mermaid, a cant term for a courtesan. Massinger, Old Law, iv. 1 (Agatha).
merrygall, merrygald, a gall or sore produced by chafing; ‘Heales a merrygald’, Turbervile, Hunting, p. 139; ‘Merry-gals and raw places’, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxi, c. 18; vol. ii. 101.
mesel, a foul person; used as a term of abuse; spelt messel, London Prodigal, ii. 4. 74; iv. 1. 78. In Devon and Somerset, meazle is used as a term of abuse, meaning a filthy creature. ME. mesel, a leper (Wyclif, Matt. x. 8). OF. mesel ‘lépreux’ (Didot); O. Prov. mezel, ‘lépreux’, mezelia, ‘lèpre’ (Levy).
mesprise, contempt, scorn. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 39. F. mespris, ‘contempt, neglect’ (Cotgr.), deriv. of mespriser, to fail to appreciate. F. mépris.
mesprize, mistake. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 19. Anglo-F. mesprise, error, offence (Gower, Mirour, 1548). F. méprise, cp. mesprendre, to mistake (Cotgr.).
mess, a group of four persons or things; ‘Where are your mess of sons to back you now?’, 3 Hen. VI, i. 4. 73; L. L. L. iv. 3. 207; ‘There lacks a fourth thing to make up the mess’, Latimer, Serm. v; ‘A mess of most eminent men, Nicolaus Lyra . . . Hieronymus de Sanctâ Fide . . . Ludovicus Carettus . . . Emmanuel Tremellius’, Fuller, A Pisgah Sight, Pt. ii, bk. 5; Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, 393); Heywood, Witches of Lanc. i. 1 (Shakstone), in Wks. iv. 173. A ‘mess’ at the Inns of Court still consists of four. See Trench, Select Glossary. See EDD. (s.v. Mess, sb.1 4). F. més, ‘a messe or service of meat’ (Cotgr ). Med. L. missus (Ducange). See [mease].
messe: phr. by the messe, by the mass, used in oaths and asseverations. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2201; ‘By the Mes’, Hen. V, iii. 2. 122; also, mess by itself, ‘Mess! I’d rather kiss these Gentlewomen’, Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 3 (Ben). This asseveration is still in prov. use in various forms in the north country: By th’ mass (Lanc.); By th’ mess (Westm.); Amess, Mess (Cumb.), see EDD. (s.v. Mass, sb.1 3). F. messe, the mass, the Eucharist.
messling; see [mastlin].
met, measure. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 333. A north-country word for a measure, gen. a bushel, see EDD. (s.v. Mete). ME. mette, ‘mensura’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. ge)met, ‘mensura, modius, satum’ (B. T.).
mete, to measure; met, pt. t., Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 327; mete, pp. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii. 1. ME. meten (Wyclif, Matt. vii. 2). OE. metan.