# Dictionary

Topic: Passively
Definition:
P`ASSIVELY, adv.  With a passive nature or temper; with a temper disposed to submit to the acts of external agents,without resistance.
1.  Without agency.
2.  According to the form of the passive verb.


Topic: Passiveness
Definition:
P`ASSIVENESS, n.  Quality of receiving impressions from external agents or causes; as the passiveness of matter.
1.  Passibility; capacity of suffering.
 We shall lose our passiveness with our being.
2.  Patience; calmness; unresisting submission.


Topic: Passivity
Definition:
PASSIV'ITY, n.  Passiveness, which see. [Little used.]
1.  The tendency of a body to persevere in a given state, either of motion or rest, till disturbed by another body.


Topic: Passover
Definition:
P`ASSOVER, n. [pass and over.]  A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the providential escape of the Hebrews, in Egypt, when God smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites, which were marked with the blood of the paschal lamb.
1.  The sacrifice offered at the feast of the passover.


Topic: Passport
Definition:
P`ASSPORT, n.
1.  A written license from a king or other proper authority, granting permission or safe conduct for one to pass through his territories, or to pass from one country to another, or to navigate a particular sea without hindrance or molestation.
2.  A license for importing or exporting contraband goods or movables without paying the usual duties.
3.  That which enables one to pass with safety or certainty.
 His passport is his innocence and grace.


Topic: Past
Definition:
P`AST  , pp.  Gone by; done; accomplished; ended.
1.  Enacted; having received all the formalities necessary to constitute a law.


Topic: Paste
Definition:
PASTE, n. [L. pistus, or Gr. to sprinkle, or some root which signifies to mix and knead.]
1.  A soft composition of substances, as flour moistened with water or milk and kneaded, or any kind of earth moistened and formed to the consistence of dough.  Paste made of flour is used in cookery; paste made of flour or earth, is used in various arts and manufactures, as a cement.
2.  An artificial mixture in imitation of precious stones or gems, used in the glass trade.
3.  In mineralogy, the mineral substance in which other minerals are imbedded.
PASTE, v.t.  To unite or cement with paste; to fasten with paste.


Topic: Pasteboard
Definition:
PASTEBOARD, n.  A species of thick paper formed of several single sheets pasted one upon another, or by macerating paper and casting it in molds, &c.  It is used for the covering of books, for bonnets, &c.


Topic: Pastern
Definition:
PAS'TERN, n.  The part of a horse's leg between the joint next the foot and the coronet of the hoof.
1.  The human leg; in contempt.


Topic: Pastil
Definition:
PAS'TIL, n. [L. pastillus.]
1.  A roll of paste, or a kind of paste made of different colors ground with gum-water in order to make crayons.
2.  In pharmacy, a dry composition of sweet smelling resins, aromatic woods, &c. burnt to clear and scent the air of a room.


Topic: Pastime
Definition:
P`ASTIME, n. [pass and time.]  Sport; amusement; diversion; that which amuses and serves to make time pass agreeably.
P`ASTIME, v.i.  To sport; to use diversion.  [Little used.]


Topic: Pastor
Definition:
P`ASTOR, n. [L. from pasco, pastum, to feed.]
1.  A shepherd; one that has the care of flocks and herds.
2.  A minister of the gospel who has the charge of a church and congregation, whose duty is to watch over the people of his charge, and instruct them in the sacred doctrines of the christian religion.


Topic: Pastoral
Definition:
P`ASTORAL, a. [L. pastoralis.]  Pertaining to shepherds; as a pastoral life; pastoral manners.
1.  Descriptive of the life of shepherds; as a pastoral poem.
2.  Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as pastoral care or duties; a pastoral letter.
 Piety is the life and soul of pastoral fidelity.
P`ASTORAL, n.  A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds, or a poem in imitation of the action of a shepherd, and in which the speakers take upon themselves the character of shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic.
 A pastoral is a poem in which any action or passion is represented by its effects on a country life.


Topic: Pastry
Definition:
PASTRY, n. [from paste.]  Things in general which are made of paste, or of which paste constitutes a principal ingredient, as pies, tarts, cake and the like.
1.  The place where pastry is made.


Topic: Pasturage
Definition:
P`ASTURAGE, n.
1.  The business of feeding or grazing cattle.
2.  Grazing ground; land appropriated to grazing.
3.  Grass for feed.


Topic: Pasture
Definition:
P`ASTURE, n. [L. pasco, pastum, to feed.]
1.  Grass for the food of cattle; the food of cattle taken by grazing.
2.  Ground covered with grass appropriated for the food or cattle. The farmer has a hundred acres of pasture.  It is sometimes called pasture-land.
3.  Human culture; education. [Not used.]
Common of pasture, is the right of feeding cattle on another's ground.
P`ASTURE, v.t.  To feed on grass or to supply grass for food.  We apply the word to persons, as the farmer pastures fifty oxen; or to ground, as the land will pasture fifty oxen.
P`ASTURE, v.i.  To graze; to take food by eating grass from the ground.


Topic: Pasty
Definition:
PASTY, a.  Like paste; of the consistence of paste.
PASTY, n. [from paste.]  A pie made of paste and baked without a dish.


Topic: Pat
Definition:
PAT, a.  Fit; convenient; exactly suitable either as to time or place.  [Not an elegant word, but admissible in burlesque.]
PAT, adv. Fitly; conveniently.
PAT, n.  A light quick blow or stroke with the fingers or hand.
PAT, v.t.  To strike gently with the fingers or hand; to tap.
 Gay pats my shoulder and you vanish quite.


Topic: Patavinity
Definition:
PATAVIN'ITY, n.  The use of local words, or the peculiar style or diction of Livy, the Roman historian; so denominated from Patavium or Padua, the place of his nativity.


Topic: Patch
Definition:
PATCH, n.
1.  A piece of cloth sewed on a garment to repair it.
2.  A small piece of any thing used to repair a breach.
3.  A small piece of silk used to cover a defect on the face, or to add a charm.
4.  A piece inserted in mosaic or variegated work.
5.  A small piece of ground, or a small detached piece.
6.  A paltry fellow.  This use is sometimes heard in vulgar language; as a cross-patch.
PATCH, v.t.  To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces; as, to patch a coat.
1.  To adorn with a patch or with patches.
 In the middle boxes were several ladies who patched both sides of their faces.
2.  To mend with pieces; to repair clumsily.
3.  To repair with pieces fastened on; as, to patch the roof of a house.
4.  To make up of pieces and shreds.
5.  To dress in a party-colored coat.
6.  To make suddenly or hastily; to make without regard to forms; as, to patch up a peace.


Topic: Patchwork
Definition:
PATCH'WORK, n.  Work composed of pieces of various figures sewed together.
1.  Work composed of pieces clumsily put together.


Topic: Pate
Definition:
PATE, n. 
1.  The head, or rather the top of the head; applied to persons, it is now used in contempt or ridicule.
2.  The skin of a calf's head.
3.  In fortification, a kind of platform resembling what is called a horse shoe.


Topic: Pated
Definition:
PA'TED, a.  In composition, having a pate; as long-pated, cunning; shallow-pated, having weak intellect.


Topic: Paternal
Definition:
PATERN'AL, a. [L. paternus, from pater, father.]
1.  Pertaining to a father; fatherly; as paternal care of affection; paternal favor or admonition.
2.  Derived from the father; hereditary; as a paternal estate.


Topic: Paternity
Definition:
PATERN'ITY, n.  Fathership; the relation of a father.
 The world, while it had scarcity of people, underwent no other dominion than paternity and eldership.


Topic: Path
Definition:
P`ATH, n. plu. paths.  [Gr. to tread.]
1.  A way beaten or trodden by the feet of man or beast, or made hard by wheels; that part of a highway on which animals or carriages ordinarily pass; applied to the ground only, and never to a paved street in a city.
2.  Any narrow way beaten by the foot.
3.  The way, course or track where a body moves in the atmosphere or in space; as the path of a planet or comet; the path of a meteor.
4.  A way or passage.
5.  Course of life.
 He marketh all my paths. Job.33.
6.  Precepts; rules prescribed.
 Uphold my going in thy paths. Ps.17.
7.  Course of providential dealings; moral government.
 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant. Ps.25.
P`ATH, v.t.  To make a path by treading; to beat a path, as in snow.
To push forward; to cause to go; to make way for.
P`ATH, v.i.  To walk abroad.


Topic: Pathognomonic
Definition:
PATHOGNOMON'IC, a. [Gr. passion or suffering, and to know.]
Indicating that which is inseparable from a disease, being found in that and in no other; hence, indicating that by which a disease may be certainly known; characteristic; as pathognomonic symptoms.


Topic: Pathognomy
Definition:
PATHOG'NOMY, n. [Gr. signification.]  Expression of the passions; the science of the signs by which human passions are indicated.


Topic: Pathology
Definition:
PATHOL'OGY, n. [Gr. passion, suffering, and discourse.]  That part of medicine which explains the nature of diseases, their causes and symptoms; or the doctrine of the causes and nature of diseases, comprehending nosology, etiology, symptomatology, and therapeutics.


Topic: Pathos
Definition:
PA'THOS, n. [Gr. to suffer.]  Passion; warmth or vehemence, in a speaker; or in language, that which excites emotions and passions.


Topic: Pathway
Definition:
P`ATHWAY, n.  A path;usually, a narrow way to be passed on foot.
1. A way; a course of life.  Prov.12.


Topic: Patible
Definition:
PAT'IBLE, a. [L. patibilis, from patior, to suffer.]
Sufferable; tolerable; that may be endured.  [Not used.]


Topic: Patience
Definition:
PATIENCE, n. pa'shens. [L. patientia, from patior, to suffer.]
1.  The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness.  Patience may spring from constitutional fortitude, from a kind of heroic pride, or from christian submission to the divine will.
2.  A calm temper which bears evils without murmuring or discontent.
3.  The act or quality of waiting long for justice or expected good without discontent.
 Have patience with me,and I will pay thee all. Matt.18.
4.  Perseverance; constancy in labor or exertion.
 He learnt with patience, and with meekness taught.
5.  The quality of bearing offenses and injuries without anger or revenge.
 His rage was kindled and his patience gone.
6.  Sufferance; permission. [Not used.]
7.  A plant, a species of rumex of dock.


Topic: Patient
Definition:
PATIENT, a. pa'shent. [L. patiens.]
1. Having the quality of enduring evils without murmuring or fretfulness; sustaining afflictions of body or mind with fortitude, calmness or christian submission to the divine will; as a patient person, or a person of patient temper.  It is followed by of before the evil endured; as patient of labor or pain; patient of heat or cold.
2.  Not easily provoked; calm under the sufferance of injuries or offenses; not revengeful.
 Be patient towards all men. 1 Thess.5.
3.  Persevering; constant in pursuit or exertion; calmly diligent.
 Whatever I have done is due to patient thought.
4.  Not hasty; not over eager or impetuous; waiting or expecting with calmness or without discontent.
 Not patient to expect the turns of fate.


Topic: Patiently
Definition:
PA'TIENTLY, adv.  With calmness or composure; without discontent or murmuring.  Submit patiently to the unavoidable evils of life.
1.  With calm and constant diligence; as, to examine a subject patiently.
2.  Without agitation, uneasiness or discontent; without undue haste or eagerness; as, to wait patiently for more favorable events.


