Plural Nouns Starting with M

Maccabees (n. pl.) The name given later times to the Asmonaeans, a family of Jewish patriots, who headed a religious revolt in the reign of Antiochus IV., 168-161 B. C., which led to a period of freedom for Israel.

Maccabees (n. pl.) The name of two ancient historical books, which give accounts of Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes, and which are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Also applied to three books, two of which are found in some MSS. of the Septuagint.

Macrochires (n. pl.) A division of birds including the swifts and humming birds. So called from the length of the distal part of the wing.

Macropteres (n. pl.) A division of birds; the Longipennes.

Macrura (n. pl.) A subdivision of decapod Crustacea, having the abdomen largely developed. It includes the lobster, prawn, shrimp, and many similar forms. Cf. Decapoda.

Madreporaria (n. pl.) An extensive division of Anthozoa, including most of the species that produce stony corals. See Illust. of Anthozoa.

Magi (n. pl.) A caste of priests, philosophers, and magicians, among the ancient Persians; hence, any holy men or sages of the East.

Majusculae (n. pl.) Capital letters, as found in manuscripts of the sixth century and earlier.

Malacopoda (n. pl.) A class of air-breathing Arthropoda; -- called also Protracheata, and Onychophora.

Malacopterygii (n. pl.) An order of fishes in which the fin rays, except the anterior ray of the pectoral and dorsal fins, are closely jointed, and not spiny. It includes the carp, pike, salmon, shad, etc. Called also Malacopteri.

Malacostraca (n. pl.) A subclass of Crustacea, including Arthrostraca and Thoracostraca, or all those higher than the Entomostraca.

Malacozoa (n. pl.) An extensive group of Invertebrata, including the Mollusca, Brachiopoda, and Bryozoa. Called also Malacozoaria.

Malanders (n. pl.) A scurfy eruption in the bend of the knee of the fore leg of a horse. See Sallenders.

Mallenders (n. pl.) Same as Malanders.

Mallophaga (n. pl.) An extensive group of insects which are parasitic on birds and mammals, and feed on the feathers and hair; -- called also bird lice. See Bird louse, under Bird.

Mammalia (n. pl.) The highest class of Vertebrata. The young are nourished for a time by milk, or an analogous fluid, secreted by the mammary glands of the mother.

Mandingos (n. pl.) ; sing. Mandingo. (Ethnol.) An extensive and powerful tribe of West African negroes.

Manes (n. pl.) The benevolent spirits of the dead, especially of dead ancestors, regarded as family deities and protectors.

Marginalia (n. pl.) Marginal notes.

Marsipobranchia (n. pl.) A class of Vertebrata, lower than fishes, characterized by their purselike gill cavities, cartilaginous skeletons, absence of limbs, and a suckerlike mouth destitute of jaws. It includes the lampreys and hagfishes. See Cyclostoma, and Lamprey. Called also Marsipobranchiata, and Marsipobranchii.

Marsupialia (n. pl.) A subclass of Mammalia, including nearly all the mammals of Australia and the adjacent islands, together with the opossums of America. They differ from ordinary mammals in having the corpus callosum very small, in being implacental, and in having their young born while very immature. The female generally carries the young for some time after birth in an external pouch, or marsupium. Called also Marsupiata.

Mastigopoda (n. pl.) The Infusoria.

Mealies (n. pl.) Maize or Indian corn; -- the common name in South Africa.

Mebles (n. pl.) See Moebles.

Mediaevals (n. pl.) The people who lived in the Middle Ages.

Melanochroi (n. pl.) A group of the human race, including the dark whites.

Memorabilia (n. pl.) Things remarkable and worthy of remembrance or record; also, the record of them.

Meninges (n. pl.) The three membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord; the pia mater, dura mater, and arachnoid membrane.

Menses (n. pl.) The catamenial or menstrual discharge, a periodic flow of blood or bloody fluid from the uterus or female generative organs.

Merostomata (n. pl.) A class of Arthropoda, allied to the Crustacea. It includes the trilobites, Eurypteroidea, and Limuloidea. All are extinct except the horseshoe crabs of the last group. See Limulus.

Mesozoa (n. pl.) A group of very lowly organized, wormlike parasites, including the Dicyemata. They are found in cephalopods. See Dicyemata.

Messieurs (n. pl.) Sirs; gentlemen; -- abbreviated to Messrs., which is used as the plural of Mr.

Metabola (n. pl.) Alt. of Metabolia

Metabolia (n. pl.) A comprehensive group of insects, including those that undegro a metamorphosis.

Metazoa (n. pl.) Those animals in which the protoplasmic mass, constituting the egg, is converted into a multitude of cells, which are metamorphosed into the tissues of the body. A central cavity is commonly developed, and the cells around it are at first arranged in two layers, -- the ectoderm and endoderm. The group comprises nearly all animals except the Protozoa.

Miamis (n. pl.) A tribe of Indians that formerly occupied the country between the Wabash and Maumee rivers.

Micmacs (n. pl.) A tribe of Indians inhabiting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Microbacteria (n. pl.) In the classification of Cohn, one of the four tribes of Bacteria.

Microlepidoptera (n. pl.) A tribe of Lepidoptera, including a vast number of minute species, as the plume moth, clothes moth, etc.

Micronesians (n. pl.) A dark race inhabiting the Micronesian Islands. They are supposed to be a mixed race, derived from Polynesians and Papuans.

Microzoa (n. pl.) The Infusoria.

