mace

Mace

mace

1. a heavy medieval war club, often with a spiked, metal head
2. any similar weapon
1. a staff used as a symbol of authority by certain officials
2. macebearer

Origin of mace

Middle English from Old French masse from Vulgar Latin an unverified form mattea, a club from Classical Latin an unverified form matea from Indo-European base an unverified form mat-, a hoe, club from source mattock

a spice, usually ground, made from the dried outer covering of the nutmeg seed

Origin of mace

ME, assumed as singular of macis, mace from Old French from ML, probably scribal error for Classical Latin macir from Classical Greek makir, a fragrant resin from India

Mace

a chemical compound, prepared for use in aerosol containers, that has the combined effect of a tear gas and a nerve gas, temporarily stunning its victims

Origin of Mace

from mace

[oftenm-] such a compound, or a container of it

transitive verb

Maced, Mac′ing

to spray with Mace

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MLA Style

"mace." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/mace>.

APA Style

mace. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/mace

mace

noun

A ceremonial staff borne or displayed as the symbol of authority of a legislative body.
A macebearer.
A heavy medieval war club with a spiked or flanged metal head, used to crush armor.

Origin of mace

Middle English from Old French masse from Vulgar Latin mattea

noun

A thin fleshy red covering that surrounds the kernel of the nutmeg, dried and used as a spice.

Origin of mace

Middle English back-formation from macis, maces mace (taken as a plural ending in -s ) ultimately ( partly via Old French macis ) from Medieval Latin macis perhaps from misreading of Latin macir the red bark of the root of a South Asian tree (possibly Holarrhena antidysenterica ) used as a remedy for dysentery from Greek makir of unknown origin

Mace

A trademark for an aerosol used to immobilize an attacker temporarily. This trademark often occurs in print as a verb and noun.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Cite this page

MLA Style

"mace." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/mace>.

APA Style

mace. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/mace

Noun

(plural maces)

A heavy fighting club.
A ceremonial form of this weapon.
A common name for some types of tear gas and pepper spray.
A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present maces, present participle macing, simple past and past participle maced)

To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray, or, formerly, tear gas) using a hand-held device.
(informal) To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.
1989 Hiaasen, Carl, Skin Tight, Ballantine Books, New York, ch.22:
To hit someone or something with a mace.
Get over here! I'll mace you good!

Origin

Middle English, from Anglo-Norman mace, mache, from Late Latin mattia or *mattea (compare Italian mazza, Spanish maza), from Proto-Indo-European *mat (“hoe, plow") (compare Latin mateola (“hoe"), Old High German medela (“plow"), Russian Ð¼Ð¾Ñ‚Ñ‹Ð³Ð° (motÃ½ga, “hoe, mattock"), Persian Ø¢Ù…Ø§Ø¬ (ÄmÄÇ°) "˜plow', Sanskrit à¤®à¤¤à¥à¤¯ (matyÃ¡, “harrow")).

Sense of tear gas, from the trade name Mace.

Noun

(plural maces)

An old money of account in China equal to one tenth of a tael.
An old weight of 57.98 grains.

Origin

Borrowing from Javanese and Malay, meaning "a bean".

Noun

(plural maces)

A spice obtained from the outer layer of the kernel of the fruit of the nutmeg.

Anagrams

acme, ACME, came, ECMA, eMac, EMAC

Proper noun

A brand of tear gas.

Usage notes

May be a trademark.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"mace." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/mace>.

APA Style

mace. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/mace

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mace

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Mace

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