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masque ... Matagalpa

masque: festival or entertainment in which disguised participants offer gifts to their host and then join together for a ceremonial dance. A typical masque consisted of a band of costumed and ...
mass: in physics, quantitative measure of inertia, a fundamental property of all matter. It is, in effect, the resistance that a body of matter offers to a change in its speed ...
mass: the celebration of the Eucharist (q.v.) in the Roman Catholic church. The term mass is derived from the rite's Latin formula of dismissal, Ite, missa est ("Go, it is ended"). ...
mass: in music, the setting, either polyphonic or in plainchant, of the liturgy of the Eucharist. The term most commonly refers to the mass of the Roman Catholic church, whose Western ...
mass action, law of: fundamental law of chemical kinetics, formulated in the years 1864 to 1879 by the Norwegian scientists Cato M. Guldberg and Peter Waage. The law states that the rate, or velocity, ...
mass flow: in botany, the most widely accepted explanation for the movement of sugars and other nutrient solutes through the phloem. The mass-flow hypothesis explains how foods move from source areas, where ...
mass movement: bulk movements of soil and rock debris down slopes in response to the pull of gravity, or the rapid or gradual sinking of the Earth's ground surface in a predominantly ...
mass number: in nuclear physics, the sum of the numbers of protons and neutrons present in the nucleus of an atom. The mass number is commonly cited in distinguishing among the isotopes ...
mass production: application of the principles of specialization, division of labour, and standardization of parts to the manufacture of goods. Such manufacturing processes attain high rates of output at low unit cost, ...
mass spectrometry: analytic technique by which chemical substances are identified by the sorting of gaseous ions in electric and magnetic fields according to their mass-to-charge ratios. The instruments used in such studies ...
mass transit: the movement of people within urban areas using group travel technologies such as buses and trains. The essential feature of mass transportation is that many people are carried in the ...
mass transit: transportation system, usually publicly but sometimes privately owned and operated, designed to move large numbers of people in various types of vehicles, along fixed and nonfixed routes in cities, suburbs, ...
mass, conservation of: principle that the mass of an object or collection of objects never changes, no matter how the constituent parts rearrange themselves. Mass has been viewed in physics in two compatible ...
Massa: city, capital of Massa-Carrara provincia, Toscana (Tuscany) regione, north-central Italy. Massa lies in the Frigido Valley at the foot of the Apuan Alps near the Ligurian coast, just southeast of ...
Massachuset: an Algonquian-speaking Indian tribe that in the early 17th century may have numbered 3,000 living in more than 20 villages distributed along what is now the Massachusetts coast. The cultivation ...
Massachusetts: constituent state of the United States of America. It was one of the original 13 states and is one of the six New England states lying in the northeastern corner ...
Massachusetts Bay: inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean, extending southward for about 60 miles (100 km) from Cape Ann to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S. It includes Nahant, Boston, Plymouth, and Cape Cod ...
Massachusetts Bay Colony: one of the original English settlements in present Massachusetts, settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England under Governor John Winthrop. In 1629 the Massachusetts ...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: privately controlled coeducational institution of higher learning famous for its scientific and technological training and research. It was chartered by the state of Massachusetts in 1861 and became a land-grant ...
Massachusetts, University of: state university system consisting of five coeducational campuses at Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth (in North Dartmouth), Lowell, and Worcester. The main campus, at Amherst, provides a comprehensive array of courses within ...
massage: in medicine, systematic and scientific manipulation of body tissues, performed with the hands for therapeutic effect on the nervous and muscular systems and on systemic circulation. It was used more ...
massasauga: (Sistrurus catenatus), small North American rattlesnake of the family Viperidae, found in prairies, swamps, and woodlands from the Great Lakes to Arizona. It is about 45 to 75 cm (18 ...
Massasoit: (b. c. 1590, near present Bristol, R.I., U.S.-d. 1661, near Bristol), Wampanoag Indian chief who throughout his life maintained peaceful relations with English settlers in the area of the Plymouth ...
