Metagenetic - Metaphrase
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Metagenetic (mĕtȧj�nĕtĭk), a. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to metagenesis.
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Metagenic (mĕtȧj�nĭk), a. (Biol.) Metagenetic.
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Metagnathous (?), a. [Pref. meta- + Gr. gnaqos the jaw.] (Zoöl.) Cross-billed; -- said of certain birds, as the crossbill.
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Metagrammatism (?), n. Anagrammatism.
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Metagraphic (?), a. By or pertaining to metagraphy.
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Metagraphy (?), n. [Pref. meta- + -graphy.] The art or act of rendering the letters of the alphabet of one language into the possible equivalents of another; transliteration. Stormonth.
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Metal (? or ?; 277), n. [F. métal, L. metallum metal, mine, Gr. � mine; cf. Gr. � to search after. Cf. , .] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance, as sodium, calcium, or copper, whose oxide or hydroxide has basic rather than acid properties, as contrasted with the nonmetals, or metalloids. No sharp line can be drawn between the metals and nonmetals, and certain elements partake of both acid and basic qualities, as chromium, manganese, bismuth, etc.
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☞ Popularly, the name is applied to certain hard, fusible metals, as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, nickel, etc., and also to the mixed metals, or metallic alloys, as brass, bronze, steel, bell metal, etc.
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2. Ore from which a metal is derived; -- so called by miners. Raymond.
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3. A mine from which ores are taken. [Obs.]
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Slaves . . . and persons condemned to metals.
Jer. Taylor.
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4. The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper.
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Not till God make men of some other metal than earth.
Shak.
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5. Courage; spirit; mettle. See . Shak.
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☞ The allusion is to the temper of the metal of a sword blade. Skeat.
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6. The broken stone used in macadamizing roads and ballasting railroads.
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7. The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war.
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8. Glass in a state of fusion. Knight.
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9. pl. The rails of a railroad. [Eng.]
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Coloq. Base metal (Chem.), any one of the metals, as iron, lead, etc., which are readily tarnished or oxidized, in contrast with the noble metals. In general, a metal of small value, as compared with gold or silver. -- Coloq. Fusible metal (Metal.), a very fusible alloy, usually consisting of bismuth with lead, tin, or cadmium. -- Coloq. Heavy metals (Chem.), the metallic elements not included in the groups of the alkalies, alkaline earths, or the earths; specifically, the heavy metals, as gold, mercury, platinum, lead, silver, etc. -- Coloq. Light metals (Chem.), the metallic elements of the alkali and alkaline earth groups, as sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, etc.; also, sometimes, the metals of the earths, as aluminium. -- Coloq. Muntz metal , an alloy for sheathing and other purposes, consisting of about sixty per cent of copper, and forty of zinc. Sometimes a little lead is added. It is named from the inventor. -- Coloq. Prince's metal (Old Chem.), an alloy resembling brass, consisting of three parts of copper to one of zinc; -- also called Prince Rupert's metal.
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Metal, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Metaled (? or ?) or Metalled; p. pr. & vb. n. Metaling or Metalling.] To cover with metal; as, to metal a ship's bottom; to metal a road.
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Metalammonium (?), n. [Metal + ammonium.] (Chem.) A hypothetical radical derived from ammonium by the substitution of metallic atoms in place of hydrogen.
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metalanguage n. Any language that can be used to describe another language or system of symbols.
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Metalbumin (?), n. [Pref. met- + albumin.] (Physiol. Chem.) A form of albumin found in ascitic and certain serous fluids. It is sometimes regarded as a mixture of albumin and mucin.
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Metaldehyde (?), n. [Pref. met- + aldehyde.] (Chem.) A white crystalline substance isomeric with, and obtained from, acetic aldehyde by polymerization, and reconvertible into the same.
