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See WANTLEY, DRAGON OF. Morgan le Fay (mor' gan le fa). The fairy sister of King Arthur; one of the principal characters in Arthurian romance and in Celtic legend generally; also known as Mor- gaine and (especially in Orlando Furioso) as Morgana (see FATA MORGANA).
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Approximately or almost
A jocular toast implying that a stronger elbow will lift more glasses to the mouth.
There is more to something than initially appears
Experienced something unexpected and usually unpleasant
More things than you can deal with
it's unfortunate or regrettable
When there is scarcely enough of an eatable or drinkable, it is said to taste MORE-ISH; as, "This wine is very good, but it has a slight MORE-ISH flavour."
a famous British comedy duo
It removed all infirmities, and restored the aged to youth again.
A brown bill, or kind of halbert, formerly carried by watchmen; corruption of MORE, great or broad, and GLAVE, blade.
The form taken by the name Morgan le Fay (<?.v.) in Ogier the Dane. Morley, Mrs. The name under which Queen Anne corresponded with "Mrs. Freeman" (Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough).
a famous American sitcom
The gallows. He napped the king's pardon and escaped the morning drop; he was pardoned, and was not hanged.
Someone who is most energetic and alert in the morning
Men who, about the end of the 18th century, used to visit public-houses touting for illegal lottery insurances. Their rendezvous was a tavern in Oxford Market, at the Oxford St. end of Great Portland Street.
Morphine.
Come, morris off; dance off, or get you gone. allusion to morris, i.e. MORISCO, or Moorish dancing.
To decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient MORESCO, of MORRIS-DANCE. See Shakspeare.
A dance, popular in England in the 15th century and later, in which the dancers usually represented characters from the Robin Hood stories (see MAID MARIAN). Other stock characters were Friar Tuck, Bavian the fool, hobby horse and foreigners, probably Moors or Moriscos. It was brought from Spain in the reign of Edward III, and was originally a military dance of the Moors, or Moriscos — hence its na"me.
A woman or wench; also a yeoman's daughter. To be taken all-a mort; to be confounded, surprised, or motionless through fear.
Very drunk.
A square college cap.
A pawnbroker’s duplicate.
a joint used to connect two pieces of wood
John Morton (c. 1420-1500), Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury, intro- duced a plan for increasing the royal revenues, in the tone of Henry VII, so arranged that nobody should escape.
To stand Moses: a man is said to stand Moses when he has another man's bastard child fathered upon him, and he is obliged by the parish to maintain it.
U.S.A. A type of boat made at Salisbury, Mass., by a famous boat-builder, Moses Lowell, in the 18th century. Farther south (in the West Indies), it is said to have been a boat of sufficient capacity to take a hogshead of sugar from shore to ship in one trip.
The divining-rod (<?.v.) is sometimes so called, after the rod with which Moses worked wonders before Pharaoh (Ex. vii, 9), or the rod with which he smote the rock to bring forth water (Ex. xvii, 6).
To pawn with a view to obtaining more than the actual value of an article. There are, in various parts of the country, men who make MOSKENEERING a profession—that is, they buy jewellery which, though fairly good, is not so good as it seems, and pawn it as opportunity occurs.
It consists of a white or a black veil, either covering the whole face or hanging from immediately below the eyes.
A cant term for lead, because both are found on the tops of buildings.
The mother of all saints.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
The style of the King of France since 1469, when it was conferred on
A woman; a wife.
A girl, or wench. See MORT.
A girl of indifferent character. Formerly, Mort. Dutch, MOTT-KAST, a harlotry. MOT-CART, see LOOSE-BOX.
Stormy petrels. Mother Carey is mata cara, dear mother. The French call these birds oiseaux de Notre Dame or aves Sanctce Maria. See Captain Marryat's Poor Jack, where the superstition is fully related.
The great black petrel or fulmar of the Pacific. Mother Carey is plucking her goose. It is snowing. Cp. HULDA. Sailors call falling snow Mother Carey's chickens.
The Church considered as the central fact, the head, the last court of appeal in all matters pertaining to conscience or religion. St. John Lateran, at Rome (see LATERAN), is known as the Mother and Head of all Churches. Also, the principal or oldest church in a country or district; the cathedral of a diocese.
One's native country; or the country whence one's ancestors have come to settle. England is the Mother country of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. The German term is Fatherland.
When Junius Brutus (after the death of Lucretia) formed one of the deputation to Delphi to ask the Oracle which of the three would succeed Tarquin, the response was, "He who should first kiss his mother.*' Junius instantly threw himself on the ground, exclaiming, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, Mother Earth," and he was elected consul.
Famous as giving the name to Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, which first seems to have been used in Songs for the Nursery: or Mother Gooseys Melodies for Children, published by T. Fleet in Boston, Mass., in 1719. The rhymes were free adapta- tions of Perrault's Contes de ma mere Foye ("Tales of my Mother Goose") which appeared in 1697.
An overprotective person
A cupboard or closet that is bare or empty
A rich source of something valuable or useful
the largest or most extreme example of something
A Chinese expression, meaning "an admirable teacher." Meng's father died soon after the birth of the sage, and he was brought up by his mother.
The State of Virginia. Does your mother know you're out? A jeering remark addressed to a presumptuous youth or to a simpleton.
PATRICK. The same. IRISH.
In U.S.A. the second Sunday in May is observed as an occasion for each person to remember his mother by some act of grateful affection. In schools Mother's Day is observed on the Friday preceding the above date.
A meeting of mothers held periodically in connexion with some church or denomination, at which the women can get advice or religious instruction, drink tea, gossip, and sometimes do a little needle- work. Hence, applied facetiously to any gossiping group of people — men, as well as women.
Extremely.
Mid-Lent Sunday, a great holiday, when the Pope blesses the golden rose, children go home to their mothers to feast on "mothering cakes," and "simnel cakes" (#.y.) are eaten. It is said that the day received its appellation from the ancient custom of visiting the "mother church" on that day; but to school-children it always meant a holiday, when they went home to spend the day with their mother or parents.
motor fuel
Someone's personal business or affair
To leave.
The vulva.