📖 M — The English dictionary · page 22

melody — Everyday, meaning 1: A melody is a tune: a series of musical notes, one after another, that sounds pleasing and is easy to remember.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The melody is the main tune in a piece of music, often the part that is sung.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A melody is also any pleasant sound like music, such as birdsong.↗ Example: She hummed a happy melody as she painted.↗ · Can you play the melody of «Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star»?↗ · The song has a catchy melody that sticks in your head.↗ · The violins play the melody while the cellos play the harmony.↗ · The blackbird's melody woke me up.↗ · We composed a short melody using only five notes.↗ · The melody goes up and then comes down.↗ · He had a sweet voice, and every melody seemed to flow naturally from his lips.↗ · Take up the melody, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the psaltery.↗ (Writings PSA.81.3, JPS 1917)↗ · Sing praises unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp and the voice of melody.↗ (Writings PSA.98.5, JPS 1917)↗ · Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; and let Me not hear the melody of thy psalteries.↗ (Prophets AMO.5.23, JPS 1917)↗

melon — Everyday, meaning 1: A melon is a big round or oval fruit with a hard skin and a sweet, juicy inside full of seeds.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew are kinds of melon.↗ Example: A melon costs 3 dollars.↗ · She cut the melon into 8 slices.↗ · The farmer sold 40 melons.↗ · Each melon weighs 2 kg.↗ · We ate cold watermelon at the beach.↗ · A melon grows on a long vine on the ground.↗ · Scoop out the seeds before you eat the melon.↗ · Tom spat a melon seed across the yard.↗ · We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; (Torah NUM.11.5, JPS 1917)↗

melt — Everyday, meaning 1: To melt is to change from a solid into a liquid because of heat: ice melts into water.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To melt can mean to soften or disappear slowly: «The crowd melted away».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To melt someone's heart is to make them feel loving and kind.↗ Example: The snowman melted in the sun.↗ · Ice melts at zero degrees Celsius.↗ · Melt the butter in a pan.↗ · My ice cream is melting — eat it fast!↗ · Chocolate melts in your hand.↗ · The puppy's big eyes melted her heart.↗ · Melting ice at the poles makes sea levels rise.↗ · Wax melts when the candle burns.↗ · Crediting them with a nobler feeling Wendy melted.↗ · And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating; and as the sun waxed hot, it melted.↗ (Torah EXO.16.21, JPS 1917)↗ · Then were the chiefs of Edom affrighted; the mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away.↗ (Torah EXO.15.15, JPS 1917)↗ · And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say: 'What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart.'↗ (Torah DEU.20.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Therefore shall all hands be slack, and every heart of man shall melt.↗ (Prophets ISA.13.7, JPS 1917)↗ · Nations were in tumult, kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.↗ (Writings PSA.46.7, JPS 1917)↗ · They mounted up to the heaven, they went down to the deeps; their soul melted away because of trouble; (Writings PSA.107.26, JPS 1917)↗

meltdown — Everyday, meaning 1: A serious accident in a nuclear power station when the core gets so hot that it melts.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A moment when someone loses control of their feelings and cries or shouts, like a toddler's tantrum.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) A sudden total failure or collapse: a market meltdown.↗ Example: The little boy had a meltdown when the ice cream fell.↗ · I nearly had a meltdown when my homework vanished from the computer.↗ · Scientists work hard to stop a reactor meltdown.↗ · The team suffered a meltdown in the second half and lost.↗ · The town had a traffic meltdown in the snow.↗ · Stay calm, there's no need for a meltdown.↗

melting — Everyday, meaning 1: Melting means changing from a solid into a liquid because it gets warm, like ice turning into water.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Melting can describe something becoming soft, like melting chocolate.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In stories, melting can mean becoming softer in feeling.↗ Example: The snowman is melting in the sun.↗ · Your ice cream is melting; eat it quickly!↗ · Ice starts melting at zero degrees Celsius.↗ · We are melting chocolate to make a cake.↗ · Melting is a change that can be reversed by freezing.↗ · The melting ice dripped off the roof.↗ · The candle wax was melting down the sides.↗ · My heart was melting when I saw the puppy.↗ · Just one plump morsel, melting away between the teeth.↗

