Glossary

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie (1868-1928)	Scottish designer/architect, influential with the Vienna Secessionists and designer of the Hill chair.
Magma	Liquid or molten rock material, it is called lava when it reaches the earth's surface.
Mainframe Computer	A large computer into which smaller computer terminals or personal computers can be accessed. Mainframes can handle complex data, problems, and CAD with speed and accuracy.
Maintenance	The labor required to maintain a material?tasks such as sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, or waxing.
Majolica	An opaque glaze, usually white, with a glossy surface. Typically decorated with bright overglaze stains.
Manhole	These are the masonry chambers provided at suitable location and on the line of the sewer for the purposes of inspection and cleaning the sewers.
Man-Made Fibers	Chemically derived and extruded from a viscose solution.
Mansard Roof	A hipped roof with two pitches. The bottom pitch is very steep and the top pitch flatter, so it is usually not seen from the ground.
Mansard Truss	This truss is now rarely constructed. This truss has two pitches , the lower varying from 60 degrees to 70 degrees and the upper from 30 degrees to 40 degrees. This truss is more or less a combination of king post and queen post trusses.
Mantel	The projecting shelf of a chimneypiece.
Marble	A very hard stone cut into slabs and polished for floor and wall materials. Smooth and formal, white or colored with streaks of color.
Marbling	Imitating polished marble stone with paint.
Market	In reference to designer resources, a term that many interior designers use to mean they are going to visit one of the annual shows held at the marts.
Market Centers	Concentrations of trade sources in one area of a city.
Markets, Marketing Centers	Convenient clusters of trade sources that market goods and services wholesale to interior designers.
Marlborough Leg	A straight, square furniture leg with a square foot.
Marquetry	Decorative patterns formed when thin layers of wood (and sometimes other materials, such as ivory) are inlaid into the surface of furniture or other wood products.
Marts	Where many firms have located in one building.
Marvess	A registered trademark of Phillips for olefin.
Masonry Block Construction	Walls or foundations of cinder block or concrete block without any wooden framework.
Mass	An element of design that denotes density or visual weight within an object. Heavier mass or density will often make an object appear larger than one that has little mass or empty space within its shape.
Massing	Gathering or forming into a mass. The pulling of objects into a group so that together they have more visual weight or importance than they do separately.
Master Of Arts Degree (M.F.A.)	A degree that may be considered a terminal degree in interior design education.
Master Of Fine Arts Degree (M.F.A.)	A degree that may be considered a terminal degree in interior design education. M.F.A. degrees require a fine arts skill and showing of work. It is considered the design education equivalent of a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree.
Master Of Science Degree (M.S.)	A degree that may be considered a terminal degree in interior design education.
Masters	Those whose art has passed the test of time to become classic.
Mat	A border of mat board or other material, used as famine or part of the frame of a picture.
Match	The some color from one dye lot to another.
Materials And Finishes Boards	Boards used to Show pieces of the materials and finishes that have been selected for a design.
Matte	Matte is a type of finish that has little to no shine or gloss to it. It is commonly used in paints and wood finishes. It is a popular paint finish for ceilings because it has little reflection, and since a matte finish is easily stained, it is good to use in an inaccessible place like a ceiling.
Matte Paint	Any paint that dries to a flat, nonshiny finish.
Measurement Of Cement	Cement should always be measured by weight and not by volume.
Measurement Of Coarse Aggregates	Coarse aggregate may be measured either by volume (litres) or by weight. In case of wet aggregate , allowance for surface water should be made while determining the quantity of water to be used in the mix.
Measurement Of Fine Aggregates	Fine aggregates i.e. sand is normally measured by volume in case of ordinary works whereas in case of all important projects , it is measured by weight.
Measurement Of Water	Water may be measured by weight or by volume.
Mechanical Finishes	A classification of decorative finishes that include calendering, napping, and flocking. Also called surface treatment finishes.
Mechanics Lien	A legal recourse related to the labor and materials payment bond. It is an action that prevents the owner of the property of giving or selling the property to anyone until the lien is satisfied.
