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Myrmecodia (plant genus)
Plants in the genus Myrmecodia have swollen stems with hollow areas that are inhabited by ants. Ants also inhabit the hollow stem segments in the genera Nauclea, Duroia, and Hydnophytum. Two familiar genera of low herbaceous plants native to temperate areas are Galium (bedstraw, or cleavers; see photograph), with small flowers and......
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Myrmecophaga tridactyla (mammal)
The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), sometimes called the ant bear, is the largest member of the anteater family and is best known in the tropical grasslands (Llanos) of Venezuela, where it is still common. It was once found in the lowland forests of Central America and still lives in the Amazon basin southward to the grasslands of Paraguay and Argentina.......
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Myrmecophagidae (mammal family)
The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), sometimes called the ant bear, is the largest member of the anteater family and is best known in the tropical grasslands (Llanos) of Venezuela, where it is still common. It was once found in the lowland forests of Central America and still lives in the Amazon basin southward to the grasslands of Paraguay and Argentina.........
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myrmecophagy (biology)
A prime example of convergence in conjunction with dietary specialization is seen in those mammals adapted to feeding on ants and termites, a specialization generally termed myrmecophagy (“ant eating”). Trends frequently associated with myrmecophagy include strong claws, an elongate, rounded skull, a wormlike, extensible tongue, marked reduction in the mandible, and loss or extreme.....
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Myrmecophilinae (insect)
Ant-loving crickets (subfamily Myrmecophilinae) are minute (3 to 5 mm long), wingless, and humpbacked. They live in ant nests. Wingless bush crickets (subfamily Mogoplistinae) are generally found on bushes or under debris in sandy tropical areas near water. They are slender crickets, 5 to 13 mm long, wingless or with small wings, and are covered with translucent scales that rub off easily.......
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myrmekite (geology)
irregular, wormy penetration by quartz in plagioclase feldspar; these wartlike, wormlike, or fingerlike bodies may develop during the late stages of crystallization of igneous rocks if the two minerals (quartz and feldspar) grow simultaneously in the presence of a volatile phase. Myrmekite also occurs after the rock crystallizes by replacement of the plagioclase during metasomat...
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Myrmeleon formicarius (insect)
Myrmeleon formicarius, the best known of the 65 described species, occurs in both North America and Europe, but not in England. It matures in late summer. In the United States the antlion larva is frequently known as a doodlebug....
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Myrmeleontidae (insect family)
...slender; long, cylindrical antennae; wings long, slender. Larval neck slender; jaws incurved, mandibles with single internal tooth near midway.Family Myrmeleontidae (antlions)Adults with long, slender wings; bodies partly covered with fine hairs; dragonfly-like; antennae short, weakly clubbed or.....
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Myrmidon (Greek mythology)
in Greek legend, any of the inhabitants of Phthiotis in Thessaly....
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Myrny, Panas (Ukrainian author)
...from the portrayal of village life in Kaydasheva simya (1879; “The Kaydash Family”) to that of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in Khmary (1908; “The Clouds”). Panas Myrny (pseudonym of Panas Rudchenko) was the major representative of Ukrainian realism. His depiction of social injustice and the birth of social protest in Khiba revut voly, yak yasla......
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myrobalan (plant)
...preserves. The long, deciduous twigs are lined with rows of sharp-pointed, alternating leaves. Because of its even more feathery leaf-bearing twigs, each with about 100 tiny alternating leaves, the emblic, or myrobalan (P. emblica), gives the impression of a hemlock. Its acid-tasting yellow or reddish fruits are prescribed in traditional Indian medicine as a tonic. The leaves and bark......
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Myron (Greek sculptor)
Greek sculptor, an older contemporary of the sculptors Phidias and Polyclitus, considered by the ancients as one of the most versatile and innovative of all Attic sculptors....
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myron (religion)
...new members into the church. It is the Eastern equivalent of confirmation in the West. A priest anoints the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet of the newly baptized with chrism (myron), a mixture of olive oil and balsam that is confected by the primates of the local churches, and says at each anointing, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The......
