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mace

 [meys]   Origin

mace

1   [meys]
noun
1.
a clublike armor-breaking weapon of war, often with a flanged or spiked metal head, used chiefly in the Middle Ages.
2.
a ceremonial staff carried before or by certain officials as a symbol of office.
3.
macebearer.
4.
Billiards. a light stick with a flat head, formerly used at times instead of a cue.
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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French (compare French masse) large mallet < Vulgar Latin *mattea; akin to Latin matteola kind of mallet; compare Sanskrit matya harrow

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Mace is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

mace

2   [meys]
noun
a spice ground from the layer between a nutmeg shell and its outer husk, resembling nutmeg in flavor.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English, back formation from macis (taken as plural) < Middle French < Latin maccis a spice

Mace

   [meys]
Trademark.
a nonlethal spray containing purified tear gas and chemical solvents that temporarily incapacitate a person mainly by causing eye and skin irritations: used especially as a means of subduing rioters.
Also called Chemical Mace.

Mace

   [meys]
verb (used with object), Maced, Mac·ing.
(sometimes lowercase) to attack with Mace spray.
Origin:
see Mace
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
mace1 (meɪs)
 
—n
1.  a club, usually having a spiked metal head, used esp in the Middle Ages
2.  a ceremonial staff of office carried by certain officials
3.  See macebearer
4.  an early form of billiard cue
 
[C13: from Old French, probably from Vulgar Latin mattea (unattested); apparently related to Latin mateola mallet]

mace2 (meɪs)
 
—n
a spice made from the dried aril round the nutmeg seed
 
[C14: formed as a singular from Old French macis (wrongly assumed to be plural), from Latin macir an oriental spice]

Mace (meɪs)
 
—n
1.  trademark a liquid causing tears and nausea, used as a spray for riot control, etc
 
—vb
2.  (tr; sometimes not capital) to use Mace on

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

mace
"heavy metal weapon with a spiked head," c.1300, from O.Fr. mace "a club, scepter," from V.L. *mattea (cf. It. mazza, Sp. maza "mace"), from L. mateola "a kind of mallet." The L. word probably is cognate with Skt. matyam "harrow, club," O.C.S. motyka "mattock," O.H.G. medela "plow."
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mace
"spice made from dry outer husk of nutmeg," late 14c., from O.Fr. macis (in Eng. taken as a plural), sometimes said to be a scribal error for L. macir, a red spicy bark from India, but OED finds this etymology unlikely.

Mace
chemical spray originally used in riot control, 1966, technically Chemical Mace, a proprietary name (General Ordnance Equipment Corp, Pittsburgh, Pa.), probably so called for its use as a weapon, in ref. to mace (1). The verb is first attested 1968.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

Mace or MACE (mās)

An alternate trademark used for Chemical Mace, an aerosol used to immobilize an attacker temporarily.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

MACE definition


A concurrent object-oriented language.

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

mace

spice consisting of the dried aril, or lacy covering, of the nutmeg fruit of Myristica fragrans, a tropical evergreen tree. Mace has a slightly warm taste and a fragrance similar to that of nutmeg. It is used to flavour bakery, meat, and fish dishes; to flavour sauces and vegetables; and in preserving and pickling

Learn more about mace with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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