▪ I. mensal, a.1 and n.1
(ˈmɛnsəl)
Also 8 mensale.
[ad. late L. mensālis, f. mensa table: see -al1.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to or used at the table; table-.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 333/1 Mensal knyfe, or borde knyfe. 1656 Blount Glossogr. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (J.), Conversation either mental or mensal. 1778 Dr. Warner Let. in Jesse Selwyn's Corr. (1844) III. 335 The common things, mental or mensal, which I grubbed on with contentedly. |
b. mensal bed: a couch used (as by the ancient Romans) for reclining at meals.
| 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 543 It is an allusion to their conjugal and mensal beds, on which the guests are so bestowed, that the first laid his left hand under the head of him that was next. |
2. a. In Irish (and early Scottish) history, mensal land: land set apart for the supply of food for the table of the king or prince.
| 1607 Davies 1st Let. to Earl Salisbury Hist. Tracts (1787) 245 The Mensall land of M'Guire. 1689 R. Cox Hist. Irel. i. Expl. Index, Logh tee, Demeasn or Mensal Lands, for House-keeping. 1880 W. F. Skene Celtic Scot. III. 148 The office or mensal land set apart for the maintenance of the Ri or Toisech. |
b. In Scotland and Ireland before the Reformation, applied to a church, benefice, etc., appropriated to the service of the bishop for the maintenance of his table. Also similarly used in the modern Roman Catholic church in Ireland.
| 1605 T. Ryves Vicar's Plea (1620) 114 All manner of Benefices as well mensall as other. 1663 Jrnls. Irish Ho. Lords (1779) I. 375 That Bishops that are well settled do build a Mensal-House. 1775 L. Shaw Moray (1827) 360 The churches of St. Andrews, Ugston, and Laggan were Mensal. 1813 Carlisle Topog. Dict. Scot. II, Hoddom, in the Shire of Dumfries: formerly a Mensal Church to the See of Glasgow. 1861 Fitzpatrick Dr. Doyle (1880) I. 379 As this was a mensal parish, Dr. Doyle often visited it officially. |
3. Palmistry. mensal line, the ‘line of fortune’, the table-line. [Cf. OF. mensale n.]
| 1602 Narcissus (1893) 230 Thy mensall line is too direct and cragged. 1675 Salmon Polygraph. v. xxxix. 489. |
B. n.
1. Hist. A mensal church or benefice.
| 1710 J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Mensalia, Mensals, were such Personages or Livings as were united formerly to the Tables of Religious Houses. 1847 W. Reeves Eccles. Antiq. Down & Connor (1867) 115 note, This parish was, of old, a mensal of the Bishop of Dromore. |
† 2. Irish Antiq. The provision of the royal table (see A. 2 a). Obs.
| 1782 Vallancey's Collect. De Rebus Hibern. III. x. 94 Lands assigned for the mensal of the chief. |
▪ II. mensal, a.2 and n.2
(ˈmɛnsəl)
[f. L. mēns-is month + -al1. Cf. mensual.]
A. adj. Monthly.
| 1860 Worcester (citing Month. Rev.). 1888 J. Nelson in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. I. 390 In the male as in the female, the maturation of the reproductive elements is a continuous process, though we may hardly say that it is not influenced by the mensal periodicity. |
† B. n. A monthly account. Obs.
| a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 60 The cofferer hathe..one under clerke..to make the mensall and many othyr wrytings for the Thesaurere his accompt. 1526 Ibid. 220 Within three dayes of the expirement of every moneth to bring in his mensall. |