Topic: Patin
Definition:
PAT'IN, n. [L. patina.]  A plate. [Not used.]
1.  In the Romish church, the cover of the chalice,used for holding particles of the host.


Topic: Patriarch
Definition:
PA'TRIARCH, n. [L. patriarcha; Gr. a family, father, and a chief.]
1.  The father and ruler of a family; one who governs by paternal right.  It is usually applied to the progenitors of the Israelites, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the sons of Jacob, or to the heads of families before the flood; as the antediluvian patriarchs.
2.  A learned and distinguished character among the Jews.
3.  In the christian church, a dignitary superior to the order of archbishops; as the patriarch of Constantinople, of Alexandria, or of Ephesus.


Topic: Patrician
Definition:
PATRI'CIAN, a. [L. patricius, from pater, father.]  Senatorial; noble; not plebeian.  This epithet is derived from the Roman patres, fathers, the title of Roman senators; as patrician birth or blood; patrician families.
PATRI'CIAN, n. A nobleman.  In the Roman state, the patricians were the descendants of the first Roman senators.


Topic: Patrimony
Definition:
PAT'RIMONY, n. [L.patrimonium, from pater, father.]
1.  A right or estate inherited from one's ancestors.
2.  A church estate or revenue; as St. Peter's patrimony.


Topic: Patriot
Definition:
PAT'RIOT, n. [L. patria, one's native country, form pater, father.]
A person who loves his country, and zealously supports and defends it and its interests.
 Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws.
PAT'RIOT, a.  Patriotic; devoted to the welfare of one's country; as patriot zeal.


Topic: Patriotic
Definition:
PATRIOT'IC, a.  Full of patriotism; actuated by the love of one's country; as a patriotic hero or statesman.
1.  Inspired by the love of one's country; directed to the public safety and welfare; as patriotic zeal.


Topic: Patriotism
Definition:
PAT'RIOTISM ,n.  Love of one's country; the passion which aims to serve one's country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions in vigor and purity.  Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the noblest passion that animates a man in the character of a citizen.


Topic: Patron
Definition:
PAT'RON, n. [L. patronus; Gr. father.]
1. Among the Romans, a master who had freed his slave, and retained some rights over him after his emancipation; also, a man of distinction under whose protection another placed himself. Hence,
2.  One who countenances, supports and protects either a person or a work.
3.  In the church of Rome, a guardian or saint, whose name a person bears, or under whose special care he is placed and whom he invokes; or a saint in whose name a church or order is founded.
4.  In the canon or common law, one who has the gift and disposition of a benefice.
5.  An advocate; a defender; one that specially countenances and supports, or lends aid to advance; as patrons of the arts; a patron of useful undertakings; the patrons of virtue.
6.  In seamen's language, the commander of a small vessel or passage-boat; also, one who steers a ship's long boat.


Topic: Patronage
Definition:
PAT'RONAGE, n.  Special countenance or support; favor or aid afforded to second the views of a person or to promote a design.
1.  Guardianship, as of a saint.
2.  Advowson; the right of presentation to a church or ecclesiastical benefice.
PAT'RONAGE, v.t. To patronize or support. [Not used.]


Topic: Patronal
Definition:
PAT'RONAL, a. Doing the office of a patron; protecting; supporting; favoring; defending. [Little used.]


Topic: Patroness
Definition:
PAT'RONESS, n.  A female that favors, countenances or supports.
 Now night came down,and rose full soon
 That patroness of rogues,the moon.
1.  A female guardian saint.
2.  A female that has the right of presenting to a church living.


Topic: Patronize
Definition:
PAT'RONIZE, v.t.  To support; to countenance; to defend; as a patron his client.
1.  To favor; to lend aid to promote; as an undertaking.
2.  To maintain; to defend; to support.
 This idea has been patronized by two states only.


Topic: Patronymic
Definition:
PATRONYM'IC, n. [L. patronymicus; from Gr. father, and name.]
A name of men or women derived from that of their parents or ancestors; as Tydides, the son of Tydeus, Pelides, the son of Peleus, that is, Achilles.


Topic: Pattee
Definition:
PATTEE', n.  In heraldry, a cross small in the center, and widening to the extremities which are broad.


Topic: Patten
Definition:
PAT'TEN, n.
1.  The base of a column or pillar.
2.  A wooden shoe with an iron ring, worn to keep the shoes from the dirt or mud.


Topic: Patter
Definition:
PAT'TER, v.i.  To strike, as falling drops of water or hail, with a quick succession of small sounds; as pattering hail.
 The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard.


Topic: Pattern
Definition:
PAT'TERN, n.
1.  An original or model proposed for imitation; the archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be copies or imitated, either in things or in actions; as the pattern of a machine; a pattern of patience.  Christ was the most perfect pattern of rectitude,patience and submission ever exhibited on earth.
2.  A specimen; a sample; a part showing the figure or quality of the whole;as a pattern of silk cloth.
3.  An instance; an example.
4.  Any thing cut of formed into the shape of something to be made after it.
To pattern after, to imitate; to follow.


Topic: Patulous
Definition:
PAT'ULOUS, a. [L. patulus, from pateo, to be open.]
Spreading, as a patulous calyx; bearing the flowers loose or dispersed, as a patulous peduncle.


Topic: Paucity
Definition:
PAU'CITY, n. [L. paucitas, from paucus, few.]
1.  Fewness; smallness of number; as the paucity of schools.
2.  Smallness of quantity; as paucity of blood.


Topic: Paunch
Definition:
PAUNCH, n.  [L. pantex.]  The belly and its contents.
The paunch, in ruminating quadrupeds, is the first and largest stomach, into which the food is received before rumination.
PAUNCH, v.t.  To pierce or rip the belly; to eviscerate; to take out the contents of the belly.


Topic: Pauper
Definition:
PAUP'ER, n. [L. pauper.]  A poor person; particularly, one so indigent as to depend on the parish or town for maintenance.


Topic: Pauperism
Definition:
PAUP'ERISM, n.  The state of being poor or destitute of the means of support; the state of indigent persons requiring support from the community.  The increase of pauperism is an alarming evil.


Topic: Pause
Definition:
PAUSE, n. paux. [L. pausa; Gr. to cease, or cause to rest.]
1.  A stop; a cessation or intermission of action, of speaking, singing, playing or the like; a temporary stop or rest.
2.  Cessation proceeding from doubt; suspense.
 I stand in pause where I shall first begin.
3.  Break or paragraph in writing.
4.  A temporary cessation in reading.  The use of punctuation is to mark the pauses in writing.  In verse, there are two kinds of pauses, the cesural and the final.  The cesural pause divides the verse; the final pause closes it.  The pauses which mark the sense, and which may be called sentential, are the same in prose and verse.
5.  A mark of cessation or intermission of the voice; a point.
PAUSE, v.i. pauz.  To make a short stop; to cease to speak for a time; to intermit speaking or action.
 Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused.
1.  To stop; to wait; to forbear for a time.
 Tarry, pause a day or two,
 Before you hazard.
2.  To be intermitted.  The music pauses.

To pause upon, to deliberate.


Topic: Pavan
Definition:
PAVAN', n. [L. pavo, a peacock.]  A grave dance among the Spaniards.  In this dance, the performers make a kind of wheel before each other, the gentlemen dancing with cap and sword,princes with long robes, and the ladies with long trails; the motions resembling the stately steps of the peacock.


Topic: Pave
Definition:
PAVE, v.t. [L. pavio; Gr. to beat, to strike.]
1.  To lay or cover with stone or brick so as to make a level or convenient surface for horses, carriages or foot passengers; to floor with brick or stone; as, to pave a street; to pave a side-walk; to pave a court or stable.
2.  To prepare a passage; to facilitate the introduction of.  The invention of printing paved the way for intellectual improvement.


Topic: Pavement
Definition:
PA'VEMENT, n. [L. pavimentum.]  A floor or covering consisting of stones or bricks, laid on the earth in such a manner as to make a hard and convenient passage; as a pavement of pebbles, of bricks, or of marble.
PA'VEMENT, v.t.  To pave; to floor with stone or brick. [Unusual.]


Topic: Pavilion
Definition:
PAVILION, n. pavil'yun. [L. papilio, a butterfly, and a pavilion.]
1.  A tent; a temporary movable habitation.
2.  In architecture, a kind of turret or building, usually insulated and contained under a single roof; sometimes square and sometimes in the form of a dome.  Sometimes a pavilion is a projecting part in the front of a building; sometimes it flanks a corner.
3.  In military affairs, a tent raised on posts.  The word is sometimes used for a flag, colors, ensign or banner.
4.  In heraldry, a covering in form of a tent,investing the armories of kings.
5.  Among jewelers,the under side and corner of brilliants, lying between the girdle and collet.


Topic: Pavo
Definition:
PA'VO, n. [L. a peacock.]  A constellation in the southern hemisphere, consisting of fourteen stars; also a fish.


Topic: Paw
Definition:
PAW, n. [L. pes, pedis; Eng. foot.]
1.  The foot of beasts of prey having claws, as the lion, the tiger, the dog, cat, &c.  Lev.11.
2.  The hand; in contempt.


Topic: Pawl
Definition:
PAWL, n. [Eng. pole; L. palus.  See Pole.]  Among seamen, a short bar of wood or iron fixed close to the capstan or windlass of a ship to prevent it from rolling back or giving way.


Topic: Pawn
Definition:
PAWN, n. [L. pignus.]
1.  Something given or deposited as security for the payment of money borrowed; a pledge.  Pawn is applied only to goods, chattels or money, and not to real estate.
 Men will not take pawns without use.
2.  A pledge for the fulfillment of a promise.
3.  A common man at chess. [See Peon.]
In pawn, at pawn, the state of being pledged.
 Sweet wife, my honor is at pawn.
PAWN, v.t. [L. pignero.]
1.  To give or deposit in pledge, or as security for the payment of money borrowed; to pledge; as, she pawned the last piece of plate.
2.  To pledge for the fulfillment of a promise; as, to pawn one's word or honor that an agreement shall be fulfilled.


Topic: Pawnee
Definition:
PAWNEE', n.  The person to whom a pawn is delivered as security; one that takes any thing in pawn.
 If the pawn is laid up and the pawnee robbed,he is not answerable.


Topic: Pax
Definition:
PAX, n. [L. pax, peace.]  A little image or piece of board with the image of Christ upon the cross on it, which people before the reformation,used to kiss after the service; the ceremony being considered as the kiss of peace.