meltwater — Everyday, meaning 1: Meltwater is water that comes from melting snow or ice, especially from glaciers and ice sheets.↗ Example: Meltwater from the glacier made a milky blue lake.↗ · In spring, meltwater fills the mountain rivers.↗ · Meltwater from ice sheets is raising sea levels.↗ · The meltwater stream was freezing cold.↗ · Floods can happen when meltwater rushes down the valley.↗ · Scientists measure meltwater on the Greenland ice sheet.↗

mem — Everyday, meaning 1: The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, written מ.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A short form of «memory» or «member» in notes (mem.), or a cut-off part of «memo» or «memsahib».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (old, India) Short for «memsahib», a word servants in British India used for a European lady.↗ Example: Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.↗ · Psalm 119 has a part headed «Mem».↗ · (note) mem.↗ = member of the club.↗ · In the old story the servant said, «The Mem-sahib is resting.»↗ · The computer showed «mem: 8 GB».↗ · Each part of Psalm 119 begins with the next Hebrew letter.↗ · Bet-Waw-Mem-Peh, between the lips and in front of the tongue.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · The Three Mothers are Aleph, Mem and Shin, they are Air, Water and Fire.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · Three mothers, Alef-Mem-Shin—In the Person [note 1: There is no satisfactory English equivalent of Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ nefesh, translated reluctantly as ‘person’.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗

member — Everyday, meaning 1: A member is a person who belongs to a group, like a club, a team or a family.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A member can be an animal or thing that belongs to a group or set.↗ Example: She is a member of the swimming club.↗ · Every member of my family likes pizza.↗ · Ask a member of staff if you get lost.↗ · The lion is a member of the cat family.↗ · Our team has eleven members.↗ · 7 is a member of the set of odd numbers.↗ · Members get a free badge.↗ · In Roeskilde, too, the members of the Danish Diet assemble.↗ · Mine eye also is dimmed by reason of vexation, and all my members are as a shadow.↗ (Writings JOB.17.7, JPS 1917)↗ · It shall devour the members of his body, yea, the first-born of death shall devour his members.↗ (Writings JOB.18.13, JPS 1917)↗

membership — Everyday, meaning 1: Membership is being a member of a club, group or organisation.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The membership is all the members of a group, or how many there are.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A membership is the right to use a club, gym or library, often paid for with a fee.↗ Example: My library membership card lets me borrow ten books.↗ · The club's membership has grown to two hundred.↗ · Mum pays for a family membership at the zoo.↗ · Membership of the chess club is free.↗ · Is membership open to everyone?↗ · Her membership runs out at the end of the month.↗

membrane — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) A very thin layer, like a skin, that covers or lines a part of a living thing or a cell.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A thin sheet of material, natural or man-made, that lets some things pass through and stops others.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The cell membrane: the thin outer layer around every living cell that controls what goes in and out.↗ Example: The cell membrane controls what goes in and out of the cell.↗ · Peel the egg carefully and you will see a thin membrane under the shell.↗ · The eardrum is a membrane that shakes when sound hits it.↗ · A frog has a membrane that covers its eyes underwater.↗ · Bats' wings are made of a stretchy membrane of skin.↗ · The builder put a plastic membrane under the concrete to keep out damp.↗ · Your nose is lined with a wet membrane that traps dust.↗

membranous — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) Made of a membrane, or like a membrane: thin, soft and skin-like, often so thin you can almost see through it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) Having thin skin-like parts, like a bat's or insect's wings.↗ Example: Bats have membranous wings stretched between their fingers.↗ · Dragonflies have clear, membranous wings.↗ · Inside the eggshell is a thin, membranous layer.↗ · The frog's feet are joined by membranous webs.↗ · The onion skin is thin and membranous.↗ · Under the microscope we saw a membranous sheet of cells.↗ · Some seeds have membranous wings to help them fly.↗ · The pterosaur had large membranous wings.↗

