marriageability

marriage, a beautiful wedding, a reception after the wedding. NUPTIALS is a formal and lofty word applied to the ceremony and attendant social events; it does not have emotional connotations but strongly implies surroundings characteristic of wealth, rank, pomp, and grandeur; royal nuptials.

mar-riage-able (mar'i-ja-b\u0259l), adj. suitable for marriage. --marriageability, n. --marriageableness, n.

mar/riage of convenience, a marriage for some advantage or expediency, esp. one for the sake of money or social position.

mar/riage por/tion, dowry.

married (mar'id), adj. 1. united in wedlock; wedded. 2. of or pertaining to marriage or married persons. --n. 3. Usually marrieds. married people: Young marrieds are more buyers of furniture.

mar-ron (mar'on; mar'on). n. a chestnut, esp. as used in cookery; candied or preserved in syrup. [F]

mar/rons glac\u00e9s (Fr. mar\u00f4n gla-s\u00e9). chestnuts glazed or coated with sugar eaten as a confection; candied chestnuts. [F]

mar-row (mar'o), n. 1. a soft, fatty, vascular tissue in the interior cavities of bones. 2. the inmost or essential part. 3. strength; vitality.

mar-row, v. 1. to remove marrow.

marrow-bone (mar'o bon), n. a bone containing edible marrow.

marrowfat (mar'o fat), n. a large-seeded variety of pea.

Mar-rue-cos (mar rw\u0113'k\u014ds), n. Spanish name of Morocco.

marry (mar'e), v. -ried, -ry\u00b7ing. 1. a. to take as a husband or wife; take in marriage. b. to perform the marriage ceremonies for (two people who wish to be husband and wife); join in wedlock. 2. to give in marriage. 3. to unite intimately. 4. Naut. a. to lay together (the unlaid strands of two ropes) to be spliced. b. to seize (two parallel ropes) together at intervals along their length. c. to take a husband or wife; wed.

mar/ry\u00b7er, n.

mar-ry? (mar'e), interj. Archaic. used as an exclamation of surprise, astonishment, etc.

Mar-ry-at (mar'e-at), n. Frederick, 1792--1848, English naval officer and novelist.

Mars (marz), n. 1. Astron. the planet fourth in order from the sun, having a diameter of 4230 miles, a mean distance from the sun of 142,000,000 miles, a period of revolution of 686.9 days, and two satellites. 2. Rom. Relig. the god of war.

Marsala (mar-sa'la), n. a seaport in W Sicily, 81.426 (1961). 2. a sweet, dark, fortified wine made near Marsala, or a similar wine made elsewhere.

marse (mars), n. Southern U.S. (used chiefly in representation of southern Negro speech) master. Also, massa.

mar-seil-laise (mar'sa laz), n. a thick cotton fabric woven in figures or stripes with an embossed effect chiefly for spreads and other coverings.

Marseilles (mar-sal'z), n. French, Marseille (Marseilles). a seaport of SE France.

marsh (marsh), n. a tract of low wet land, often treeless and periodically inundated.

marsh (marsh), adj. marshy; marshlike.

Marsh (marsh), n. Reginald, 1898--1954, U.S. painter and illustrator.

mar-shal (mar'shal), n., v. -shaled, -shal\u00b7ing or (esp. Brit.) -shalled, -shal\u00b7ling. n. 1. a military officer of the highest rank, as in the French and some other armed forces: field marshal. 2. an administrative officer of a U.S. judicial district who performs duties similar to those of a sheriff. 3. a court officer engaged chiefly in serving process. 4. a police officer in some communities. 5. a higher officer of a royal household or court. 6. a person charged with the arrangement or regulation of ceremonies, parades, etc. 7. to arrange in proper order; set in an orderly manner; arrange carefully to marshal the facts. 8. to array, as for battle. 9. to usher or lead.

mar-shal-ship, n.

Mar-shall (mar'shal), n. 1. George Catlett, of State, 1947--49; Nobel Peace Prize 1953. 2. John, 1755--1835, U.S. jurist; chief justice of the U.S. 1801--35. 3. Thomas Riley, 1854--1925, vice president of the U.S. 1913--21.

Mar-shall Is-lands, a group of 24 atolls in the N Pacific; now under U.S. trusteeship.

