† Ma.n.1
Obsolete.
As a prefixed title: master (cf. master n.1 19).
ΚΠ
1579 E. K. in E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Epistle Myne owne good friend Ma. Harvey.
1602 T. Dekker Satiro-mastix sig. E3 We must haue false fiers to amaze..these true heires of Ma. Iustice Shallow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
† Ma.n.2
Obsolete.
= majesty n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > title > title or form of address for persons of rank > [noun] > titles applied to royalty
sire?c1225
His (also Her) Majestya1387
realty1400
rialnessc1450
R1466
royalty1543
Royal Highness1555
M1581
Ma.1584
majestyship1594
serenissimo1665
1584 Copie of Let. conc. Erle of Leycester 53 Cal you but to minde..when her Ma..did wyth-draw, but a litle her wounted fauour..towardes him: did not al the Court as it were, mutinie presentlie?
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Aa1v Since wee haue so bright and benigne a starre, as your Ma: to conduct and prosper us. View more context for this quotation
1679 King James II Let. 21 May in T. J. McCann Goodwood: Royal Lett. (1977) 7/2 At present, by what his Ma: has latly done, I looke on his affairs as very desperat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
man.3
/mɑː/, U.S. /mɑ/ colloquial.
1. Mother, ‘mummy’. Chiefly as a form of address. Also used as a form of address to (or informal title for) a middle-aged or elderly woman other than one's mother; Mrs.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > [noun]
mothereOE
dame?c1225
merea1275
childbearera1382
genitricea1500
mammy1523
dama1547
mama1555
genetrix1561
mam1570
mum?1595
old lady1599
authoressc1603
mam1608
genitress1610
old woman1668
old girl1745
mummy1768
momma1810
madre1815
maw1826
ma1829
marm1835
mater1843
mom1846
mommy1846
maternal1867
motherkins1870
muvver1871
mumsy1876
mamacita1887
mutti1905
birth mother1906
duchess1909
amma1913
momsey1914
mums1915
moms1925
mata1945
baby-mother1966
mama1982
old dear1985
baby-mama1986
the world > people > person > old person > old woman > [noun]
old wifeeOE
old womanOE
trota1375
carlinec1375
cronec1386
vecke1390
monea1393
hagc1400
ribibec1405
aunt?a1425
crate14..
witchc1475
mauda1500
mackabroine1546
grandam?1550
grannam1565
old lady1575
beldam1580
lucky1629
granny1634
patriarchess1639
runta1652
harridan1699
grimalkin1798
mama1810
tante1815
wifie1823
maw1826
old dear1836
tante1845
Mother Bunch1847
douairière1869
dowager1870
veteraness1880
old trout1897
tab1909
bag1924
crow1925
ma1932
Skinny Liz1940
old bag1947
old boot1958
tannie1958
LOL1960
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous forms of address or title > [noun] > title > for a woman > for married woman
damec1300
mistress?c1450
Mrs1485
goodwife1497
goody1559
metreza1604
miss1770
ma1951
1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words at Pa It is sometimes rather comic to hear a great chuckle-headed lout—paa-ing his father—or maa-ing his mother.]
1829 Censor 225 These exhibitions, though affording wonderous delight to affectionate Pas and Mas, are productive of the most injurious results to their children.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned 20 How could he admire that odious cap of Ma's.
1836 T. Hook Gilbert Gurney I. 196 Gussy, as her ma' called her.
1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 119 I've got to dine with aunt and meet Matilda and her ma.
1909 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Avonlea xii. 123 Please, miss, I had to help ma make a pudding for dinner.
1932 J. Cary Aissa Saved xxxvii. 196 You come now, ma; she very sick.
1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger iii. 27 ‘What-ho, Ma,’ came a howl from the kitchen. ‘Coming.’ Beryl appeared wiping her hands.
1951 J. Common Kiddar's Luck xi. 161 My father called them the Ma gang, because they had a habit of always alluding to each other as Ma This and Ma That.
