<B>mormon</B> or <B>Mormon cricket,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a type of grasshopper (rather than a true cricket), dark-brown to black, two inches long, and highly destructive to all crops. It is native to the western United States. <BR> <I>Ex. Hoppers and Mormon crickets chewed up $37 million of ... crops (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mormonism">
<B>Mormonism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the religious system of the Mormons. </DL>
<A NAME="mormyrid">
<B>mormyrid, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> any one of a group of African freshwater teleost fishes with a long snout bent downward and electric organs in the tail. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with mormyrids. </DL>
<A NAME="morn">
<B>morn, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Archaic.) morning. <BR> <I>Ex. the golden light of morn (Thomas Hood).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Scottish.) the next day; morrow. </DL>
<A NAME="mornaysauce">
<B>mornay sauce,</B> or <B>mornay, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a white sauce flavored with sharp cheese. </DL>
<A NAME="morning">
<B>morning, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the early part of the day, ending at noon. <BR> <I>Ex. We spent the morning studying; then went to lunch and took a walk in the afternoon.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) the first or early part of anything. <BR> <I>Ex. the morning of life. A king lived long ago, in the morning of the world (Robert Browning).</I> (SYN) dawn. <DD><B> 3. </B>the dawn; daybreak. <BR> <I>Ex. Far up the solitary morning smote the streaks of virgin snow (Tennyson).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>the first part of the next day or morrow. <BR> <I>Ex. I'll come in the morning.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or in the morning. <BR> <I>Ex. a morning walk, the morning paper.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of the first or early part of anything. <BR> <I>Ex. Young he appear'd, for on his cheek there shone the morning glow of health (Robert Southey).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morningafter">
<B>morning-after, </B>noun, pl. <B>mornings-after.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) the morning following a night of heavy drinking of alcoholic liquor; hangover. </DL>
<A NAME="morningafterpill">
<B>morning-after pill,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an oral contraceptive that prevents pregnancy after fertilization by stopping the fertilized egg from reaching or becoming attached to the uterus. </DL>
<A NAME="morningcoat">
<B>morning coat,</B> =cutaway.</DL>
<A NAME="morningglory">
<B>morning-glory, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a climbing vine with heart-shaped leaves and funnel-shaped flowers of blue, purple, red, pink, or white. Morning-glories bloom early in the day. <DD><B> 2. </B>the flower. </DL>
<A NAME="morninggloryfamily">
<B>morning-glory family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a group of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and small trees, having alternate leaves, bisexual, regular flowers, and often a milky juice. The family includes the morning-glory, sweet potato, dodder, and convolvulus. </DL>
<A NAME="morninggown">
<B>morning gown,</B> =dressing gown.</DL>
<A NAME="morninggun">
<B>morning gun,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a gun fired, usually at dawn, as a signal for reveille or the raising of the flag. </DL>
<A NAME="morningline">
<B>morning line,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) the probable odds against the horses running at any track, published the morning of the race. </DL>
<A NAME="morningprayer">
<B>morning prayer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a service for morning worship in the Church of England and the Episcopal Church; matins. </DL>
<A NAME="morningroom">
<B>morning room,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a room used as a sitting room during the early part of the day. </DL>
<A NAME="mornings">
<B>mornings, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) during the morning; in the morning. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] trains the colt and gallops him mornings (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morningsickness">
<B>morning sickness,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> nausea and vomiting in the morning, a common symptom of pregnancy. </DL>
<A NAME="morningstar">
<B>morning star,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a bright planet, especially Venus, when seen in the eastern sky before sunrise; daystar. <BR> <I>Ex. Venus, the familiar morning and evening star, is the brightest of the planets (Robert H. Baker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an old form of weapon consisting of a ball of metal, usually set with spikes, either mounted upon a long handle or staff or slung to one by a thong or chain. </DL>
<B>Moro, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ros,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a member of any one of the Moslem Malay tribes in Mindanao and other southern Philippine Islands. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of the Austronesian languages of these tribes. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with these people or their languages. </DL>
<A NAME="moroccan">
<B>Moroccan, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with Morocco or its people. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Morocco. </DL>
<A NAME="morocco">
