mayonnaise (maonaz)

[F. mayonnaise, a sauce (see def.); origin uncertain. See the quotation.] In cookery, a sauce composed of yolks of eggs and salad-oil beaten together with vinegar or lemon-juice to the consistency of thick cream, and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, etc. It is an esteemed dre ing for salads, cold fish, and some other dishes. I was told by a French friend at Dax, in the Landes, that the proper way of pronouncing the word mayonnaise was bayonnaise , Bayonne being the birthplace of that now world-famed salad. N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 174. mayor (ma'or or mar: see etym.), n. [Early mod. E. mair, maire, mayre, mayer , the prop. E. form mair being still retained in the pron. mar; the spelling mayor , changed from the occasional earlier mayer , perhaps to conform the termination to that of chancellor , purveyor , etc., but more prob. in imitation of the Sp., being introduced about the middle of the 16th century, and displacing the older (F.) spelling without affecting the pron. until more recent times; meire , meyre , , meir , meyre , OF. maire (later also maiour , mayeur , major ), F. maire = Sp. mayor = Pg . mai or , mayor , a mayor, = OHG. meior , meier , MHG.meier , meiger , G. meier (as a surname, Mey er ), a steward, bailiff (majordomo), major , a mayor, prefect, chief, hief, etc., major , greate compar. of magnus , great: see major , of which mayor is a doublet.] The principal officer of a municipality; the chief magistrate of a city or borough. The mayor of London (that is, of the district known as the City , comprising only a small part of the whole area of London: see city of London , under city , n.) and those of York in England and of Dublin in Ireland have the title of lord mayor. The title mayor is not used in Scotland, provost taking its place. Compare bur go master. municipality; This yere [1208] began the names of Mayers and sherefs in London. Arnold's Chronicle , p. xv. And there in the east ende of the hall, where the maire kepeth the hustinges, the maire and all the aldermen a embled about him. Sir T. More, Works, p. 61. The first historical appearance of the office of mayor is in London, where the recognition of the communa by the national council in 1191 is immediately followed by the mention of Henry Fitz-Alwyn as mayor . Stubbs , Const. Hist., § 485. Lord Mayor's Court. See court. Mayor of the palace, in France, originally the first officer of the royal household, then the first officer of state, under the Me roving i an kings. Gradually these officials aggrandized their own influence to the detriment of that of the monarchs, till the latter ruled only nominally, all real power being usurped by the mayors. The most distinguished among them were Pepin of Héristal, his son Charles Martel, and the latter's son Pepin "the Short," who in 751 or 752 dethroned the last of the Me roving i ans, Child eric III., and founded the Caroling i an dynasty. Mayor's court, a minor judicial tribunal, held in cities by the mayor as judge. mayoral (ma'or-al), a. [ Sir Peter Laurie, afterwards of aldermanic and even mayoral celebrity. Carlyle , Reminiscences, I. 217. mayoralty (mā'or-al-ti), n. [Formerly sometimes majoralty ; mairalte , mairalte ; as mayoral + -ty .] The office of a mayor, or the period of his service. This was for matters of misgouernment in his mai or alitie . Bacon , Hist. Hen. VII., p. 229. mayore (ma'or-es), n. [ To ride in a fine gilt coach and six, Like Her Worship the Lady May're . Hood, Mi Kilmansegg, Her Education. IMG:content-0357.png:[blocks in formation] Their chiefest jewel they bring from thence is the Maie pole, which they bring home with great veneration, as thus-they have twentie or fourtie yoake of oxen, every oxe having a sweete nosegaie of flowers tied to the tip of his hornes, and these oxen drawe home the May -poale. Stubbes , quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 455. 2. An ale-stake. Hall i well . [Prov. Eng.]-3. A tree of Jamaica, Spathelia simplex, of the order Simarubeæ . It has a tall slender stem with a crown of leaves at the top, like a palm. Also called mountain - pride and mountain -green.