📖 M — The English dictionary · page 28

michigan — Everyday, meaning 1: A state in the north of the United States, made of two peninsulas and surrounded by the Great Lakes.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (Lake Michigan) One of the five Great Lakes of North America, the only one completely inside the USA.↗ Example: Michigan is shaped like a mitten.↗ · We went camping in Michigan last summer.↗ · Detroit is the biggest city in Michigan.↗ · Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes.↗ · Michigan has very cold winters with lots of snow.↗ · My cousin lives in Michigan and goes ice fishing.↗

mick — Everyday, meaning 1: Mick is a short form of the name Michael.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (UK/Ireland/Australia, informal) To take the mick (or mickey) out of someone means to tease or make fun of them.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (offensive) Mick is a rude word for an Irish person; never use it this way.↗ Example: Uncle Mick drives a lorry.↗ · Are you taking the mick?↗ · Stop taking the mick out of my haircut!↗ · They were only taking the mick — it was a joke.↗ · Mick has 12 stickers and gives half away.↗ · Don't take the mick when someone makes a mistake.↗

mickey — Everyday, meaning 1: (a name) Mickey is a first name, short for Michael, and the name of Mickey Mouse, the famous cartoon mouse from Disney.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (UK, informal) To take the mickey (out of someone) means to tease them or make fun of them.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) Mickey Mouse (as an adjective) means silly, small or not serious: a Mickey Mouse job.↗ Example: (a name) Mickey Mouse has big round ears.↗ · (a name) My uncle Mickey is a builder.↗ · (UK, informal) Stop taking the mickey out of my haircut!↗ · (UK, informal) Are you taking the mickey?↗ That's a terrible joke.↗ · (informal) It was a Mickey Mouse competition with only three teams.↗ · We met Mickey at Disneyland.↗

micro — Everyday, meaning 1: Micro means very small: «a micro farm», «micro plastics».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: As a prefix, micro- makes words about tiny things: microscope, microchip, microphone, microwave.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (science) In measurement, micro- means one millionth, as in micrometre or microgram.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (informal) A micro is a short name for a small computer, a microwave oven, or the BBC micro:bit used in schools.↗ Example: We programmed the micro:bit to show a heart.↗ · A microscope helps you see micro-organisms.↗ · My little brother has a micro scooter.↗ · Micro means very small.↗ · Microplastics are tiny bits of plastic in the sea.↗ · A micrometre is one millionth of a metre.↗ · (informal) Put the soup in the micro for two minutes.↗ · The micro-chip in the dog's neck has its owner's details.↗

microbe — Everyday, meaning 1: A microbe is a living thing too small to see without a microscope, such as a bacterium, a virus or some fungi like yeast.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Some microbes cause diseases, but most are harmless and many are useful, helping us digest food, making bread rise and breaking down dead things.↗ Example: Microbes are too small to see with your eyes.↗ · Wash your hands to get rid of harmful microbes.↗ · Yeast is a microbe that makes bread rise.↗ · Microbes in the soil break down dead leaves.↗ · Some microbes make us ill, but many help us.↗ · Your stomach is full of helpful microbes.↗ · Louis Pasteur showed that microbes spoil food.↗

microbial — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) To do with microbes: tiny living things like bacteria, fungi and some algae that can only be seen with a microscope.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Caused by microbes: «a microbial infection».↗ Example: Microbial life is found almost everywhere on Earth.↗ · Mould on bread is a kind of microbial growth.↗ · Yogurt is made by microbial action on milk.↗ · Antimicrobial soap helps kill germs.↗ · Scientists look for signs of microbial life on Mars.↗ · Compost heaps are full of microbial activity.↗ · Our gut has trillions of helpful microbial cells.↗ · Cooking food properly kills most harmful microbial life.↗

microchip — Everyday, meaning 1: A microchip is a very small piece of material, usually silicon, carrying tiny electronic circuits that store information or do calculations inside computers, phones and other machines.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A microchip is also a tiny chip, the size of a grain of rice, put under a pet's skin by a vet so a lost pet can be identified.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To microchip a pet means to put this chip in.↗ Example: A phone contains many microchips.↗ · The vet microchipped our new puppy.↗ · The lost cat was returned home because of her microchip.↗ · Microchips are made from silicon, which comes from sand.↗ · One microchip can hold billions of tiny switches.↗ · My bank card has a microchip in it.↗ · Making microchips needs super-clean factories.↗