Topic: Pay
Definition:
PAY, v.t. pret. and pp. paid.
1.  To discharge a debt; to deliver to a creditor the value of the debt, either in money or goods, to his acceptance or satisfaction, by which the obligation of the debtor is discharged.
2.  To discharge a duty created by promise or by custom or by the moral law; as, to pay a debt of honor or of kindness.
 You have paid down
 More penitence,than done trespass.
3.  To fulfill; to perform what is promised; as, to pay one's vows.
4.  To render what is due to a superior, or demanded by civility or courtesy; as, to pay respect to a magistrate; to pay due honor to parents.
5.  To beat.
 For which, or pay me quickly, or I'll pay you.
6.  To reward; to recompense; as, to pay for kindness with neglect.
To pay for, to make amends; to atone by suffering.  Men often pay for their mistakes with loss of property or reputation, sometimes with life.
1.  To give an equivalent for any thing purchased.
To pay,or pay over, in seamen's language, to daub or besmear the surface of any body, to preserve it from injury by water or weather.
To pay the bottom of a vessel, to cover it with a composition of tallow, sulphur, rosin, &c.; to bream.
To pay a mast or yard, to besmear it with tar, turpentine, rosin, tallow or varnish.
pay a seam, to pour melted pitch along it, so as to defend the oakum.
To pay off; to make compensation to and discharge; as, to pay off the crew of a ship.
To pay out, to slacken, extend or cause to run out; as, to pay out more cable.
PAY, v.i.  To pay off,in seamen's language, is to fall to leeward, as the head of a ship.
To pay on, to beat with vigor; to redouble blows.  [Colloquial.]
PAY, n.  Compensation; recompense; an equivalent given for money due, goods purchased or services performed; salary or wages for services; hire. The merchant receives pay for goods sold; the soldier receives pay for his services,but the soldiers of the American revolution never received full pay.
1.  Compensation; reward.
 Here only merit constant pay receives--


Topic: Pay-day
Definition:
PA'Y-DAY, n.  The day when payment is to be made or debts discharged; the day on which wages or money is stipulated to be paid.


Topic: Payable
Definition:
PA'YABLE, a.  That may or ought to be paid.  In general, money is payable as soon as it is due, or at the time payment is stipulated,or at the expiration of the credit; but by the usage of merchants, three or more days of grace are allowed to the debtor, and a note due at the day when payment is promised,is not payable till the expiration of the days of grace.
1.  That can be paid; that there is power to pay.
 Thanks are a tribute payable by the poorest.


Topic: Payee
Definition:
PAYEE', n.  The person to whom money is to be paid; the person named in a bill or note to whom the amount is promised or directed to be paid.


Topic: Payer
Definition:
PAY'ER, n.  One that pays.  In bills of exchange,the person on whom the bill is drawn, and who is directed to pay the money to the holder.


Topic: Paymaster
Definition:
PA'YMASTER, n.  One who is to pay; one from whom wages or reward is received.
1.  In the army, an officer whose duty is to pay the officers and soldiers their wages,and who is entrusted with money for this purpose.


Topic: Payment
Definition:
PA'YMENT, n.  The act of paying, or giving compensation.
1.  The thing given in discharge of a debt or fulfillment of a promise.
2.  Reward; recompense.
3.  Chastisement; sound beating. [Not used.]


Topic: Pea
Definition:
PEA, n. [L. pisum.]  A plant and its fruit of the genus Pisum, of many varieties. This plant has a papilionaceous flower,and the pericarp is a legume, called in popular language a pod. In the plural, we write peas, for two or more individual seeds, but pease, for an indefinite number in quantity of bulk.  We write two,three or four peas, but a bushel of pease. [This practice is arbitrary.]


Topic: Peace
Definition:
PEACE, n. [L. pax, paco, to appease.]
1.  In a general sense, a state of quiet or tranquillity; freedom from disturbance or agitation; applicable to society, to individuals, or to the temper of the mind.
2.  Freedom from war with a foreign nation; public quiet.
3.  Freedom from internal commotion or civil war.
4.  Freedom from private quarrels, suits or disturbance.
5.  Freedom from agitation or disturbance by the passions, as from fear, terror, anger, anxiety or the like; quietness of mind; tranquillity; calmness; quiet of conscience.
 Great peace have they that love the law. Ps.119.
6.  Heavenly rest; the happiness of heaven.
7.  Harmony; concord; a state of reconciliation between parties at variance.
8.  Public tranquillity; that quiet,order and security which is guaranteed by the laws; as, to keep the peace; to break the peace.
This word is used in commanding silence or quiet; as, peace to this troubled soul.
 Peace, the lovers are asleep.
To be at peace, to be reconciled; to live in harmony.
To make peace, to reconcile, as parties at variance.
To hold the peace, to be silent; to suppress one's thoughts; not to speak.


Topic: Peace-offering
Definition:
PE'ACE-OFFERING, n.  An offering that procures peace. Among the Jews, an offering or sacrifice to God for atonement and reconciliation for a crime or offense.


Topic: Peace-officer
Definition:
PE'ACE-OFFICER, n.  A civil officer whose duty is to preserve the public peace, to prevent or punish riots, &c; as a sheriff, or constable.


Topic: Peaceable
Definition:
PE'ACEABLE, a.  Free from war, tumult or public commotion. We live in peaceable times.  The reformation was introduced in a peaceable manner.
1.  Free from private feuds or quarrels.  The neighbors are peaceable. These men are peaceable.
2.  Quiet; undisturbed; not agitated with passion. His mind is very peaceable.
3.  Not violent, bloody or unnatural; as, to die a peaceable death.


Topic: Peaceably
Definition:
PE'ACEABLY, adv.  Without war; without tumult or commotion; without private feuds and quarrels.
1.  Without disturbance; quietly; without agitation; without interruption.


Topic: Peaceful
Definition:
PE'ACEFUL, a.  Quiet; undisturbed; not in a state of war or commotion; as a peaceful time; a peaceful country.
1.  Pacific; mild; calm; as peaceful words; a peaceful temper.
2.  Removed from noise or tumult; still; undisturbed; as the peaceful cottage; the peaceful scenes of rural life.


Topic: Peacefully
Definition:
PE'ACEFULLY, adv. Without war or commotion.
1.  Quietly; without disturbance.
 Our loved earth, where peacefully we slept.
2.  Mildly; gently.


Topic: Peacefulness
Definition:
PE'ACEFULNESS, n.  Quiet; freedom from war, tumult, disturbance or discord.
1.  Freedom from mental perturbation; as peacefulness of mind.


Topic: Peacemaker
Definition:
PE'ACEMAKER, n.  One who makes peace by reconciling parties that are at variance.
 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Matt.5.


Topic: Peach
Definition:
PEACH, n.  A tree and its fruit, of the genus Amygdalus, of many varieties. This is a delicious fruit, the produce of warm or temperate climates.  In America, the peach thrives and comes to perfection in the neighborhood of Boston, northward of which it usually fails.
PEACH, for impeach, not used.


Topic: Peacock
Definition:
PE'ACOCK, n. [L. pavo.]  A large and beautiful fowl of the genus Pavo, properly the male of the species, but in usage the name is applied to the species in general.  The feathers of this fowl's tail are very long, and variegated with rich and elegant colors. The peacock is a native of India.


Topic: Peak
Definition:
PEAK, n. [Eng. pike, beak.]
1.  The top of a hill or mountain, ending in a point; as the peak of Teneriffe.
2.  A point; the end of any thing that terminates in a point.
3.  The upper corner of a sail which is extended by a gaff or yard; also, the extremity of the yard or gaff.
PEAK, v.i.  To look sickly or thin. [Not used.]
1.  To make a mean figure; to sneak. [Not used.]
PEAK, v.t.  To raise a gaff or yard more obliquely to the mast.


Topic: Peal
Definition:
PEAL, n. [from L. pello, whence appello, to appeal.  The sense is to drive; a peal is a driving of sound.  This word seems to belong to the family of L. balo,and Eng. to bawl,jubilee, bell, &c.]
A loud sound, usually a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts of a multitude,&c.
PEAL, v.i.  To utter loud and solemn sounds; as the pealing organ.
PEAL, v.t.  To assail with noise.
 Nor was his ear less pealed.
1.  To cause to ring or sound; to celebrate.
 The warrior's name
 Though pealed and chimed on all the tongues of fame.
2.  To stir or agitate.  [Not used.]


Topic: Pean
Definition:
PE'AN , n.  Among the ancients, a song of rejoicing in honor of Apollo; hence, a song of triumph.
1.  In ancient poetry, a foot of four syllables; written also paeon. Of this there are four kinds; the first consisting of one long and three short syllables, or a trochee and a pyrrhic, as temporibus; the second of a short syllable, a long and two short, or an iambus and a pyrrhic, as potentia; the third of two short syllables, a long and a short one, or a phrrhic and a trochee, as animatus; the fourth of three short syllables and along one, or a pyrrhic and iambus, as celeritus.


Topic: Pear
Definition:
PEAR, n. [L. pyrum.]  The fruit of the Pyrus communis, of many varieties, some of which are delicious to the taste.


Topic: Pearl
Definition:
PEARL, n. perl.
1.  A white, hard, smooth, shining body, usually roundish, found in a testaceous fish of the oyster kind.  The pearl-shell is called matrix perlarum, mother of pearl, and the pearl is found only in the softer part of the animal.  It is found in the Persian seas and in many parts of the ocean which washes the shores of Arabia and the continent and isles of Asia, and is taken by divers.  Pearls are of different sizes and colors; the larger ones approach to the figure of a pear; some have been found more than an inch in length.  They are valued according to their size, their roundness, and their luster or purity, which appears in a silvery brightness.
2.  Poetically, something round and clear, as a drop of water or dew.
3.  A white speck of film growing on the eye.
PEARL,v.t. perl. To set or adorn with pearls.
PEARL, v.i. perl.  To resemble pearls.


Topic: Pearl-stone
Definition:
PEARL-STONE, n.  A mineral regarded as a volcanic production.  It occurs in basaltic and porphyritic rocks, and is classed with pitch stone.
 Pearl-stone is a subspecies of indivisible quartz.


Topic: Pearly
Definition:
PEARLY, a. perl'y.  Containing pearl; abounding with pearls; as pearly shells; a pearly shore.
1.  Resembling pearls; clear; pure; transparent; as the pearly flood; pearly dew.


Topic: Peat
Definition:
PEAT, n. A substance resembling turf, used as fuel. It is found in low grounds or moorish lands, and is of several species; one is of a brown or yellowish brown color, and when first cut has a viscid consistence, but hardens when exposed to the air; another consists chiefly of vegetable substances, as branches of trees, roots, grass,&c.
PEAT. [See Pet.]


Topic: Pebblestone
Definition:
PEB'BLESTONE, n.  In popular usage, a roundish stone of any kind from the size of a nut to that of a man's head.  In a philosophical sense, minerals distinguished from flints by their variety of colors, consisting of crystalline matter debased by earths of various kinds, with veins, clouds and other variegations, formed by incrustation round a central nucleus, but sometimes the effect of a simple concretion.  Pebbles are much used in the pavement of streets.
A general term for water-worn minerals.


Topic: Pec-cary
Definition:
PEC-CARY, n.  A quadruped of Mexico, in general appearance resembling a hog, but its body is less bulky, its legs shorter, and its bristles thicker and stronger, like the quills of the porcupine.  Its color is black and white, and it has on the hind part of the back a protuberance like the navel of other animals, with an orifice form which issues a liquor of a very strong scent.


Topic: Peccadillo
Definition:
PECCADIL'LO, n. [L. peccatum.]
1.  A slight trespass or offense; a petty crime or fault.
2.  A sort of stiff ruff.


Topic: Peccant
Definition:
PEC'CANT, a. [L. peccans.  See Peccable.]
1.  Sinning; guilty of sin or transgression; criminal; as peccant angels.
2.  Morbid; bad; corrupt; not healthy; as peccant humors.
3.  Wrong; bad; defective; informal; as a peccant citation. [Not used.]
PEC'CANT, n.  An offender. [Not used.]


