Category: Word of the Day – M

ETYMOLOGY
? shortened form of imaginate (vb.)

EXAMPLE
They must have maginated a great deal, otherwise they would have accomplished a lot more.

ETYMOLOGY
from the archaic meaning of meat (food in general) + able

EXAMPLE
“…wyse as the serpent, and benigne to his subiectes, discrete with the froward, meteable to the nedy, liberall to wydowes and children, and a blissid fader…”

From: Speculum Sacerdotale, a1500
A collection of fifteenth century English Festival Sermons

ETYMOLOGY
from late Latin meliorat-, ppl. stem of meliorare, from Latin melior-, (melior better)

PRONUNCIATION
MEE-lee-uh-rayt

EXAMPLE
“…safe from all daungiers,beeyng proude therof not without cause, he would often saie: I found Roome made but of bricke, and I will leaue it of marble. Nothyng to a prince maye bee more magnificente or regall, then if the same dooe meliorate & bettre y^e state of a dicion or royalme descended and come to his possession…”

From: Apophthegmes that is to saie, prompte, quicke, wittie and sentencious saiynges, of certain emperours, kynges, capitaines, philosophiers and oratours…
By Desiderius Erasmus
Translated by Nicholas Udall, 1542

ETYMOLOGY
formed on Greek.µακρόβιος (long-lived (from µακρός (long) + βίος (life)) + -an

PRONUNCIATION
muh-KROH-bee-uhn

EXAMPLE
“…Nor did we think it more reasonable to doubt of the Transmogrification of the Macrobian Children into Swans, or that of the Men of Pallene in Thrace into Birds, as soon as they have bath’d themselves in the Tritonie Lake. After this the Devil a word we could get out of him but of Birds and Cages…”

From: The Fifth Book of The Works of Francis Rabelais, M.D.
Translated by Peter Anthony Motteux, 1694

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
perhaps from Scots mirl (to speckle, to spot),
with reference to the pattern seen before the eyes when in a state of dizziness + -igo 

PRONUNCIATION
MUR-luh-gohz

EXAMPLE
“…Sure Major Weir, or some sic warlock wight,
Has flung beguilin’ glamer o’er your sight;
Or else some kittle cantrup thrown, I ween,
Has bound in mirlygoes my ain twa ein,
If ever aught frae sense cou’d be believ’d
(And seenil hae my senses been deceiv’d),
This moment, o’er the tap of Adam’s tomb,
Fu’ easy can I see your chiefest dome:
Nae corbie fleein’ there, nor croupin’ craws,
Seem to forspeak the ruin of thy haws,
But a’ your tow’rs in wonted order stand,
Steeve as the rocks that hem our native land….”

From: The Poems of Robert Fergusson
By Robert Fergusson, 1785
The Ghaists: A Kirk-yard Eclogue

ETYMOLOGY
from merry (adj.) + thought (n.)
‘The name alludes to the custom of two persons pulling the furcula of a fowl until it breaks; according to the popular notion, the one who gets the longer (in some districts, the shorter) piece will either be married sooner than the other, or will gain the fulfilment of any wish he may form at the moment.‘

EXAMPLE
“…Fetherstone. O youle make her sicker then.
Greeneshield. I warrant you; would all women thought no more hurt then thou doost now, sweet villaine, Kate, Kate.
Kate. I longd for the merry thought of a phesant.
Greeneshield. She talkes in her sleepe….”

From: North-ward Hoe
By Thomas Dekker & John Webster, 1607

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin monti-, mons (mountain) + vagantem, pres. pple. of vagari (to roam) + -ant

EXAMPLE
“…Downward he speeds to mingle in the fray
As headlong rolls the torrent of the hills
When wintry storms montivagant outpour
Their pluvious treasures from the deep purloined…”

From: Rogvald: An Epic Poem
By John Fitzgerald Pennie, 1823

ETYMOLOGY
from cormorant (a greedy or rapacious person)

EXAMPLE
“…There would be many money-cormorants, and their profit great….”

From: The Scales of Commerce and Trade
By Thomas Willsford, 1660

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin mentition-, mentitio (lying, falsehood),
from mentit-, past participial stem of mentiri (to lie)+ -iō (-ion)

EXAMPLE
From childhood, she has never been good at mentition. Her face always turned bright red when she tried.

ETYMOLOGY
possibly from maum (mellow, soft, esp. over-ripe) + –ish 

EXAMPLE
“…but she fed more vpon fancie, than glutted hir selfe with any cates there presente: more vpon daintie deuices, than any parcell of repast: for this meate forsooth was mawmish, & this melancholie: this dish would driue hir to drincke, and this cause hir to drie…”

From: Narbonus The Laberynth of Libertie
By Austin Saker, 1580