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Myron of Priene (Greek historian)
...Callisthenes of the 4th century bc. Rhianus, a Cretan poet of the 3rd century bc, wrote an epic in six books, placing Aristomenes in a revolt of 490 bc. In the 2nd century bc the historian Myron of Priene connected him with the original 8th-century Spartan conquest of Messenia. From these and other sources the Greek geographer Pausanias in...
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myrosin (enzyme)
...but are a darker yellow in colour. The seeds of both types contain similar constituents: about 30 to 40 percent vegetable oil, a slightly smaller proportion of protein, and a strong enzyme called myrosin. When dry or when ground into a flour, the seeds are odourless, but when the seed is chewed or when the flour is mixed with water, a chemical reaction between two of the constituents within......
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Myrothamnaceae (plant family)
small order of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing two families, Gunneraceae and Myrothamnaceae, each with just one genus—respectively, Gunnera (40–50 species) and Myrothamnus (2 species)....
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Myrothamnus (plant genus)
Members of Myrothamnus are aromatic-resinous shrubs from Africa and Madagascar; the two species in the genus are vegetatively very distinctive. The leaves are opposite and have a long common sheath on which there are four persistent points, or stipules. The secondary veins of the blades radiate from the base, and the margins are toothed. The small flowers are borne in leafy spikes. The......
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Myroxylon pereirae (tree)
Balsam of Peru, a fragrant, thick, deep brown or black fluid used in perfumery, is a true balsam, the product of a lofty leguminous tree, Myroxylon pereirae, growing in a limited area in El Salvador and introduced into Sri Lanka. It is mentioned in pharmacopoeias but has no medicinal value. Balsam of Tolu (Colombia), a brown balsam thicker than balsam of Peru, is used in perfumery and as......
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myrrh (gum resin)
(from Arabic murr, “bitter”), bitter-tasting, agreeably aromatic, yellow to reddish brown oleoresinous gum obtained from various small, thorny, flowering trees of the genus Commiphora, of the incense-tree family (Burseraceae). The two main varieties of myrrh are herabol and bisabol. Herabol myrrh is obtained from C. myrrha, which grows in Ethiopia, Arabia, and S...
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Myrrhis odorata (plant)
(Myrrhis odorata), perennial herb of the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae). It has a leafy hollow stem 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 feet) high; much-divided leaves, whitish beneath; a large sheathing base; and terminal clusters of small white flowers, of which only the outer ones are fertile. The fruit is dark brown, 1.9 to 2.5 cm (0.7 to 1 inch) long, narrow, and beaked. The plant, native to central ...
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Myrrour of the Worlde, The (early English encyclopaedia)
...patrons and sometimes commissioned special books. His varied output—including books of chivalric romance, conduct, morality, history, and philosophy and an encyclopaedia, The Myrrour of the Worlde (1481), the first illustrated English book—shows that he catered also to a general public. The large number of service books and devotional works published by......
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Myrsilus (ancient Greek tyrant)
A new tyrant, Myrsilus, came to power in Lesbos, and Alcaeus became his fierce opponent. After the failure of a conspiracy, Alcaeus went into exile in Pyrrha, a small town near Mytilene. During his exile Alcaeus wrote bitter polemics against Pittacus, who had joined another faction. The poet greeted Myrsilus’s death with fierce joy: “Now we must get drunk and drink whether we want to...
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Myrsinaceae (plant family)
Myrsinaceae, or the Myrsine family, is pantropical and temperate, especially north temperate, with species from trees to herbs. There are about 41 genera and 1,435 species in the family. Ardisia (about 450 species) is found in much of the family’s range but not in Africa. Myrsine (155 species, including Rapanea and Suttonia) is pantropical to warm...
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Myrtaceae (plant family)
the myrtle family of shrubs and trees, in the order Myrtales, containing about 150 genera and 3,300 species that are widely distributed in the tropics. They have rather leathery evergreen leaves with oil glands. Some members of economic importance are the Eucalyptus, guava, rose apple, Surinam cherry, and feijoa. Allspice, clove, and oil of bay rum are spices derived from plants of this fa...
