<B>mountebank, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>anybody who tries to deceive people by tricks, stories, and jokes; charlatan. <BR> <I>Ex. He has a reputation as one of the most corrupt and unimaginative mountebanks in Brazilian politics (New Republic). I am a natural-born mountebank (George Bernard Shaw).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who sells quack medicines in public, appealing to his audience by means of tricks, stories, and jokes. <BR> <I>Ex. an impudent mountebank who sold pills which ... were very good against an earthquake (Joseph Addison).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to play the mountebank. </DL>
<A NAME="mountebankery">
<B>mountebankery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the practice of a mountebank; action characteristic of or suited to a mountebank. <BR> <I>Ex. It fills the stage with mountebankery that is broad and funny (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mounted">
<B>mounted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>on a horse, mule, bicycle, or other animal or vehicle. <DD><B> 2. </B>serving on horseback or motorcycle. <BR> <I>Ex. mounted police, mounted infantry.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>in a position for use. <BR> <I>Ex. a mounted camera, a mounted gun.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>on a support; in a setting. <BR> <I>Ex. a mounted diamond.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mountie">
<B>Mountie, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a force maintained by the government of Canada. </DL>
<A NAME="mounting">
<B>mounting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a support, setting, or the like. The mounting of a photograph is the paper or cardboard on which it is pasted. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of a person or thing that mounts. </DL>
<A NAME="mountingblock">
<B>mounting block,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a stone block from which to mount a horse or step into and out of a carriage. </DL>
<A NAME="mourn">
<B>mourn, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to feel or express deep sorrow or grief; grieve. <BR> <I>Ex. I left them to mourn over my folly, and now I am left to mourn under the consequence of it (Daniel Defoe).</I> (SYN) lament, sorrow. <DD><B> 2. </B>to show the conventional signs of grief following the death ofa person; go into mourning. <BR> <I>Ex. We mourn in black (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to make a low sound indicative of pain or grief. <BR> <I>Ex. The dove mourned in the pine, Sad prophetess of sorrows not her own (Shelley).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to feel or show grief over. <BR> <I>Ex. to mourn a person's death. But she must die ... and all the world shall mourn her (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) lament, bewail, bemoan. <DD><B> 2. </B>to utter in a very sorrowful manner. <BR> <I>Ex. Where the love-lorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well (Milton).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mourner">
<B>mourner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who mourns, especially at a funeral. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a flock of mourners dispersing in a desolate cemetery (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a sinner who repents and seeks salvation at a religious revival. </DL>
<A NAME="mournersbench">
<B>mourners' bench,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a front bench for repenting sinners at an evangelical religious revival. </DL>
<A NAME="mournful">
<B>mournful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of grief; sad; sorrowful. <BR> <I>Ex. a mournful voice. Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! (Longfellow).</I> (SYN) dolorous, melancholy, doleful. <DD><B> 2. </B>causing or attended with sorrow or mourning. <BR> <I>Ex. a mournful death.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>gloomy; dreary; somber. <BR> <I>Ex. the mournful howling of the wind.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>expressing or used in mourning for the dead. <BR> <I>Ex. No mournful bell shall ring her burial (Shakespeare). The busy heralds hang the sable scene With mournful 'scutcheons, and dim lamps between (William Cowper).</I> adv. <B>mournfully.</B> noun <B>mournfulness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="mourning">
<B>mourning, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the wearing of black or some other color (white in the Orient) to show sorrow for a person's death. <DD><B> 2. </B>the action of draping buildings or flying flags at half-mast as an outward sign of sorrow for death. <DD><B> 3. </B>clothes or decorations used to show sorrow for death. <BR> <I>Ex. The Houses to their Tops with Black were spread, And ev'n the Pavements were with Mourning hid (John Dryden).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>the act of a person who mourns; sorrowing; lamentation. <DD><B> 5. </B>the period during which black or other display of sorrow is worn. <DD><I>adj. </I> of mourning; used in mourning. <BR> <I>Ex. mourning apparel.</I> adv. <B>mourningly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="mourningcloak">
<B>mourning cloak,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a butterfly of Europe and America, having purplish-brown wings with a yellow border; Camberwell beauty. </DL>
<A NAME="mourningdove">
<B>mourning dove,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a wild dove that has a low, mournful call. It is found from southern Canada through Mexico, and, in winter, in Panama. </DL>
<A NAME="mourningwarbler">
<B>mourning warbler,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an American warbler with a yellow breast and gray head, and in the male, a black throat. </DL>
<A NAME="mouse">
