Mace

[meys]

Trademark.

Also called Chemical Mace. a nonlethal spray containing purified tear gas and chemical solvents that temporarily incapacitate a person mainly by causing eye and skin irritations: used especially as a means of subduing rioters.

verb (used with object), Maced, Mac·ing.

(sometimes lowercase) to attack with Mace spray.

Origin of Mace

1965–70; probably from mace¹ (in the sense “clublike weapon”)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for macing

Mace

noun

trademark a liquid causing tears and nausea, used as a spray for riot control, etc

verb

(tr; sometimes not capital) to use Mace on

mace

noun

a club, usually having a spiked metal head, used esp in the Middle Ages

a ceremonial staff of office carried by certain officials

See macebearer

an early form of billiard cue

Word Origin for mace

C13: from Old French, probably from Vulgar Latin mattea (unattested); apparently related to Latin mateola mallet

mace

noun

a spice made from the dried aril round the nutmeg seed

Word Origin for mace

C14: formed as a singular from Old French macis (wrongly assumed to be plural), from Latin macir an oriental spice

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for macing

mace

n.1

"heavy metal weapon, often with a spiked head," late 13c., from Old French mace "a club, scepter" (Modern French masse), from Vulgar Latin *mattea (cf. Italian mazza, Spanish maza "mace"), from Latin mateola (in Late Latin also matteola) "a kind of mallet." The Latin word perhaps is cognate with Sanskrit matyam "harrow, club," Old Church Slavonic motyka "mattock," Old High German medela "plow" [Klein]. As a symbol of authority or office from mid-15c.

mace

n.2

"spice made from dry outer husk of nutmeg," late 14c., from Old French macis (in English taken as a plural and stripped of its -s), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be a scribal error for Latin macir, the name of a red spicy bark from India, but OED finds this etymology unlikely.

Mace

n.3

chemical spray originally used in riot control, 1966, technically Chemical Mace, a proprietary name (General Ordnance Equipment Corp, Pittsburgh, Pa.), probably so called for its use as a weapon, in reference to mace (1). The verb is first attested 1968. Related: Maced; macing.

macing in Medicine

Mace

An alternate trademark for Chemical Mace, an aerosol used to immobilize an attacker temporarily.