macaroni here, a term used in eighteenth-century England to describe a well-to-do young man who dressed in Continental fashions rather than in staid, bland English clothing.
mackintosh a waterproof raincoat.
Madame, je suis tout joyeux French, "Madam, I am quite happy."
Majorca largest of Spain's Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean Sea, about 120 miles southeast of Barcelona.
Malays native people of Malaysia, Indonesia, and surrounding areas.
marionettes puppets manipulated by strings.
Marsyas in Greek mythology, he lost a music contest and his life to Apollo.
martyr one who suffers death rather than compromise principles; one who sacrifices greatly.
merchantman a commercial ship.
Messalina third wife of Claudius I of Rome (10 B.C.–54 A.D.); she was noted for lascivious behavior.
Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet.
Miranda a leading character in William Shakespeare's The Tempest.
misanthrope a person who scorns or hates mankind.
monstre charmant French, "charming monster."
Montaigne Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533–92), French author.
Moorish regarding the Moslems of mixed Berber and Arab descent living mostly in northern Africa.
morose gloomy; very melancholy; sullen.
moue French, meaning "pout."
munificent very generous.
myriad a large, indefinite number.
nacre mother-of-pearl.
narcissus This narrow-leafed plant with its white or yellow, trumpet-shaped blossom, is an apt flower for Dorian to adore. It is named for Narcissus of Greek mythology, a young man who spurned the attentions of Echo and fell in love with his own image in a pool of water; he was turned into the flower.
nil a contraction of the Latin nihil, "nothing."
Nile the longest river in Africa, running from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean.
nitric acid a fuming, corrosive liquid.
nocturne a musical composition intended to evoke thoughts or feelings of night.
Ophelia a leading character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Ophelia a leading character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet; she dies by drowning, although Shakespeare leaves unclear if her drowning is a suicide or an accident.
Oxford one of the two most revered British universities; the other is Cambridge.