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Myrtales (plant order)
the myrtle order of flowering plants, composed of 14 families, 380 genera, and about 11,000 species distributed throughout the tropics and warmer regions of the world. The majority of these species belong to just two families, Melastomataceae and Myrtaceae. Myrtales includes many trees (notably Eucalyptus), shrubs such as the classic myrtle, several food and spice genera,...
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Myrtilus (Greek mythology)
In more hostile versions, Pelops bribed Oenomaus’ charioteer, Myrtilus, to remove the linchpins from Oenomaus’ chariot. After his victory, for reasons that are given differently in different sources, he threw Myrtilus into the sea that afterward was called the Myrtoan. Myrtilus—or Oenomaus—was said to have uttered the curse that dogged the Pelopid house of Atreus. (Prep...
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myrtle (plant genus)
any of the evergreen shrubs in the genus Myrtus, belonging to the family Myrtaceae. Authorities differ widely over the number of species the genus includes. Most occur in South America; some are found in Australia and New Zealand. True myrtles have a central midrib and a major vein just inside and parallel to the leaf margin....
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Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
city, Horry county, eastern South Carolina, U.S. It lies along the Atlantic coast between the ocean and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. From the early 1900s Myrtle Beach was developed as a seaside resort, and since the 1960s it has become renowned for golf, tennis, and amusement parks, as well as for fishing and swimming. In the 1990s the city’s gro...
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myrtle beech (tree)
...seven centimetres long, found in New South Wales; the mountain beech (N. cliffortioides), a 12-m-tall New Zealand tree with glossy, toothless leaves about one centimetre long; the myrtle beech, Tasmanian myrtle, or Australian, or red, myrtle (N. cunninghamii), a 60-m-tall Tasmanian tree important for its fine-textured wood; the slender, columnar red beech......
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myrtle family (plant family)
the myrtle family of shrubs and trees, in the order Myrtales, containing about 150 genera and 3,300 species that are widely distributed in the tropics. They have rather leathery evergreen leaves with oil glands. Some members of economic importance are the Eucalyptus, guava, rose apple, Surinam cherry, and feijoa. Allspice, clove, and oil of bay rum are spices derived from plants of this fa...
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myrtle order (plant order)
the myrtle order of flowering plants, composed of 14 families, 380 genera, and about 11,000 species distributed throughout the tropics and warmer regions of the world. The majority of these species belong to just two families, Melastomataceae and Myrtaceae. Myrtales includes many trees (notably Eucalyptus), shrubs such as the classic myrtle, several food and spice genera,...
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myrtle warbler (bird)
...Dendroica is the largest genus of wood warblers; this chiefly North American genus has 27 species, most of which have contrasting plumage, such as the black, white, and yellow of the myrtle warbler (D. coronata). A common but less-striking species is the blackpoll warbler (D. striata). Some authors merge Dendroica in Vermivora, a less-colourful genus......
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Myrtles, Court of the (patio, Granada, Spain)
Palaces often included a complex of courts. The Alhambra in Granada, Spain, built in the 13th and 14th centuries, has six, including the Court of the Lions and Court of the Myrtles, the most celebrated of all Muslim patios. In Tudor and Elizabethan England of the 16th century, the principal mansions frequently had a forecourt, with wings of the house projecting forward on either side. The......
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myrtlewood (tree)
aromatic evergreen tree of the laurel family (Lauraceae). It occurs on the Pacific coast of North America from Oregon to California and grows about 15 to 25 metres (50 to 80 feet) tall. A handsome tree, it is often grown in gardens and along avenues. The alternate, short-stalked, smooth-edged leaves are oblong or oval and 7.5–12.5 centimetres (3–5 inches) long. When crushed, the leav...
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Myrtus (plant genus)
any of the evergreen shrubs in the genus Myrtus, belonging to the family Myrtaceae. Authorities differ widely over the number of species the genus includes. Most occur in South America; some are found in Australia and New Zealand. True myrtles have a central midrib and a major vein just inside and parallel to the leaf margin....
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Myrtus communis (plant)
The aromatic common myrtle (M. communis) is native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East and is cultivated in southern England and the warmer regions of North America. In Greco-Roman antiquity, the common myrtle was held to be sacred to Venus and was used as an emblem of love in wreaths and other decorations....
