is no other species in the genus, and the adjective
(Lat. <i>horridus</i>, bristling) seems to have suggested the
noun, the name probably recalling Milton's line (`Paradise
Lost,' i. 392)

"First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood."

Moloch was the national god of the Ammonites (1 Kings xi. 7),
and was the personification of fire as a destructive element.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central
Australia,' Narrative, p. 41:

"Numerous lizards such as the strange <i>Moloch horridus</i>,
the bright yellow, orange, red and black of which render it in
life very different in appearance from the bleached specimens
of museum cases."

<hw>Mongan</hw>, <i>n</i>. aboriginal name for the animal named
in the quotation.

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 173:

"Jimmy, however, had, to my great delight, found mongan
(<i>Pseudochirus herbertensis</i>), a new and very pretty
mammal, whose habitat is exclusively the highest tops of the
scrubs in the Coast Mountains."

<hw>Monk</hw>, <i>n</i>. another name for the <i>Friar Bird</i>
(q.v.).

<hw>Monkey-Bear</hw>, or <hw>Monkey</hw>, <i>n</i>. i.q.
<i>Native Bear</i>. See <i>Bear</i>.

1853. C. St. Julian and E. K. Silvester, `The
Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,'
p. 30:

"The <i>Kola</i>, so called by the aborigines, but more
commonly known among the settlers as the native bear or monkey,
is found in brush and forest lands . . ."

1891. Mrs. Cross (Ada Cambridge), `The Three Miss Kings,'
p. 9:

"A little monkey-bear came cautiously down from the only
gum-tree that grew on the premises, grunting and whimpering."

<hw>Monkey-shaft</hw>, <i>n</i>. "A shaft rising from a lower
to a higher level (as a rule perpendicularly), and differing
from a blind-shaft only in that the latter is sunk from a
higher to a lower level." (Brough Smyth's `Glossary.')

1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of Goldfields,' p. 69:

"They began to think they might be already too deep for it,
and a small `monkey'-shaft was therefore driven upwards
from the end of the tunnel."

<hw>Monkeys</hw>, <i>n</i>. bush slang for sheep.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i.
p. 88:

"No one felt better pleased than he did to see the last lot of
`monkeys,' as the shearers usually denominated sheep, leave the
head-station."

<hw>Monotreme</hw>, <i>n</i>. the scientific name of an order
of Australian mammals (<i>Monotremata</i>). "Th