Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who builds or works with stone or brick.
  • noun A Freemason.
  • transitive verb To build of or strengthen with masonry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A builder in stone or brick; one whose occupation or trade is the laying of stone or brick in construction, with or without mortar or cement.
  • noun A builder in general.
  • noun A worker in stone; a stone-cutter or -hewer.
  • noun A member of the fraternity of freemasons. See freemason.
  • To construct of masonry; build of stone or brick; build.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One whose occupation is to build with stone or brick; also, one who prepares stone for building purposes.
  • noun A member of the fraternity of Freemasons. See Freemason.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any one of numerous species of solitary bees of the genus Osmia. They construct curious nests of hardened mud and sand.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any moth whose larva constructs an earthen cocoon under the soil.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a marine univalve shell of the genus Phorus; -- so called because it cements other shells and pebbles upon its own shell; a carrier shell.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any wasp that constructs its nest, or brood cells, of hardened mud. The female fills the cells with insects or spiders, paralyzed by a sting, and thus provides food for its larvæ.
  • transitive verb To build stonework or brickwork about, under, in, over, etc.; to construct by masons; -- with a prepositional suffix

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One whose occupation is to build with stone or brick; also, one who prepares stone for building purposes.
  • noun A member of the fraternity of Freemasons. See Freemason.
  • verb transitive To build stonework or brickwork about, under, in, over, etc.; to construct by masons; -- with a prepositional suffix; as, to mason up a well or terrace; to mason in a kettle or boiler.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun American Revolutionary leader from Virginia whose objections led to the drafting of the Bill of Rights (1725-1792)
  • noun a craftsman who works with stone or brick
  • noun English writer (1865-1948)
  • noun a member of a widespread secret fraternal order pledged to mutual assistance and brotherly love
  • noun English film actor (1909-1984)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French maçon, masson, of Germanic origin; see mag- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English masoun, machun, from Anglo-Norman machun, masson, from Old Low Frankish *mattio, from Proto-Germanic *maitōn (compare German obsolete Metz, Steinmetze), from *maitanan (“to cut, hew”) (compare Old High German meizan, East Frisian matje, Old Norse meita), from Proto-Indo-European *mai-d- (“to alter”) (compare Old Lithuanian apmaitinti ("to wound"), Latvian màitât ("to spoil, destroy")), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“to change, exchange”). More at mean, mutate.

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