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Maggiore
Lake, N Italy and S Switzerland, bordered on the north by the Swiss Alps. Occupying an area of 82 sq mi (212 sq km), it is Italy's second largest lake. It is 34 mi (54 km) long, with a maximum width of 7 mi (11 km) and a maximum depth of 1,220 ft (372 m). Traversed from north to south by the Ticino River, it is also fed by the Tresa River from Lake Lugano on the east. It is a popular resort area.


magpie
Any of several genera of long-tailed songbirds of the crow family (Corvidae). The black-billed magpie (Pica pica) is 18 in. (45 cm) long and strikingly pied (black-and-white), with an iridescent blue-green tail. It is found in NW Africa, across Eurasia, and in W N. America. A bird of farmlands and tree-studded open country, it eats insects, seeds, small vertebrates, the eggs and young of other birds, and fresh carrion. It makes a large, round nest of twigs cemented with mud, and is known for hoarding small, bright objects. Other species (in the genera Cyanopica, Cissa, and Urocissa) include the brilliant blue or green magpies of Asia.


Maghreb
Region of N. Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Comprising the coastal plain of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, it was known to the ancients as Africa Minor. It later included Moorish Spain. It resisted Punic, Roman, and Christian invasions but was conquered by the Arabs and absorbed into Muslim civilization in the 7th-8th cent.


Magi
In Christian tradition, wise men from the East who came to pay homage to the infant Jesus. According to Matthew 2:1-12, they followed a miraculous guiding star to Bethlehem and brought gifts of "gold and frankincense and myrrh." Herod asked them to report the location of Jesus' birth on their return journey, but an angel warned them of his evil intentions. In later Christian tradition they were said to be kings and were given the names Melchior, Balthasar, and Gaspar. Their visit was seen as evidence that the Gentiles as well as the Jews would worship Jesus, and it is celebrated in the feast of Ephiphany. See also magus.


magic
Use of means (such as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces. It constitutes the core of many religious systems and plays a central social role in many nonliterate cultures. Magic is often distinguished from religion as being more impersonal and mechanical and emphasizing technique. Its techniques are usually regarded as means to specific ends (an enemy's defeat, rainfall, etc.), although another view ascribes a more symbolic, expressive character to such activity. Thus, a rainmaking ritual may both elicit rainfall and stress the symbolic importance of rain and the agricultural activities associated with it. Both the magician and the magical rite are typically surrounded by taboos, purification procedures, and other activities that draw the participants into the magical sphere. Strains of magic in Western ...

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