meme — Everyday, meaning 1: A funny picture, video or phrase that people copy, change and share quickly on the internet.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal, science) An idea, habit or style that spreads from person to person in a culture.↗ Example: My brother sent me a funny meme about cats.↗ · That meme went viral in one day.↗ · Some memes are unkind, so don't share them.↗ · The teacher used a meme to make us laugh.↗ · People made thousands of memes from that video.↗ · A catchphrase can spread like a meme.↗

memoir — Everyday, meaning 1: A book or story someone writes about their own life and memories.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (memoirs, plural) A book by a famous person about their life and the events they saw.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (formal) A written account of something, often of someone else's life.↗ Example: Grandma is writing a memoir about growing up on a farm.↗ · The footballer published his memoirs.↗ · We wrote a short memoir about our first day at school.↗ · A memoir is true and uses «I».↗ · Her memoir was full of funny stories.↗ · The explorer's memoir describes his journey across the ice.↗ · Reading a memoir is like hearing someone remember.↗ · He spoke with a very slow, distinct voice, as if he was dictating his memoirs, and always looked over the shoulder of the person to whom he was talking.↗

memorable — Everyday, meaning 1: Worth remembering, or easy to remember, because it is special, unusual, very good or very bad.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Easy to remember, as a short phrase or tune.↗ Example: Our trip to the zoo was memorable.↗ · Write about a memorable day in your life.↗ · The play had a very memorable ending.↗ · Choose a password that is memorable to you but hard for others to guess.↗ · The song has a memorable tune.↗ · Winning the cup was the most memorable moment of the year.↗ · The storm made it a memorable camping trip.↗ · That was the most memorable evening of her life, and she was glad that she could not see herself, for she would have died with confusion.↗

memorandum — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) A memorandum is a short written message sent inside an office, school or company, telling people about something.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) A memorandum is a note to help you remember something.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (law) A memorandum of understanding is a written agreement between two groups or countries.↗ Example: The head teacher sent a memorandum to all staff.↗ · (formal) Please read the memorandum about the new rules.↗ · Dad got a memo at work about the holiday party.↗ · The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding.↗ · A memorandum should be short and clear.↗ · Write a memorandum to remind the class about the trip.↗ · The memo said «No parking near the gates».↗ · The secret memorandum was found in the archive.↗

memorial — Everyday, meaning 1: A memorial is a statue, stone, building or event that helps people remember a person who died or something that happened.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Memorial describes something made in someone's memory.↗ Example: We laid poppies at the war memorial.↗ · The bench is a memorial to my great-grandma.↗ · The town built a memorial to the miners.↗ · We went to a memorial service for our old teacher.↗ · The school planted a memorial garden.↗ · Names are carved on the stone memorial.↗ · Memorial Day is a holiday in the USA.↗ · No king has a more splendid memorial.↗ · And he put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel, as the LORD commanded Moses.↗ (Torah EXO.39.7, JPS 1917)↗ · And thou shalt put pure frankincense with each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial-part, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.↗ (Torah LEV.24.7, JPS 1917)↗ · And the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial-part thereof, and make it smoke upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.↗ (Torah NUM.5.26, JPS 1917)↗ · A Psalm of David, to make memorial.↗ (Writings PSA.38.1, JPS 1917)↗ · A Psalm of David; to make memorial.↗ (Writings PSA.70.1, JPS 1917)↗ · Your memorials shall be like unto ashes, your eminences to eminences of clay.↗ (Writings JOB.13.12, JPS 1917)↗

memorisation — Everyday, meaning 1: The act of learning something so you can remember it exactly, such as a poem, times tables or spellings.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Learning by heart.↗ Example: Memorisation of times tables helps you do mental maths quickly.↗ · Learning a poem by heart takes memorisation.↗ · Repeating aloud helps memorisation.↗ · Rote memorisation without understanding is not enough.↗ · The actor used memorisation tricks to learn her lines.↗ · Flashcards are good for memorisation of spellings.↗