Media	The substances used to dilute paint-water for watercolor and turpentine for oil paint. Also the means or methods an artist uses to produce a work.
Medieval Era (A.D. 8004500)	The Middle Ages or Medieval era in Europe was a time of poverty for the masses but in architecture was a period of great cathedral building and colorful stained glass windows.
Melamine	A synthetic compound used to make plastic laminates.
Mementos	Remembrances or souvenirs of a person, a place, or an event.
Memorabilia	Things and events worthy of remembrance.
Mercantile Buildings	These shall include any building or part of a building which is used as shops, stores , market , for display and sale of merchandise either wholesale or retail.
Mercerization	A process of treating natural cellulosic fibers (cotton and linen), with caustic soda to enlarge and make the fibers more uniform, increase the luster, and better accept and hold dyes.
Merchant	Anyone who is involved with the buying and/or selling of the kinds of goods with which he or she is dealing. A person acting in a mercantile capacity.
Metal	Aluminum, tin, brass, stainless steel, and other chemical compounds that are formed into strips, tiles, or sheers for use as wall, ceiling, and furniture materials.
Metal Blinds	Originally known as venetian blinds, metal blinds provide the look of two-inch wood blinds at less cost and with less stacking space required.
Metal Or Space Frame System	Strong, lightweight steel skeleton framework based on the forms of geometry.
Metameric Shift	Colors appearing different under different lighting due to the spectral energy distribution in the materials.
Metamerism	The effect of light on color that causes a color to appear differently in different types of light.
Metamorphic	Rocks which changed from another rock by the action of heat, pressure, or both.
Metope	The space between the triglyphs on the frieze of the Doric entablature.
Mexican Tile	Clay tile fired at low temperatures. Natural terra-cotta color or hand-painted in bright colors, glazed and unfired.
Mezzanine Floor	An intermediate floor between two floor levels aqbove ground floor and at least one side of it should form an integral part of space floor /below.
Mezzotint	An intaglio printing process that produces areas of tone rather than clean lines.
Mid-Century Modern	A decorative style first popularized in the late 1940s characterized by clean lines, the use of modern materials such as plastic and aluminum, and a sleek, minimal profile. The style reached its apex in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but continued to be popular into the early 1970s. In the past few years the style has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with several books, websites,and contemporary knockoffs.
Middle Ages	See Medieval era.
Mies Van Der Rohe, Ludwig (1886-1969)	An important architect/designer associated with the Bauhaus. Designer of several modern classic furniture pieces.
Millwork	Millwork is essentially anything created in a mill. Decorative wood panels, moldings, cabinet doors, wainscots, stair banisters and many other wood items and details are considered millwork. Because so many new building materials are being used for these items besides wood, the category of millwork has come to include these items as well.
Ming	Chinese dynasty that ruled form 1368 to 1644 and was noted for artistic works produced during its reign.
Miniblinds	One-inch wide, concave metal slats held together with nylon cord. Slats or louvers are adjustable and are excellent for light and glare control.
Mini-Mainframe Computer	A computer about the size of a personal computer but with greater capacity and power somewhat similar to a mainframe computer.
Mirror	Glass with the back coated with silver or a silver amalgam (compound) to give the surface a reflecting quality; used on walls, ceilings.
Mission Statement	A philosophical statement of what the firm sees as its role in the profession. It contains broad statements of what the company wishes to achieve during an unspecified time period.
Mission Style	Style that features oak furniture of rectilinear design; popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Gustav stickley was a great exponent of the style, which is named for and resembles handmade furniture from the early California Spanish missions.
Miter	To cut at a forty-five-degree angle. A joint where two diagonally cut pieces meet at right angles and are nailed or screwed together.
Mitre	It may be defined as a cut formed at the required corner by cutting the corner of the sheet for a length of 15cm or the length of the end lap whichever is more along the vertical edge and for a width equal to the width of one corrugation along the horizontal edge of the sheet.
Mobile Home	A house trailer for temporary or permanent housing.
Mobile Home Park	An area where only mobile homes are placed.
