mace

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A ceremonial staff borne or displayed as the symbol of authority of a legislative body.
2. n. A macebearer.
3. n. A heavy medieval war club with a spiked or flanged metal head, used to crush armor.
4. n. An aromatic spice made from the dried, waxy, scarlet or yellowish covering that partly encloses the kernel of the nutmeg.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A weapon for striking, consisting of a heavy head, commonly of metal, with a handle or staff, usually of such length as to be conveniently wielded with one hand; by extension, any similar weapon. The head is often spiked, and sometimes consists of six, eight, or more radiating blades, grouped around a central spike, all of steel.
2. n. A scepter; a staff of office having somewhat the form of weapon of war defined above. Maces are borne before or by officials of various ranks in many countries, as a symbol of authority or badge of office. The mace on the table of the British House of Lords or House of Commons represents the authority of the House.
3. n. A light stick with a flat head formerly used in playing billiards to push the cue-ball when out of reach for the proper stroke with the cue: superseded by the bridge, or rest for the cue.
4. n. A curriers' mallet with a knobbed face, made by the insertion of pins with egg-shaped heads, used in leather-dressing to soften and supple tanned hides and enable them to absorb the oil, etc.
5. n. A bulrush or cattail.
6. n. A spice consisting of the dried arillode (false aril) or covering of the seed of the nutmeg, Myristica fragrans, which is a fleshy net-like envelop somewhat resembling the husk of a filbert. When fresh it is of a beautiful crimson hue. It is extremely fragrant and aromatic, and is used chiefly in cooking or in pickles. Mace is similar to nutmeg in its pharmaco-dynamic properties. See cut under arillode.
7. n. A small gold coin of Atchin in Sumatra, weighing 9 grains, and worth about 26 cents.
8. n. The tenth part of a Chinese tael or ounce: as a money of account it is equal to 58 grains of pure silver. See tael, liang, and candareen.
9. n. Swindling; a swindler; a swindling loan-office.
10. To swindle.

Wiktionary

1. n. A heavy fighting club.
2. n. A ceremonial form of this weapon.
3. n. A spice obtained from the outer layer of the kernel of the fruit of the nutmeg.
4. n. A common name for some types of tear gas and pepper spray.
5. n. A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.
6. v. To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray, or, formerly, tear gas) using a hand-held device.
7. v. informal To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.
8. v. To hit someone or something with a mace.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A money of account in China equal to one tenth of a tael; also, a weight of 57.98 grains.
2. n. (Bot.) A kind of spice; the aril which partly covers nutmegs. See nutmeg.
3. n. A heavy staff or club of metal; a spiked club; -- used as weapon in war before the general use of firearms, especially in the Middle Ages, for breaking metal armor.
4. n. A staff borne by, or carried before, a magistrate as an ensign of his authority.
5. n. An officer who carries a mace as an emblem of authority; a macebearer.
6. n. A knobbed mallet used by curriers in dressing leather to make it supple.
7. n. (Billiards) A rod for playing billiards, having one end suited to resting on the table and pushed with one hand.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. spice made from the dried fleshy covering of the nutmeg seed
2. n. (trademark) a liquid that temporarily disables a person; prepared as an aerosol and sprayed in the face, it irritates the eyes and causes dizziness and immobilization
3. n. an official who carries a mace of office
4. n. a ceremonial staff carried as a symbol of office or authority