Topic: Peccavi
Definition:
PECCA'VI. [L. I have offended.]  A colloquial word used to express confession or acknowledgment of an offense.


Topic: Pechblend
Definition:
PECH'BLEND, n.  Pitchblend, an ore of uranium; a metallic substance found in masses, or stratified with earths or with other minerals, in Swedish and Saxon mines.  It is of a blackish color, inclining to a deep steel gray, and one kind has a mixture of spots of red.


Topic: Peck
Definition:
PECK, n.
1.  The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as a peck of wheat or oats.
2.  In low language, a great deal; as, to be in a peck of troubles.
PECK, v.t.
1.  To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into, as a bird that pecks a hole in a tree.
2.  To strike with a pointed instrument, or to delve or dig with any thing pointed, as with a pick-ax.
3.  To pick up food with the beak.
4.  To strike with small and repeated blows; to strike in manner to make small impressions.  In this sense,the verb is generally intransitive.  We say, to peck at.]
[This verb and pick are radically the same.]


Topic: Pecking
Definition:
PECK'ING, ppr.  Striking with the bill; thrusting the beak into; thrusting into with a pointed instrument; taking up food with the beak.


Topic: Pectinal
Definition:
PEC'TINAL, a. [L. pecten, a comb; pecto, to comb.]
Pertaining to a comb; resembling a comb.
PEC'TINAL, n.  A fish whose bones resemble the teeth of a comb.


Topic: Pectoral
Definition:
PEC'TORAL, a. [L. pectoralis, from pectus, breast.]
Pertaining to the breast; as the pectoral muscles; pectoral medicines.
The pectoral fins of a fish are situated on the sides of the fish, behind the gills.
PEC'TORAL, n.  A breastplate.
1.  A sacerdotal habit or vestment worn by the Jewish high priest, called in our version of the Bible, a breastplate.
2.  A medicine adapted to cure or relieve complaints of the breast and lungs.


Topic: Peculate
Definition:
PEC'ULATE, v.i. [L. peculatus, peculor, from peculium, private property, from pecus, cattle.]
1.  To defraud the public of money or goods entrusted to one's care, by appropriating the property to one's own use; to defraud by embezzlement.
2.  Among civilians, to steal.


Topic: Peculation
Definition:
PECULA'TION, n.  The act, practice or crime of defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods entrusted to one's care for management or disbursement;  embezzlement of public money or goods.


Topic: Peculator
Definition:
PEC'ULATOR, n.[L.]  One that defrauds the public by appropriating to his own use money entrusted to his care.


Topic: Peculiar
Definition:
PECU'LIAR, a. [L. peculiaris, from peculium, one's own property, from pecus, cattle.]
1.  Appropriate; belonging to a person and to him only.  Almost every writer has a peculiar style.  Most men have manners peculiar to themselves.
2.  Singular; particular. The man has something peculiar in his deportment.
3.  Particular; special.
 My fate is Juno's most peculiar care.
[Most cannot, in strict propriety, be prefixed to peculiar, but it is used to give emphasis to the word.]
4.  Belonging to a nation,system or other thing, and not to others.
PECU'LIAR, n. Exclusive property; that which belongs to a person in exclusion of others.
1. In the canon law, a particular parish or church which has the probate of wills within itself, exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop's court.
Court of peculiars, in England, is a branch of the court of arches. It has jurisdiction over all the parishes dispersed through the province of Canterbury, in the midst of other dioceses, which are exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction, and subject to the metropolitan only.


Topic: Peculiarity
Definition:
PECULIAR'ITY, n.  Something peculiar to a person or thing; that which belongs to or is found in one person or thing and in no other; as a peculiarity of style or manner of thinking; peculiarity in dress.


Topic: Pecuniary
Definition:
PECU'NIARY, a. [L. pecuniarius, from pecunia, money, from pecus, cattle.]
1.  Relating to money; as pecuniary affairs or losses.
2.  Consisting of money; as a pecuniary mulct or penalty.


Topic: Pedagogue
Definition:
PEDAGOGUE, n. ped'agog.[Gr. a child, and to lead.]
1.  A teacher of children; one whose occupation is to instruct young children; a schoolmaster.
2.  A pedant.


Topic: Pedantry
Definition:
PED'ANTRY, n.  Vain ostentation of learning; a boastful display of knowledge of any kind.
 Horace has enticed me into this pedantry of quotation.
 Pedantry is the unseasonable ostentation of learning.


Topic: Pedarian
Definition:
PEDA'RIAN, n. A Roman senator who gave his vote by the feet, that is, by walking over to the side he espoused, in divisions of the senate.


Topic: Pedate
Definition:
PED'ATE, a. [L. pedatus, from pes, the foot.]  In botany, divided like the toes.  A pedate leaf is one in which a bifid petiole connects several leaflets on the inside only.


Topic: Pedatifid
Definition:
PED'ATIFID, a. [L. pes, foot, and findo, to divide.]
A pedatifid leaf, in botany, is one whose parts are not entirely separate, but connected like the toes of a water-fowl.


Topic: Peddle
Definition:
PED'DLE, v.i.  To be busy about trifles.
1.  To travel about the country and retail goods.  He peddles for a living.
PED'DLE, v.t.  To sell or retail, usually by traveling about the country.


Topic: Pederero
Definition:
PEDERE'RO, n. [L. petra; Gr. so named from the use of stones in the charge, before the invention or iron balls.]
A swivel gun; sometimes written paterero.


Topic: Pedestal
Definition:
PED'ESTAL, n. [L. pes, the foot.]  In architecture, the lowest part of a column or pillar; the part which sustains a column or serves as its foot.  It consists of three parts,the base, the die and the cornice.


Topic: Pedestrian
Definition:
PEDES'TRIAN, a. [L. pedestris, form pes, the foot.]
Going on foot; walking; made on foot; as a pedestrian journey.
PEDES'TRIAN, n.  One that walks or journeys on foot.
1.  One that walks for a wager; a remarkable walker.


Topic: Pedicle
Definition:
PED'ICLE, n. [L. pediculus, form pes, the foot.]  In botany, the ultimate division of a common peduncle; the stalk that supports one flower only when there are several on a peduncle.


Topic: Pedigree
Definition:
PED'IGREE, n. [probably from L. pes,pedis, foot.]
1.  Lineage; line of ancestors from which a person or tribe descends; genealogy.
 Alterations of surnames--have obscured the truth of our pedigrees.
2.  An account or register of a line of ancestors.
 The Jews preserved the pedigrees of their several tribes.


Topic: Pediment
Definition:
PED'IMENT, n. [from L. pes, the foot.]  In architecture, an ornament that crowns the ordinances, finishes the fronts of buildings and serves as a decoration over gates, windows and niches.  It is of two forms, triangular and circular. A pediment is properly the representation of the roof.


Topic: Pedler
Definition:
PED'LER, n. [L.pes, pedis,the foot.]  A traveling foot-trader; one that carries about small commodities on his back, or in a cart or wagon, and sells them.


Topic: Pedobaptist
Definition:
PEDOBAP'TIST, n.  One that holds to infant baptism; one that practices the baptism of children. Most denominations of christians are pedobaptists.


Topic: Pedometer
Definition:
PEDOM'ETER, n. [L. pes, the foot, and Gr.measure.]  An instrument by which paces are numbered as a person walks, and the distance from place to place ascertained.  It also marks the revolutions of wheels.  This is done by means of wheels with teeth and a chain or string fastened to the foot or to the wheel of a carriage; the wheels advancing a notch at every step or at every revolution of the carriage wheel.


Topic: Peduncle
Definition:
PEDUN'CLE, n. [L. pes,the foot.]  In botany,the stem or stalk that supports the fructification of a plant,and of course the fruit.


Topic: Peel
Definition:
PEEL, v.t.  [L. pilo, to pull off hair and to pillage; pilus, the hair.]
1.  To strip off skin, bark or rind without a cutting instrument; to strip by drawing or tearing off the skin; to bark; to flay; to decorticate.  When a knife is used, we call it paring.  Thus we say, to peel a tree, to peel an orange; but we say, to pare an apple to pare land.
2.  In a general sense, to remove the skin, bark or rind, even with an instrument.
3.  To strip; to plunder; to pillage; as, to peel a province or conquered people.
PEEL, n. [L. pellis.]  The skin or rind of any thing; as the peel of an orange.
PEEL, n. [L. pala; pello; Eng. shovel, from shove; or from spreading.]  A kind of wooden shovel used by bakers, with a broad palm and long handle; hence, in popular use in America, any large fire-shovel.


Topic: Peep
Definition:
PEEP, v.i. [L. pipio; Heb. to cry out.]
1.  To begin to appear; to make the first appearance; to issue or come forth from concealment, as through a narrow avenue.
 I can see his pride
 Peep through each part of him.
 When flowers first peeped--
2.  To look through a crevice; to look narrowly, closely or slyly.
 A fool will peep in at the door.
 Thou are a maid and must not peep.
3.  To cry, as chickens; to utter a fine shrill sound, as through a crevice; usually written pip, but without reason, as it is the same word as is here defined, and in America is usually pronounced peep.
PEEP, n.  First appearance; as the peep of day.
1.  A sly look, or a look through a crevice.
2.  The cry of a chicken.


Topic: Peer
Definition:
PEER, n. [L. par.]
1.  An equal; one of the same rank.  A man may be familiar with his peers.
2.  An equal in excellence or endowments.
 In song he never had his peer.
3.  A companion; a fellow; an associate.
 He all his peers in beauty did surpass.
4.  A nobleman; as a peer of the realm; the house of peers, so called because noblemen and barons were originally considered as the companions of the king, like L. comes,count.  In England, persons belonging to the five degrees of nobility are all peers.
PEER, v.i. [L. pareo.]
1.  To come just in sight; to appear; a poetic word.
 So honor peereth in the meanest habit.
 See how his gorget peers above his gown.
2. To look narrowly; to peep; as the peering day.
 Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads.


Topic: Peerage
Definition:
PEE'RAGE, n. [See Peer, an equal.]
The rank or dignity of a peer or nobleman.
1.  The body of peers.


Topic: Peevish
Definition:
PEE'VISH, a.
1.  Fretful; petulant; apt to mutter and complain; easily vexed or fretted; querulous; hard to please.
 She is peevish, sullen, froward.
2.  Expressing discontent and fretfulness.
 I will not presume
 To send such peevish tokens to a king.
3.  Silly; childish.


Topic: Peevishness
Definition:
PEE'VISHNESS, n.  Fretfulness; petulance; disposition to murmur; sourness of temper; as childish peevishness.
 When peevishness and spleen succeed.


Topic: Peg
Definition:
PEG, n. [This is probably from the root of L.pango, pactus; Gr. denoting that which fastens, or allied to beak and picket.]
1.  A small pointed piece of wood used in fastening boards or other work of wood, &c.  It does the office of a nail.  The word is applied only to small pieces of wood pointed; to the larger pieces thus pointed we give the name of pins, and pins in ship carpentry are called tree-nails or trenails. Coxe, in his travels in Russia, speaks of poles or beams fastened into the ground with pegs.
2.  The pins of an instrument on which the strings are strained.
3.  A nickname for Margaret.
To take a peg lower, to depress; to lower.
PEG, v.t.  To fasten with pegs.


