mace
nounverbnounnounverbnounattested in dialogue
- //meɪs//
A heavy fighting club.
noun
- 1
A heavy fighting club.
The Mace is an ancient weapon, formerly much used by cavalry of all nations, and likewise by ecclesiastics, who in consequence of their tenures, frequently took the field, but were by a canon of the church forbidden to wield the sword.
- 2
A ceremonial form of this weapon.
I am a king that find thee; and I know 'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball, The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, The intertissued robe of gold and pearl
- 3
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.
- 4
An officer who carries a mace as a token of authority.
On the left were the Commons with their Speaker, attended by the mace. The southern door opened: and the Prince and Princess of Orange, side by side, entered, and took their place under the canopy of state.
- 5
A knobbed mallet used by curriers to make leather supple when dressing it.
In the foreground one man uses the "head knife” to work over the skin on the beam, while another softens a skin with the currier's mace.
- 6
A flail.
- 7
archaicA billiard cue.
Etymology
From Middle English mace, borrowed from Old French mace, mache, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea, matia, (compare Italian mazza, Spanish maza), probably from Proto-West Germanic *mattjō (“cutting tool, hoe”).
verb
- 1
To hit someone or something with a mace.
noun
- 1
A spice obtained from the outer layer of the kernel of the fruit of the nutmeg.
I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none -- that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.
Etymology
From Middle English, from re-interpretation of macys as a plural (as with pea); from Latin macir. Doublet of macir.
noun
- 1
Tear gas or pepper spray, especially for personal use.
[…] was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for shooting a man in the eye with a paintball gun, spraying people in the face with bear mace and aiming a loaded handgun at a crowd, prosecutors said.
Etymology
From the name of one brand of the spray, Mace. Pepper spray may be derived from cayenne pepper, but not from mace (etymology 2 above), which is a different spice; rather, it was named after the weapon (etymology 1).
verb
- 1
To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray or tear gas) using a hand-held device.
- 2
informalTo spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.
When Reynaldo and Willie had burst into Larkey's drug store to confront him, the old man had maced Willie square in the eyes with an aerosol can of spermicidal birth-control foam.
noun
- 1
An old money of account in China equal to one tenth of a tael.
- 2
An old weight of 57.98 grains, approximately 3.8 grams.
The decimals of the tael, called mace, candareen, and cash (tsien, fǎn, and li) , are employed in reckoning bullion.
Etymology
Borrowed from Javanese [Term?] and Malay [Term?], meaning "a bean".
Forms
- plural
- maces
- past tense
- maced
- past participle
- maced
- present participle
- macing
- third person singular
- maces