<B>mouse, </B>noun, pl. <B>mice,</B> verb, <B>moused,</B> <B>mousing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a small, gnawing rodent found throughout the world. Mice have soft fur, usually brown, gray, or white, a pointed snout, round, black eyes, rounded ears, and a thin tail. There are many kinds, such as the deer mouse, jumping mouse, and field mouse. Some kinds, such as the house mouse, are highly destructive to stored food. The house mouse is about 3 or 4 inches long and infests human dwellings. Field mice live in the grass of fields and meadows and eat grain and other seeds. <DD><B> 2. </B>a shy, timid person. <BR> <I>Ex. Are you a man or a mouse?</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a term of affection for a woman or girl. <BR> <I>Ex. Let the king ... call you his mouse (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>a knot made in a rope, or a washer or knob of cord, or other device, fastened on a rope, to prevent it from slipping through an opening. <DD><B> b. </B><B>=mousing </B>(def. 1). <DD><B> 5. </B>a device to control a cursor or other image on a computer display screen. <BR> <I>Ex. Other ... features of the System One will be the availability of a "mouse," or hand-held control device (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Slang.) a black eye. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to hunt for mice; catch mice for food. <BR> <I>Ex. Cats and owls go mousing at night.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to search as a cat does; move about as if searching; prowl. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>(U.S.) to hunt for by patient and careful search. <DD><B> 2a. </B>to put a mouse on (a rope or stay). <DD><B> b. </B>to secure (a hook) with a mousing. </DL>
<A NAME="mousebird">
<B>mousebird, </B>noun. <B>=coly.</B></DL>
<A NAME="mousecolor">
<B>mouse-color, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a soft, dark, dull gray. </DL>
<A NAME="mousecolored">
<B>mouse-colored, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> soft, dark, dull gray. <BR> <I>Ex. His forehead is high and narrow, his hair mouse-colored (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mousedeer">
<B>mouse deer,</B> <B>=chevrotain.</B></DL>
<A NAME="mousedun">
<B>mouse-dun, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a dark-gray color with a brownish tinge. </DL>
<A NAME="mouseear">
<B>mouse-ear, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several plants with small, soft, hairy leaves, such as the hawkweed and the forget-me-not. <BR> <I>Ex. Now I am quite content even to play croquet on a well-clipped surface of mouse-ears (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mouseearchickweed">
<B>mouse-ear chickweed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of plants of the pink family of temperate regions. </DL>
<A NAME="mousehole">
<B>mousehole, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a hole through which mice pass, especially into their burrow. </DL>
<A NAME="mouselemur">
<B>mouse lemur,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a gray lemur, about the size of a rat. </DL>
<A NAME="mouselike">
<B>mouselike, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> resembling a mouse in appearance, quietness, or timidity. <BR> <I>Ex. ... remember her as a quiet, mouselike person off stage, with few intellectual interests (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mousepox">
<B>mouse pox,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an infectious virus disease of mice characterized by gangrene and often the loss of a limb or limbs; ectromelia. </DL>
<A NAME="mouseproof">
<B>mouseproof, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> protected against mice. </DL>
<A NAME="mouser">
<B>mouser, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an animal that catches mice, such as a cat or an owl. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who prowls about and pries into matters. </DL>
<A NAME="mousetail">
<B>mousetail, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of plants of the crowfoot family, the flowers of which have a taillike torus. </DL>
<A NAME="mousetrap">
<B>mousetrap, </B>noun, verb, <B>-trapped,</B> <B>-trapping.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a trap for catching mice. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Football.) an attacking maneuver in which a defensive lineman is permitted to charge without initial opposition but blocked from the side while the ball carrier runs through the hole thus created. <BR> <I>Ex. the opposition that seems to fade away in front of them which warns of a mousetrap (Time).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>(Football.) to lure (an opposing football player) into a mousetrap. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to trick; wheedle. <BR> <I>Ex. ... at night I'd mousetrap the doorman at the Empire to exult in Ethel Barrymore in Declassee (Tallulah Bankhead).</I> </DL>
<B>mousie, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) little mouse, a pet name. </DL>
<A NAME="mousily">
<B>mousily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a mousy manner. </DL>
<A NAME="mousiness">
<B>mousiness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> mousy character or condition. </DL>
<A NAME="mousing">
<B>mousing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>several turns of small rope or cord, uniting the shank and point of a hook, to keep a rope or an object from slipping off. <DD><B> 2. </B>a knot formed on rope with yarn, rope, or cord; mouse. </DL>
<A NAME="mousquetaire">
<B>Mousquetaire, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the French royal household troops in the 1600's and 1700's, famous as dandies. </DL>
<A NAME="mousquetaire">
<B>mousquetaire, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>=musketeer.</B> <DD><I>adj. </I> formal and colorful, in the style of the royal Mousquetaires. <BR> <I>Ex. Mousquetaire gloves are long closed gloves.</I> </DL>
