▪ I. mealy, a.
(ˈmiːlɪ)
Also 6–7 mealie, 7–9 meally.
[f. meal n.1 + -y.]
1. Resembling meal, having the qualities of meal, powdery. Of fruits: (see quot. 1725). Of potatoes when boiled: Forming a somewhat dry and powdery mass, resembling flour (considered to be a good quality: opposed to waxy).
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 88 b, Some groundes or residence [in urine] is like to meale, wheate, or barley, and may be named mealy residence. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. Hydriot. etc. 58 Though the regular spots in their [sc. butterflies] wings seem but a mealie adhesion..yet [etc.]. 1672–3 Grew Anat. Roots ii. §30 Many Apples, after Frosts, eat mealy. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict., Mealy; a Term used concerning certain Pears, which having generally surpassed their Ripeness, or growing in an ill Soil, have not that Quantity of Juice and fine Pulp, which they should have: Thus they say of the Lansac, Dean, &c. this Pear is mealy, this Pear has a mealy Taste. 1758 Reid tr. Macquer's Chem. i. 35 By which means its crystals lose their transparency, become, as it were, mealy, and fall into a fine flour. 1795 Hull Advertiser 5 Dec. 4/3 Mealy potatoe. 1818–20 E. Thompson tr. Cullen's Nosol. Method. (ed. 3) 203 Small clustering pimples..after three days go away in a small mealy desquamation. 1840 Pereira Elem. Mat. Med. II. 661 Many druggists prefer mealy sarsaparilla, that is, sarsaparilla whose cortex is brittle and powdery, and which, on being fractured transversely, throws out a white dust. |
2. Containing meal or farina; farinaceous.
mealy pudding = white pudding (
white a. 11 e).
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 832 Our mealy grain Our skillfull Seedman scatters not in vain. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 485 A Farinaceous or Mealy Tree, serving to make bread of it. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 591/1 The meally Julep. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 267 Decoctions of mealy Vegetables lubricate the Intestines. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Mealy albumen, the albumen of seeds which contains many starch granules, as in wheat. 1914 F. B. Jack Cookery for every Household 517/1 Mealy Puddings. 1 lb. oatmeal. ½ lb beef suet... When the puddings are required, toast them a few minutes in front of the fire. 1946 F. M. McNeill Recipes from Scotland 65 White or Mealie Puddings... The puddings will keep for months if hung up. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 550/1 Mealy Pudding, an oatmeal pudding which is served with grilled sausages, bacon, herrings, etc. |
3. Covered with flour.
| 1704 N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. I. 233 That some sort of People should be so foolish, to expect to come, as meally out of the Mill, when they had staid there but a quarter of an Hour, as the Miller himself. 1773 Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 68 Mealy bakers, Hair-kaimers [etc.]. 1832 Tennyson Miller's Dau. i, The wealthy miller's mealy face. 1883 H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 113 He emerged from the mills as white as the clown in a pantomime, nor were we less mealy. |
| transf. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 672 The mealie Mountains (late unseen) Change their white garments into lustly green. 1839 Longfellow Hyperion i. vi, Winter..will come down at last in his old-fashioned mealy coat. |
4. a. Covered with or as if with a fine dust or powder. Chiefly in
Bot. and
Ent.| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 34 b, Britannick or English Herb, hath the very looke of the greatest Sorrell, but in Colour a little more black, somewhat Mossie or Mealie. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 79 Men like butter-flies, Shew not their mealie wings, but to the Summer. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 316 Chenopodium album..more or less mealy. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Mealy hairs, term applied by De Bary to the capitate hairs, presenting a powdery aspect, found on the under surface of various ferns belonging to the species Gymnogramma Pteris and Nothochlæna [etc.]. |
| Comb. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xv. 141 Some flye with two wings,..some with foure, as all farinaceous or mealy winged animals, as Butter-flies and Moths. |
b. In various specific designations of animals, plants, and minerals:
mealy-bug, a scale insect of the family Pseudococcidæ,
esp. one of the genus
Pseudococcus;
mealy centaury,
Centaurea dealbata (Sanders
Encycl. Gard.,
ed. 2, 1896);
mealy duck (see
quot.);
mealy insect = mealy bug;
mealy parasol, an esculent fungus,
Agaricus granulosus;
mealy redpoll,
-pole, see
redpoll1;
mealy starwort,
Aletris farinosa (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890);
mealy tree, the wayfaring tree,
Viburnum Lantana;
mealy zeolite, an
obs. synonym of both natrolite and mesolite (A. H. Chester).