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Metalepsis (?), n.; pl. Metalepses (#). [L., fr. Gr. � participation, alteration, fr. � to partake, to take in exchange; � beyond + � to take.] (Rhet.) The continuation of a trope in one word through a succession of significations, or the union of two or more tropes of a different kind in one word.
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Metalepsy (?), n. (Chem.) Exchange; replacement; substitution; metathesis. [R.]
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Metaleptic (?), a. [Gr. �] 1. Of or pertaining to a metalepsis.
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2. Transverse; as, the metaleptic motion of a muscle.
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3. (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, concerned in, or occurring by, metalepsy.
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Metaleptical (?), a. Metaleptic. -- Metaleptically, adv.
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Metallic (?), a. [L. metallicus, fr. metallum: cf. F. métallique. See .] 1. Of or pertaining to a metal; of the nature of metal; resembling metal; as, a metallic appearance; a metallic alloy.
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2. (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or characterized by, the essential and implied properties of a metal, as contrasted with a nonmetal or metalloid; conductive of electricity; basic; forming positive ions in solution; antacid.
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Coloq. Metallic iron , iron in the state of the metal, as distinquished from its ores, as magnetic iron. -- Coloq. Metallic paper , paper covered with a thin solution of lime, whiting, and size. When written upon with a pewter or brass pencil, the lines can hardly be effaced. -- Coloq. Metallic tinking (Med.), a sound heard in the chest, when a cavity communicating with the air passages contains both air and liquid.
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Metallical (?), a. See . [Obs.]
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Metallicly (?), adv. In a metallic manner; by metallic means.
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Metallifacture (?; 135), n. [L. metallum metal + facere, factum, to make.] The production and working or manufacture of metals. [R.] R. Park.
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Metalliferous (?), a. [L. metallifer; metallum metal + ferre to bear: cf. F. métallifère.] Producing metals; yielding metals.
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Metalliform (?), a. [L. metallum metal + -form: cf. F. métalliforme.] Having the form or structure of a metal.
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Metalline (?), a. [Cf. F. métallin.] (Chem.) (a) Pertaining to, or resembling, a metal; metallic; as, metalline properties. (b) Impregnated with metallic salts; chalybeate; as, metalline water. [R.]
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Metalline (? or ?), n. (Chem.) A substance of variable composition, but resembling a soft, dark-colored metal, used in the bearings of machines for obviating friction, and as a substitute for lubricants.
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Metallist (?), n. A worker in metals, or one skilled in metals.
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Metallization (?), n. [Cf. F. métallisation.] The act or process of metallizing. [R.]
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Metallize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Metallized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Metallizing (?).] [Cf. F. métalliser.] To impart metallic properties to; to impregnate with a metal. [R.]
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Metallochrome (?), n. [See .] A coloring produced by the deposition of some metallic compound; specifically, the prismatic tints produced by depositing a film of peroxide of lead on polished steel by electricity.
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Metallochromy (?), n. [L. metallum metal + Gr. � color.] The art or process of coloring metals.
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Metallograph (?), n. [L. metallum metal + -graph.] A print made by metallography.
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Metallographic (?), a. Pertaining to, or by means of, metallography.
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Metallographist (?), n. One who writes on the subject of metals.
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Metallography (?), n. [L. metallum metal + -graphy: cf. F. métallographie.] 1. The science or art of metals and metal working; also, a treatise on metals.
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2. A method of transferring impressions of the grain of wood to metallic surfaces by chemical action. Knight.
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3. A substitute for lithography, in which metallic plates are used instead of stone. Knight.
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Metalloid (?), n. [L. metallum metal + -oid: cf. F. métalloïde.] (a) Formerly, the metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; -- applied by Sir Humphrey Davy to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined. (b) Now, one of several elementary substances which in the free state are unlike metals, and whose compounds possess or produce acid, rather than basic, properties; a nonmetal; as, boron, carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, bromine, etc., are metalloids.
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Metalloid, a. 1. Having the appearance of a metal.
