Chapter Miss, Mistress, Mrs to Moat of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Mite Sir Matthew Mite. A purseproud East Indian merchant, who gives his servants the most costly exotics, and overpowers everyone with the profusion of his wealth. (S. Foote: The Nabob.)

Lady Oldham says: “He comes amongst us preceded by all the pomp of Asia. Profusely scattering the spoils of conquered provinces, corrupting the virtue, and alienating the affections of all the old friends of the family.”

Mithra or Mithras. The highest of the twenty-eight second-class divinities of the ancient Persians, and the ruler of the universe. Sometimes used as a synonym for the sun. The word means friend, and this deity is so called because he befriends man in this life, and protects him against evil spirits after death. He is represented as a young man with a Phrygian cap, a tunic, a mantle on his left shoulder, and plunging a sword into the neck of a bull. (Sanskrit, mitram, a friend.) (See Thebais, i.)

Mithridate (3 syl.). A confection said to be invented by Mithridates, King of Pontus and Bithynia, as an antidote to poison. It contains seventy-two ingredients.

“What brave spirit could be content to sit in his shop ... selling Mithridatum and dragon's water to infected houses?”- Knight of the Burning Pestle. (1635.)

Mitre The episcopal mitre symbolises the cloven tongues of fire which descended on the apostles on the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 1-12.) Greek and Latin, mitra, a turban.

Mitre Tavern (The). A place of resort in the time of Shakespeare; it was in Bread Street, Cheapside.

Mitten The Pardoner's mitten. Whoever put this mitten on would be sure to thrive in all things.

“He that his hondë put in this metayn,
He shal have multiplying of his grayn,
Whan he hath sowen, be it whete or otes,
So that ye offre pans [pence] or ellës grootes.”
Chaucer: Prologue to The Pardoneres Tale.

   To give one the mitten. To reject a sweetheart; to jilt. (Latin, mitto, to send [about your business], whence dismissal; to get your dismissal.) Some say, it is to get the mitten instead of the hand.

“There is a young lady I have set my heart on, though whether she is going to give me hern, or give me the mitten, I ain't quite satisfied.”- Sam Slick: Human Nature, p. 90.

“I don't believe but what that Hammond girl's given him the mitten, else he wouldn't a come. I wouldn't play second fiddle for any fellow.”- M. E. Wilkins: A Tardy Thanksgiving (American).

Mittimus (Latin). A command in writing to a gaoler, to keep the person named in safe custody. Also a writ for removing a record from one court to another. So called from the first word of the writ, “Mittimus” (i.e. We send ...).

Mitton The Chapter of Mitton. So the battle of Mitton was called, because so many priests took part therein. Hailes says that “three hundred ecclesiastics fell in this battle, which was fought September 20th, 1319.”

“So many priests took part in the fight that the Scots called it the Chapter of Mitton- a meeting of the clergymen belonging to a cathedral being called a chapter”- Sir Walter Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, x.

Mixon Better wed over the Mixon than over the Moor. (See Midden .)

Mizentop, maintop, foretop Service in these masts has nothing whatever to do with age or merit. A “top” is a platform fixed over the head of a lower mast, resting on the trestle-trees, to spread the rigging of the topmast.
    The mizenmast is the aftermost mast of a ship; the foremast is in the forward part of a ship; the mainmast is between these two.

“He was put into the mizentop, and served three years in the West Indies; then he was transferred to the maintop, and served five years in the Mediterranean; and then he was made captain of the foretop, and served six years in the East Indies; and at last he was rated captain's coxswain in the Druid frigate.”- Capt. Marryat: Poor Jack, chap. i.

Mjölnir (pron. youl-ner). Thor's hammer. (See Miolner .)