| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Magma | Magma – Liquid or molten rock material, it is called lava when it reaches the earth’s surface. |
| Majolica | Majolica – An opaque glaze, usually white, with a glossy surface. Typically decorated with bright overglaze stains. |
| Market | 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 | Market Centers – Concentrations of trade sources in one area of a city. |
| Marquetry | 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 | Marts – Where many firms have located in one building. |
| Mechanics Lien | 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. |
| Merchant | 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. |
| Metamorphic | Metamorphic – Rocks which changed from another rock by the action of heat, pressure, or both. |
| Mezzotint | Mezzotint – An intaglio printing process that produces areas of tone rather than clean lines. |
| Ming | Ming – Chinese dynasty that ruled form 1368 to 1644 and was noted for artistic works produced during its reign. |
| Mission Statement | 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. |
| Modillion | Modillion – Ornamental bracket found under a cornice, similar in appearance to dentil, only larger. |
| Molding | 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. |
| Monoprint | Monoprint – A print produced by painting directly onto an already-etched surface and printing the image by hand onto the paper. |
| Monotype | Monotype – A print made when an artist draws or paints on a glass or metal plate and then prints the image onto paper. |
| Mortise | 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. |
| Mosaic | Mosaic – The process of creating a design or picture with small pieces of glass, stone, terra cotta, etc. |
| Mullion | Mullion – A vertical element that divides a window into a separate lights or panes. |
| Muntin | Muntin – A strip of wood that separates panes of glass in a window. |
| Murrini | 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. |