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mace¹

(mās)

1. A ceremonial staff borne or displayed as the symbol of authority of a legislative body.

2. A macebearer.

3. A heavy medieval war club with a spiked or flanged metal head, used to crush armor.

[Middle English, from Old French masse, from Vulgar Latin *mattea.]

mace²

(mās)

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

[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

(mās)

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

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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