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Mys Dezhnyova (cape, Russia)
cape, extreme eastern Russia. Cape Dezhnyov is the easternmost point of the Chukchi Peninsula and of the entire Eurasian landmass. It is separated from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska by the Bering Strait. The Russian name was given in 1879 in honour of a Russian explorer S.I. Dezhnyov, who with F.A. Popov first rounded it in 1648....
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Mysateles prehensilis (rodent)
...up to 8.5 kg (19 pounds). The tail ranges from very short and inconspicuous in Brown’s hutia (Geocapromys brownii) to pronounced and prehensile in the long-tailed Cuban hutia Mysateles prehensilis. Depending on the species, the tail may be thinly or thickly furred and have a thick coat of fur that may be soft or coarse; colours range from gray to brown to bl...
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Myself: Portrait-Landscape (painting by Rousseau)
The most important work of this period in Rousseau’s career is his self-portrait, Myself: Portrait-Landscape (1890). Standing in the foreground, palette in hand, Rousseau is surrounded by the Parisian landscape, which is painted with great accuracy. This was obviously intended as a “portrait of the artist” in the academic tradition; the seriousness...
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Mysia (ancient district, Turkey)
ancient district in northwest Anatolia adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea on the west. A vague inland perimeter was bounded by the districts of Lydia on the south and Phrygia and Bithynia on the east. Mysia designated a geographic rather than a political territory and encompassed Aeolis, Troas, and the region surrounding Pergamum....
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Mysian (people)
Homer mentioned the Mysians (for whom the region was named) as primitive allies of the Trojans, but historically there is no record of their action as an independent nation. Mysia was ruled successively by Lydia, Persia, and Pergamum, after which it was incorporated into the Roman province of Asia (129 bc). ...
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mysid (crustacean)
any member of the crustacean order Mysidacea. Most of the nearly 1,000 known species live in the sea; a few live in brackish water; and fewer still live in fresh water. Most are 1 to 3 cm (about 0.4 to 1.2 inches) long. The name opossum shrimp derives from the females’ brood pouch, in which embryos spend several weeks....
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Mysidacea (crustacean)
any member of the crustacean order Mysidacea. Most of the nearly 1,000 known species live in the sea; a few live in brackish water; and fewer still live in fresh water. Most are 1 to 3 cm (about 0.4 to 1.2 inches) long. The name opossum shrimp derives from the females’ brood pouch, in which embryos spend several weeks....
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Mysis relicta (crustacean)
...or crawl along the bottom; others creep among vegetation. Certain species swim in the open water, occasionally forming swarms consisting of great numbers of individuals. The freshwater species Mysis relicta, which is common in cold lakes of North America, Great Britain, and northern Europe, is an important food for lake trout in the Great Lakes. Some species, such as Heteromysis......
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Myskina, Anastasiya (Russian athlete)
...before the third round. She did not compete again until the Olympic Games in Athens. Remarkably, she rescued herself from 1–5 down in the final set of her semifinal against French Open victor Anastasiya Myskina of Russia and then took the gold medal over Amélie Mauresmo of France. At the U.S. Open two weeks later, however, Henin was ousted in the fourth round—the first time...
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Mysore (state, India)
state of India, located on the western coast of the subcontinent. It has an area of 74,051 square miles (191,791 square kilometres). It is bounded by the states of Goa and Mahārāshtra to the north, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nādu to the southeast, and Kerala to the south and by the Arabian Sea to the west. The state extends for about 420 miles (676 kilometres) from nort...
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Mysore (India)
city, south-central Karnātaka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India. It lies northwest of Chamundi Hill and midway between the Cauvery and Kabbani rivers on the undulating Deccan plateau at an elevation of 2,525 feet (770 m). The land surrounding the city is characterized by rain-filled shallow depressions (tanks)....
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Mysore Wars (Indian history)
(1767–69; 1780–84; 1790–92; 1799), four military confrontations in India between the British and the rulers of Mysore....
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MySpace.com (Web site)
social networking Web site owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation Ltd. and headquartered in Beverly Hills, Calif....