Massawa: port city, Eritrea, in the Bay of Massawa on the Red Sea. It is connected to Asmara, the national capital, on the hinterland plateau (40 miles [64 km] west-southwest) by ...
Massena: village and town (township), St. Lawrence county, northern New York, U.S., 76 miles (122 km) southwest of Montreal, Canada. It is the location of the headquarters of the St. Lawrence ...
Massena, Andre, duc de Rivoli, prince d'Essling: leading French general of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
Massenet, Jules: leading French opera composer of his generation, whose music is admired for its lyricism, sensuality, occasional sentimentality, and theatrical aptness.
Masseria, Joe: leading crime boss of New York City from the early 1920s until his murder in 1931.
Masses, The: American monthly journal of arts and politics, socialist in its outlook. It was known for its innovative treatment of illustration and for its news articles and social criticism.
masseter: (from Greek masasthai, "to chew"), prominent muscle of the jaw. The masseter arises from the zygomatic bone (cheekbone) and is inserted at the rear of the mandible ...
Massey, Raymond: Canadian-American actor, director, and producer.
Massey, Vincent: statesman who was the first Canadian to serve as governor-general of Canada (1952-59).
Massey, William Ferguson: New Zealand statesman, prime minister (1912-25), lifelong spokesman for agrarian interests, and opponent of left-wing movements. His Reform Party ministries included leadership of the country during World War I.
massicot: one of the two forms of lead oxide (PbO) that occurs as a mineral (the other form is litharge). Massicot forms by the oxidation of galena and other lead minerals ...
Massif Central: upland area in south-central France. Bordered by the lowlands of Aquitaine on the west, the Paris Basin and the Loire River valley on the north, the Rhone-Saone river valley on ...
Massillon: city, Stark county, northeastern Ohio, U.S., just west of Canton, on the Tuscarawas River. Settled (1811) by New Englanders, it developed from two villages named Kendal and Brookfield and was ...
Massim style: type of stylized, curvilinear carving found in the Massim region, one of the major stylistic areas of Papua New Guinea. The Massim region, located in the southeast, includes the Trobriand, ...
Massine, Leonide: Russian dancer and innovative choreographer of more than 50 ballets, one of the most important figures in 20th-century dance.
Massinger, Philip: English Jacobean and Caroline playwright noted for his gifts of comedy, plot construction, social realism, and satirical power.
Masson, Andre: noted French Surrealist painter and graphic artist.
Masson, Frederic: French historian and academician best known for his books on Napoleon I.
Massys, Quentin: Flemish artist, the first important painter of the Antwerp school.
mast: in botany, nuts or fruits of trees and shrubs, such as beechnuts, acorns, and berries, that accumulate on the forest floor, providing forage for game animals and swine. Mast has ...
mast cell: tissue cell of the immune system of vertebrate animals. Mast cells mediate inflammatory responses such as hypersensitivity and allergic reactions. They are scattered throughout the connective tissues of the body, ...
mastectomy: surgical removal of a breast, usually to remove a malignancy but also performed in the treatment of other conditions (e.g., cystic breast disease) and for other medical reasons. Mastectomy is ...
Mastenbroek, Hendrika: Dutch swimmer, who at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin became the first female athlete to win four medals at a single Games.
Master E.S.: unidentified late Gothic German goldsmith and engraver who signed many of his engravings with the monogram E.S. and who was one of the outstanding early printmakers of Europe.
master's degree: a type of academic degree. See degree.
Masters Tournament: invitational golf competition held annually since 1934 at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., on a course designed by the former American amateur champion Bobby Jones and ...
Masters, Edgar Lee: American poet and novelist, best known as the author of Spoon River Anthology (1915).
Masters, William H.; and Johnson, Virginia E.: American research team and, respectively, physician and psychologist, noted for their studies of human sexuality.
Masterson, Bat: gambler, saloonkeeper, lawman, and newspaperman who made a reputation in the old American West.