Mar-shall Plan. See European Recovery Program.

mar-shal (mar'shal), n. 1. any of various composite plants of the genus Iva, as I. frutescens, which grows in salt marshes. 2. a gaseous decomposition product of organic matter, consisting primarily of methane.

marsh hen, any of various rails or rail-like birds.

marsh-land (marsh'land), n. a region, area, district, etc., characterized by marshes, swamps, bogs, or the like.

marsh mal-low, n. 1. an Old World mallow, Althaea officinalis, having pink flowers, found in marshy places. 2. the rose mallow, Hibiscus Moscheutos.

marsh-mal-low (marsh'mel'o), n. 1. a sweetened paste confection made from the root of the marsh mallow. 2. a similar confection containing gum arabic or gelatin, sugar, corn syrup, and flavoring.

marsh-y (mar'she), adj. marshier, marshiest. 1. soft and wet, as a marsh; boggy. 2. pertaining to a marsh. 3. consisting of or constituting a marsh.

mar-si-po-bran-chi-i (mar'sa po-brang'ke-i), n. Zool. a class of vertebrates comprising the cyclostomes.

Mars-ton (mar'stan), n. John, c.1575--1634, English dramatist and satirical poet.

Mars-ton Moor, a former moor in NE England, west of York: Cromwell's defeat of the Royalists 1644.

mar-su-pi-al (mar-su'pe-al), adj. 1. pertaining to, resembling, or having a marsupium. 2. of or pertaining to the marsupials.

mar-su-pi-al, n. any viviparous, nonplacental mammal of the order Marsupialia, comprising the opossums, kangaroos, wombats, etc., most of which have a marsupium containing the mammary glands and serving as a receptacle for the young.

mar-su-pi-um (mar-su'pe-um), n., pl. -pi-a. the pouch or fold of skin on the abdomen of a female marsupial.

mart (mart), n. 1. marketplace; trading center; trade center. 2. Archaic. a fair.

Mar-ta-ban (mar'ta ban), n. 1. Gulf of, an inlet of the Bay of Bengal, in Burma.

Mar-tel-lo tow-er (mar-tel'o tou'er), n. Fort. a circular tower fort with guns on the top.

mar-ten (mar'ten), n. 1. any of several slender, chiefly arboreal carnivores of the genus Martes, found in northern forests, having a long glossy coat and bushy tail. 2. the fur of such an animal, generally a dark brown.

\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics{figure_1.pdf}
\caption{Marten, \textit{Martes americana}. (Total length about 2\u00bd ft.; tail 9 in.)}
\label{figure_1}
\end{figure}

Mar-tha (mar'tha), n. 1. the sister of Mary and Lazarus.

Mar-tha's Vine-yard, an island off SE Massachusetts; summer resort.

Mar-ti (mar'te), n. Jos\u00e9, 1853--1895, Cuban patriot and writer.

mar-tial (mar'shal), adj. 1. inclined or disposed to war; warlike; brave. 2. pertaining to or appropriate for war. 3. characteristic of or befitting a warrior: a martial stride. 4. pertaining to or connected with the army or navy.

Mar-tial (mar'shal), n. (Marcus Valerius Martialis) A.D. 43?--104?, Roman poet and epigrammatist.

mar-tial law, the law imposed upon an area by military forces when civil authority has broken down.

mar-tian (mar'shan), adj. 1. pertaining to the planet Mars. --n. 2. a supposed inhabitant of the planet Mars.

mar-tin (mar'tin), n. any of several swallows.

Mar-tin (mar'tin), n. 1. Glenn Luther, 1886--1955, U.S. airplane designer and manufacturer. 2. Joseph William, Jr., 1884--1968, U.S. political leader and publisher. 3. St. Martin, A.D. 316?--397, French prelate: bishop of Tours.

Mar-tin I, Saint, died A.D. 655, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 649--655.

Mar-tin II. See Marinus I.

Mar-tin III. See Marinus II.

Mar-tin IV (Simon de Brion) c1210--85, French ecclesiastic: pope 1281--85.

Mar-tin V (Oddone Colonna) 1368--1431, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1417--31.

Mar-tin du Gard (mar tan d\u00fc gar), Roger, 1881--1958, French novelist: Nobel Prize 1937.

Mar-ti-neau (mar'ti-no), n. 1. Harriet, 1802--1876, English novelist and economist. 2. her brother, James, 1805--1900, English theologian and philosopher.

mar-ti-net (mar'ti-net), n. a strict disciplinarian.

mar-tin-gale (mar'tin-gal), n. 1. Also called standing martingale. part of the tack or harness of a horse, consisting of a strap that passes between the forelegs and is attached to the girth, with ends running upward to the reins or noseband, used to prevent the horse from raising its head too high. 2. Also called running martingale. a similar device that divides but which the reins pass. 3. Naut. a stay from the end of a jib boom or bowsprit to some part of a martingale boom. 4. any of a number of systems of gambling in which the stakes are doubled or otherwise raised after each loss.