Modacrylic	A synthetic long-chain polymer fiber consisting of 35 to 85 percent acrylonitrile units. It is a soft, buoyant fabric that is inherently flame resistant and used extensively for nonresidential draperies where fire codes must be met.
Modillion	Ornamental bracket found under a cornice, similar in appearance to dentil, only larger.
Modular	Units of a standard size, such as pieces of a cabinet or wall system, that can be fitted together
Molding	A strip of contoured wood applied to a wall or other surface, normally used to hide seams between materials or to add a decorative element to a wall or structure.
Monitor	The computer hardware screen component.
Monochromatic	A color scheme built around one hue,with several of its shades and tints.
Monoprint	A print produced by painting directly onto an already-etched surface and printing the image by hand onto the paper.
Monotype	A print made when an artist draws or paints on a glass or metal plate and then prints the image onto paper.
Mood Lighting	Low-level lighting that creates an ambience or mood that is cozy or inviting.
Moor	A Moslem of mixed Berber (North-African) and Arab ancestry.
Moroccan Rugs	Handmade pile rugs from North Africa that have geometric patterns and are coarsely woven.
Morris, William (1834-96)	A designer of the Arts and Crafts movement who produced wall-paper, furniture, tapestries, carpets, stained glass windows, and accessories.
Mortar	It is usually a mixture of cement and sand or lime and sand , or a mixture of three. It not only acts as a cementing material but also imparts strength to the work by holding the individual bricks together to act as a homogeneous mass.
Mortise	A carved slot in a timber shaped to receive a tenon placed at the end of another post or beam, ensuring to secure it.
Mortise And Tenon	A joint that utilizes a square hole carved in one of the pieces Being joined and a projection that fits the hole in the other.
Mortise-And-Tenon Joinery	A joint in which a hole (mortise) is cut into one piece of wood to receive a pro-jecting piece (tenon) cut into another.
Mosaic	The process of creating a design or picture with small pieces of glass, stone, terra cotta, etc.
Mosaic Tile	Small tiles fitted together with grout to form a pattern in floors, walls, and countertops.
Mothproofing	A finish that renders a fabric, especially wool, unpalatable to moths and other destructive insects.
Motif	A motif is the subject or design pattern on a decorative object like fabrics, paintings or accessories. For example, if your child likes cowboys, you may look for a fabric with a cowboy or western motif.
Motivational Lighting	A lighting specialty that utilizes brightness, dullness, and darkness to motivate people to behave in a certain manner. It utilizes principles of psychology as well.
Motorized Rods	Drapery rods that are electronically operable. Used for large or hard-to-reach installations.
Movable Insulation	Interior or exterior insulation that protects against excessive heat loss or solar gain.
Movable Louver Shutters	Wooden shutters with slats or blades that can be adjusted.
Mud Plastering	This type of plastering is commonly seen in kuccha construction in villages and in other structures of temporary character. This is the cheapest form of plastering.
Mullion	It is the central member usually used in the revolving doors, which is attached with ball
Multilevel Living	Housing that contains one or more changes of planes in addition to the main floor an upstairs, downstairs, or step-down or step-up areas.
Multilevel-Loop Pile Carpet	A looped pile carpet with various levels woven or tufted to create texture or a pattern.
Multiuse Areas	Rooms or areas with more than one purpose or function.
Mumti	A structure with a covering roof over a staircase and its landing built to enclose only the stairs for the purpose of providing protection from weather and not used for human habitation.
Munsell Theory	Based on three attributes?hue, value, and chroma-where exact color matching is possible through a notation system.
Munsell, Albert H. (1858-1918)	American colorist whose system, based on hue, value, and chroma notation, is widely used in design.
Muntin	A strip of wood that separates panes of glass in a window.
Murals	Wallpapers hung in sequence to depict a scene. Also, a large-scale wall painting.
Murphy Bed	A bed that folds into the wall or a closet when not in use.
Murrini	A small wafer of glass bearing a colored pattern. Formed by bundling and fusing colored glass rods together and then heating and pulling the resulting cylinder to a very small diameter. When cut into cross-sectioned wafers, each piece bears the original pattern in miniature.