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Myst (electronic game)
graphical puzzle-adventure electronic game that debuted in 1993 and was designed by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller for American game manufacturers Cyan Worlds and Brøderbund Software. Advanced graphics and an engrossing story line helped Myst sell fans on what was essentially a very pretty series of puzzles, which showed the industry that grenades and machine guns ...
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Mystacina (mammal)
either of two species (M. robusta and M. tuberculata) of small bats that are the only species in the rare bat family Mystacinidae, which is found only in New Zealand. They are about 6–7 cm (2.4–2.8 inches) long and have a short 1.8-cm (0.7-inch) tail. The fur is grayish brown and thicker than the fur of other bats. Close ...
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Mystacinidae (bat family)
...simple muzzle; ears large; second finger reduced to rudiment. Roost alone or in small groups, often in still-furled banana leaves. Biology poorly known.Family Mystacinidae (New Zealand short-tailed bats)2 small species in 1 genus (Mysticina) of New Zealand. Simple head similar to th...
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Mystacocarida (crustacean)
any member of the crustacean subclass Mystacocarida, a small group of primitive, free-living marine animals. Of the few species known, the first was discovered near Woods Hole, Mass., U.S., in 1943....
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Mystère de la charité de Jeanne d’Arc, Le (work by Péguy)
Péguy published several collections of his essays in the years before World War I, but the most important works of his maturity are his poems. Chief among them is Le Mystère de la charité de Jeanne d’Arc (1910), a mystical meditation that enlarges upon some of the scenes in the Jeanne d’Arc of 1897; Mystère des Saints Innocents (1912);...
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Mystère de la Passion (passion play by Gréban)
French author of an important 15th-century religious drama known as Mystère de la Passion (1453/54), dramatizing the events of Jesus’ life. In 1507 a performance of his Passion play, revised by Jean Michel to 65,000 lines, occupied six days. Gréban also collaborated with his brother Simon on a long mystery play about the Acts of the Apostles. In 1455 he is known to have...
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“Mystère de l’être, Le” (book by Marcel)
...Marcel, a Christian Existentialist philosopher and dramatist, the method of philosophy depends upon a recognition of the mystery of Being (Le Mystère de l’être [1951; The Mystery of Being, 1950–51]); i.e., on the impossibility of discovering Being through objective or rational analyses or demonstrations. Philosophy should lead man up, ho...
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Mystère Picasso, Le (film by Clouzot)
There is a renewed sense of play in the work of Picasso’s later years. He transformed paper cutouts into monumental sculptures, and in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s film Le Mystère Picasso (1955), the artist, the sole star, behaves like a conjurer, performing tricks with light as well as with his brush. And finally, just as he turned to the paintings of earl...
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“Mystères de Paris, Les” (work by Sue)
...life” in Arthur (1838) and Mathilde (1841). The latter showed socialist tendencies, and Sue turned in this direction in Les Mystères de Paris (1842–43; The Mysteries of Paris)—which influenced Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—and Le Juif errant (1844–45; The Wandering Jew). Published in installm...
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mysterian (philosophy)
...mind-body interaction seems to be impossible, human beings experience it, and God can make it happen. The British philosopher Colin McGinn, for example, is among a group of thinkers, known as “mysterians,” who claim that, although we know that the conscious mind is nothing more than the brain, it is simply beyond the conceptual apparatus of human beings to understand how this can ...
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mysteries of light (religion)
In 2002 Pope John Paul II added a fourth set of mysteries, the “luminous mysteries,” or mysteries of light. The five new mysteries celebrate events in Jesus’ ministry, including his baptism; his miracle at Cana, where he turned water into wine; his proclamation of the kingdom of God; the Transfiguration, in which he revealed his divinity to three of his Apostles; and his......
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Mysteries of Paris, The (work by Sue)
...life” in Arthur (1838) and Mathilde (1841). The latter showed socialist tendencies, and Sue turned in this direction in Les Mystères de Paris (1842–43; The Mysteries of Paris)—which influenced Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—and Le Juif errant (1844–45; The Wandering Jew). Published in installm...
