Emily Dickinson Lexicon

METE-WAND, n. [mete and wand.]

A staff or rod of a certain length, used as a measure. [Obs.] Ascham.

METE-YARD, n. [Sax. metgeard.]

A yard, staff or rod, used as a measure. [Obs.] [We now use yard.]

ME-THEG'LIN, n. [W. mezyglin, according to Owen, from W. mezyg, a physician, and llyn, water; a medicinal liquor. But mez is mead, and mezu, is to be strong or able.]

A liquor made of honey and water boiled and fermented, often enriched with spices. Encyc.

ME-THINKS, v. [impers. pp. methought. me and think.]

It seems to me; it appears to me; I think. Me is here in the dative. The word is not antiquated, but is not elegant.

METH'OD, n. [L. methodus; Gr. μεθοδος; μετα, with, and οδος, way.]

1. A suitable and convenient arrangement of things, proceedings or ideas; the natural or regular disposition of separate things or parts; convenient order for transacting business, or for comprehending any complicated subject. Without method, business of any kind will fall into confusion. To carry on farming to advantage, to keep accounts correctly, method is indispensable.
2. Way; manner. Let us know the nature of the disease, and the method of cure.
3. Classification; arrangement of natural bodies according to their common characteristics; as, the method of Theophrast; the method of Ray; the Linnean method. In natural arrangements a distinction is sometimes made between method and system. System is an arrangement founded, throughout all its parts, on some one principle. Method is an arrangement less fixed and determinate, and founded on more general relations. Thus we say, the natural method, and the artificial or sexual system of Linnæus, though the latter is not a perfect system. Ed. Encyc.

ME-THOD'IC, or ME-THOD'IC-AL, a.

Arranged in convenient order; disposed in a just and natural manner, or in a manner to illustrate a subject, or to facilitate practical operations; as, the methodical arrangement of the parts a discourse or of arguments; a methodical treatise; methodical accounts.

ME-THOD'IC-AL-LY, adv.

In a methodical manner; according to natural or convenient order.

METH'OD-ISM, n.

The doctrines and worship of the sect of Christians called Methodists.

METH'OD-IST, n.

1. One that observes method.
2. One of a sect of Christians, founded by Morgan, or rather by John Wesley, and so called from the exact regularity of their lives, and the strictness of their principles and rules.
3. A physician who practices by method or theory. Boyle.
4. In the cant of irreligious men, a person of strict piety; one who lives in the exact observance of religious duties.

METH-OD-IS'TIC, a.

Resembling the Methodists; partaking of the strictness of Methodists. Ch. Obs.

METH-OD-IS'TIC, or METH-OD-IS'TIC-AL, a.

Relating to method, or the Methodists.

METH'OD-IZE, v.t.

To reduce to method; to dispose in due order; to arrange in a convenient manner. One who brings with him any observations he has made in reading the poets, will find his own reflections methodized and explained in the works of a good critic. Spectator.

METH'OD-IZ-ED, pp.

Reduced to method.

METH'OD-IZ-ING, ppr.

Arranging in due order.

ME-THOUGHT, v. [pret. of Methinks.]

It seemed to me; I thought. Milton. Dryden.

METH'Y-LENE, n. [Gr. μεθυ and υλη.]

A highly volatile and inflammable liquid, procured by destructive distillation of wood. Brande.

ME'TIC, n. [Gr. μετοικος; μετα, and οικος, house.]

In ancient Greece, a sojourner; a resident stranger in a Grecian city or place. Mitford.

ME-TIC'U-LOUS, a. [L. meticulosus.]

Timid. [Not used.] Coles.

ME-TON'IC-CY-CLE, or ME-TON'IC-YEAR, n. [ME-TON'IC CY-CLE, or ME-TON'IC YEAR.]

The cycle of the moon, or period of nineteen years, in which the lunations of the moon return to the same days of the month; so called from its discoverer Meton the Athenian. Encyc. Bailey.

MET-O-NYM'IC, or MET-O-NYM'IC-AL, a. [See Metonymy.]

Used by way of metonymy, by putting one word for another.

MET-O-NYM'IC-AL-LY, adv.

By putting one word for another. Dwight.

MET'O-NYM-Y, n. [Gr. μετωνυμια; μετα, over, beyond, and ονομα, name.]

In rhetoric, a trope in which one word is put for another; a change of names which have some relation to each other; as when we say, “a man keeps a good table,” instead of good provisions. “We read Virgil,” that is, his poems or writings. “They have Moses and the prophets,” that is, their books or writings. A man has a clear head, that is, understanding; intellect; a warm heart, that is, affections.

MET-O-PE, n. [met'opy; Gr. μετοπη; μετα, with, near or by, and οπη, an aperture or hollow.]

In architecture, the space between the triglyphs of the Doric frieze, which among the ancients used to be painted or adorned with-carved work. Encyc.

MET-O-POS'CO-PIST, n. [infra.]

One versed in physiognomy.

MET-O-POS'CO-PY, n. [Gr. μετωπον, the forehead, and σκοπεω, to view.]

The study of physiognomy; the art of discovering the character or the dispositions of men by their features, or the lines of the face. Encyc.