Topic: Pegmatite
Definition:
PEG'MATITE, n.  Primitive granitic rock, composed essentially of lamellar feldspar and quartz; frequently with a mixture of mica.  In it are found kaolin, tin tourmaline, beryl, aqua marina, tantale, scheelin and other valuable minerals.


Topic: Peirastic
Definition:
PEIRAS'TIC,a. [Gr. to strain, to attempt.]  Attempting; making trial.
1.  Treating of or representing trials or attempts; as the peirastic dialogues of Plato.


Topic: Pelage
Definition:
PEL'AGE, n. [L. pilus, hair.]  The vesture or covering of wild beasts, consisting of hair, fur or wool.


Topic: Pelf
Definition:
PELF, n. [probably allied to pilfer.]  Money; riches; but it often conveys the idea of something ill gotten or worthless.  It has no plural.


Topic: Pelican
Definition:
PEL'ICAN, n. [Low L. pelicanus.]
1.  A fowl of the genus Pelicanus.  It is larger than the swan, and remarkable for its enormous bill, to the lower edges of the under chop of which is attached a pouch or bag, capable of being distended so as to hold many quarts of water.  In this bag the fowl deposits the fish is takes for food.
2.  A chimical glass vessel or alembic with a tubulated capital, from which two opposite and crooked beaks pass out and enter again at the belly of the cucurbit. It is designed for continued distillation and cohobation; the volatile parts of the substance distilling, rising into the capital and returning through the beaks into the cucurbit.


Topic: Pelisse
Definition:
PELISSE, n. pelee's. [L. pellis,skin.]  Originally, a furred robe or coat.  But the name is now given to a silk coat or habit worn by ladies.


Topic: Pell
Definition:
PELL, n. [L. pellis.]  A skin or hide.
Clerk of the pells, in England, an officer of the exchequer, who enters every teller's bill on the parchment rolls, the roll or receipts and the roll of disbursements.


Topic: Pellet
Definition:
PEL'LET, n. [L. pila, a ball.]  
A little ball; as a pellet of wax or lint.
1.  A bullet; a ball for fire-arms. [Not now used.]


Topic: Pellicle
Definition:
PEL'LICLE, n. [L.pellicula, dim. of pellis, skin.]  
A thin skin or film.
1.  Among chimists, a thin saline crust formed on the surface of a solution of salt evaporated to a certain degree.  This pellicle consists of saline particles crystallized.


Topic: Pellitory
Definition:
PEL'LITORY, n. [L. parietaria, the wall plant, from paries.]
The name of several plants of different genera.  The pellitory of the wall or common pellitory is of the genus Parietaria; the bastard pellitory of the genus Achillea; and the pellitory of Spain is the Anthemis pyrethrum.


Topic: Pellucid
Definition:
PELLU'CID, a. [L. pellucidus; per and lucidus; very bright.  See Light.]  Perfectly clear; transparent; not opake; as a body as pellucid as crystal.


Topic: Pelt
Definition:
PELT, n. [L. pellis.]
1.  The skin of a beast with the hair on it; a raw hide.
2.  The quarry of a hawk all torn.
3.  A blow or stroke from something thrown. [infra.]
PELT, v.t. [L. pello.]
1.  Properly, to strike with something thrown, driven or falling; as, to pelt with stones; pelted with hail.
 The chiding billows seem to pelt the clouds.
2.  To drive by throwing something.


Topic: Pelting
Definition:
PELT'ING, ppr.  Striking with something thrown or driven.
PELT'ING, n.  An assault with any thing thrown.
PELT'ING, a.  In Shakespeare,mean; paltry. [Improper.]


Topic: Peltry
Definition:
PEL'TRY, n. [from pelt, a skin.]  The skins of animals producing fur; skins in general,with the fur on them; furs in general.


Topic: Pelvimeter
Definition:
PELVIM'ETER, n. [L. pelvis, and Gr. measure.]  An instrument to measure the dimensions of the female pelvis.


Topic: Pelvis
Definition:
PEL'VIS, n. [L. pelvis, a bason.]  The cavity of the body formed by the os sacrum, os coccyx, and ossa innominata, forming the lower part of the abdomen.


Topic: Pen
Definition:
PEN, n. [L. penna; pinna, a fin, that is, a shoot or point.]
1.  An instrument used for writing, usually made of the quill of some large fowl, but it may be of any other material.
2.  A feather, a wing. [Not used.]
PEN, v.t. pret. and pp. penned.  To write; to compose and commit to paper.
PEN, n.  A small inclosure for beasts, as for cows or sheep.
PEN, v.t. pret. and pp. penned or pent.  To shut in a pen; to confine in a small inclosure; to coop; to confine in a narrow place, usually followed by up, which is redundant.


Topic: Penal
Definition:
PE'NAL, a. [L. poena; Gr. pain, punishment.  See Pain.]
1.  Enacting punishment; denouncing the punishment of offenses; as a penal law or statute; the penal code.  Penal statutes must be construed strictly.
2.  Inflicting punishment.
 Adamantine chains and penal fire.
3.  Incurring punishment; subject to a penalty; as a penal act of offense.


Topic: Penalty
Definition:
PEN'ALTY, n.
1.  The suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense or trespass, as a punishment.  A fine is a pecuniary penalty.  The usual penalties inflicted on the person, are whipping, cropping, branding, imprisonment, hard labor, transportation or death.
2.  The suffering to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of non-fulfillment of his stipulations; the forfeiture or sum to be forfeited for non-payment, or for non-compliance with an agreement; as the penalty of a bond.


Topic: Penance
Definition:
PEN'ANCE, n.
1. The suffering, labor or pain to which a person voluntarily subjects himself, or which is imposed on him by authority as a punishment for his faults, or as an expression of penitence; such as fasting, flagellation, wearing chains, &c.  Penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Romish church.
2.  Repentance.


Topic: Pence
Definition:
PENCE, n. pens.  The plural of penny, when used of a sum of money or value.  When pieces of coin are mentioned, we use pennies.


Topic: Pencil
Definition:
PEN'CIL, n. [L. penicillus.]
1.  A small brush used by painters for laying on colors. The proper pencils are made of fine hair or bristles, as of camels, badgers or squirrels, or of the down of swans, inclosed in a quill.  The larger pencils, made of swine's bristles, are called brushes.
2. A pen formed of carburet of iron or plumbago, black lead or red chalk, with a point at one end, used for writing and drawing.
3.  Any instrument of writing without ink.
4.  An aggregate or collection of rays of light.
PEN'CIL, v.t.  To paint or draw; to write or mark with a pencil.


Topic: Pendant
Definition:
PEND'ANT, n. [L. pendeo, to hang.]
1.  An ornament or jewel hanging at the ear, usually composed of pearl or some precious stone.
2.  Any thing hanging by way of ornament.
3.  In heraldry, a part hanging from the label, resembling the drops in the Doric frieze.
4.  A streamer; a small flag or long narrow banner displayed from a ship's mast head, usually terminating in two points called the swallow's tail.  It denotes that a ship is in actual service.  The broad pendant is used to distinguish the chief of a squadron.
5.  A short piece of rope fixed on each side under the shrouds, on the heads of the main and fore-mast, having an iron thimble to receive the hooks of the tackle.
There are many other pendants consisting of a rope or ropes, to whose lower extremity is attached a block or tackle. The rudder-pendant is a rope made fast to the rudder by a chain, to prevent the loss of the rudder when unshipped.
6.  A pendulum. [Not used.]


Topic: Pendency
Definition:
PEND'ENCY, n. [L.pendens, pendeo, supra.]  Suspense; the state of being undecided; as, to wait during the pendency of a suit or petition.


Topic: Pendent
Definition:
PEND'ENT, a. [L. pendens.]  Hanging; fastened at one end, the other being loose.
 With ribbons pendent, flaring about her head.
1.  Jutting over; projecting; as a pendant rock.
2.  Supported above the ground.


Topic: Pending
Definition:
PEND'ING, a. [L. pendeo, to hang; pendente lite.]  Depending; remaining undecided; not terminated.  This was done, pending the suit.


Topic: Pendulousness
Definition:
PEND'ULOUSNESS, n.  [See Pendulous.]  The state of hanging; suspension. [The latter is the preferable word.]


Topic: Pendulum
Definition:
PEND'ULUM, n. [L. pendulus, pendulum.]  A vibrating body suspended from a fixed point; as the pendulum of a clock.  The oscillations of a pendulum depend on gravity, and are always performed in nearly equal times, supposing the length of the pendulum and the gravity to remain the same.


Topic: Penetrability
Definition:
PENETRABIL'ITY, n. [from penetrable.]  Susceptibility of being penetrated, or of being entered or passed through by another body.
 There being no mean between penetrability and impenetrability.


Topic: Penetrable
Definition:
PEN'ETRABLE, a. [L. penetrabilis.  See Penetrate.]
1.  That may be penetrated,entered, or pierced by another body.
 Let him try thy dart,
 And pierce his only penetrable part.
2.  Susceptible of moral or intellectual impression.
 I am not made of stone,
 But penetrable to your kind entreaties.


Topic: Penetrancy
Definition:
PEN'ETRANCY, n. [L. penetrans.]  Power of entering or piercing; as the penetrancy of subtil effluvia.


Topic: Penetrant
Definition:
PEN'ETRANT, a. [L. penetrans.]  Having the power to enter or pierce; sharp; subtil; as penetrant spirit; food subtilized and rendered fluid and penetrant.


Topic: Penetrate
Definition:
PEN'ETRATE, v.t. [L. penetro, from the root of pen, a point.]
1.  To enter or pierce; to make way into another body; as, a sword or dart penetrates the body; oil penetrates wood; marrow, the most penetrating of oil substances.
2.  To affect the mind; to cause to feel.  I am penetrated with a lively sense of your generosity.
3.  To reach by the intellect; to understand; as, to penetrate the meaning or design of any thing.
4.  To enter; to pass into the interior; as, to penetrate a country.
PEN'ETRATE, v.i.  To pass; to make way.
 Born where heaven's influence scarce can penetrate.
1.  To make way intellectually.  He had not penetrated into the designs of the prince.


Topic: Penetrating
Definition:
PEN'ETRATING, ppr. Entering; piercing; understanding.
1.  a.  Having the power of entering or piercing another body; sharp; subtil.  Oil is a penetrating substance.
2.  Acute; discerning; quick to understand; as a penetrating mind.


Topic: Penetration
Definition:
PENETRA'TION, n.  The act of entering a body.
1.  Mental entrance into any thing abstruse; as a penetration into the abstruse difficulties of algebra.
2. Acuteness; sagacity; as a man of great or nice penetration.


Topic: Penetrative
Definition:
PEN'ETRATIVE, a.  Piercing; sharp; subtil.
 Let not air be too gross nor too penetrative.
1.  Acute; sagacious; discerning; as penetrative wisdom.
2.  Having the power to affect or impress the mind; as penetrative shame.


Topic: Penguin
Definition:
PEN'GUIN, n.  [L. pinguidine, with fatness.]
1.  A genus of fowls of the order of Palmipeds.  The penguin is an aquatic fowl with very short legs, with four toes, three of which are webbed; the body is clothed with short feathers, set as compactly as the scales of a fish; the wings are small like fins, and covered with short scale-like feathers, so that they are useless in flight.  Penguins seldom go on shore, except in the season of breeding, when they burrow like rabbits.  On land they stand erect; they are tame and may be driven like a flock of sheep.  In water they swim with rapidity, being assisted by their wings.  These fowls are found only in the southern latitudes.
2.  A species of fruit.