| 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. §3059 M'Phail [c. 1800] observes, that the red spider, the *mealy white bug, and the brown turtle insect are the most injurious to the vine. 1840 Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 573 The Mealy-bug, C. adonidum, is somewhat of a rosy hue, with the body covered with a white mealy powder. 1927 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 502/1 The mealybug, so called from its white waxy or mealy coating, belongs to the big family of scale insects known as the Coccidae. 1953 S. H. Skaife Afr. Insect Life xi. 122 Mealy bugs are small insects, the largest being only about one-eighth of an inch long, pink or purplish in colour but appearing to be white because their bodies are covered with a waxy powder. 1971 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 5 May 27/5 The Comstock Mealybug, also known as the Pseudococcus Comstocki, is a serious threat to citrus, sugar beets, grapes, apples and other crops. |
| 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds Index, *Mealy bird or -duck. 1890 H. Stevenson's Birds Norfolk III. 219 The immature long-tailed duck is known to the Blakeney gunners as the ‘little mealy duck’. |
| 1815 Trans. Horticult. Soc. I. 297 Coccus Adonidum, the *Mealy Insect. |
| 1887 Hay Brit. Fungi 73 Agaricus granulosus... The *Mealy Parasol. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Mealy Tree or Wild Vine. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 319 Mealy-tree, Pliant, Viburnum. |
5. a. Of colour: Spotty, uneven. In
Photography = measly a. 3.
| 1784 J. Barry in Lect. Paint. vi. (1848) 216 To give a richness and depth to the dark colours, by preventing that mealy appearance which results from the light resting and glittering on their surfaces. 1804 P. F. Tingry Varnisher's Guide (1816) 3 The use of camphor for varnish is limited; too great a quantity would render it mealy. 1876 [see measly a. 3]. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 86 My greatest trouble has been mealy prints. |
b. Of colours of horses: Spotty, interspersed with whitish specks. Also
Comb., as
mealy-buttocked,
mealy-flanked,
mealy-mouthed,
mealy-nosed adjs. (
Cf. maily a.)
| 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 980/4 Stolen.., a black brown Nag,..with a star in the Forehead, a light brown mealy mouth. 1677 Ibid. No. 1198/4 A brown bay Gelding, with a shorn Mane, mealy mouth'd,..'twixt 14 and 15 hands. 1691 Ibid. No. 2692/4 Stolen.., a black brown Nag,..mealy Buttock'd, and mealy Nosed with a Star on his Snip. 1703 Ibid. No. 3978/4 A brown Nag..mealy Flank't. 1708 Ibid. No. 4438/4 A Black Mare of about five years old,..a small meally Slip under her Right Nostril. 1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. 19 A mealy bay cob. |
6. Of complexion: Floury, pale. Also
Comb., as
mealy-complexioned,
mealy-faced adjs.| 1838 Dickens O. Twist xiv, I only know two sorts of boys. Mealy boys, and beef-faced boys. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Hamilton Tighe, They bring her a little, pale, mealy-faced boy. 1860 All Year Round No. 66. 367 The boys of these London schools are thin and long: white, mealy, and flaccid. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxxvi, A mealy-complexioned male. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius viii, A mealy-faced, over-cerebrated people are springing up. |
7. Of the flavour of tea: Soft, not harsh.
| 1892 Walsh Tea (Philad.) 98 Clear and bright in liquor, and mellow or ‘mealy’ in flavor. |
8. Soft-spoken, given to mince matters; mealy-mouthed.
| 1600 [see mealy-mouth]. 1697 C. Leslie Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 173 Therefore, George, notwithstanding all thy meally modesty, it is [etc.]. 1720 Amherst Ep. Sir J. Blount 12 If you don't straitway find out what The meally Rascals would be at. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inherit. xxvii. (1882) I. 241 A little squeaking mealy voice. 1854 Dickens Hard T. ii. viii, I didn't mince the matter with him. I am never mealy with 'em. |
▪ II. mealy, v. Bleaching.
(
ˈmiːlɪ)
[f. mealy a.] trans. = bran v.; to ‘clear’ maddered goods by boiling in bran-water.
| 1811 Self Instructor 537 Bran liquors are used to meally dying-stuffs. |