| magistrate |
a public official who exercises a judicial or executive function, such as a mayor or justice of the peace. |
| maglev |
a high-speed train levitated and propelled over tracks by the interaction of magnets along the sides of a guideway and on the train's underside; magnetic levitation train. |
| magma |
the hot, liquefied rock beneath the earth's surface that rises to the top of a volcano. [2 definitions] |
| Magna Carta |
the document forced from King John of England in 1215, which granted personal and political liberties to the English people. [2 definitions] |
| magna cum laude |
with high honors or great praise, indicating second highest status upon graduation from a college or university. (Cf. cum laude, summa cum laude.) |
| magnanimity |
generosity or willingness to forgive. |
| magnanimous |
having or showing a generous, forgiving, or noble nature. |
| magnate |
someone of exceptional power, wealth, or influence, esp. in business. |
| magnesia |
a white, powdery oxide of magnesium, used esp. in medicine as a laxative or antacid. (See milk of magnesia.) |
| magnesium |
a highly reactive chemical element of the alkaline-earth group that has twelve protons in each nucleus and that occurs naturally only in compounds, but that can be isolated as a divalent ion essential in plant and animal nutrition, or as alight, ductile, silver-white solid that bursts into a bright flame when heated above room temperature, used for flares, fireworks, and the like. (symbol: Mg) |
| magnet |
an object that attracts iron and some other materials by virtue of a natural or induced force field surrounding it. (See electromagnet.) [2 definitions] |
| magnetic |
of, concerning, or functioning as a magnet or magnets. [4 definitions] |
| magnetic amplifier |
a tubeless amplifier that employs two sets of windings, a primary set into which input feeds and a secondary set through which flows an alternating current, whose variations are modified by those in the primary winding. |
| magnetic bottle |
a magnetic field used to confine plasma during thermonuclear reactions. |
| magnetic compass |
an instrument that shows direction relative to the earth's magnetic field, usu. by means of a magnetic needle mounted on a pivot. |
| magnetic equator |
an imaginary line circling the earth near the equator, composed of points where a magnetic needle does not dip because the lines of magnetic force parallel the earth's surface. |
| magnetic field |
a region of space in which a magnetic force occurs, esp. as a result of electrical current or the motions of charged particles such as electrons. |
| magnetic flux |
the total number of lines of induction moving through a specific area in a magnetic field. |
| magnetic mine |
a marine mine designed to explode when its magnetic needle responds to the mass of a nearby ship. |
| magnetic moment |
the ratio that expresses the strength of a particular source of magnetic field. [2 definitions] |
| magnetic needle |
a thin magnetized bar of steel situated within an instrument, such as a compass, so that it indicates the direction of the earth's magnetic poles. |