Topic: Penicil
Definition:
PEN'ICIL, n. [L. penicillus.  See Pencil.]
1.  Among physicians, a tent or pledget for wounds or ulcers.
2.  A species of shell.


Topic: Peninsula
Definition:
PENIN'SULA, n. [L. pene, almost, and insula, an isle.]
1.  A portion of land, connected with a continent by a narrow neck or isthmus, but nearly surrounded with water. Thus Boston stands on a peninsula.
2.  A large extent of country joining the main land by a part narrower than the tract itself. Thus Spain and Portugal are said to be situated on a peninsula.


Topic: Peninsulate
Definition:
PENIN'SULATE, v.t.  To encompass almost with water; to form a peninsula.
 South river peninsulates Castle hill farm, and at high tides, surrounds it.


Topic: Penitent
Definition:
PEN'ITENT, a. [L.poenitens.]  Suffering pain or sorrow of heart on account of sins, crimes or offenses; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt and resolving on amendment of life.
 The proud he tam'd, the penitent he cheer'd.
PEN'ITENT, n.  One that repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his transgressions.
1.  One under church censure, but admitted to penance.
2.  One under the direction of a confessor.
Penitents is an appellation given to certain fraternities in catholic countries, distinguished by their habits and employed in charitable acts.
Order of penitents, a religious order established by one Bernard of Marseilles, about the year 1272, for the reception of reformed courtezans.  The congregation of penitents at Paris, was founded with a similar view.


Topic: Penitential
Definition:
PENITEN'TIAL, a.  Proceeding from or expressing penitence or contrition of heart; as penitential sorrow or tears.
PENITEN'TIAL, n.  Among the Romanists, a book containing the rules which relate to penance and the reconciliation of penitents.


Topic: Penitentiary
Definition:
PENITEN'TIARY, a.  Relating to penance, or to the rules and measures of penance.
PENITEN'TIARY, n.  One that prescribes the rules and measures of penance.
1.  A penitent; one that does penance.
2.  At the court of Rome, an office in which are examined and delivered out the secret bulls, graces or dispensations relating to cases of conscience, confession, &c.
3.  An officer in some cathedrals, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.  The pope has a grand penitentiary, who is a cardinal and is chief of the other penitentiaries.
4.  A house of correction in which offenders are confined for punishment and reformation, and compelled to labor; a workhouse.  A state prison is a penitentiary.


Topic: Penman
Definition:
PEN'MAN, n. plu. penmen.  [See Pen and Man.]
1.  A man that professes or teaches the art of writing.  More generally,
2.  One that writes a good hand.
3.  An author; a writer; as the sacred penmen.


Topic: Penmanship
Definition:
PEN'MANSHIP, n.  The use of the pen in writing; the art of writing.
1.  Manner of writing; as good or bad penmanship.


Topic: Pennached
Definition:
PEN'NACHED, a.  Radiated; diversified with natural stripes of various colors; as a flower.  [Little used.]


Topic: Pennon
Definition:
PEN'NON, n. [L.pannus, a cloth]
1.  A small flag; a banner.  [See Pendant.]
2.  A tackle for hoisting things on board a ship.


Topic: Penny
Definition:
PEN'NY, n. plu. pennies or pence.  Pennies denotes the number of coins; pence the amount of pennies in value.
1. An ancient English silver coin; but now an imaginary money of account, twelve of which are equal to a shilling.  It is the radical denomination from which English coin is numbered.
2.  In ancient English statutes, any or all silver money.
3.  Proverbially, a small sum.  He will not lend a penny.
4.  Money in general.
 Be sure to turn the penny.


Topic: Pennypost
Definition:
PEN'NYPOST, n.  One that carries letters from the post office and delivers them to the proper persons for a penny or other small compensation.


Topic: Pennyroyal
Definition:
PENNYROY'AL, n.  A plant of the genus Mentha.
The English pennyroyal is the Mentha pulegium; the N. American pennyroyal is the Cunila pulegioides.


Topic: Pennyweight
Definition:
PEN'NYWEIGHT, n.  A troy weight containing twenty four grains, each grain being equal in weight to a grain of wheat from the middle of the ear, well dried. It was anciently the weight of a silver penny,whence the name.  Twenty penny-weights make an ounce troy.


Topic: Pennyworth
Definition:
PEN'NYWORTH, n.  As much as is bought for a penny.
1.  Any purchase; any thing bought or sold for money; that which is worth the money given.
2.  A good bargain; something advantageously purchased, or for less than it is worth.
3.  A small quantity.


Topic: Pensile
Definition:
PEN'SILE, a. [L. pensilis, from pendeo, to hang.]
1.  Hanging; suspended; as a pensile bell.
2.  Supported above the ground; as a pensile garden.


Topic: Pension
Definition:
PEN'SION, n. [L.pensio, form pendo, pensum, to pay.]
1.  An annual allowance of a sum of money to a person by government in consideration of past services, civil or military.  Men often receive pensions for eminent services on retiring from office.  But in particular, officers, soldiers and seamen receive pensions when they are disabled for further services.
2. An annual payment by an individual to an old or disabled servant.
3.  In Great Britain, an annual allowance made by government to indigent widows of officers killed or dying in public service.
4.  Payment of money; rent.
5.  A yearly payment in the inns of court.
6.  A certain sum of money paid to a clergyman in lieu of tithes.
7.  An allowance or annual payment, considered in the light of a bribe.
PEN'SION, v.t.  To grant a pension to; to grant an annual allowance from the public treasury to a person for past services, or on account of disability incurred in public service, or of old age.


Topic: Pensionary
Definition:
PEN'SIONARY, a. Maintained by a pension; receiving a pension; as pensionary spies.
1.  Consisting in a pension; as a pensionary provision for maintenance.
PEN'SIONARY, n.  A person who receives a pension from government for past services, or a yearly allowance from some prince, company or individual.
1.  The first minister of the states of the province of Holland; also, the first minister of the regency of a city in Holland.


Topic: Pensioner
Definition:
PEN'SIONER, n.  One to whom an annual sum of money is paid by government in consideration of past services.
1.  One who receives an annual allowance for services.
2.  A dependant.
3.  In the university of Cambridge, and in that of Dublin, an undergraduate or bachelor of arts who lives at his own expense.
4.  One of an honorable band of gentlemen who attend on the king of England, and receive a pension or an annual allowance of a hundred pounds.  This band was instituted by Henry VII.  Their duty is to guard the king's person in his own house.


Topic: Pensive
Definition:
PEN'SIVE, a. [L.penso, to weigh, to consider; pendo, to weigh.]
1. Literally, thoughtful; employed in serious study or reflection; but it often implies some degree of sorrow, anxiety, depression or gloom of mind; thoughtful and sad, or sorrowful.
 Anxious cares the pensive nymph oppress'd.
2.  Expressing thoughtfulness with sadness; as pensive numbers; pensive strains.


Topic: Penstock
Definition:
PEN'STOCK, n. [pen and stock.]  A narrow or confined place formed by a frame of timber planked or boarded, for holding or conducting the water of a mill-pond to a wheel, and furnished with a flood gate which may be shut or opened at pleasure.


Topic: Pentachord
Definition:
PEN'TACHORD,n. [Gr. five, and chord.]
1.  An instrument of music with five strings.
2.  An order or system of five sounds.


Topic: Pentacoccous
Definition:
PEN'TACOCCOUS, a. [Gr. five, and L. coccus, a berry.]
Having or containing five grains or seeds, or having five cells with one seed in each.


Topic: Pentacoster
Definition:
PEN'TACOSTER, n. [Gr.]  In ancient Greece, a military officer commanding fifty men; but the number varied.


Topic: Pentacrostic
Definition:
PENTACROS'TIC, a. [Gr. five, and acrostic.]  Containing five acrostics of the same name in five divisions of each verse.
PENTACROS'TIC, n.  A set of verses so disposed as to have five acrostics of the same name in five divisions of each verse.


Topic: Pentadactyl
Definition:
PENTADAC'TYL, n. [Gr. five, and finger.]
1.  In botany, a plant called five fingers; a name given to the Ricinus or Palma Christi, from the shape of its leaf.
2.  In ichthyology, the five fingered fish; a name given to a fish common in the East Indian seas, which has five black streaks on each side resembling the prints of five fingers.


Topic: Pentagon
Definition:
PEN'TAGON, n. [Gr. five, and a corner.]
1.  In geometry, a figure of five sides and five angles.
2.  In fortification, a fort with five bastions.


Topic: Pentagraph
Definition:
PEN'TAGRAPH, n. [Gr. five, and to write.]  An instrument for drawing figures in any proportion at pleasure, or for copying or reducing a figure, plan, print, &c. to any desired size.


Topic: Pentahexahedral
Definition:
PENTAHEXAHE'DRAL, a. [Gr. five, and hexahedral.]  In crystalography, exhibiting five ranges of faces one above another, each range containing six faces.


Topic: Pentameter
Definition:
PENTAM'ETER, n. [Gr. five, and measure.]  In ancient poetry, a verse of five feet. The two first feet may be either dactyls or spondees; the third is always a spondee, and the two last anapests.  A pentameter verse subjoined to a hexameter, constitutes what is called elegiac.
PENTAM'ETER, a.  Having five metrical feet.


Topic: Pentecost
Definition:
PEN'TECOST,n. [Gr. fiftieth.]
1.  A solemn festival of the Jews, so called because celebrated on the fiftieth day after the sixteenth of Nisan, which was the second day of the passover.  It was called the feast of weeks, because it was celebrated seven weeks after the passover.  It was instituted to oblige the people to repair to the temple of the Lord,there to acknowledge his absolute dominion over the country, and offer him the first fruits of their harvest; also that they might call to mind and give thanks to God for the law which he had given them at Sinai on the fiftieth day from their departure from Egypt.
2.  Whitsuntide, a solemn feast of the church, held in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.  Acts.2.


Topic: Pentecostals
Definition:
PENTECOS'TALS, n.  Oblations formerly made by parishioners to the parish priest at the feast of Pentecost, and sometimes by inferior churches to the mother church.


Topic: Penult
Definition:
PENULT', n. [L. penultimus; pene, almost, and ultimus, last.]
The last syllable of a word except one.


Topic: Penultimate
Definition:
PENULT'IMATE, a. [supra.]  The last but one; a word used of the last syllable of a word except one.  It may be sometimes used as a noun.


Topic: Penumbra
Definition:
PENUM'BRA, n. [L.pene, almost,and umbra,shade.]  In astronomy, a partial shade or obscurity on the margin of the perfect shade in an eclipse, or between the perfect shade, where the light is entirely intercepted,and the full light.


Topic: Penurious
Definition:
PENU'RIOUS, a. [L.penuria, scarcity, want; Gr. poor; rare.]
1.  Excessively saving or sparing in the use of money; parsimonious to a fault; sordid; as a penurious man. It expresses somewhat less than niggardly.
2.  Scanty; affording little; as a penurious spring.