microcosm — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A "small world"; a small thing that is a model of the whole universe, such as a human being.↗ Example: The "Sepher Yetzirah," on the other hand is mainly concerned with our universe and with the Microcosm.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · 26) Here is meant: ethereal air, ethereal water, ethereal fire, the macrocosm, the courses of time and microcosm.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · The '' Sepher Yetzirah," on the other hand is mainly concerned with our universe and with the Microcosm.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

microgram — Everyday, meaning 1: A unit of mass equal to one millionth of a gram; its symbol is µg (sometimes mcg on medicine labels).↗ Example: The vitamin tablet has 10 micrograms of vitamin D.↗ · One milligram equals one thousand micrograms.↗ · A grain of sand weighs much more than a microgram.↗ · The label says «400 µg of folic acid».↗ · Scientists measure tiny amounts of poison in micrograms.↗ · How many micrograms are in half a milligram?↗ Five hundred.↗ · Medicine doses in micrograms must be measured very carefully.↗

microorganism — Everyday, meaning 1: A living thing so tiny that you can only see it with a microscope, such as a bacterium, a virus (usually counted with them), some fungi like yeast, or algae.↗ Example: Yeast is a microorganism that makes bread dough rise.↗ · Some microorganisms cause food to go mouldy.↗ · Washing your hands with soap removes many harmful microorganisms.↗ · We looked at pond water and saw microorganisms swimming under the microscope.↗ · Bacteria in yogurt are helpful microorganisms.↗ · Microorganisms in the compost heap break down leaves and peel.↗ · Fridges slow down the growth of microorganisms.↗

microphone — Everyday, meaning 1: A device that picks up sound and turns it into an electrical signal so it can be made louder, recorded or sent.↗ Example: Please speak into the microphone so everyone can hear.↗ · The singer held the microphone close.↗ · My laptop has a tiny built-in microphone.↗ · The microphone squealed when it was too close to the speaker.↗ · Is the mic on?↗ · The head teacher tested the microphone before assembly.↗

microscope — Everyday, meaning 1: A scientific instrument with lenses that makes very small things look much bigger, so you can see things too small for your eyes alone, like cells and germs.↗ Example: We looked at a drop of pond water under the microscope.↗ · The microscope makes the cells look 100 times bigger.↗ · Turn the knob slowly to focus the microscope.↗ · Germs are too small to see without a microscope.↗ · Carry the microscope with two hands.↗ · Her work was put under the microscope by the judges.↗

microscopic — Everyday, meaning 1: So small that it can only be seen through a microscope.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Very, very small.↗ Example: Bacteria are microscopic living things.↗ · The pond water is full of microscopic creatures.↗ · Germs are microscopic, so wash your hands even when they look clean.↗ · Your body is made of microscopic cells.↗ · My brother gave me a microscopic piece of chocolate.↗ · Under the lens, we saw microscopic hairs on the leaf.↗

microwave — Everyday, meaning 1: A microwave (oven) is a kitchen machine that heats or cooks food very quickly using invisible waves.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Microwaves are a kind of invisible wave, like light and radio waves.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To microwave food means to heat it in a microwave.↗ Example: Heat the soup in the microwave for two minutes.↗ · Never put metal in the microwave.↗ · Stir the food and check it's not too hot.↗ · Can I microwave my popcorn?↗ · The microwave beeped when the food was ready.↗ · Mobile phones and ovens both use microwaves.↗ · Let the bowl cool before you take it out of the microwave.↗