<B>morocco, </B>noun, pl. <B>-cos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a fine leather made from goatskin tanned with vegetable extracts, used in binding books. <DD><B> 2. </B>leather made in imitation of this. </DL>
<A NAME="moroccoleather">
<B>morocco leather,</B> =morocco.</DL>
<A NAME="moron">
<B>moron, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person born with such a weak mind that he can be trained to do only routine tasks, but probably can be trained to read; person who does not develop beyond the mental age of eight to twelve years. A moron is less mentally deficient than an imbecile or idiot. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) a stupid or annoyingly ignorant person; dullard; dunce. </DL>
<A NAME="moronic">
<B>moronic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or like a moron. <BR> <I>Ex. Miss Winters goes about her moronic chores quite convincingly (New Yorker).</I> adv. <B>moronically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="moronism">
<B>moronism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition of being a moron; moronity. </DL>
<B>morosity, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the state of being morose; moroseness. </DL>
<A NAME="morph">
<B>morph</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a minimum meaningful unit or group of speech sounds. <BR> <I>Ex. Any morph can be recorded as a phoneme or a pattern of phonemes (George P. Faust).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morph">
<B>morph</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Biology.) a variant form of an animal or plant species. <BR> <I>Ex. There were also differences between the various "morphs", i.e., winged or wingless, viviparous or oviparous (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morph">
<B>morph</B> (3), intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to change; transform. <BR> <I>Ex. With her ability to morph effortlessly from one character to another, Linney's career has quietly ascended (Toby Young).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morph">
<B>morph.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> morphology. </DL>
<A NAME="morphactin">
<B>morphactin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of chemical compounds derived from fluorene and carboxylic acid that affect the morphogenesis of higher plants, inhibiting plant growth when applied in certain concentrations or promoting the development of ovaries into fruit without pollination. </DL>
<A NAME="morphean">
<B>Morphean, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or belonging to Morpheus. </DL>
<A NAME="morpheme">
<B>morpheme, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Linguistics.) the smallest part of a word that has meaning of its own. Morphemes may be words, prefixes, suffixes, or endings that show inflection. In the word <I>carelessness,</I> the morphemes are <I>care, -less,</I> and <I>-ness.</I> <BR> <I>Ex. A morpheme does not necessarily CONSIST of phonemes, but all morphemes are statable in terms of phonemes (H. A. Gleason, Jr.).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morphemic">
<B>morphemic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or characteristic of a morpheme. <BR> <I>Ex. These three bound forms /iz, s, z/ may be termed allomorphs or morphemic variants (Simeon Potter).</I> adv. <B>morphemically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="morphemics">
<B>morphemics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Linguistics.) the systematic study of the minimum meaningful elements of language and their characteristics in living speech. </DL>
<A NAME="morpheus">
<B>Morpheus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) the god of dreams; popularly, the god of sleep. The name was first used by Ovid and is popular in literary references. <BR><I>expr. <B>in the arms of Morpheus,</B> </I>asleep; sleeping. <BR> <I>Ex. He was so tired that within minutes of lying down he was in the arms of Morpheus.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morphia">
<B>morphia, </B>noun. =morphine.</DL>
<A NAME="morphic">
<B>morphic, </B>adjective. =morphological.</DL>
<A NAME="morphine">
<B>morphine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a drug made from opium, used in medicine to dull pain and to cause sleep. It is a bitter, colorless or white, crystalline alkaloid. </DL>
<A NAME="morphing">
<B>morphing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the manipulation of film images by means of a computer to create special effects. <BR> <I>Ex. It is now technically possible, through the magic of morphing, to show Ms. Streep with her head twisted on backward (Janet Maslin).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="morphinism">
<B>morphinism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a disordered condition caused by the habitual use of morphine. <DD><B> 2. </B>the morphine habit; addiction to the use of morphine. </DL>
<A NAME="morphinist">
<B>morphinist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a habitual user of morphine; morphine addict. </DL>
<A NAME="morphinomania">
<B>morphinomania, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> uncontrollable craving for morphine. </DL>
<A NAME="morpho">
<B>morpho, </B>noun, pl. <B>-phos</B> or <B>-phoes.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large South American butterfly with iridescent colors, especially a brilliant blue, on the wings. </DL>
<A NAME="morphogenesis">
<B>morphogenesis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Biology.) the origin and evolution of morphological characters; the growth and differentiation of cells and tissues during development. </DL>