1951 J. Common Kiddar's Luck xi. 161 It was becoming fairly regular to see Ma McGrewin, or Ma Smailes, or Ma Forbes sitting boldly by the fireside.
1966 P. G. Wodehouse Plum Pie v. 124 ‘Did Ma Purkiss make a speech?’ ‘Yes, Mrs. Purkiss spoke.’
1974 M. Babson Stalking Lamb xvi. 120 ‘Here, Ma,’ Aaron said, ‘I've brought company.’
1986 R. Sproat Stunning the Punters 98 We used to play on that site, us kids, when we could dodge the watchman and keep it secret from our ma.
1992 MacUser Nov. 50/1 Cardless color tricks for Quadra: 24-bit color, and—look, ma, no card!
2. Australian. With capital initial. = Ma State n. at Compounds.
ΚΠ
1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 25/1 The Cabbage Gardeners will have to be licked outright if Ma is to have a hope.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. 187 New South Wales, New South, the Ma State or Ma.
Compounds
ma-and-pa adj. chiefly U.S. denoting a small business, esp. a shop, owned and operated by a couple or family; (in extended use) applied to other similarly small-scale commercial enterprises (cf. mom-and-pop adj.).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [adjective] > relating to shop > types of shop
high streetc1600
co-op1872
multiple1903
fixed price1907
serve-self1909
serve-yourself1909
quick-service1910
self-serve1910
self-service1912
drive-through1918
Army and Navy1919
drive-in1930
one-stop1933
Army-Navy1934
full-service1934
mom-and-pop1942
walkround1950
ma-and-pa1965
pop-up1993
1965 Blue Island Calumet Park (Illinois) Sun-Standard 8 Apr. 6/5 The man who owned two small ‘Ma and Pa’ grocery stores between 121st and 122nd streets on Western avenue.
1973 J. Gores Final Notice i. 6 Ma and Pa businesses alternated with the houses or occupied their ground floors.
1979 New Yorker 15 Jan. 6 Ali's Alley... Sort of a ma-and-pa jazz loft, owned and managed by drummer Kashied Ali.
1988 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 18 July 9/1 A few years ago, there were at least 200 or more of them.., mostly ‘Ma and Pa’ operators with strong backs... One by one, they have been taken over by bigger competitors.
1994 Chicago Tribune 21 July iii. 3/2 The boutique, or ma and pa, firms that once lined LaSalle Street and were the hallmarks of these exchanges are being supplanted rapidly by international financial behemoth.
Ma State n. [so called as having been the earliest Australian Colony] Australian the state of New South Wales.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Australasia > [noun] > Australia
mainland1829
commonwealth1891
Ma State1906
Oz1908
wide brown land1908
Aussie1915
Aussieland1919
1906 Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Jan. 14/4 Strange how the importing mania clings to the Ma State.
1954 Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Feb. 12/4 South Australia..missed a great opportunity by not bunging a few million over to the Ma State.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
Man.4
/ˌɛmˈeɪ/, U.S. /ˌɛmˈeɪ/ Chemistry. disused.
The element masurium (later renamed technetium).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > technetium > [noun]
Ma1925
masurium1925
technetium1947
1925 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 128 939 The names ‘masurium’ (Ma) for element 43 and ‘rhenium’ (Re) for element 75, have been chosen.
1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xix. 155 (table) Ma 43.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
maadj.
/meɪ/, U.S. /meɪ/ colloquial (chiefly British).
Used as postmodifier (originally and chiefly in some boys' public schools): designating the elder of two namesakes, or the first to enter the institution; = major adj. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > senior person > [adjective]
morelOE
senior?a1475
sen.1676
senr.1763
primus1765
ma1791
majorc1823
maximus1848
1791 in Eton School Lists 1791–1850 (1863) 2 Mr. Douglas ma.