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2. (Chem.) Having the properties of a nonmetal; nonmetallic; acid; negative.
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Metalloidal (?), a. Metalloid.
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Metallophone (?), n. [L. metallum metal + Gr. � sound.] (Music) (a) An instrument like a pianoforte, but having metal bars instead of strings. (b) An instrument like the xylophone, but having metallic instead of wooden bars.
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Metallorganic (?), a. Metalorganic.
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Metallotherapy (?), n. [L. metallum metal + E. therapy.] (Med.) Treatment of disease by applying metallic plates to the surface of the body.
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{ Metallurgic (?), Metallurgical (?), } a. [Cf. F. métallurgique.] Of or pertaining to metallurgy.
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Metallurgist (?), n. [Cf. F. métallurgiste.] One who works in metals, or prepares them for use; one who is skilled in metallurgy.
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Metallurgy (?), n. [F. métallurgie, fr. L. metallum metal, Gr. � a mine + the root of � work. See , and .] The art of working metals, comprehending the whole process of separating them from other matters in the ore, smelting, refining, and parting them; sometimes, in a narrower sense, only the process of extracting metals from their ores.
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Metalman (?), n.; pl. Metalmen (�). A worker in metals.
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Metalogical (?), a. Beyond the scope or province of logic.
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metalorganic (?), a. [Metal, L. metallum + E. organic.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or denoting, any one of a series of compounds of certain metallic elements with organic radicals; as, zinc methyl, sodium ethyl, etc.; now usually organometallic. [Written also metallorganic.]
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Metamer (?), n. [See .] (Chem.) Any one of several metameric forms of the same substance, or of different substances having the same composition; as, xylene has three metamers, viz., orthoxylene, metaxylene, and paraxylene; an isomer.
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Metamere (?), n. [Pref. meta- + -mere.] (Biol.) One of successive or homodynamous parts in animals and plants; one of a series of similar parts that follow one another in a vertebrate or articulate animal, as in an earthworm; a segment; a somite. See Illust. of .
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Metameric (?), a. [Pref. meta- + Gr. � part.] 1. (Chem.) Having the same molecular formula, but possessing a different bonding structure and different properties; as, methyl ether and ethyl alcohol are metameric compounds. See .
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☞ The existence of metameric compounds is due to different arrangements of the same atoms in the molecule.
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2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to a metamere or its formation; as, metameric segmentation.
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Metamerically, adv. In a metameric manner.
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Metamerism (?), n. 1. (Biol.) The symmetry of a metameric structure; serial symmetry; the state of being made up of metameres.
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2. (Chem.) The state or quality of being metameric; isomerism due to different bonding patterns in two substances having the same molecular formula. Contrasted with steroisomerism or optical isomerism. Also, the relation or condition of metameric compounds.
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Metamorphic (?), a. [See .] 1. Subject to change; changeable; variable.
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2. Causing a change of structure.
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3. (Geol.) Pertaining to, produced by, or exhibiting, certain changes which minerals or rocks may have undergone since their original deposition; -- especially applied to the recrystallization which sedimentary rocks have undergone through the influence of heat and pressure, after which they are called metamorphic rocks.
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Metamorphism (?), n. (Geol.) The state or quality of being metamorphic; the process by which the material of rock masses has been more or less recrystallized by heat, pressure, etc., as in the change of sedimentary limestone to marble. Murchison.
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Metamorphist (?), n. (Eccl.) One who believes that the body of Christ was merged into the Deity when he ascended.
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Metamorphize (?), v. t. To metamorphose.
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Metamorphose (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Metamorphosed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Metamorphosing.] [Cf. F. métamorphoser.] To change into a different form; to transform; to transmute.
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And earth was metamorphosed into man.
Dryden.
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Metamorphose (?), n. [Cf. F. métamorphose. See .] Same as .
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Metamorphoser (?), n. One who metamorphoses. [R.] Gascoigne.