Masterton: town ("district"), Wellington local government region, southern North Island, New Zealand, on the Ruamahanga River (a tributary of the Wairarapa), 55 miles (89 km) northeast of Wellington. The town was ...
mastic: aromatic resin, obtained as a soft exudation from incisions in mastic trees. It is used chiefly to make pale varnishes for protecting metals and paintings. When dispersed in bodied (thickened ...
mastiff: breed of large working dog used as a guard and fighting dog in England for more than 2,000 years. Dogs of this type are found in European and Asian records ...
mastiff bat: any of various species of free-tailed bats (family Molossidae) named for their doglike faces. The eight New World species of bats making up the genus Molossus are ...
Mastigophora: protozoan superclass whose members are characterized, at some time in the life cycle, by the possession of hairlike structures called flagella. See flagellate.
mastitis: inflammation of the breast in women or of the udder in sheep, swine, and cattle. Acute mastitis in women is a sudden infectious inflammation caused usually by the bacterium Staphylococcus ...
mastodon: any of several extinct elephantine mammals (family Mastodontidae, genus Mastodon [also called Mammut] that first appeared in the early Miocene and continued in various forms through the Pleistocene Epoch (from ...
mastoid process: the smooth pyramidal or cone-shaped bone projection at the base of the skull on each side of the head just below and behind the ear in humans. The mastoid process ...
mastoiditis: inflammation of the mastoid process, a projection of the temporal bone just behind the ear. Mastoiditis, which primarily affects children, usually results from an infection of the middle ear (otitis ...
Mastroianni, Marcello: actor who became the preeminent leading man in Italian cinema during the 1960s. An attractive man whose acting style projected a mood of casual affability, he achieved international fame as ...
masturbation: manipulation of the genital organs for pleasure, usually to orgasm. The term masturbation generally connotes self-manipulation, but it can also be used to describe manipulation of or by a sexual ...
Masuda: city, Shimane ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It lies in the basin of the Takatsu River, near the Sea of Japan. The commercial hub of the surrounding agricultural region, Masuda ...
Masukagami: historical epic about the Kamakura period (1192-1333) and one of the four best-known kagami (records) of Japanese history. The document, which is attributed to Nijo Yoshimoto, was written sometime between ...
Masulipatam: city, eastern Andhra Pradesh state, southern India. Masulipatam was the first British trading settlement (1611) on the Bay of Bengal. From 1686 to 1759 the city was held by the ...
Masulipatam, Treaty of: (Feb. 23, 1768), agreement by which the state of Hyderabad, India, submitted to British control. The First Mysore War began in 1767 and concerned the East India Company's attempts to ...
Masur, Kurt: German conductor who rose to prominence in East Germany in the 1970s.
Masurian Lakeland: lake district, northeastern Poland. It is a 20,000-square-mile (52,000-square-kilometre) area immediately to the south of the Baltic coastal plains and extends 180 miles (290 km) eastward from the lower Vistula ...
Masvingo: town, south-central Zimbabwe. It was founded in 1890 near the Macheke and Mshangashe rivers and became a municipality in 1953. A fort was built there and named for Queen Victoria. ...
Mata Hari: dancer and courtesan whose name has become a synonym for the seductive female spy. She was shot by the French on charges of spying for Germany during World War I, ...
Matabeleland: traditional region in southwestern Zimbabwe, inhabited mainly by the Bantu-speaking Ndebele people. It includes the southwestern portion of Zimbabwe's High and Middle velds, plateau country that ranges in elevation from ...
Mataco: South American Indians of the Gran Chaco, who speak an independent language and live mostly between the Bermejo and Pilcomayo rivers in northeastern Argentina. Some live in Bolivia. The Mataco ...
Matadi: port city, extreme western Congo (Kinshasa). It lies along the Congo River opposite the town of Vivi. Matadi is situated 93 miles (150 km) upstream from the Atlantic port of ...
matador: in bullfighting, the principal performer who works the capes and usually dispatches the bull with a sword thrust between the shoulder blades. Though most bullfighters have been men, women bullfighters ...
Matagalpa: city, west-central Nicaragua, situated in a highland valley 2,237 feet (682 metres) above sea level. One of the older and more picturesque cities of the nation, it contains a colonial ...