| madder | <botany> A plant of the Rubia (R. Tinctorum). The root is much used in dyeing red, and formerly was used in medicine. It is cultivated in France and Holland. See Rubiaceous. Madder is sometimes used in forming pigments, as lakes, etc, which receive their names from their colours; as. Madder yellow. Field madder, an annual European weed (Sherardia arvensis) resembling madder. Indian madder, the East Indian Rubia cordifolia, used in the East for dyeing; called also munjeet. Wild madder, Rubia peregrina of Europe; also the Galium Mollugo, a kind of bedstraw. Origin: OE. Mader, AS. Maedere; akin to Icel. Mara. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| madderwort | <botany> A name proposed for any plant of the same natural order (Rubiaceae) as the madder. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Maddox's rod | A glass rod, or a series of parallel glass rod's, that converts the image of a light source into a streak of light perpendicular to the axis of the rod. The position of this streak in relation to the image of the light source seen by the fellow eye indicates the presence and amount of heterophoria. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Maddox, Ernest | <person> English ophthalmologist, 1860-1933. See: Maddox's rod. (05 Mar 2000) |