A Dictionary of Cont..

mean to deprive of by trickery (He was soon
mulcted out of his inheritance). Purists have
objected to this meaning, but it is a natural development
and, in American usage at least, is
now standard.
mull. In British usage to mull is to make a mess
of something, especially in athletics (B,ronson
mulled a catch and Zpswich scored).
In American usage to mull over is to ruminate,
especially in an ineffective way (I like a
little privacy and mulling things over by myself).
The phrase is usually classified as questionable
English but it is now so well established as to be
standard.
mumps. This word has a plural form and may be
treated as a plural, as in mumps are cont(qious
and he caught them from me. But it is more
often treated as a singular, as in mumps is contagious
and he caught it from me. Both constructions
are acceptable. The form mumps is
used as the first element in a compound, as in a
mumps serum.
mundane. See earthen.
munitions; ammunition. In the seventeenth century
these words meant the same thing and
ammunition was simply a mistaken pronunciation
of munition. Today the two word!s are
slightly different in meaning and in grammatical
form. Ammunition now means whatever is
needed to discharge firearms, including the projectiles
and munitions means these together with
other materials of war. Both are mass words.
Ammunition does not have a plural form and
we speak of an ammunition dump. Munitions,
on the other hand, is now used only in the
plural form and we speak of a munitions ,plant.
But we cannot use the word with a numeral or
speak of many munitions.
mural survives in British usage only as an adjective
(mural tablets, mural decorations). It was
formerly a noun in England, meaning a wall; but
this meaning has been obsolete for four hundred
years. The adjectival use is common in
America but the word has been newly re-created
as a noun meaning a mural painting (He did
that fine set of murals in the college library. He
painted historical murals for the MinnesotSa and
Wisconsin capitols).
murder. See homicide.
mushroom. As a verb, to mushroom means only
to spread out as in the shape of a mushroom. It
was formerly applied only to bullets but has
been extended recently to describe the characteristic
cloud above an atomic explosion. In Almerican
usage the verb means this but it also
describes a rapid growth or spread, often of
short duration, not in the shape but in the manner
of mushrooms (The flames mushroomed
from the shaft on all floors above. The town
mushroomed out in every direction, overrunning
a score of prairie villages).
musical; musicale. Musical is an adjective, meaning
of or pertaining to or producing music, or of
the nature of or resembling music, melodious,
or fond of or skilled in music (a musical instrument.
The sound of the wheels was musical).
309 mutual
Musicale is a noun meaning a program of
music that forms part of a social evening. It is
standard in the United States but not used in
Eneland. The word is simulv a taking over into
English of the last word bi the French phrase
soire’e (or matine’e) musicale, an evening (or
afternoon) musical party.
muslin. See calico.
must is a present subjunctive developed from an
obsolete verb form mot, meaning “may.” It has
no corresponding past subjunctive form. See
subjunctive mode.
The verb must has no imperative, no infinitive,
no past participle, and no -ing form. Grammatically
it is treated as a past tense form, just
as went is. It cannot follow (that is, it cannot
be dependent on) another verb. We can no more
say will must, had must, used to must, than we
can say will went, had went, used to went. To
express these ideas we use some form of have to.
Since we cannot use auxiliary verbs, such as do,
be, have, before must, we form negative statements
and ask questions in the old direct way
that is now obsolete for most verbs, as in Z must
not stay and must you leave?
Must itself is always used as an auxiliary and
requires another verb to complete its meaning.
It may be followed by the simple form of a verb,
as in I must leave, or by have and a past participle,
as in he must have left. In the first case,
the statement refers indefinitely to the present
or the future.‘in the second case, it refers to a
past event. As a rule, the complementary verb
must be actually stated or easily understood
from a preceding sentence, as in you must speak
to her and I suppose I must. But at one time
verbs of motion were omitted after verbs of
willing and this construction may still be found
in poetry, as in the sun is up and up must I and
I must down to the seas again.
must needs. See need.
mutatis mutandis, “with the necessary changes,”
is a clich6. Latin clichCs. now that Latin nlavs
a very small part in thd learning of even the
best educated, are particularly offensive. They
show the speaker to be affectedly unoriginal. He
has gone out of his way to be tedious. He has
labored to be dull.
mutual; common; reciprocal. That is mutual
which is possessed, experienced, performed, etc.,
by each of two or more with respect to the other
or others. A mutual dislike, for example, would
be a dislike of A for B and a dislike of B for A.
When two men hold each other in mutual
esteem each thinks well of the other. A mutual
admiration society is a society in which each
member thinks well of the others and is thought
well of by them. Common, in the sense that it is
sometimes confused with mutual, has to do with
the relation of two or more people not to each
other but in reference to some other person or
thing. Thus two men who share the same hobby
have a common interest. If A and B both regard
C as a friend, then C is their common friend.
I-Ie is often called their mutual friend and this
usage, greatly strengthened by Dickens’s famous