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Mysteries of Selflessness, The (poem by Iqbāl)
The dialectical quality of his thinking was expressed by the next long Persian poem, Rumūz-e bīkhūdī (1918; The Mysteries of Selflessness). Written as a counterpoint to the individualism preached in the Asrār-e khūdī, this poem called for self-surrender.Lo, like a candle wrestling with the nightO...
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Mysteries of Udolpho, The (work by Radcliffe)
...and A Sicilian Romance (1790) were published anonymously. She achieved fame with her third novel, The Romance of the Forest (1791), a tale of 17th-century France. Her next work, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), by which she became the most popular novelist in England, tells how the orphaned Emily St. Aubert is subjected to cruelties by guardians, threatened with the loss......
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Mysteries, Villa of the (villa, Pompeii, Italy)
There are few paintings from the temples of the mystery religions that have been preserved; nevertheless, some of these deserve comment. The superb Dionysiac frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri) at Pompeii show the initiation of a girl into the Bacchic Mysteries: in one fresco she is lifting the cover of a sacred casket; in a second scene three followers of Dionysus are......
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Mysterious Affair at Styles, The (work by Christie)
Educated at home by her mother, Christie began writing detective fiction while working as a nurse during World War I. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), introduced Hercule Poirot, her eccentric and egotistic Belgian detective; Poirot reappeared in about 25 novels and many short stories before returning to Styles, where, in Curtain (1975), he died. The elderly......
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Mysterious Island, The (work by Verne)
...Rudolf Wyss, in which a shipwrecked clergyman, his wife, and his four sons manage not only to survive on their island but also to discover the good life. Jules Verne strands his castaways in Mysterious Island (1874) with only one match, one grain of wheat, a metal dog collar, and two watches. From these beginnings they build up an impressive island industry. In the 20th century......
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Mysterium (novel by Hauge)
...on Gallows Hill”) is a psychological detective story in which questions of guilt and responsibility are paramount. Hauge’s most important novel in a religious vein is the visionary Mysterium (1967; “Mystery”). In it, a man suffering from amnesia finds his way to a cloister where he is guided by dreams and visions and eventually healed by a perception of....
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Mysterium Fidei (encyclical by Pope Paul VI)
...emphasis from a change of substance to a change of meaning, they coined the terms transsignification and transfinalization to be used in preference to transubstantiation. But, in his encyclical Mysterium fidei in 1965, Pope Paul VI called for a retention of the dogma of Real Presence together with the terminology of transubstantiation in which it had been expressed....
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“Mysterium Magnum” (work by Böhme)
...who had a profound influence on such later intellectual movements as idealism and Romanticism. Erklärung über das erste Buch Mosis, better known as Mysterium Magnum (1623; The Great Mystery), is his synthesis of Renaissance nature mysticism and biblical doctrine. His Von der Gnadenwahl (On the Election of Grace), written the same year, examines t...
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mysterium tremendum et fascinans (mysticism)
...the “numinous” (the spiritual dimension), the utterly ineffable, the holy, and the overwhelming. The “holy” is manifested in a double form: as the mysterium tremendum (“mystery that repels”), in which the dreadful, fearful, and overwhelming aspect of the numinous appears, and as the mysteri...
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mystery (religion)
...the seasonal drama was homologized to a soteriology (salvation concept) concerning the destiny, fortune, and salvation of the individual after death. The collective agricultural rite became a mystery, a salvific experience reserved for the elect (such as the Greek mystery religion of Eleusis). Other traditions even more radically reinterpreted the ancient figures. The cosmic or seasonal......
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mystery (organization)
British trade unionism has a long and continuous history. Medieval guilds, which regulated craft production, clearly differed in function from trade unions, in that guilds were combinations of both masters and workers while modern unions emerged to serve workers’ interests alone. However, aspects of guild regulation—as in matters relating to apprenticeship—were incorporated in...
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Mystery (American periodical)
Returning to Pittsburgh, Delany started a weekly newspaper, the Mystery, which publicized grievances of blacks in the United States and also championed women’s rights. The paper won an excellent reputation, and its articles were often reprinted in the white press. From 1846 to 1849 he worked in partnership with the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass in......