Topic: Penury
Definition:
PEN'URY, n. [L. penuria, from Gr. needy.]  
Want of property; indigence; extreme poverty.
 All innocent they were exposed to hardship and penury.


Topic: Peon
Definition:
PE'ON, n. In Hindoostan, a foot soldier, or a footman armed with sword and target; said to be corrupted from piadah. [Qu. L. pes, pedis.]  Hence,
1.  In France, a common man in chess; usually written and called pawn.


Topic: Peony
Definition:
PE'ONY, n. [L. poeonia; Gr. from Apollo.]
A plant and flower of the genus Paeonia.  It is written also piony.


Topic: People
Definition:
PEOPLE, n. [L. populus.]
1.  The body of persons who compose a community, town, city or nation. We say, the people of a town; the people of London or Paris; the English people. In this sense, the word is not used in the plural, but it comprehends all classes of inhabitants, considered as a collective body, or any portion of the inhabitants of a city or country.
2.  The vulgar; the mass of illiterate persons.
 The knowing artist may judge better than the people.
3.  The commonalty, as distinct from men of rank.
 Myself shall mount the rostrum in his favor,
 And strive to gain his pardon from the people.
4.  Persons of a particular class; a part of a nation or community; as country people.
5.  Persons in general; any persons indefinitely; like on in French, and man in Saxon.
 People were tempted to lend by great premiums and large interest.
6.  A collection or community of animals.
 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. Prov.30.
7.  When people signified a separate nation or tribe, it has the plural number.
 Thou must prophesy again before many peoples. Rev.10.
8.  In Scripture, fathers or kindred. Gen.25.
9.  The Gentiles.
 --To him shall the gathering of the people be. Gen.49.
PEOPLE, v.t.  To stock with inhabitants.  Emigrants from Europe have peopled the United States.


Topic: Pepastic
Definition:
PEPAS'TIC, n. [Gr. to concoct or mature.]  A medicine that serves to help digestion; applied particularly to such medicines as tend to promote the digestion of wounds.


Topic: Pepper
Definition:
PEP'PER, n. [L. piper.]  A plant and its seed or grain, of the genus Piper.  The stem of the plant is a vine requiring a prop, which is usually a tree.  The leaves are oval and the flower white. We have three kinds of pepper,the black,the white, and the long.  The black pepper is the produce of Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, and other Asiatic countries; The white pepper is the black pepper decorticated; the long pepper is the fruit of a different species, also from the E. Indies.  It consists of numerous grains attached to a common footstalk.  Pepper has a strong aromatic smell and a pungent taste.
PEP'PER, v.t.  To sprinkle with pepper.
1.  To beat; to pelt with shot; to mangle with blows.


Topic: Pepper-corn
Definition:
PEP'PER-CORN, n.  The berry or seed of the pepper-plant.
1. Something of inconsiderable value; as lands held at the rent of a pepper-corn.


Topic: Pepper-water
Definition:
PEP'PER-WATER, n.  A liquor prepared from powdered black pepper; used in microscopical observations.


Topic: Peppermint
Definition:
PEP'PERMINT, n.  A plant of the genus Mentha.  It is aromatic and pungent.  Also, a liquor distilled from the plant.


Topic: Per
Definition:
PER, a Latin preposition, denoting through, passing,or over the whole extent, as in perambulo.  Hence it is sometimes equivalent to very in English, as in peracutus, very sharp.  As a prefix, in English, it retains these significations, and in chimistry it is used to denote very of fully, to the utmost extent, as in peroxyd,a substance oxydated to the utmost degree.
Per is used also for by, as per bearer, by the bearer.
Per annum, [L.] by the year; in each year successively.
Per se, [L.] by himself; by itself; by themselves.


Topic: Peracute
Definition:
PERACU'TE, a. [L. peracutus; per, through, and acutus, sharp.]
Very sharp; very violent; as a peracute fever. [Little used.]


Topic: Peradventure
Definition:
PERADVENT'URE, adv. [L. venio, to come.]  By chance; perhaps; it may be.
It has been used as a noun for doubt or question, but rather improperly.  The word is obsolescent and inelegant.


Topic: Peragrate
Definition:
PER'AGRATE, v.i. [L. peragro; per, through, over, and ager, a field.]   To travel over or through; to wander; to ramble. [Little used.]


Topic: Peragration
Definition:
PERAGRA'TION, n. The act of passing through any space; as the peragration of the moon in her monthly revolution. [Little used.]


Topic: Perambulate
Definition:
PERAM'BULATE, v.t. [L. perambulo; per and ambulo, to walk.]
To walk through or over; properly and technically, to pass through or over for the purpose of surveying or examining something; to visit as overseers; as, to perambulate a parish.  So in New England, the laws require the select men of towns to appoint suitable persons annually to perambulate the borders or bounds of the township, and renew the boundaries, or see that the old ones are in a good state.


Topic: Perambulation
Definition:
PERAMBULA'TION,n.  The act of passing or walking through or over.
1.  A traveling survey or inspection.
2.  A district within which a person has the right of inspection; jurisdiction.
3.  Annual survey of the bounds of a parish in England, or of a township in America.


Topic: Perambulator
Definition:
PERAM'BULATOR, n.  An instrument or wheel for measuring distances, to be used in surveying or traveling; called also a pedometer.


Topic: Perbisulphate
Definition:
PERBISUL'PHATE, n. A sulphate with two proportions of sulphuric acid, and combined with an oxyd at the maximum of oxydation.


Topic: Percarbureted
Definition:
PERC`ARBURETED, a.  The percarbureted hydrogen of the French chimists is said to be the only definite compound of these two elements.


Topic: Perceivable
Definition:
PERCE'IVABLE, a. [See Perceive.]  Perceptible; that may be perceived; that may fall under perception or the cognizance of the senses; that may be felt, seen, heard, smelt or tasted.  We say, the roughness of cloth is perceivable; the dawn of the morning is perceivable; the sound of a bell is perceivable; the scent of an orange is perceivable; the difference of taste in an apple and an orange is perceivable.
1.  That may be known,understood or conceived. [Less proper.]


Topic: Perceive
Definition:
PERCE'IVE, v.t. [L. percipio; per and capio, to take.]
1.  To have knowledge or receive impressions of external objects through the medium or instrumentality of the senses or bodily organs; as, to perceive light or color; to perceive the cold or ice or the taste of honey.
2.  To know; to understand; to observe.
 Till we ourselves see it with our own eyes, and perceive it by our own understanding, we are in the dark.
3.  To be affected by; to receive impressions from.
 The upper regions of the air perceive the collection of the matter of tempests before the air below.


Topic: Perceptibility
Definition:
PERCEPTIBIL'ITY, n.  The state or quality of being perceptible; as the perceptibility of light or color.
1.  Perception.  [Less proper.]


Topic: Perceptible
Definition:
PERCEP'TIBLE, a. [L. percipio, perceptus.]
1.  That may be perceived; that may impress the bodily organs; that may come under the cognizance of the senses; as a perceptible degree of heat or cold; a perceptible odor; a perceptible sound.  A thing may be too minute to be perceptible to the touch.
2.  That may be known or conceived of.


Topic: Perception
Definition:
PERCEP'TION, n. [L. perceptio.  See Perceive.]
1.  The act of perceiving or of receiving impressions by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object.  In other words, the notice which the mind takes of external objects.  We gain a knowledge of the coldness and smoothness of marble by perception.
2.  In philosophy, the faculty of perceiving; the faculty or peculiar part of man's constitution, by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs.
3.  Notion; idea.
4.  The state of being affected or capable of being affected by something external.
 This experiment discovers perception in plants.


Topic: Perch
Definition:
PERCH, n. [L. perca.]  A fish of the genus Perca.  This fish has a deep body, very rough scales, an arched back, and prickly dorsal fins.
PERCH, n. [L. pertica.]
1.  A pole; hence, a roost for fowls, which is often a pole; also, any thing on which they light.
2.  A measure of length containing five yards and a half; a rod.  In the popular language of America, rod is chiefly used; but rod,pole, and perch, all signifying the same thing, may be used indifferently.
PERCH, v.i.  To sit or roost; as a bird.
1.  To light or settle on a fixed body; as a bird.
PERCH, v.t.  To place on a fixed object or perch.


Topic: Perchers
Definition:
PERCH'ERS, n.  Paris candles anciently used in England; also, a larger sort of wax candles which were usually set on the altar.


Topic: Perchloric
Definition:
PERCHLO'RIC, a.  Perchloric acid is chlorine converted into an acid by combining with a maximum of oxygen.


Topic: Percipient
Definition:
PERCIP'IENT, a. [L. percipiens.]  Perceiving; having the faculty of perception.  Animals are percipient beings; mere matter is not percipient.
PERCIP'IENT, n.  One that perceives or has the faculty of perception.


Topic: Percolate
Definition:
PER'COLATE, v.t. [L. percolo; per and colo, to strain.]  To strain through; to cause to pass through small interstices, as a liquor; to filter.
PER'COLATE, v.i.  To pass through small interstices; to filter; as, water percolates through a porous stone.


Topic: Percolation
Definition:
PERCOLA'TION, n.  The act of straining or filtering; filtration; the act of passing through small interstices, as liquor through felt or a porous stone.
 Percolation is intended for the purification of liquors.


Topic: Percussion
Definition:
PERCUS'SION, n. [L.percussio.]  The act of striking one body against another, with some violence; as the vibrations excited in the air by percussion.
1.  The impression one body makes on another by falling on it or striking it.
2.  The impression or effect of sound on the ear.


Topic: Perdifoil
Definition:
PER'DIFOIL, n. [L. perdo, to lose, and folium, leaf.]  A plant that annually loses or drops its leaves; opposed to evergreen.
 The passion flower of America and the jasmine of Malabar, which are evergreens in their native climates, become perdifoils when transplanted into Britain.


Topic: Perdition
Definition:
PERDI'TION, n. [L. perditio, from perdo, to lose, to ruin.]
1.  Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction; as the perdition of the Turkish fleet.
[In this sense, the word is now nearly or wholly obsolete.]
2.  The utter loss of the soul or of final happiness in a future state; future misery or eternal death.  The impenitent sinner is condemned to final perdition.
 If we reject the truth, we seal our own perdition.
3.  Loss.  [Not used.]


Topic: Perdurable
Definition:
PERDU'RABLE, a. [L.perduro; per and duro, to last.]
Very durable; lasting; continuing long. [Not used.]


Topic: Peregrinate
Definition:
PER'EGRINATE, v.i. [L.peregrinor, from peregrinus, a traveler or stranger; peragro, to wander; per and ager.]
To travel from place to place or from one country to another; to live in a foreign country.


Topic: Peregrination
Definition:
PEREGRINA'TION, n.  A traveling from one country to another; a wandering; abode in foreign countries.


Topic: Peregrine
Definition:
PER'EGRINE, a. [L. peregrinus.]  Foreign; not native.  [Little used.]
Peregrine falcon, a species of hawk, the black hawk or falcon, found in America and in Asia, and which wanders in summer to the Arctic circle.


Topic: Peremptorily
Definition:
PER'EMPTORILY, adv. [from peremptory.]  Absolutely; positively; in a decisive manner; so as to preclude further debate.
 Never judge peremptorily on first appearances.


