a. [ OE. mene, OF. meiien, F. moyen, fr. L. medianus that is in the middle, fr. medius; akin to E. mid. See Mid. ] 1. Occupying a middle position; middle; being about midway between extremes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Being of middle age and a mean stature. Sir. P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Intermediate in excellence of any kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

According to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) Average; having an intermediate value between two extremes, or between the several successive values of a variable quantity during one cycle of variation; as, mean distance; mean motion; mean solar day. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mean distance (of a planet from the sun) (Astron.), the average of the distances throughout one revolution of the planet, equivalent to the semi-major axis of the orbit. --
Mean error (Math. Phys.), the average error of a number of observations found by taking the mean value of the positive and negative errors without regard to sign. --
Mean-square error, or
Error of the mean square (Math. Phys.), the error the square of which is the mean of the squares of all the errors; -- called also, mean square deviation, mean error. --
Mean line. (Crystallog.) Same as Bisectrix. --
Mean noon, noon as determined by mean time. --
Mean proportional (between two numbers) (Math.), the square root of their product. --
Mean sun, a fictitious sun supposed to move uniformly in the equator so as to be on the meridian each day at mean noon. --
Mean time, time as measured by an equable motion, as of a perfect clock, or as reckoned on the supposition that all the days of the year are of a mean or uniform length, in contradistinction from apparent time, or that actually indicated by the sun, and from sidereal time, or that measured by the stars. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Meaner superl. Meanest. ] [ OE. mene, AS. m&aemacr_;ne wicked; akin to mān, a., wicked, n., wickedness, OS. mēn wickedness, OHG. mein, G. meineid perjury, Icel. mein harm, hurt, and perh. to AS. gem&aemacr_;ne common, general, D. gemeen, G. gemein, Goth. gamáins, and L. communis. The AS. gem&aemacr_;ne prob. influenced the meaning. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Destitute of distinction or eminence; common; low; vulgar; humble. “Of mean parentage.” Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself. Is. ii. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Wanting dignity of mind; low-minded; base; destitute of honor; spiritless; as, a mean motive. [ 1913 Webster ]

Can you imagine I so mean could prove,
To save my life by changing of my love ? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Roman legions and great Caesar found
Our fathers no mean foes. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Of poor quality; as, mean fare. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Penurious; stingy; close-fisted; illiberal; as, mean hospitality. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Mean is sometimes used in the formation of compounds, the sense of which is obvious without explanation; as, meanborn, mean-looking, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Base; ignoble; abject; beggarly; wretched; degraded; degenerate; vulgar; vile; servile; menial; spiritless; groveling; slavish; dishonorable; disgraceful; shameful; despicable; contemptible; paltry; sordid. See Base. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes of place, time, or number; the middle point or place; middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of extremes or excess; moderation; measure. [ 1913 Webster ]

But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a mean in all things. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The extremes we have mentioned, between which the wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are correlatives. I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) A quantity having an intermediate value between several others, from which it is derived, and of which it expresses the resultant value; usually, unless otherwise specified, it is the simple average, formed by adding the quantities together and dividing by their number, which is called an arithmetical mean. A geometrical mean is the nth root of the product of the n quantities being averaged. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That through which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In this sense the word is usually employed in the plural form means, and often with a singular attribute or predicate, as if a singular noun. [ 1913 Webster ]

By this means he had them more at vantage. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

What other means is left unto us. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like, considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose; disposable force or substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your means are very slender, and your waste is great. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between the soprano and base; a middle part. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The mean is drowned with your unruly base. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Meantime; meanwhile. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A mediator; a go-between. [ Obs. ] Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wooeth her by means and by brokage. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

By all means, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all means. --
By any means, in any way; possibly; at all. [ 1913 Webster ] If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Phil. iii. ll. [ 1913 Webster ] --
By no means, or
By no manner of means, not at all; certainly not; not in any degree. [ 1913 Webster ] The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so good as that on the other. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To have a purpose or intention. [ Rare, except in the phrase to mean well, or ill. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Meant p. pr. & vb. n. Meaning. ] [ OE. menen, AS. m&aemacr_;nan to recite, tell, intend, wish; akin to OS. mēnian to have in mind, mean, D. meenen, G. meinen, OHG. meinan, Icel. meina, Sw. mena, Dan. mene, and to E. mind. √104. See Mind, and cf. Moan. ] 1. To have in the mind, as a purpose, intention, etc.; to intend; to purpose; to design; as, what do you mean to do? [ 1913 Webster ]

What mean ye by this service ? Ex. xii. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good. Gen. 1. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am not a Spaniard
To say that it is yours and not to mean it. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To signify; to indicate; to import; to denote. [ 1913 Webster ]

What mean these seven ewe lambs ? Gen. xxi. 29. [ 1913 Webster ]

Go ye, and learn what that meaneth. Matt. ix. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous. Dryton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Maeander, orig., a river in Phrygia, proverbial for its many windings, Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. méandre. ] 1. A winding, crooked, or involved course; as, the meanders of the veins and arteries. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

While lingering rivers in meanders glide. Sir R. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tortuous or intricate movement. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Arch.) Fretwork. See Fret. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Meandered p. pr. & vb. n. Meandering. ] To wind or turn in a course or passage; to be intricate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Maeandrius: cf. F. méandrien. ] Winding; having many turns. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL.: cf. F. méandrine. ] (Zool.) A genus of corals with meandering grooves and ridges, including the brain corals. [ 1913 Webster ]