Middlings (n. pl.) A combination of the coarser parts of ground wheat the finest bran, separated from the fine flour and coarse bran in bolting; -- formerly regarded as valuable only for feed; but now, after separation of the bran, used for making the best quality of flour. Middlings contain a large proportion of gluten.

Middlings (n. pl.) In the southern and western parts of the United States, the portion of the hog between the ham and the shoulder; bacon; -- called also middles.

Midships (n. pl.) The timbers at the broadest part of the vessel.

Miscellanea (n. pl.) A collection of miscellaneous matters; matters of various kinds.

Mobles (n. pl.) See Moebles.

Modocs (n. pl.) A tribe of warlike Indians formerly inhabiting Northern California. They are nearly extinct.

Moebles (n. pl.) Movables; furniture; -- also used in the singular (moeble).

Mohicans (n. pl.) A tribe of Lenni-Lenape Indians who formerly inhabited Western Connecticut and Eastern New York.

Mollusca (n. pl.) One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom, including the classes Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, PteropodaScaphopoda, and Lamellibranchiata, or Conchifera. These animals have an unsegmented bilateral body, with most of the organs and parts paired, but not repeated longitudinally. Most of them develop a mantle, which incloses either a branchial or a pulmonary cavity. They are generally more or less covered and protected by a calcareous shell, which may be univalve, bivalve,>

Molluscoidea (n. pl.) A division of Invertebrata which includes the classes Brachiopoda and Bryozoa; -- called also Anthoid Mollusca.

Monadaria (n. pl.) The Infusoria.

Monadelphia (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants having the stamens united into a tube, or ring, by the filaments, as in the Mallow family.

Monandria (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants embracing those having but a single stamen.

Monera (n. pl.) The lowest division of rhizopods, including those which resemble the amoebas, but are destitute of a nucleus.

Mongols (n. pl.) Alt. of Mongolians

Mongolians (n. pl.) One of the great races of man, including the greater part of the inhabitants of China, Japan, and the interior of Asia, with branches in Northern Europe and other parts of the world. By some American Indians are considered a branch of the Mongols. In a more restricted sense, the inhabitants of Mongolia and adjacent countries, including the Burats and the Kalmuks.

Monocondyla (n. pl.) A group of vertebrates, including the birds and reptiles, or those that have only one occipital condyle; the Sauropsida.

Monodelphia (n. pl.) The group that includes all ordinary or placental mammals; the Placentalia. See Mammalia.

Monoecia (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants, whose stamens and pistils are in distinct flowers in the same plant.

Monogamia (n. pl.) A Linnaean order of plants, having solitary flowers with united anthers, as in the genus Lobelia.

Monogynia (n. pl.) A Linnaean order of plants, including those which have only one style or stigma.

Monopneumona (n. pl.) A suborder of Dipnoi, including the Ceratodus.

Monorhina (n. pl.) The Marsipobranchiata.

Monothalama (n. pl.) A division of Foraminifera including those that have only one chamber.

Monotremata (n. pl.) A subclass of Mammalia, having a cloaca in which the ducts of the urinary, genital, and alimentary systems terminate, as in birds. The female lays eggs like a bird. See Duck mole, under Duck, and Echidna.

Monozoa (n. pl.) A division of Radiolaria; -- called also Monocyttaria.

Mosasauria (n. pl.) An order of large, extinct, marine reptiles, found in the Cretaceous rocks, especially in America. They were serpentlike in form and in having loosely articulated and dilatable jaws, with large recurved tteth, but they had paddlelike feet. Some of them were over fifty feet long. They are, essentially, fossil sea serpents with paddles. Called also Pythonomarpha, and Mosasauria.

Moslings (n. pl.) Thin shreds of leather shaved off in dressing skins.

Muscales (n. pl.) An old name for mosses in the widest sense, including the true mosses and also hepaticae and sphagna.

Musci (n. pl.) An order or subclass of cryptogamous plants; the mosses. See Moss, and Cryptogamia.

Muscogees (n. pl.) See Muskogees.

Muskogees (n. pl.) A powerful tribe of North American Indians that formerly occupied the region of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. They constituted a large part of the Creek confederacy.

Myaria (n. pl.) A division of bivalve mollusks of which the common clam (Mya) is the type.

Myelencephala (n. pl.) Same as Vertebrata.

Myeloneura (n. pl.) The Vertebrata.

Myomorpha (n. pl.) An extensive group of rodents which includes the rats, mice, jerboas, and many allied forms.

Myriapoda (n. pl.) A class, or subclass, of arthropods, related to the hexapod insects, from which they differ in having the body made up of numerous similar segments, nearly all of which bear true jointed legs. They have one pair of antennae, three pairs of mouth organs, and numerous trachaae, similar to those of true insects. The larvae, when first hatched, often have but three pairs of legs. See Centiped, Galleyworm, Milliped.

Myriopoda (n. pl.) See Myriapoda.

Myxocystodea (n. pl.) A division of Infusoria including the Noctiluca. See Noctiluca.

Myzontes (n. pl.) The Marsipobranchiata.

Myzostomata (n. pl.) An order of curious parasitic worms found on crinoids. The body is short and disklike, with four pairs of suckers and five pairs of hook-bearing parapodia on the under side.

About the author

Mark McCracken Author: Mark McCracken is a corporate trainer and author living in Higashi Osaka, Japan. He is the author of thousands of online articles as well as the Business English textbook, "25 Business Skills in English".

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