Machiner to Madam
Machiner
(Ma*chin"er) n. One who or operates a machine; a machinist. [R.]
Machinery
(Ma*chin"er*y) n. [From Machine: cf. F. machinerie.]
1. Machines, in general, or collectively.
2. The working parts of a machine, engine, or instrument; as, the machinery of a watch.
3. The supernatural means by which the action of a poetic or fictitious work is carried on and brought to
a catastrophe; in an extended sense, the contrivances by which the crises and conclusion of a fictitious
narrative, in prose or verse, are effected.
The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels,
or demons, are made to act in a poem.
Pope. 4. The means and appliances by which anything is kept in action or a desired result is obtained; a complex
system of parts adapted to a purpose.
An indispensable part of the machinery of state.
Macaulay.
The delicate inflexional machinery of the Aryan languages.
I. Taylor Machining
(Ma*chin"ing), a. Of or pertaining to the machinery of a poem; acting or used as a machine.
[Obs.] Dryden.
Machinist
(Ma*chin"ist), n. [Cf. F. machiniste.]
1. A constrictor of machines and engines; one versed in the principles of machines.
2. One skilled in the use of machine tools.
3. A person employed to shift scenery in a theater.
Macho
(Ma"cho) n. [Sp.] (Zoöl.) The striped mullet of California (Mugil cephalus, or Mexicanus).
Macilency
(Mac"i*len*cy) n. [See Macilent.] Leanness. [Obs.] Sandys.
Macilent
(Mac"i*lent) a. [L. macilentus, fr. macies leanness, macere to be lean.] Lean; thin. [Obs.]
Bailey.
Macintosh
(Mac"in*tosh) n. Same as Mackintosh.
Mackerel
(Mack"er*el) n. [OF. maquerel, F. maquereau, fr. D. makelaar mediator, agent, fr. makelen
to act as agent.] A pimp; also, a bawd. [Obs.] Halliwell.
Mackerel
(Mack`er*el) n. [OF. maquerel, F. maquereau prob. for maclereau, fr. L. macula a spot,
in allusion to the markings on the fish. See Mail armor.] (Zoöl.) Any species of the genus Scomber,
and of several related genera. They are finely formed and very active oceanic fishes. Most of them are
highly prized for food.
The common mackerel which inhabits both sides of the North Atlantic, is one of the most important food
fishes. It is mottled with green and blue. The Spanish mackerel of the American coast, is covered with
bright yellow circular spots.
Bull mackerel, Chub mackerel. (Zoöl.) See under Chub. — Frigate mackerel. See under Frigate.
— Horse mackerel . See under Horse. — Mackerel bird (Zoöl.), the wryneck; — so called because
it arrives in England at the time when mackerel are in season. — Mackerel cock (Zoöl.), the Manx
