Middle English Dictionary Entry

mā̆teriāl adj.
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Entry Info

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) Consisting of matter, having material existence; material, physical, substantial; chirche ~, ~ chirche, a church building, place of worship; ~ thinges, material objects; (b) constituting or supplying matter (as opposed to form); representing the material constituent (contrasted with form); cause ~, ~ cause, one of the four causes distinguished by Aristotle: the material or substance from which something is produced [see also cause 1b. (a)]; (c) pertaining to or affecting physical matter, the human body, etc., with regard to the material constituent.
2.
(a) Of things as they exist in the material world (usually contrasted with spiritual, mental, or supernatural analogues): real, ordinary; earthly, drawn from the material world; light ~, ~ fir, fir ~, ~ oinement, ~ sonne, ~ world; ~ bred, bred ~, ordinary bread, the substance of bread (contrasted with spiritual food, and with the sacramental bread after transubstantiation); (b) fig. ~ sword, secular power or authority.
3.