A Dictionary of Cont..

ible . . .?I’) and is used on all occasions to denote
an exacting attention to detail.
Scrupulous and punctilious are really more
suitable words unless one wishes to suggest that
the attention to detail is motivated by timidity.
A punctilious man is one who is attentive to nice
points, especially in conduct, ceremony or proceeding,
observing the forms of politeness and
correct social usage with great exactness (The
marshal of the faculties insisted on punctilious
consideration of academic standing in assigning
the various professors to their place in the commencement
procession). A scrupulous man is
one who is cautious for fear of erring, attaching
great weight in his uneasiness to minute considerations,
precise, rigorous (He was scrupulously
honest, returning on one occasion to an astonished
host a paper napkin which had been inadvertently
packed among his things).
metonymy is the rhetorical figure which expresses
the name of a thing in terms of another which
is a part of it or is associated with it. The use of
the part for the whole used to be differentiated
as synecdoche, but the distinction scarcely exists
any more.
This figure of speech may take the form of an
effect for a cause or a cause for an effect, as in
The pen is mightier than the sword where pen
stands for that which has been written by the
pen. The commonest form of metonymy is the
sign for the thing signified, as a good table for
satisfying fare, the chair for the presiding officer
sitting in the chair, Shakespeare for Shakespeare’s
works, the press for newspapers, Washington
for the federal government, the scepter
for sovereignty or the bottle for strong drink.
metropolis. The plural is metropolises or metropoles.
mettie. See metal.
meum et tuum or, more often, meum and tuum,
literallv “mine and thine.” is now a clichC when
used ai a general term for private property or
for the distinction between what is one’s own
and what belongs to others.
mews. From meaning cages for hawks, this word
came to mean a group of stables. In the United
States it usually means stables that have been
made over into elegant living quarters. The word
is ordinarily a singular but it may also be used as
a plural, as in the mews of London. A double
plural mewses occurs in an act of Parliament of
1797 and so has at least that much standing.
miasma. The plural is miasmas or miasmata, not
miasmae.
mice. See mouse.
middle; midst. See center.
Middle West; Middle Western; Midwest; Midwestern.
Middle West is the preferred term to
describe that region of the United States which
is bounded on the east by the Allegheny Mountains,
on the west by the Rocky Mountains, and
on the south by the Ohio River and the southern
boundaries of Missouri and Kansas. The preference
is not overwhelming, however, and many,
especially among the younger contemporary
writers, seem to prefer Midwest. As adjectives,
usage seems to favor Midwest and Midwestern
over Middle West and Middle Western. The
average inhabitant of this region is far more
likely to call himself a Midwesterner than a
Middle Westerner.
midst. A generation ago many grammarians condemned
the expression in our midst, on the
grounds that there was no “true possession”
here. They held that the only acceptable form
was in the midst of us. The expression in our
midst had been standard English since the time
of Chaucer and there was no justification for
limiting the genitive, or the possessive pronouns,
to instances of “possession.” But the word midst
does not seem to have survived the battle. In
current English we say middle for things that
actually have a midd!e, and among for collections
that do not.
midsummer madness, a quotation from Twelfth
Night (III, iv, 61), as a term for the height of
folly, is worn out.
might. See may.
might and main, with all one%. Might and main
may once have had distinct meanings, such as
skill and strength, but all memory of any such
distinction has been forgotten and the phrase
continues in use chiefly through inertia and the
fatal fascination of alliteration.
mighty; almighty. The word mighty was once very
popular as an intensive, as in mighty glad to see
you and mighty good of you to come. It was
thoroughly respectable and much more forceful
than the little word very. Although it is not
heard as frequently today, it has an old-fashioned
rather than a nonstandard tone. Some
younger people use it half humorously, in imitation
of their grandparents.
Almighty was once also used as an intensive in
this country, as in almighty smart, almighty
quick. But this word was always questionable. It
was used by strong men but not by ladies. Perhaps
nobody was quite sure whether it was taking
the name of God in vain or not.
mile. Only the singular form mile should be used
as part of a compound adjective qualifying a
following noun, as in a ten-mile walk. The form
with s is sometimes heard here, as in a ten-miles
walk, but this is not literary English.
Except in this one position, the singular mile
should not be used in speaking of more than one
mile. It sometimes is used in place of miles after
a numeral, as in we live ten mile from here. This
construction was literary English two hundred
years ago, but it is not now standard.
militate. See mitigate.
milk of human kindness. Lady Macbeth feared
that Macbeth was too full of the milk of human
kindness to catch the nearest way to the crown
by murdering his liege lord and benefactor. Her
term for humanity or pity, unsurpassed in its
original context, is now hackneyed.
mill. In both England and America mill. as a
transitive verb,-has a meaning consistent with
its primary meaning as a noun; that is, it means
to grind, work, treat, or shape in or with a mill
(In Minneapolis wheat from the prairie states is