Mor"ris (?), n. [So called from its discoverer.]
(Zoöl.) A marine fish having a very
slender, flat, transparent body. It is now generally believed to be the young
of the conger eel or
some allied fish.
Mor"ris (?), n. [Sp.
morisco Moorish,
fr. Moro a Moor: cf. F. moresque, It.
moresca.]
1. A Moorish dance, usually
performed by a single dancer, who accompanies the dance with castanets.
2. A dance formerly common in England, often performed in pagenats, processions, and May games. The dancers, grotesquely dressed and
ornamented, took the parts of Robin Hood, Maidmarian, and other fictitious characters.
3. An old
game played with counters, or men, which
are placed at the angles of
a figure drawn on a board or on the ground; also, the board or ground on which the game is played.
The nine-men's morris is filled up with mud.
Shak. &fist; The figure consists of three concentric squares,
with lines from the angles of
the outer one to those
of the inner, and from the middle of each side of
the outer square to that of the inner. The game is played by two persons with nine or
twelve pieces each (hence called nine-men's morris or twelve-men's
morris). The pieces are placed alternately, and each player endeavors to prevent his opponent from making a straight row of three. Should either succeed in making a row,
he may take
up one of his opponent's pieces, and he
who takes off all of his opponent's pieces wins the game.
Hear it pronounced