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1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 51:
The Mace is an ancient weapon, formerly much used by cavalry of all nations, and likewise by ecclesiastics, who in consequence of their tenures, frequently took the field, but were by a canon of the church forbidden to wield the sword.
I am a king that find thee; and I know 'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball, The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, The intertissued robe of gold and pearl
A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.
On the left were the Commons with their Speaker, attended by the mace. The southern door opened: and the Prince and Princess of Orange, side by side, entered, and took their place under the canopy of state.
I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none -- that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.
From the name of one brand of the spray, Mace. Pepper spray may be derived from cayenne pepper, but not from mace (etymology 2 above), which is a different spice; rather, it was named after the weapon (etymology 1).
2021 December 10, Michael Levenson, “Self-Proclaimed Proud Boys Member Gets 10 Years for Violence at Portland Protests”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
[…] was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for shooting a man in the eye with a paintball gun, spraying people in the face with bear mace and aiming a loaded handgun at a crowd, prosecutors said.
mace (third-person singular simple presentmaces, present participlemacing, simple past and past participlemaced)
To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray or tear gas) using a hand-held device.
(informal) To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.
1989, Carl Hiaasen, chapter 22, in Skin Tight, New York: Ballantine Books:
When Reynaldo and Willie had burst into Larkey's drug store to confront him, the old man had maced Willie square in the eyes with an aerosol can of spermicidal birth-control foam.
Etymology 4
Borrowed from Javanese and Malay , meaning "a bean".
1883, Samuel Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, &c., of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants:
The decimals of the tael, called mace, candareen, and cash (tsien, fǎn, and li) , are employed in reckoning bullion.