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Mystery Bouffe (work by Mayakovsky)
...(1918; “Ode to Revolution”) and “Levy marsh” (1919; “Left March”) became very popular. So too did his Misteriya buff (first performed 1921; Mystery Bouffe), a drama representing a universal flood and the subsequent joyful triumph of the “Unclean” (the proletarians) over the “Clean” (the bourgeoisie)....
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Mystery of Being, The (book by Marcel)
...Marcel, a Christian Existentialist philosopher and dramatist, the method of philosophy depends upon a recognition of the mystery of Being (Le Mystère de l’être [1951; The Mystery of Being, 1950–51]); i.e., on the impossibility of discovering Being through objective or rational analyses or demonstrations. Philosophy should lead man up, ho...
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Mystery of Edwin Drood, The (novel by Dickens)
...and human worth, appeared in the 1860s: Great Expectations (1860–61) and Our Mutual Friend (1864–65). His final book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (published posthumously, 1870), was left tantalizingly uncompleted at the time of his death....
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Mystery of Heaven and Earth (Ethiopian literary work)
...of several apocalyptic books, which inspired two original compositions. Fekkare Iyasus (“Elucidation of Jesus”) was written during the reign of Tewodros I (1411–14); “Mystery of Heaven and Earth” was written somewhat later and is noteworthy for a vigorous account of the struggle between the archangel Michael and Satan. This book must not be confused......
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mystery play (dramatic genre)
one of three principal kinds of vernacular drama in Europe during the Middle Ages (along with the miracle play and the morality play). The mystery plays, usually representing biblical subjects, developed from plays presented in Latin by churchmen on church premises and depicted such subjects as the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel,...
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mystery religion
any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. They originated in tribal ceremonies that were performed by primitive peoples in many parts of the world. Whereas in these tribal communities almost every member of the clan or the village was initiated, ...
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mystery story (narrative genre)
ages-old popular genre of tales dealing with the unknown as revealed through human or worldly dilemmas; it may be a narrative of horror and terror, a pseudoscientific fantasy, a crime-solving story, an account of diplomatic intrigue, an affair of codes and ciphers and secret societies, or any situation involving an enigma. By and large, mystery stories may be divided into two sorts: tales of the s...
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Mystery Train (recording by Presley)
...groove. This sound was the hallmark of the five singles Presley released on Sun over the next year. Although none of them became a national hit, by August 1955, when he released the fifth, “Mystery Train,” arguably his greatest record ever, he had attracted a substantial Southern following for his recordings, his live appearances in regional roadhouses and clubs, and his radio......
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Mystery Writers of America (literary organization)
The Mystery Writers of America, a professional organization founded in 1945 to elevate the standards of mystery writing, including the detective story, has exerted an important influence through its annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards for excellence. See also mystery story; hard-boiled fiction....
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Mystic (Connecticut, United States)
historic resort village in the town (township) of Stonington, New London county, southeastern Connecticut, U.S. It lies at the mouth of the Mystic River, opposite West Mystic. Settled in 1654, its name was derived from the Indian missituk (“great tidal river”). From the 17th to the 19th century it was a noted shipbuilding and whaling centr...
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Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (work by Bartolomeo)
...with a dense and somewhat shadowy atmospheric treatment. Among such works are his “God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene” (1509; Pinacoteca Civica, Lucca) and the “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine” (1512)....
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Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria (altarpiece by Memling)
...to Rome and back, unfolds with charm and colourful detail but with little drama or emotion. Other patrons of the same hospital commissioned Memling to paint a large altarpiece of St. John with the mystical marriage of St. Catherine to Christ as the central theme (Memling-Museum, Brugge). Elaborate narratives appear behind the patron saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist painted on......
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Mystic Nativity (painting by Botticelli)
...executed in 1498. The spiritual tensions of these years are reflected in two religious paintings, the apocalyptic Mystic Crucifixion (1497) and the Mystic Nativity (1501), which expresses Botticelli’s own faith in the renewal of the church. The Tragedy of Lucretia (c. 1499) and ...