mid — Everyday, meaning 1: Mid means in the middle of something, often in a word with a hyphen: mid-morning, mid-air, mid-sentence.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (adjective) Mid shows a position in the middle: the mid point, mid range.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (slang, US) Mid means just average or not very good: «That film was mid.».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (poetic) Mid is a short form of amid, meaning among.↗ Example: The ball stopped in mid-air and fell back down.↗ · We have a snack at mid-morning break.↗ · She stopped mid-sentence when the teacher came in.↗ · Mark the midpoint of the line AB.↗ · The temperature was in the mid-twenties.↗ · Our holiday is in mid-summer.↗ · (slang) Honestly, that new game is kinda mid.↗ · He caught the frisbee mid-jump.↗ · About mid-day he reached a sandy plain, scorching in the sun.↗ · And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the mid-wife said unto her: 'Fear not; for this also is a son for thee.'↗ (Torah GEN.35.17, JPS 1917)↗

midday — Everyday, meaning 1: Midday is twelve o'clock in the middle of the day; noon.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Midday can also mean around the middle of the day.↗ Example: We eat lunch at midday.↗ · The Sun is highest in the sky around midday.↗ · Stay out of the strong sun at midday.↗ · Midday is 12 o'clock.↗ · The shop closes at midday on Saturdays.↗ · Shadows are shortest at midday.↗ · From 9 am to midday is three hours.↗ · And it was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening offering; but their was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.↗ (Prophets 1KI.18.29, JPS 1917)↗

middle — Everyday, meaning 1: The middle is the part that is halfway between the two ends or sides.↗ In a row of three, the middle one is the second.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The middle of a time is the part between its start and end: the middle of the night.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Middle as an adjective means in the centre: the middle finger, the middle child.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: «In the middle of doing something» means busy doing it now.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Middle can also mean medium, neither loud nor quiet, as in a middle voice.↗ Example: Tom stands in the middle of the line.↗ · Cut the ribbon in the middle.↗ · There are 4 people on each side of the one in the middle.↗ · What is the middle number of 3, 7 and 9?↗ · I woke up in the middle of the night.↗ · She is the middle child of three.↗ · My middle name is James.↗ · Sorry, I'm in the middle of my homework.↗ · said the Middle Bear in his middle voice.↗ · and the middle bar in the midst of the boards, which shall pass through from end to end.↗ (Torah EXO.26.28, JPS 1917)↗ · And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other.↗ (Torah EXO.36.33, JPS 1917)↗ · And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley for a border; even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; (Torah DEU.3.16, JPS 1917)↗ · So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their hips, and sent them away.↗ (Writings 1CH.19.4, JPS 1917)↗ · And Gaal spoke again and said: 'See, there come people down by the middle of the land, and one company cometh by the way of Elon-meonenim.'↗ (Prophets JDG.9.37, JPS 1917)↗ · So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.↗ (Prophets 2SA.10.4, JPS 1917)↗

middlemost — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: The one in the middle of three; the middle one.↗ Example: Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.↗ (Prophets EZK.42.5, JPS 1917)↗ · For they were in three stories, and they had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; therefore room was taken away from the lowest and the middlemost, in comparison with the ground.↗ (Prophets EZK.42.6, JPS 1917)↗

midge — Everyday, meaning 1: A midge is a tiny flying insect, a bit like a very small fly or mosquito, that often flies in clouds near water.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Some midges bite, and in Scotland the Highland midge is famous for biting people on summer evenings.↗ Example: A cloud of midges hovered over the lake.↗ · The midges in Scotland were biting us all evening.↗ · Swallows swooped to catch midges.↗ · Put on midge spray before we go camping.↗ · I've got midge bites all over my arms.↗ · Midges are so small they can get through some mosquito nets.↗ · In the evening, when the sun is getting low, and all the midges are beginning to bite, Peter saw a wide heath stretching before him.↗

midget — Everyday, meaning 1: (offensive) An old word for a very short person; today it is considered hurtful and should not be used — say «a person of short stature» or «a person with dwarfism».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (adjective) Very small for its kind: a midget submarine.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (sport, Canada, US) An age group in youth sports, for older teenagers.↗ Example: The old story used the word «midget», but today we say «person of short stature».↗ · Calling someone a midget is hurtful.↗ · A midget submarine is a very small submarine.↗ · My cousin plays in the midget hockey league in Canada.↗ · They watched midget car racing at the track.↗ · The plant grew a midget tomato the size of a pea.↗