firefighter got a medal for bravery.↗ · Our team came third and won bronze medals.↗ · Grandad keeps his medals in a box.↗ · The country with the most gold medals tops the medal table.↗ · In the course of the year he won the little silver prize medal of the Academy, and afterwards he gained the great one too.↗

medallion — Everyday, meaning 1: A medallion is a round or oval flat piece of metal or jewellery, worn on a chain, with a picture or design on it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A medallion can also be a round decorated panel on a wall or ceiling.↗ Example: She wore a gold medallion on a long chain.↗ · A tiny picture was painted on the medallion.↗ · The medallion showed a little puppet.↗

meddle — Everyday, meaning 1: To get involved in someone else's business when you are not wanted, and often make things worse.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To touch or fiddle with something you should leave alone: «don't meddle with the wires».↗ Example: Please don't meddle in our argument.↗ · My little brother meddled with my model and broke it.↗ · Never meddle with electric sockets.↗ · The nosy neighbour always meddles in other people's business.↗ · «I would have got away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!»↗ · She meddled with the TV settings and now nothing works.↗ · Grandma says it's best not to meddle.↗ · Countries should not meddle in other countries' elections.↗ · He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets; therefore meddle not with him that openeth wide his lips.↗ (Writings PRO.20.19, JPS 1917)↗ · My son, fear thou the LORD and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change; (Writings PRO.24.21, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and will thy heart lift thee up? glory therein, and remain at home; for why shouldest thou meddle with evil, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?↗ (Prophets 2KI.14.10, JPS 1917)↗

meddling — Everyday, meaning 1: (noun) The act of getting involved in other people's business when you are not wanted.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (adjective) Often interfering in other people's affairs: «a meddling neighbour».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (verb form) «-ing» form of «meddle»: «Stop meddling!».↗ Example: The meddling neighbour told everyone our news.↗ · Her meddling made the problem worse.↗ · Stop meddling with the thermostat!↗ · The villain shouted about «meddling kids».↗ · There were claims of foreign meddling in the election.↗ · The meddling cat knocked the jigsaw off the table.↗ · Thanks to his meddling, the surprise party was ruined.↗ · Grandad hates meddling, so he lets us solve our own problems.↗ · Running to her father, she told him of her Brother's conceit, and accused him of meddling with his mother's things.↗ · I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath given command to speed me; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not.'↗ (Writings 2CH.35.21, JPS 1917)↗