Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MAIZ, n.

A plant of the genus Zea, the native corn of America, called Indian corn. [In the Lettish and Livonic languages, in the north of Europe, mayse is bread. Tooke. In Ir. maise is food; perhaps a different orthography of meat.]

MA'JA, n.

A bird of Cuba, of a beautiful yellow color, whose flesh is accounted a delicacy. Dict. Nat. Hist.

MA-JES'TIC, a. [from majesty.]

1. August; having dignity of person or appearance; grand; princely. The prince was majestic in person and appearance. In his face / Sat meekness, hightened with majestic grace. Milton.
2. Splendid; grand. Get the start of this majestic world. Shak.
3. Elevated; lofty. The least portions must be of the epic kind; all must be grave, majestic and sublime. Dryden.
4. Stately; becoming majesty; as, a majestic air or walk.

MAJES'TIC-AL, a.

Majestic. [Little used.]

MAJES'TIC-AL-LY, adv.

With dignity; with grandeur; with a lofty air or appearance.

MA-JES'TIC-AL-NESS, n.

State or manner of being majestic. Oldenburg.

MAJ'ES-TY, n. [L. majestas; from the root of majis, major, more, greater.]

1. Greatness of appearance; dignity; grandeur; dignity of aspect or manner; the quality or state of a person or thing which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder; applied with peculiar propriety to God and his works. Jehovah reigneth, he is clothed with majesty. Ps. xclii. The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty. Ps. xxix. It is applied to the dignity, pomp and splendor of earthly princes. When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom — the honor of his excellent majesty many days. Esth. i.
2. Dignity; elevation of manner. The first in loftiness of thought surpass'd / The next in majesty. Dryden.
3. A title of emperors, kings and queens; as, most royal majesty; may it please your majesty. In this sense, it admits of the plural; as, their majesties attended the concert.

MA'JOR, a. [L.]

1. Greater in number, quantity or extent; as, the major part of the assembly; the major part of the revenue; the major part of the territory.
2. Greater in dignity. My major vow lies here. Shak.
3. In music, an epithet applied to the modes in which the third is four semitones above the tonic or key-note, and to intervals consisting of four semitones. Busby. Major and minor, in music, are applied to concords which differ from each other by a semitone. Major tone, the difference between the fifth and fourth, and major semitone is the difference between the major fourth and the third. The major tone surpasses the minor by a comma. Encyc.

MA'JOR, n.¹

1. In military affairs, an officer next in rank above a captain and below a lieutenant colonel; the lowest field officer.
2. The mayor of a town. [See Mayor.] Aid-major, an officer appointed to act as major on certain occasions. Brigade-major. [See Brigade.] Drum-major, the first drummer in a regiment, who has authority over the other drummers. Fife-major, the first or chief fifer. Sergeant-major, a non-commissioned officer, subordinate to the adjutant.

MA'JOR, n.²

In law, a person of full age to manage his own concerns.

MA'JOR, n.³

In logic, the first proposition of a regular syllogism, containing the principal term; as, no unholy person is qualified for happiness in heaven, [the major.] Every man in his natural state is unholy, [minor.] Therefore, no man in his natural state is qualified for happiness in heaven, [conclusion or inference.]

MA'JOR-AT, n. [From major.]

Among the continental nations of Europe, the right of succession to property according to age.

MA-JOR-A'TION, n.

Increase; enlargement. [Not used.] Bacon.

MA-JOR-DO'MO, n. [major and domus, house.]

A man who holds the place of master of the house; a steward; also, a chief minister. Encyc.

MA'JOR-GEN'ER-AL, n.

A military officer who commands a division or number of regiments; the next in rank below a lieutenant-general.

MA-JOR'I-TY, n. [Fr. majorité; from major.]

1. The greater number; more than half; as, a majority of mankind; a majority of votes in Congress. A measure may be carried by a large or small majority.
2. Full age; the age at which the laws of a country permit a young person to manage his own affairs. Henry III. had no sooner come to his majority, than the barons raised war against him.
3. The office, rank, or commission of a major.
4. The state of being greater. It is not a plurality of parts, without majority of parts. [Little used.] Grew.
5. [L. majores.] Ancestors; ancestry. [Not used.] Brown.
6. Chief rank. [Not used.] Shak.

