massy

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æsi

Etymology 1

From Middle English massy; equivalent to mass +‎ -y.

Adjective

massy (comparative massier, superlative massiest)

1. Heavy; massive.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde, / Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckes / Hangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte, / In euery part exceding braue and rich.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 627–635:

     Eevning approachd / (For we have alſo our Eevning and our Morn, / We ours for change delectable, not need) / Forthwith from dance to ſweet repaſt they turn / Deſirous, all in Circles as they ſtood, / Tables are ſet, and on a ſudden pil'd / With Angels Food, and rubied Nectar flows: / In Pearl, in Diamond, and maſſie Gold, / Fruit of delicious Vines, the growth of Heav'n.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 95, lines 647–652:

     This utter'd, ſtraining all his nerves he bow'd, / As with the force of winds and waters pent, / When Mountains tremble, thoſe two maſſie Pillars / With horrible convulſion to and fro, / He tugg'd, he ſhook, till down they came and drew / The whole roof after them, […]

   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 68:

     Brown accompanied his jolly landlord and the rest of his friends into the large and smoky kitchen, where this savoury mess reeked on an oaken table, massy enough to have dined Johnnie Armstrong and his merry-men.

   • 1840, Thomas De Quincey, “Style”, in Critical Suggestions on Style and Rhetoric with German Tales and Other Narrative Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XI), London: James Hogg & Sons, published 1859, →OCLC, part I, page 165:

     And the true art for such popular display is to contrive the best forms for appearing to say something new, when in reality you are but echoing yourself; to break up massy chords into running variations; and to mask, by slight differences in the manner, a virtual identity in the substance.

   • 2003 October 5-8, J. A. Kosinski, 2003 IEEE Symposium on Ultrasonics, volume 1, →ISBN, abstract, pages 70-73

     We develop a set of six coupled equations governing the modal amplitudes and phase angles (mode-center offsets) for the flat, piezoelectric plate resonator with massy electrodes of unequal thickness.

Related terms

• massic

Etymology 2

Noun

massy

1. Pronunciation spelling of mercy.
   • 1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss

     "But Lors ha' massy, how did you get near such mud as that?" said Sally, ...

Etymology 3

Noun

massy

1. Pronunciation spelling of master.

Anagrams

• Smays, SyAMs, Sysmä, amyss, my ass

Middle English

Etymology 1

From masse +‎ -y.

Alternative forms

• masse, mascy, masie, masy

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmasiː/

Adjective

massy

2. weighty, massy, having great weight.
3. uncontaminated, unalloyed.
4. Not hollow; lacking an internal cavity.
5. tough, firm, sturdy
6. (rare) Unsculpted; not given a shape, primordial.

Related terms

• massif

Descendants

• English: massy
• Scots: massie

References

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

Etymology 2

Verb

massy

1. Alternative form of messen (“to hold mass”)