1932 P. G. Wodehouse Louder & Funnier 12 Faber ma was so annoyed by his snorts and chuckles that he hit him over the head with a croisson or small French roll.
1963 Times 5 June 14/3 There was gentler satire from McGavin ma. with John Betjeman's ‘Village Inn’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> as lemmas
MA
MA n. mental age.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > [noun] > degree of mental development
mental age1910
MA1940
1940 R. S. Woodworth Psychol. (ed. 12) iv. 111 Of the two measures, MA and IQ, which is the better index of intelligence?
1960 J. B. Carroll in S. Saporta & J. R. Bastian Psycholinguistics (1961) 340/1 There has been much interest in the relation between language maturity and measures of intellectual functioning such as MA or IQ.
M.A.
M.A. n. [ < post-classical Latin M.A., graphic abbreviation of magister artium (c1250, 1549 in British sources); compare A.M. n. at A n. Initialisms] Master of Arts.
ΚΠ
1678 A. Wood Life 6 Sept. The banterers of Oxford (a set of scholars so called, some M.A.), who make it their employment to talk at a venture, lye and prate what nonsense they please.
1713 J. Byrom Let. 27 Apr. in Private Jrnl. & Lit. Remains (1854) I. i. 20 There is one Law, a M.A. and Fellow of Emmanuel, has this last week been degraded to a Soph, that is, the year below a Bachelor.
1724 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) M, is an Abreviation of Magister,..as M.A. Magister Artium, Master of Arts.
1773 A. Wood & J. Peshall Antient & Present State City of Oxf. 148 Thomas Gilbert..after taking his M.A. Degree in 1638..was commonly called The Bishop of Shropshire.
1811 Ld. Byron Hints from Horace 240 He..retires M.A.; Master of arts!
1872 J. C. Jeaffreson Woman in Spite of Herself I. i. vii. 117 An ordinary honourless Oxford or Cambridge M.A.
1955 Times 26 May 12/5 He was instructor to the Oxford University Air Squadron and was given the degree of M.A. honoris causa at the end of his term of duty.
1970 J. Dunbar J. M. Barrie 7 His mother was sure that he would outdistance Alec, and that after his M. A. he would set his sights for a D. D.
mA
mA n. milliampere(s).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric current > [noun] > unit of measurement
ampere1881
amp1882
milliampere1885
kilampere1892
mA1896
kVA1905
kilovolt-ampere1909
microamp1923
milliamp1923
abampere1930
1896 T. E. Herbert Electr. in Applic. to Telegr. iii. 27 1/1000 ampere or 1 m.a.
1927 Wireless World 16 Nov. 670/1 The..three valves..draw a high-tension current totalling 2 or 3 mA.
1970 Which? June 183/2 Even at maximum volume most transistor radios will not use more than 100 mA.
1991 What's New in Design Sept. 37/4 A multi wafer rotary switch rated at 100 mA 24 V DC.
Ma
Ma n. [ < M n. + a , SI symbol for ‘year’ (symbolic abbreviation for classical Latin annus year: see annals n.)] Geology and Palaeontology million years, esp. million years before the present.
ΚΠ
1967 B. Wilcock in Nature 1 July 102/2 The current international abbreviation for ‘year’..is not ‘yr’ but ‘a’..and the appropriate abbreviations for megayear and gigayear are thus Ma and Ga.
1970 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 266 479 Iceland..is the youngest volcanic land of so great extent, supposedly only 13 Ma old.
1989 A. J. Jeffreys in J. R. Durant Human Origins iii. 32 A typical evolutionary tree..groups the great apes together as a clade and postulates an early divergence of this group from the hominid lineage, some 15–20 million years (Ma) ago.
2008 Science 11 July 239/3 These rocks are now adjoined to redbeds of the Pandurra Formation in South Australia, which have detrital zircons with ages of 1595 to 1585 Ma.
<
n.11579n.21584
n.31829n.41925adj.1791as lemmas