monsignor (monsenyor)

[ It seemed the whole court of Rome was there-mon signori and prelates without end. Disraeli , Lothair, lxvi. The master of the ceremonies, Monsignor Fabei, advances up the Chapel, J. R. Short house , John Ingles ant, xxx. the Cape of Good Hope: mons, mount; mensæ, gen. of mensa, table.] A constellation introduced by Lacaille in 1752, between the south poles of the equator and the ecliptic. Its brightest star is of the fifth magnitude. monsoon (mon-sön'), n. [Formerly also mon son; cf. Sw. monsoon = Dan. monsun ( soon. The times of seasonable windes called Monsons , wherein the ships depart from place to place in the East Indies. Hakluyt's Voyages , II. 278. They often lose the benefit of their monsoons , and much more easily other winds, and frequently their voyage. Boyle , Works, III. 771. The summer monsoon is a much stronger current than its winter correlative; and in India this fact is recognized in popular language, since it is often spoken of distinctively as "the monsoon," the claim of the winter monsoon same designation being for the moment tacitly igH. F. Blanford. nored. 2. Any of the winds that have annual alternations of direction and velocity, arising from differences of temperature between continents or islands and the surrounding ocean. All the great monsoons are found in countries and on oceans adjacent to high mountain ranges. W. Ferrel. On the Brazilian coast, about and to the south of the tropic, there is so much regularity in the alternation of winds, although but for a few points, that their two prevailing currents, from south-east to north-east, are often called monsoons. Fitz Roy, Weather Book, p. 145. monsoonal (mon-sö'nal), a. [ monster (mon'stėr), n . and a. [ monstre , mounstre, monstre = Sp . mon- struo = Pg. monstro = It. monstro, mostro , monere , warn: see monish . Cf. monster, v., muster, mon strati on , etc.] I. n. 11. Anything extraordinary, supernatural, or wonderful; a thing to be wondered at; a prodigy. For wende I never by po ibilitee, That swich a monstre or merveille mighte be. Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 616. 2. A fabulous animal of grotesque or chimerical figure and often of huge size, compounded of human and brute shape, or of the shapes of various brutes, as the sagittary, centaur, sphinx, mermaid, minotaur, griffin, manticore, etc. This is some monster of the isle. Four legs and two voices: a most delicate monster ! Shak ., Tempest, ii. 2. 94. Then Enoch traded for himself, and bought Quaint monsters for the market of those times, A gilded dragon, also, for the babes. Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 3. Any very large animal; anything unusually large of its kind. Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea. Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters, Choric Song. 4. An animal or a plant of abnormal form or structure; any living monstrosity. The deviation consists sometimes in an exce , sometimes in a deficiency, of certain organs or parts; sometimes in a general or particular malformation, and sometimes in the presence of organs or parts not belonging to the sex or species. The scientific doctrine or knowledge of such creatures is known as teratology. 5. A person regarded with horror because of his moral deformity, or his propensity to commit revolting or unnatural crimes. He cannot be such a monster. Shak ., Lear, i. 2. 102. 6. Something unnatural and horrible. monster By heaven, he echoes me, As if there were some monster in his thought, Too hideõus to be shewn. Shak . , Othello, iii. 3. 107. 71. An example; a pattern. Trewly she Was hir chefe patrone of beaute And chefe ensample of all hir werke And mounstre . Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 912. Gila monster. [So called from the Gila river in Arizona.] A large lizard, Heloderma suspectum, of the family Helo dermidæ, of clumsy figure and most repulsive aspect, notable as the only member of the order Lacer til i a known to be venomous, except the very similar H. horridum, the crust - lizard, found in Mexico. The name is also given to H. horridum.- Many-headed monster. See many headed. II. a. Of inordinate size or numbers: as, a monster gun; a monster meeting. monster (mon's ter), v. t. [ Men . Pray now, sit down. Cor . I had rather have one scratch my head i' the sun When the alarum were struck, than idly sit To hear my nothings monster'd. Shak., Cor., ii. 2. 81. Monstera (mon's te-rä), n. [NL. (Adanson, 1763); origin unknown.) A genus of monocotyledonous climbing shrubs of the natural order Araceæ, type of the tribe Monsteroidea and the subtribe Monstereæ, characterized by four ovules in a two-celled ovary. There are 12 species, natives of tropical America. They have large IMG:content-0910.jpg:[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors] firm two-ranked leaves, often with a row of large elliptical holes. Their flowers are small, without calyx or co roll a, crowded upon a spadix, with a boat-shaped spathe, often yellow. The succulent fruit of coherent berries is, in the case of the Mexican M. deliciosa, an article of food. Several species are cultivated under gla for their singular foliage. Monstereæ (mon-stērē-ē), n. pl. [NL. (Eng ler, 1887), A This monster - master stout [Nimrod], This Hercules, this hammer-ill. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Babylon. Monsteroideæ (mon-ste- roidē-ē), n. pl. [NL. (Engler, 1887), -oidea .] A tribe of plants of the natural order Araceæ ( Aroidea ). It embraces the subtribes Mon- stereæ, Spathiphylleæ , and Sym- plocarpeæ, with 14 genera, Mon- stera being the type, and about 81 species.