MA-JUS'CU-LAE, n. [MA-JUS'CU-LÆ.]

In diplomatics, capital letters, as they are found in Latin manuscripts of the sixth century and earlier.

MAKE, n.¹

Structure; texture; constitution of parts in a body. It may sometimes be synonymous with shape or form, but more properly the word signifies the manner in which the parts of the body are united; as, a man of slender make, or feeble make. Is our perfection of so frail a make / As every plot can undermine and shake? Dryden.

MAKE, n.² [Sax. maca, gemaca; Dan. mage; Eng. match. It seems allied to make, as peer, L. par, to Heb. ברא.]

A companion; a mate. [Obs.] Spenser. B. Jonson.

MAKE, v.i.

1. To tend; to proceed; to move. He made toward home. The tiger made at the sportsman. Formerly authors used to make away, to make on, to make forth, to make about; but these phrases are obsolete. We now say, to make at, to make toward.
2. To contribute; to have effect. This argument makes nothing in his favor. He believes wrong to be right, and right to be wrong, when it makes for his advantage.
3. To rise; to flow toward land; as, the tide makes fast. To make as if, to show; to appear; to carry appearance. Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled. Josh. viii. To make away with, to kill; to destroy. To make for, to move toward; to direct a course toward; as, we apprehended a tempest approaching, and made for a harbor. #2. To tend to advantage; to favor. A war between commercial nations makes for the interest of neutrals. To make against, to tend to injury. This argument makes against his cause. To make out, to succeed; to have success at last. He made out to reconcile the contending parties. To make up, to approach. He made up to us with boldness. To make up for, to compensate; to supply by an equivalent. Have you a supply of friends to make up for those who are gone? Swift. To make up with, to settle differences; to become friends. To make with, to concur. Hooker.

MAKE, v.t. [pret. and pp. made. Sax. macian; G. machen; D. maaken; Dan. mager, to contrive; mager paa, to make, to form, to mold, to contrive, to practice. The primary sense is to cause to act or do, to press, drive, strain or compel, as in the phrases, make your servant work, make him go.]

