Martin’s Lane. From St Martin’s Church in this lane.
Martlemas. A corruption of “Martinmas,” or Feast of St Martin, 4th November, the usual time for the hiring of servants in the rural districts of England.
Maryland. The name given by Lord Baltimore to the colony founded by him, in honour of Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I.
Maryland End. An Americanism for the hock of the ham, as distinguished from the other, the “Virginia End.”
Marylebone. A corruption of “St Mary of the Bourn”--i.e. the parish church of St Mary beside the bourn or stream which descended from near the hermitage at “Kilburn” to “Tyburn.”
Masaniello. The name of the leader of the Neapolitan insurrectionists of the seventeenth century was Tommaso Aniello, of which Masaniello is a corruption.
Masher. From the Romany or gipsy Masha, “to fascinate the eye.” Whether the overdressed fop, so designated in our day, really possessed this enviable quality is open to question.
Mason and Dixon’s Line. An American expression for the old-time boundary between the slave and the free states. This line was defended between Pennsylvania and Maryland and Virginia by two English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, in 1763-7.
Massage. A Frenchised Hindoo word for rubbing. A male and female practitioner of this new curative mode of friction treatment are respectively styled a masseur and masseuse.
Mattan Diamond. This, the largest in the world, weighing 367 carats, is the property of the Rajah of Mattan in India.