GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   ‖Maya (mäyä), n.
   1. (Hindu Philos.) The name (in Vedantic philosphy) for the doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion.
   
   [1913 Webster]
   
   
   2. (Hindu Philos.) the Hindu goddess personifying the power that creates phenomena. [RHUD]
   
   [PJC]
   
   
   3. (Hindu Philos.) the power to produce illusions. [RHUD]
   
   [PJC]
   
   
         
       

2.       
   Maya (mäyȧ), prop. n.; pl. Maya or Mayas.
   1. the Indian people occupying the area of Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of Guatemala and a part of Salvador.  The Maya peoples are dark, short, and brachycephalic, and at the time of the discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any other American people.  They cultivated a variety of crops, were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were workers of gold, silver, and copper.  Their architecture comprised elaborately carved temples and palaces, and they possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to about 700 a. d.
   
   [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
   
   
   2. the language of the Mayas.
   
   [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]