\Mean\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Meant}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Meaning}.] [OE. menen, AS. m[=ae]nan to recite, tell,
intend, wish; akin to OS. m[=e]nian to have in mind, mean, D.
meenen, G. meinen, OHG. meinan, Icel. meina, Sw. mena, Dan.
mene, and to E. mind. ?. 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
   ?
         What mean ye by this service ?        --Ex. xii. 26.
         Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto
         good.                                 --Gen. 1. 20.
         I am not a Spaniard To say that it is yours and not
         to mean it.                           --Longfellow.
2. To signify; to indicate; to import; to denote.
         What mean these seven ewe lambs ?     --Gen. xxi.
                                               29.
         Go ye, and learn what that me?neth.   --Matt. ix.
                                               13.

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

\Mean\, a. [Compar. {Meaner}; superl. {Meanest}.] [OE.
mene, AS. m?ne wicked; akin to m[=a]n, a., wicked, n.,
wickedness, OS. m?n wickedness, OHG. mein, G. meineid
perjury, Icel. mein harm, hurt, and perh. to AS. gem?ne
common, general, D. gemeen, G. gemein, Goth. gam['a]ins, and
L. communis. The AS. gem?ne prob. influenced the meaning.]
1. Destitute of distinction or eminence; common; low; vulgar;
   humble. ``Of mean parentage.'' --Sir P. Sidney.
         The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth
         himself.                              --Is. ii. 9.
2. Wanting dignity of mind; low-minded; base; destitute of
   honor; spiritless; as, a mean motive.
         Can you imagine I so mean could prove, To save my
         life by changing of my love ?         --Dryden.
3. Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard;
   contemptible; despicable.
         The Roman legions and great C[ae]sar found Our
         fathers no mean foes.                 --J. Philips.
4. Of poor quality; as, mean fare.
5. Penurious; stingy; close-fisted; illiberal; as, mean
   hospitality.
Note: Mean is sometimes used in the formation of compounds,
      the sense of which is obvious without explanation; as,
      meanborn, mean-looking, etc.
Syn: Base; ignoble; abject; beggarly; wretched; degraded;
     degenerate; vulgar; vile; servile; menial; spiritless;
     groveling; slavish; dishonorable; disgraceful; shameful;
     despicable; contemptible; paltry; sordid. See {Base}.

\Mean\, 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.
         Being of middle age and a mean stature. --Sir. P.
                                               Sidney.
2. Intermediate in excellence of any kind.
         According to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or
         lowly.                                --Milton.
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.
{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, especially by
   European writers, {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.

\Mean\, 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.
         But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is
         temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude.
                                               --Bacon.
         There is a mean in all things.        --Dryden.
         The extremes we have mentioned, between which the
         wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are
         correlatives.                         --I. Taylor.
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
   square root of the product of the quantities.
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.
         Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the
         conversion of the heathen to Christ.  --Hooker.
         You may be able, by this mean, to review your own
         scientific acquirements.              --Coleridge.
         Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. --Sir
                                               W. Hamilton.
Note: 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.
            By this means he had them more at vantage.
                                               --Bacon.
            What other means is left unto us.  --Shak.
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.
         Your means are very slender, and your waste is
         great.                                --Shak.
5. (Mus.) A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between
   the soprano and base; a middle part. [Obs.]
         The mean is drowned with your unruly base. --Shak.
6. Meantime; meanwhile. [Obs.] --Spenser.
7. A mediator; a go-between. [Obs.] --Piers Plowman.
         He wooeth her by means and by brokage. --Chaucer.
{By all means}, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all
   means.
{By any means}, in any way; possibly; at all.
         If by any means I might attain to the resurrection
         of the dead.                          --Phil. iii.
                                               ll.
{By no means}, or {By no manner of means}, not at all;
   certainly not; not in any degree.
         The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so
         good as that on the other.            --Addison.