| Mar | v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Marred p. pr. & vb. n. Marring. ] [ OE. marren, merren, AS. merran, myrran (in comp.), to obstruct, impede, dissipate; akin to OS. merrian, OHG. marrjan, merran; cf. D. marren, meeren, to moor a ship, Icel. merja to bruise, crush, and Goth. marzjan to offend. Cf. Moor, v. ] 1. To make defective; to do injury to, esp. by cutting off or defacing a part; to impair; to disfigure; to deface. [ 1913 Webster ] I pray you mar no more trees with wiring love songs in their barks. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] But mirth is marred, and the good cheer is lost. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] Ire, envy, and despair
Which marred all his borrowed visage. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. To spoil; to ruin. “It makes us, or it mars us.” “Striving to mend, to mar the subject.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] |
| Marabou | n. [ F. ] 1. (Zool.) A large black-and-white carrion-eating stork of the genus Leptoptilos (formerly Ciconia), esp. the African species (Leptoptilus crumeniferus syn. Leptoptilos crumenifer), whose downy under-wing feathers are used to trim garments; called also marabout. The Asiatic species (Leptoptilos dubius, or Leptoptilos argala) is the adjutant. See Adjutant. [ Written also marabu. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 2. One having five eighths negro blood; the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe. [ Louisiana ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. A kind of thrown raw silk, nearly white naturally, but capable of being dyed without scouring; also, a thin fabric made from it, as for scarfs, which resembles the feathers of the marabou in delicacy, -- whence the name. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] |
| Marabout | n. [ F., from Pg. marabuto, Ar. morābit. Cf. Maravedi. ] 1. A Muslim saint; especially, one who claims to work cures supernaturally. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Zool.) The marabou{ 1 }. [ PJC ] |