1. To compel; to constrain. They should be made to rise at an early hour. Locke.
2. To form of materials; to fashion; to mold into shape; to cause to exist in a different form, or as a distinct thing. He fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. Ex. xxxii. God not only made, but created; not only made the work, but the materials. Dwight, Theol.
3. To create; to cause to exist; to form from nothing. God made the materials of the earth and of all worlds.
4. To compose; to constitute as parts, materials or ingredients united in a whole. These several sums make the whole amount. The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea / Make but one temple for the deity. Waller.
5. To form by art. And art with her contending, doth aspire / T' excel the natural with made delights. Spenser.
6. To produce or effect, as the agent. Call for Sampson, that he may make us sport. Judges xvi.
7. To produce, as the cause; to procure; to obtain. Good tillage is necessary to make good crops. Wealth maketh many friends. Prov. xix.
8. To do; to perform; to execute; as, to make a journey; to make a long voyage.
9. To cause to have any quality, as by change or alteration. Wealth may make a man proud; beauty may make a woman vain; a due sense of human weakness should make us humble.
10. To bring into any state or condition; to constitute. See I have made thee a God to Pharaoh. Exod. vii. Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Exod. ii.
11. To contract; to establish; as, to make friendship. Rowe.
12. To keep; as, to make abode. Dryden.
13. To raise to good fortune; to secure in riches or happiness; as when it is said, he is made for this world. Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown. Dryden.
14. To suffer. He accuses Neptune unjustly, who makes shipwreck a second time. Bacon.
15. To incur; as, to make a loss. [Improper.] Dryden.
16. To commit; to do. I will neither plead my age nor sickness in excuse of the faults which I made. [Little used.] Dryden.
17. To intend or to do; to purpose to do. Gomez, what mak'st thou here, with a whole brotherhood of city bailiffs? [Not used.] Dryden. We now say, what doest thou here?
18. To raise, as profit; to gain; to collect; as, to make money in trade or by husbandry; to make an estate by steady industry.
19. To discover; to arrive in sight of; a seaman's phrase. They made the land at nine o'clock on the larboard bow, distant five leagues.
20. To reach; to arrive at; as, to make a port or harbor; a seaman's phrase.
21. To gain by advance; as, to make little way with a head wind; we made our way to the next village. This phrase often implies difficulty.
22. To provide; as, to make a dinner or entertainment
23. To put or place; as, to make a difference between strict right and expedience.
24. To turn; to convert, as to use. Whate'er they catch / Their fury makes an instrument of war. Dryden.
25. To represent. He is not the fool you make him, that is, as your representation exhibits him.
26. To constitute; to form. It is melancholy to think that sensual pleasure makes the happiness of a great part of mankind.
27. To induce; to cause. Self-confidence makes a man rely too much on his own strength and resources.
28. To put into a suitable or regular form for use; as, to make a bed.
29. To fabricate; to forge. He made the story himself.
30. To compose; to form and write; as, to make verses or an oration.
31. To cure; to dry and prepare for preservation; as, to make hay. To make amends, to make good; to give adequate compensation; to replace the value or amount of loss. To make account of, to esteem; to regard. Bacon. To make away, to kill; to destroy. Sidney. Addison. #2. To alienate; to transfer. Waller. We now usually say, to make over property. To make free with, to treat with freedom; to treat without ceremony. Pope. To make good, to maintain; to defend. I'll either die, or I'll make good the place. Dryden. #2. To fulfill; to accomplish; as, to make good one's word, promise or engagement. #3. To make compensation for; to supply an equivalent; as, to make good a loss or damage. To make light of, to consider as of no consequence; to treat with indifference or contempt. They made light of it and went their way. Matth. xxii. To make love, or to make suit, to court; to attempt to gain the favor or affection. To make merry, to feast; to be joyful or jovial. Bacon. To make much of, to treat with fondness or esteem; to consider as of great value, or as giving great pleasure. To make of, to understand. He knows not what to make of the news, that is, he does not well understand it; he knows not how to consider or view it. #2. To produce from; to effect. I am astonished that those who have appeared against this paper, have made so very little of it. Addison. #3. To consider; to account; to esteem. Makes she no more of me than of a slave? Dryden. To make over, to transfer the title of; to convey; to alienate. He made over his estate in trust or in fee. To make out, to learn; to discover; to obtain a clear understanding of. I can not make out the meaning or sense of this difficult passage. Antiquaries are not able to make out the inscription on this medal. #2. To prove; to evince; to establish by evidence or argument. The plaintif, not being able to make out his ease, withdrew the suit. In the passages from divines, most of the reasonings which make out both my propositions are already suggested. Atterbury. #3. To furnish; to find or supply. He promised to pay, but was not able to make out the money or the whole sum. To make sure of, to consider as certain. Dryden. #2. To secure to one's possession, as, to make sure of the game. To make up, to collect into a sum or mass; as, to make up the amount of rent; to make up a bundle or package. #2. To reconcile; to compose; as, to make up a difference or quarrel. #3. To repair; as, to make up a hedge. Ezek. xiii. #4. To supply what is wanting. A dollar is wanted to make up the stipulated sum. #5. To compose, as ingredients or parts. Oh, he was all made up of love and charms! Addison. The parties among us are made up of moderate whigs and presbyterians. Swift. #6. To shape; as, to make up a mass into pills. #7. To assume a particular form of features; as, to make up a face; whence, to make up a lip, is to pout. #8. To compensate; to make good; as, to make up a loss. #9. To settle; to adjust, or to arrange for settlement; as, to make up accounts. #10. To determine; to bring to a definite conclusion; as, to make up one's mind. In seamen's language, to make sail, to increase the quantity of sail already extended. To make sternway, to move with the stern foremost. To make water, to leak. To make words, to multiply words.

MAKE-BATE, n. [make and Sax. bate, contention.]

One who excites contentions and quarrels. Sidney.

MAKE-LESS, a.

Matchless; without a mate. [Obs.]

MAKE-PEACE, n.

A peace-maker; one that reconciles persons when at variance. Shak.

MAK-ER, n.

1. The Creator. The universal Maker we may praise. Milton.
2. One that makes, forms, shapes, or molds; a manufacturer; as, a maker of watches, or of jewelry; a maker of cloth.
3. A poet.