masticot, masticote, ‘massicot’, yellow protoxide of lead, used as a pigment. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 13; pp. 130, 132. F. massicot, ‘oaker [ochre] made of Ceruse, or white lead’ (Cotgr.).
mastlin, mixed corn, esp. a mixture of wheat and rye. Tusser, Husbandry, § 63. 23; ‘Metail, Messling or Masslin, Wheat and Rie mingled, sowed and used together’, Cotgrave. ME. mestlyon or mongorne, ‘mixtilio’ (Prompt. EETS. 286). ‘Meslin’ is in gen. prov. use in England and Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Maslin, sb.1).
mastlin, maslin, a kind of brass. Brewer, Lingua, iv. 1 (Heuresis). In prov. use as an attrib.: maslin kettles, pans, pots, spoons, see EDD. (s.v. Maslin, sb.2). ME. maslin, also, mestling (NED.); OE. mæs(t)ling (B. T.).
masty, a mastiff. Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 4 (Witgood); used fig. of a cannon (from its noise). Shirley, Maid’s Revenge, iv. 1 (near the end). In prov. use in the north (EDD.). F. mastin, a mastive (Cotgr.); with change of suffix, cp. haughty (F. hautain).
matachin, a kind of sword-dancer in a fantastic costume; ‘They looked upon one another as if they had been Matachines’, Luna’s Pursuit (NED.); see Douce, Illustrations of Shakespeare, ii. 435, quotation in Nares. Also, the dance performed by ‘matachins’, Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 48; Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, v. 1 (Miramont); spelt mattacina, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 38). Span. matachin, ‘a sword-dancer; as dança de matachines, a dance with swords, in which they fence and strike at one another, as if they were in earnest; receiving the blows on their bucklers, and keeping time’ (Stevens). Of Arab. origin, see Dozy, 309.
matador, the slayer of the bull in a Spanish bull-fight. Dryden, Span. Friar, i. 2 (Elvira). Also, in the card-games of ombre and quadrille, a ‘killing’ or principal card, Pope, Rape of the Lock, 321, 335; Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1 (Medley). Span. matador, a killer; ‘At the game of Hombre on the cards, there are four Matadores; that is, four murdering cards; so called because they win all others’ (Stevens).
matchecold, machicolated; i.e. furnished with machicolations, which are openings between the corbels that support a projecting parapet of a tower; Morte Arthur, leaf 113, back; bk. vii, c. 10 (beginning). F. maschecoulis, ‘the stones over a gate resembling a grate through which offensive things are thrown upon Pioneers and other assailants’ (Cotgr.).
matchless, of things that are not a match, or pair. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 1. 28.
mathe, a maggot. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 18. 8, § 45; Caxton, Reynard, xxviii (ed. Arber, 69). OE. maða (Voc. 205. 8). See [mad(de].
matted, dulled, deprived of lustre or gloss; ‘Oile colours matted’, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 12a (Appendix D. 116). See NED. (s.v. Mat, vb. 2).