<B>meritocracy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a class of people distinguished for their high intellect or talent. <DD><B> 2. </B>a system of education which stresses advancement of those who are most talented or have the highest intellect. <BR> <I>Ex. Selection of pupils by ability is not so much a device of meritocracy as an accepted method of increasing teaching productivity (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="meritocrat">
<B>meritocrat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who belongs to a meritocracy. <BR> <I>Ex. It urges a programme of action for ... the potential drop-outs who are too often ignored in an education system which often seems devoted only to the able and the clever--the meritocrats (Brian MacArthur).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="meritocratic">
<B>meritocratic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having to do with a meritocracy. <BR> <I>Ex. a meritocratic society.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>based solely upon intellectual achievement. <BR> <I>Ex. Higher education in Britain is in danger of becoming a "meritocratic treadmill" (London Times).</I> adv. <B>meritocratically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="meritorious">
<B>meritorious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> deserving reward or praise; having merit; worthy. <BR> <I>Ex. His work at school was meritorious but not brilliant.</I> (SYN) commendable, praiseworthy. adv. <B>meritoriously.</B> noun <B>meritoriousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="meritpay">
<B>merit pay,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> wages paid on the basis of the merit or effective performance of an employee. <BR> <I>Ex. The outcry by teachers' organizations against merit pay may puzzle ... Americans brought up on the idea that merit should be rewarded (Fred Hechinger).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="meritsystem">
<B>merit system,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the system in which appointments and promotions in the civil service are made on the basis of the merit or good performance of the employees rather than on allegiance to a political party. </DL>
<A NAME="merle">
<B>merle</B> or <B>merl, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) the common European blackbird. </DL>
<A NAME="merlin">
<B>merlin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a kind of small falcon, one of the smallest European birds of prey, and one of the boldest, that does not hesitate to attack birds of twice its own size. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of certain closely allied birds, such as the North American pigeon hawk. </DL>
<A NAME="merlin">
<B>Merlin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in medieval legends and romances), a powerful magician who helped King Arthur. </DL>
<A NAME="merlon">
<B>merlon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the solid part between two openings in a battlement. </DL>
<A NAME="mermaid">
<B>mermaid, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an imaginary sea maiden having the head and upper body of a woman, and the form of a fish from the waist down. <BR> <I>Ex. a mermaid fair, Singing alone, Combing her hair Under the sea (Tennyson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an expert woman swimmer. </DL>
<A NAME="mermaiden">
<B>mermaiden, </B>noun. <B>=mermaid.</B></DL>
<A NAME="mermaidspurse">
<B>mermaid's purse,</B> <B>=skatebarrow.</B></DL>
<A NAME="merman">
<B>merman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an imaginary man of the sea having the head and upper body of a man, and the form of a fish from the waist down. <DD><B> 2. </B>an expert male swimmer. </DL>
<A NAME="meroblast">
<B>meroblast, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Embryology.) an ovum whose contents consist of considerable nutritive as well as formative or germinal matter. </DL>
<A NAME="meroblastic">
<B>meroblastic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Embryology.) (of an ovum) containing nutritive as well as germinal matter and therefore undergoing only partial segmentation, as in birds, reptiles, and most fishes. <BR> <I>Ex. meroblastic cleavage.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="merogony">
<B>merogony, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the development of an embryo from a portion of an egg. </DL>
<A NAME="meroite">
<B>Meroite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an inhabitant of Meroe, the capital city of the ancient African state of Kush, which flourished as a center of art and trade from about 300 B.C. to about 200 A.D. </DL>
<A NAME="merope">
<B>Merope, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) one of the Pleiades. In some accounts of the story, Merope became the seventh or faint star because she married a mortal. </DL>
<A NAME="merosymmetrical">
<B>merosymmetrical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> being partially symmetrical. </DL>
<A NAME="merosymmetry">
<B>merosymmetry, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in crystallography) partial symmetry. </DL>
<A NAME="merovingian">
<B>Merovingian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the first Frankish line of kings, which reigned in Gaul or France from about A.D. 486 to 751. <DD><I>noun </I> one of these kings. </DL>
<A NAME="merrily">
<B>merrily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in merry manner; laughing and gay. </DL>
<A NAME="merriment">
<B>merriment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> laughter and gaiety; merry enjoyment; fun; mirth. <BR> <I>Ex. Albert was of course delighted, and his merriment at the family gathering was more pronounced than ever (Lytton Strachey).</I> (SYN) jollity, hilarity. </DL>
<A NAME="merriness">
<B>merriness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality or condition of being merry. </DL>
<A NAME="merry">
