macer

See also: mācer

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English macer, from Anglo-Norman macer, from mace (“mace”).

Noun

macer (plural macers)

1. A mace bearer; specifically, an officer of a court in Scotland. [from 14th c.]

   Synonym: mace-bearer

Etymology 2

Noun

macer (plural macers)

1. (slang) A cardsharp.
   • 1981, John E. Gardner, The Return of Moriarty, page 7:

     Indeed, Moran was a profession cheat, a sharper of more than ordinary dimensions — a macer, in criminal parlance. He had made card sharping a life's work — second only to shooting […]

Anagrams

• Carme, McRae, crame, cream, crema, recam

Catalan

Etymology

From maça +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [məˈse]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [maˈseɾ]

Noun

macer m (plural macers, feminine macera)

1. mace-bearer

Further reading

• “macer” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *makros, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós, from *meh₂ḱ- (“to increase”). Cognate with Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós), Old English mæġer (though English meager is from the Latin via French).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.ker/, [ˈmäkɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.t͡ʃer/, [ˈmäːt͡ʃer]

Adjective

macer (feminine macra, neuter macrum, comparative macrior, superlative macerrimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. (of living things) lean, skinny, meager
2. (of inanimate things) thin, poor

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	macer	macra	macrum		macrī	macrae	macra
Genitive	macrī	macrae	macrī		macrōrum	macrārum	macrōrum
Dative	macrō		macrō		macrīs
Accusative	macrum	macram	macrum		macrōs	macrās	macra
Ablative	macrō	macrā	macrō		macrīs
Vocative	macer	macra	macrum		macrī	macrae	macra

Derived terms

• commacerō
• macellus
• macriculus
• macritās
• macritūdō
• macrēscō
• permacer
• remacrēscō
• ēmacerātus
• ēmacerō
• ēmacrēscō

 

Related terms

• maceō
• macilentus
• maciēs
• maciō
• macor
• macēscō
• permaceō
• ēmaciō
• ēmacēscō

 

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: macru
  • Romanian: macru
• Dalmatian:
  • muogro
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: magro
  • Neapolitan: magro, macro
  • Sicilian: màguru
  • Tuscan: màghero
• North Italian:
  • Emilian: mègar, mègre
  • Friulian: magri
  • Ligurian: magru
  • Lombard: màgher
  • Piedmontese: maire, mair, mèir, mèr, màgher
  • Romagnol: mègar, mègre
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: mégro, méro

    Valdôtain: mairo, maigro, mèro

  • Oïl:
    • Bourbonnais-Berrichon: maigre, maigue
    • Bourguignon: moigre
    • Franc-Comtois: magre, maigre
    • Lorrain: maigue, maique, maque, magre
    • Norman: maigre, maigue
    • Old French: megre, meigre
      • French: maigre
        • → Pinji: maigue, maigre
      • → English: meager, meagre
    • Walloon: maigue, maique, muére, mére
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: magre
  • Occitan: magre (western dialects)

    Auvergnat: maigre, muegre

    Provençal: maigre

    Vivaro-Alpine: maigre

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Galician: magro
  • Portuguese: magro
  • Spanish: magro

References

• “macer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “macer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• macer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “macer”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ALF: Atlas Linguistique de la France^[1] [Linguistic Atlas of France] – map 793: “maigre” – on lig-tdcge.imag.fr
• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 185: “magro; magri” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• “maigre” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman macer; equivalent to mace (“mace”) +‎ -er (“agentive suffix”).

Alternative forms

• macere, maceere, maser

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaːsər/, /maːˈsɛːr/

Noun

macer (plural macers)

1. A macer; a mace-bearer (official)
   • c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, section III:

     Meires and maceres · that menes ben bitwene / Þe kynge and þe comune.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• English: macer
• Scots: macer

References

• “mācē̆re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-27.

Etymology 2

From Old English *maser.

Noun

macer

1. Alternative form of maser