<B>maternal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or like a mother; motherly. <BR> <I>Ex. maternal kindness.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>related on the mother's side of the family. <BR> <I>Ex. Everyone has two maternal grandparents and two paternal grandparents.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>received or inherited from one's mother. <BR> <I>Ex. His blue eyes were a maternal inheritance.</I> adv. <B>maternally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="maternalism">
<B>maternalism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> maternal quality or condition; motherliness. </DL>
<A NAME="maternity">
<B>maternity, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the condition of being a mother; motherhood. <DD><B> 2. </B>the qualities of a mother; motherliness. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>for a woman soon to have a baby. <BR> <I>Ex. maternity clothes.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>for women in or after childbirth. <BR> <I>Ex. maternity care, a maternity ward.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mateship">
<B>mateship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>comradeship; fellowship. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in Australia) fellowship based on equal opportunity for all. </DL>
<B>mathematically, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>according to mathematics. <DD><B> 2. </B>in a mathematical manner; exactly; precisely; accurately. </DL>
<A NAME="mathematician">
<B>mathematician, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person skilled in mathematics. </DL>
<A NAME="mathematics">
<B>mathematics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the study of numbers, measurements, and space; science dealing with the measurement, properties, and relationships of quantities, as expressed in numbers or symbols. Mathematics includes arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and calculus. (Abbr:) math. </DL>
<A NAME="mathematize">
<B>mathematize, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to formulate something into mathematical terms. noun <B>mathematization.</B> noun <B>mathematizer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="mathetic">
<B>mathetic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with learning. <BR> <I>Ex. ... mathetic programming (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<B>matily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) in a mately manner; sociably. </DL>
<A NAME="matin">
<B>matin, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Poetic.) a morning call or song, as of birds. <BR> <I>Ex. The sprightly lark's shrill matin wakes the morn (Edward Young).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=matins.</B> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) the morning. <BR> <I>Ex. The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with or occurring in the early morning. </DL>
<B>matinee, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nees,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a dramatic or musical performance held in the afternoon. <DD><I>adj. </I> of a matinee. <BR> <I>Ex. a matinee audience.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="matineeidol">
<B>matinee idol,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a handsome actor attractive especially to women who attend matinees. <BR> <I>Ex. "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" brought fame to Rudolph Valentino, the matinee idol of the day (Eric Johnston).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="matiness">
<B>matiness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) the quality or condition of being matey. </DL>
<A NAME="mating">
<B>mating, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or fact of matching. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or fact of marrying. <DD><B> 3. </B>the act or fact of pairing, as of birds. </DL>
<A NAME="matingcall">
<B>mating call,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the special call or noise made, as by an animal or insect in trying to attract a mate. </DL>
<A NAME="matins">
<B>matins</B> or <B>Matins, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a church service held at dawn or in the morning. Matins properly starts at midnight but is often said as a dawn service and joined to lauds. <DD><B> 2. </B>the first of the seven canonical hours in the breviary of the Roman Catholic Church. <DD><B> 3. </B>the order for public morning prayer in the Anglican Church; mattins. <DD><B> 4. </B>a morning song; matin. </DL>
<A NAME="matrass">
<B>matrass, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small glass tube with one end closed, used by chemists in blowpipe analysis. <DD><B> 2. </B>a round or oval glass vessel with a long neck, formerly used especially for distilling or evaporating; bolthead. Also, <B>mattrass.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="matriarch">
<B>matriarch, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a mother who is the ruler of a family or tribe. <BR> <I>Ex. a crowded company of more than fifty persons, with the imperial matriarch in their midst (Lytton Strachey).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a venerable woman, especially one who dominates the group of which she is a member. <BR> <I>Ex. Mrs. Astor was the matriarch of New York society for many years.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="matriarchal">
<B>matriarchal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of a matriarch or matriarchy. <DD><B> 2. </B>suitable for a matriarch. </DL>
<A NAME="matriarchalism">
<B>matriarchalism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the fact or condition of being matriarchal. <DD><B> 2. </B>matriarchal customs or practices. </DL>
<A NAME="matriarchate">
<B>matriarchate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a family or community governed by a matriarch. <DD><B> 2. </B>a matriarchal system. </DL>
<B>matriarchy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-chies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a form of social organization in which the mother is the ruler of a family or tribe, descent being traced through the mother. <BR> <I>Ex. Matriarchy (absolute rule by women) and patriarchy (absolute rule by men) are exceedingly rare extremes (Beals and Hoijer).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>government by women; matriarchate. </DL>
<A NAME="matric">
<B>matric, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) matriculation; a matriculation examination. </DL>
<A NAME="matrical">
<B>matrical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with a matrix. </DL>
<A NAME="matricaria">
<B>matricaria, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the feverfew plant. <DD><B> 2a. </B>any one of a group of daisylike plants of the composite family found chiefly in the Old World, such as the camomile. <DD><B> b. </B>the dried flower heads of the camomile used in medicine. </DL>
<A NAME="matricentric">
<B>matricentric, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or recognizing the mother as the center of the family. <BR> <I>Ex. Many lower-class ... families are matricentric families: a woman and her children, with only vague or temporary associations with adult males (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="matrices">
<B>matrices, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a plural of <B>matrix.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="matricidal">
<B>matricidal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a matricide. </DL>
<A NAME="matricide">
<B>matricide</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of killing one's mother. </DL>
<A NAME="matricide">
<B>matricide</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who kills his mother. </DL>
<A NAME="matriculant">
<B>matriculant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who matriculates; candidate for matriculation. </DL>
<A NAME="matriculate">
<B>matriculate, </B>verb, <B>-lated,</B> <B>-lating,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to enroll as a student; admit or be admitted to membership and privileges in a college or university by enrolling. <BR> <I>Ex. Three years later he matriculated for advance study (Harper's).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a person who has been matriculated. </DL>
<A NAME="matriculation">
<B>matriculation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the action of matriculating; enrollment as a student or candidate for a degree. </DL>
<A NAME="matriculator">
<B>matriculator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who matriculates. </DL>
<B>matrilineage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the line of descent from a female ancestor or the maternal side of a family, clan, tribe, or other group. </DL>
<A NAME="matrilineal">
<B>matrilineal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or maintaining relationship through the female line of a family, clan, tribe, or other group. <BR> <I>Ex. In most of Nyasaland the tribes are ... matrilineal and uxorilocal; rights in land descend in the female line, and when a man marries he goes to live in his wife's village (Manchester Guardian).</I> adv. <B>matrilineally.</B> </DL>
<B>matriliny, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the taking of relationship and descent through the female line. </DL>
<A NAME="matrilocal">
<B>matrilocal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having its focus in the home of the wife's family; uxorilocal. <BR> <I>Ex. The Zuni have matrilocal residence which means that newlyweds make their home with the parents of the bride (Ogburn and Nimkoff).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="matrilocality">
<B>matrilocality, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> residence in or near the home of the wife's family. </DL>