<B>merry, </B>adjective, <B>-rier,</B> <B>-riest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>laughing and gay; full of fun. <BR> <I>Ex. merry talk, merry laughter.</I> (SYN) jolly, jovial. <DD><B> 2. </B>gay; joyful; characterized by festivity and rejoicing. <BR> <I>Ex. a merry Christmas. I am never merry when I hear sweet music (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Archaic.) <DD><B> a. </B>(of things) pleasant; agreeable. <BR> <I>Ex. the merry month of May.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(of music) delightful; sweet. <DD><B> c. </B>(of a wind) favorable. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Archaic.) <DD><B> a. </B>amusing. <BR> <I>Ex. a merry jest.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>facetious. <BR> <I>Ex. His lordship is but merry with me (Shakespeare).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>make merry,</B> </I>to laugh and be gay; have fun. </DL>
<A NAME="merryandrew">
<B>merry-andrew</B> or <B>Merry-Andrew, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a clown or buffoon. (SYN) harlequin, punchinello. </DL>
<A NAME="merrygoround">
<B>merry-go-round, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a set of animal figures and seats on a platform that goes round and round by machinery to lively music; carrousel. Children ride on them for fun. <BR> <I>Ex. The opera itself was tuneful as a merry-go-round (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a round platform that is made to revolve by pushing with the feet. It is used by children in a playground. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) any whirl or rapid round. <BR> <I>Ex. The holidays were a merry-go-round of parties.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="merrymake">
<B>merry-make, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-made,</B> <B>-making.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make merry; hold festivities. </DL>
<A NAME="merrymaker">
<B>merrymaker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is being merry; person engaged in merrymaking. </DL>
<A NAME="merrymaking">
<B>merrymaking, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>laughter and gaiety; fun. (SYN) conviviality. <DD><B> 2. </B>a gay festival; merry entertainment. <DD><I>adj. </I> gay and full of fun; having a merry time. </DL>
<B>merychippus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of an extinct group of horses believed to be an ancestor of the modern horse. Merychippus lived about 26 million years ago, had three toes on each foot, and grew about 40 inches high. </DL>
<A NAME="mes">
<B>mes-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) the form of <B>meso-</B> before vowels, as in <I>mesencephalon.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mesa">
<B>mesa, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small, isolated, high plateau with a flat top and steep, rocky sides, common in dry regions of the western and southwestern United States. <BR> <I>Ex. Some of the most prominent cliffs and mesas of the Colorado Plateau country are made by these Jurassic sandstones (Raymond C. Moore).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mesalliance">
<B>mesalliance, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> marriage with a person of lower social position; misalliance. </DL>
<A NAME="mesantoin">
<B>Mesantoin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Trademark.) a drug which depresses the nervous system, used especially to decrease the number and intensity of epileptic fits. </DL>
<A NAME="mescal">
<B>mescal, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an alcoholic drink of Mexico made from the fermented juice of certain agaves, especially the maguey. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of the plants yielding this. <DD><B> 3. </B>a small cactus of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, whose buttonlike tops are dried and chewed asa stimulant and hallucinogen by some tribes of Indians during religious ceremonies; peyote. </DL>
<A NAME="mescalbutton">
<B>mescal button,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the small, buttonlike tops of the mescal plant. </DL>
<A NAME="mescalero">
<B>Mescalero, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ros</B> or <B>-ro.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a tribe of Apaches living chiefly in New Mexico, formerly noted for their use of mescal. </DL>
<A NAME="mescalin">
<B>mescalin, </B>noun. <B>=mescaline.</B></DL>
<A NAME="mescaline">
<B>mescaline, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a stimulating drug contained in the small buttonlike tops of the mescal; peyote. It induces hallucinations and reactions associated with psychosis. </DL>
<A NAME="mesclun">
<B>mesclun, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a salad of a mixture of tender young lettuces, spicy wild green herbs, and sometimes edible flowers. </DL>
<A NAME="mesdames">
<B>mesdames, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a plural of <B>madam.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>(French.) plural of <B>madame.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="mesdemoiselles">
<B>mesdemoiselles, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) plural of <B>mademoiselle.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="meseems">
<B>meseems, </B>verb, past tense <B>meseemed.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) it seems to me. </DL>
<A NAME="mesencephalic">
<B>mesencephalic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with the mesencephalon. <BR> <I>Ex. the mesencephalic segment of the brain.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>situated in the midst of the encephalon, as the midbrain. </DL>
<A NAME="mesencephalon">
<B>mesencephalon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the middle section of the brain, lying between the cerebellum and pons, and the forebrain; midbrain. </DL>