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Metamorphosic (?), a. Changing the form; transforming. [R.] Pownall.
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Metamorphosis (?), n.; pl. Metamorphoses (#). [L., fr. Gr. �, fr. � to be transformed; meta beyond, over + morfh form.]
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1. Change of form, or structure; transformation.
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2. (Biol.) A change in the form or function of a living organism, by a natural process of growth or development; as, the metamorphosis of the yolk into the embryo, of a tadpole into a frog, or of a bud into a blossom. Especially, that form of sexual reproduction in which an embryo undergoes a series of marked changes of external form, as the chrysalis stage, pupa stage, etc., in insects. In these intermediate stages sexual reproduction is usually impossible, but they ultimately pass into final and sexually developed forms, from the union of which organisms are produced which pass through the same cycle of changes. See .
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3. (Physiol.) The change of material of one kind into another through the agency of the living organism; metabolism.
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Coloq. Vegetable metamorphosis (Bot.), the doctrine that flowers are homologous with leaf buds, and that the floral organs are transformed leaves.
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Metanauplius (?), n. [NL. See , and .] (Zoöl.) A larval crustacean in a stage following the nauplius, and having about seven pairs of appendages.
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Metanephritic (?), a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the metanephros.
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Metanephros (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. � behind + � kidney.] (Anat.) The most posterior of the three pairs of embryonic renal organs developed in many vertebrates.
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Metanotum (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. � behind + � back.] (Zoöl.) The dorsal portion of the metaphorax of insects.
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Metantimonate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of metantimonic acid.
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Metantimonic (?), a. [Pref. met- + antimonic.] (Chem.) (a) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid (formerly called antimonic acid) analogous to metaphosphoric acid, and obtained as a white amorphous insoluble substance, (HSbO3). (b) Formerly, designating an acid, which is now properly called pyroantimonic acid, and analogous to pyrophosphoric acid.
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Metapectic (?), a. [Pref. meta- + pectic.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, a supposed acid obtained from pectin.
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Metapectin (?), n. (Chem.) A substance obtained from, and resembling, pectin, and occurring in overripe fruits.
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Metapeptone (?), n. [Pref. meta- + peptone.] (Physiol. Chem.) An intermediate product formed in the gastric digestion of albuminous matter.
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metaphor (mĕtȧfôr or mĕtȧfẽr), n. [F. métaphore, L. metaphora, fr. Gr. metafora, fr. metaferein to carry over, transfer; meta beyond, over + ferein to bring, bear.] (Rhet.) The transference of the relation between one set of objects to another set for the purpose of brief explanation; a compressed simile; e. g., the ship plows the sea. Abbott & Seeley. “All the world's a stage.” Shak.
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☞ The statement, “that man is a fox,” is a metaphor; but “that man is like a fox,” is a simile, similitude, or comparison.
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{ Metaphoric (?), Metaphorical (?), } a. [Gr. �: cf. F. métaphorique.] Of or pertaining to metaphor; comprising a metaphor; not literal; figurative; tropical; as, a metaphorical expression; a metaphorical sense. -- Metaphorically, adv. -- Metaphoricalness, n.
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Metaphorist (?), n. One who makes metaphors.
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Metaphosphate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of metaphosphoric acid.
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metaphosphoric (?), a. [Pref. meta- + phosphoric.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, a monobasic acid, HPO3, analogous to nitric acid, and, by heating phosphoric acid, obtained as a crystalline substance, commonly called glacial phosphoric acid. Compare the tribasic orthophosphoric acid.
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Metaphrase (mĕtȧfrāz), n. [Gr. metafrasis, from metafrazein to paraphrase; meta beyond, over + frazein to speak: cf. F. métaphrase.] 1. A verbal translation; a version or translation from one language into another, word for word; a literal translation; -- opposed to paraphrase. Dryden.
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2. An answering phrase; repartee. Mrs. Browning.
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