MacGuffinA plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over the storyline.
MacGuffiniteUrban Dictionary, 2021: "A fictional material, not necessarily bad, that is used to patch up logic in a story
macgyverSomeone capable of improvising an ingenious solution from everyday objects or unsuitable resources.
MacGyverismAn ingeniously improvised solution to a problem.
MachA ratio of the speed (of an object, etc.) to the speed of sound in the fluid or other medium through which the object travels. Usually used to describe supersonic speeds; always precedes the Mach number.
machankaA traditional Eastern European dish that is somewhere between a stew and a soup and may be used as a sauce.
MachaonA healer and a son of Asclepius and Epione.
macharomancyDivination by interpreting swords, daggers and knives. This was popular in Scotland where on July 31st it was performed to predict the deaths and marriages of the following year.
macheA former unit of volumic radioactivity: the quantity of radon (ignoring its daughters) per litre of air which ionizes a sustained current of 0.001 esu.
MachiavelliSomeone like Niccolò Machiavelli: a Machiavellian person
machiavellianAttempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics.
MachiavellianismThe political philosophy of Machiavelli, especially the realist doctrine which emphasizes the maintenance of the state above ethical concerns.
machicolationAn opening between corbels that support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, of a fortified building from which missiles can be shot or heated items dropped upon assailants attacking the base of the walls.
machicotageA style of singing, especially of sacred music, cultivated from the late Middle Ages until the 19th century, centered on Paris, and derived from the Gallican ritual; in this style vocal lines are decorated with improvised ornamentation, and differentiated from each other in a polyphonic composition also by tone color.
machicoteAn underskirt worn by some Native American girls and women.
MachinAny of a British series of definitive stamps designed by Arnold Machin, first issued in 1967 and featuring a side view portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
machinimaThe rendering of computer-generated imagery using low-end (real time) 3D engines such as those found in video games, as opposed to the high-end, complex 3D engines used by professionals.
machosexualA man who eschews modern trendy aesthetics in favor of pursuits traditionally considered more manly.
MachovA market town and municipality in Náchod District, Hradec Králové Region, Czech Republic, lying entirely within the Broumovsko Protected Landscape Area.