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Mystic Pizza (film by Petrie)
Damon was raised in Cambridge, Mass., and attended the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, where he took drama classes. At age 18 he landed a small part in Mystic Pizza (1988) and also enrolled in Harvard University as an English major. After appearing in the television movie Rising Son (1990), he left Harvard to pursue an acting career just......
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Mystic River (film by Eastwood [2003])
...(1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Absolute Power (1997), Space Cowboys (2000), and Mystic River (2003), a dark tale of murder and revenge that many critics believed to be one of Eastwood’s finest films as a director. In 2005 he earned an Academy Award for best director for......
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Mystic Rose (work by Crawley)
...traders, and travelling adventurers included an abundance of miscellaneous information that was collected in such works as Sir James Frazer’s Golden Bough (1890) and Ernest Crawley’s Mystic Rose (1902). These rather encyclopaedic collections of customs, religious and magical practices, and other curious data were read with relish by the intellectual community; the th...
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Mystic Rose Garden, The (work by Shabestari)
Persian mystic whose poetic work Golshan-e rāz (The Mystic Rose Garden) became a classic document of Ṣūfism (Islāmic mysticism)....
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Mystic Seaport and Marine Museum (museum, Mystic, Connecticut, United States)
...historic sites and buildings have been restored, the latter sometimes being used as museums. This has led to the development of historic and natural landscapes as museums, such as the renovation of Mystic Seaport in Connecticut as a maritime museum, the use of Ironbridge Gorge as a museum to interpret the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in England, and the restoration of the walled medieval...
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mystic union
Christian mystics claim that the soul may be lifted into a union with God so close and so complete that it is merged in the being of God and loses the sense of any separate existence. Jan van Ruysbroeck wrote that in the experience of union “we can nevermore find any distinction between ourselves and God” (The Sparkling Stone, chapter 10); and Eckhart speaks....
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mystical atheism
...going beyond all that we speak of as God—even the Trinity—to an inner “God beyond God,” a divine Darkness or Desert in which all distinction is lost. This form of “mystical atheism” has seemed suspicious to established religion; its adherents have usually tried to calm the suspicions of the orthodox by an insistence on the necessity, though......
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mystical body of Christ (theology)
...believers, even though the two churches fell into schism in 1054. Furthermore, the juridical definition of the church did not include traditional themes such as the communion of saints and the body of Christ. The theme of the communion of saints refers to the church as a whole, including both the living and the dead (the souls in purgatory—a place or condition for those who must be......
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Mystical City of God, The (work by Agreda)
Her virtues and holy life were universally acknowledged, but controversy arose over her mystical writings, her political influence, and her missionary activities. Her best-known work is The Mystical City of God (1670), a life of the Virgin Mary ostensibly based on divine revelations granted to María. It was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1681, but the ban was......
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Mystical Element of Religion as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends, The (work by von Hügel)
...Christ and humanity, free will and church control, and Roman Catholicism and contemporary scientific reasoning. In support of Roman Catholicism and the importance of mystical experience, he wrote The Mystical Element of Religion as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends (1908)....
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mystical interpretation (biblical criticism)
Anagogical (mystical or spiritual) interpretation seeks to explain biblical events or matters of this world so that they relate to the life to come. Jordan is thus interpreted as the river of death; by crossing it one enters into the heavenly Canaan, the better land, the “rest that remains for the people of God.” “The Jerusalem that now is” points to the new Jerusalem.....
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Mystical Theology (work by Pseudo-Dionysius)
...who was probably a Syrian monk of the 5th or 6th century and who wrote in the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, Paul’s convert at Athens. In the chief works of Pseudo-Dionysius, Mystical Theology and On the Divine Names, the main emphasis was on the ineffability of God (“the Divine Dark”) and hence on the “apophatic...
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mystical theology
in general, a spiritual quest for hidden truth or wisdom, the goal of which is union with the divine or sacred (the transcendent realm). Forms of mysticism are found in all major world religions, by analogy in the shamanic and other ecstatic practices of nonliterate cultures, and in secular experience....
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Mysticeti (mammal)
any cetacean possessing unique epidermal modifications of the mouth called baleen, which is used to filter food from water....
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