Topic: Peremptoriness
Definition:
PER'EMPTORINESS, n.  Positiveness; absolute decision; dogmatism.
 Peremptoriness is of two sorts; one, a magisterialness in matters of opinion; the other, a positiveness in matters of fact.


Topic: Peremptory
Definition:
PER'EMPTORY, a. [L. peremptorius, from peremptus, taken away, killed.]
1.  Express; positive; absolute; decisive; authoritative; in a manner to preclude debate or expostulation.  The orders of the commander are peremptory.
2.  Positive in opinion or judgment.  The genuine effect of sound learning is to make men less peremptory in their determinations.
3.  Final; determinate.
4.  Peremptory challenge, in law, a challenge or right of challenging jurors without showing cause.


Topic: Perennial
Definition:
PEREN'NIAL, a. [L. perennis; per and annus, a year.]
1.  Lasting or continuing without cessation through the year.
2.  Perpetual; unceasing; never failing.
3.  In botany, continuing more than two years; as a perennial stem or root.
4.  Continuing without intermission; as a fever.
PEREN'NIAL, n.  In botany, a plant which lives or continues more than two years, whether it retains its leaves or not. That which retains its leaves during winter is called an evergreen; that which casts its leaves, deciduous, or a perdifoil.


Topic: Pererration
Definition:
PERERRA'TION, n. [L. perrro; per and erro, to wander.]
A wandering or rambling through various places.


Topic: Perfect
Definition:
PER'FECT, a. [L. perfectus, perficio, to complete; per and facio, to do or make through, to carry to the end.]
1.  Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as a perfect statue; a perfect likeness; a perfect work; a perfect system.
 As full, as perfect in a hair as heart.
2.  Fully informed; completely skilled; as men perfect in the use of arms; perfect in discipline.
3.  Complete in moral excellencies.
 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.  Matt.5.
4.  Manifesting perfection.
 My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor.12.
Perfect chord,in music, a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the fifth and the octave; a perfect consonance.
A perfect flower, in botany, has both stamen and pistil, or at least another and stigma.
Perfect tense, in grammar, the preterit tense; a tense which expresses an act completed.
PER'FECT, v.t. [L. perfectus, perficio.]  To finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting; to give to any thing all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as, to perfect a picture or statue. 2 Chron.8.
 -Inquire into the nature and properties of things, and thereby perfect our ideas of distinct species.
 If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4.
1.  To instruct fully; to make fully skillful; as, to perfect one's self in the rules of music or architecture; to perfect soldiers in discipline. 


Topic: Perfectible
Definition:
PERFECT'IBLE, a.  Capable of becoming or being made perfect, or of arriving at the utmost perfection of the species.


Topic: Perfection
Definition:
PERFEC'TION, n. [L. perfectio.]  The state of being perfect or complete, so that nothing requisite is wanting; as perfection in an art or science; perfection in a system of morals.
1.  Physical perfection, is when a natural object has all its powers, faculties or qualities entire and in full vigor, and all its parts in due proportion.
2.  Metaphysical or transcendental perfection, is the possession of all the essential attributes or all the parts necessary to the integrity of a substance.  This is absolute,where all defect is precluded, such as the perfection of God; or according to its kind, as in created things.
3.  Moral perfection, is the complete possession of all moral excellence, as in the Supreme Being; or the possession of such moral qualities and virtues as a thing is capable of.
4.  A quality, endowment or acquirement completely excellent, or of great worth.
 In this sense, the word has a plural.
 What tongue can her perfections tell?
5.  An inherent or essential attribute of supreme or infinite excellence; or one perfect in its kind; as the perfections of God.  The infinite power, holiness,justice, benevolence and wisdom of God are denominated his perfections.
6.  Exactness; as, to imitate a model to perfection.


Topic: Perfective
Definition:
PERFECT'IVE, a.  Conducing to make perfect or bring to perfection; followed by of.
 Praise and adoration are actions perfective of the soul.


Topic: Perfectly
Definition:
PER'FECTLY, adv.  In the highest degree of excellence.
1.  Totally; completely; as work perfectly executed or performed; a thing perfectly new.
2.  Exactly; accurately; as a proposition perfectly understood.


Topic: Perfectness
Definition:
PER'FECTNESS, n.  Completeness; consummate excellence; perfection.
1.  The highest degree of goodness or holiness of which man is capable in this life.
 And above all things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  Col.3.
2.  Accurate skill.


Topic: Perfidious
Definition:
PERFID'IOUS, a. [L. perfidus; per and fidus, faithful.  Per in this word signifies through, beyond, or by, aside.]
1.  Violating good faith or vows; false to trust or confidence reposed; treacherous; as a perfidious agent; a perfidious friend.  [See Perfidy.]
2.  Proceeding from treachery, or consisting in breach of faith; as a perfidious act.
3.  Guilty of violated allegiance; as a perfidious citizen; a man perfidious to his country.


Topic: Perfidiousness
Definition:
PERFID'IOUSNESS, n.  The quality of being perfidious; treachery; traitorousness; breach of faith, of vows or allegiance.


Topic: Perfidy
Definition:
PER'FIDY, n. [L. perfidia; per and fides, faith.]  The act of violating faith, a promise, vow or allegiance; treachery; the violation of a trust reposed.  Perfidy is not applied to violations of contracts in ordinary pecuniary transactions, but to violations of faith or trust in friendship, in agency and office, in allegiance, in connubial engagements, and in the transactions of kings.


Topic: Perfoliate
Definition:
PERFO'LIATE, a. [L. per and folium, a leaf.]  In botany, a perfoliate or perforated leaf,is one that has the base entirely surrounding the stem transversely.


Topic: Perforate
Definition:
PER'FORATE, v.t. [L. perforo; per and foro; Eng. to bore.]
1.  To bore through.
2.  To pierce with a pointed instrument; to make a hole or holes through any thing by boring or driving; as, to perforate the bottom of a vessel.


Topic: Perforation
Definition:
PERFORA'TION, n.  The act of boring or piercing through.
1.  A hole or aperture passing through any thing, or into the interior of a substance, whether natural or made by an instrument.


Topic: Perform
Definition:
PERFORM', v.t. [L. per and formo, to make.]
1.  To do; to execute; to accomplish; as, to perform two days' labor in one day; to perform a noble deed or achievement.
2.  To execute; to discharge; as, to perform a duty or office.
3.  To fulfill; as, to perform a covenant, promise or contract; to perform a vow.
PERFORM', v.i.  To do; to act a part.  The player performs well in different characters.  The musician performs well on the organ.


Topic: Performance
Definition:
PERFORM'ANCE, n. Execution or completion of any thing; a doing; as the performance of work or of an undertaking; the performance of duty.
1.  Action; deed; thing done.
2.  The acting or exhibition of character on the state. Garrick was celebrated for his theatrical performances.
3.  Composition; work written.
 Few of our comic performances give good examples.
4.  The acting or exhibition of feats; as performances of horsemanship.


Topic: Performer
Definition:
PERFORM'ER, n.  One that performs any thing,particularly in an art; as a good performer on the violin or organ; a celebrated performer in comedy or tragedy, or in the circus.


Topic: Performing
Definition:
PERFORM'ING, ppr.  Doing; executing; accomplishing.
PERFORM'ING, n. Act done; deed; act of executing.


Topic: Perfume
Definition:
PERFU'ME, n. [L. per and fumus, smoke, or fumo, to fumigate.]
1.  A substance that emits a scent or odor which affects agreeably the organs of smelling, as musk, civet, spices or aromatics of any kind; or any composition of aromatic substances.
2.  The scent, odor or volatile particles emitted from sweet smelling substances.
 No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field.
PERFU'ME, v.t.  To scent; to fill or impregnate with a grateful odor; as, to perfume an apartment; to perfume a garment.
 And Carmel's flower top perfumes the skies.


Topic: Perfunctorily
Definition:
PERFUNC'TORILY, adv. [L. perfunctorie, from perfungor; per and fungor, to do or execute.]  Carelessly; negligently; in a manner to satisfy external form.


Topic: Perfunctory
Definition:
PERFUNC'TORY, a. [supra.]  Slight; careless; negligent.
1.  Done only for the sake of getting rid of the duty.


Topic: Perfuse
Definition:
PERFU'SE, v.t. s as z. [L. perfusus, perfundo; per and fundo,to pour.]  To sprinkle, pour or spread over.


Topic: Perhaps
Definition:
PERHAPS', adv. [per and hap. See Happen.]  By chance; it may be.
 Perhaps her love, perhaps her kingdom charmed him.


Topic: Perianth
Definition:
PER'IANTH, n. [Gr. about, and flower.]  The calyx of a flower when contiguous to the other parts of fructification.


Topic: Periapt
Definition:
PER'IAPT, n. [Gr. to fit or tie to.]  An amulet; a charm worn to defend against disease or mischief.  [Not used.]


Topic: Pericarp
Definition:
PER'ICARP,n. [Gr. about, and fruit.]  The seed-vessel of a plant; a general name including the capsule, legume, silique, follicle, drupe, pome, berry and strobile.


Topic: Peridodecahedral
Definition:
PERIDODECAHE'DRAL, a. [Gr.]  Designating a crystal whose primitive form is a four sided prism,and in its secondary form is converted into a prism of twelve sides.


Topic: Peridot
Definition:
PER'IDOT, n.  Another name of the chrysolite.  It may be known by its leek or olive green color of various shades, and by its infusibility.  It is found in grains, granular masses,and rounded crystals.


Topic: Periecian
Definition:
PERIE'CIAN, n. [Gr.]  An inhabitant of the opposite side of the globe,in the same parallel of latitude.


Topic: Perigord-stone
Definition:
PER'IGORD-STONE, n.  An ore of manganese of a dark gray color, like basalt or trap; so called from Perigord, in France.


Topic: Perigraph
Definition:
PER'IGRAPH, n. [Gr. about, and a writing.]
1.  A careless or inaccurate delineation of any thing.
2.  The white lines or impressions that appear on the musculus rectus of the abdomen.


Topic: Perigynous
Definition:
PERIG'YNOUS, a. [Gr. about, and female.]  In botany, inserted around the pistil, as the corol or stamens; having the corol or stamens inserted around the pistil, as a flower or plant.


Topic: Perihexahedral
Definition:
PERIHEXAHE'DRAL, a. [Gr.]  Designating a crystal whose primitive form is a four sided prism, and in the secondary form is converted into a prism of six sides.


Topic: Peril
Definition:
PER'IL, n. [L. periculum, from Gr. to try, to attempt, that is, to strain; an attempt, danger, hazard; to pass, to thrust in or transfix; L. experior; Eng. experience.]
1.  Danger; risk; hazard; jeopardy; particular exposure of person or property to injury,loss or destruction from any cause whatever.
 In perils of waters; in perils of robbers. 2 Cor.11.
2. Danger denounced; particular exposure;  You do it at your peril, or at the peril of your father's displeasure.
PER'IL, v.i. To be in danger. [Not used.]


Topic: Perilous
Definition:
PER'ILOUS, a.  Dangerous; hazardous; full of risk; as a perilous undertaking; a perilous situation.
1.  Vulgarly used for very, like mighty; as perilous shrewd.
2.  Smart; witty; as a perilous [parlous boy.]
[Vulgar and obsolete.]


Topic: Perimeter
Definition:
PERIM'ETER, n. [Gr. about, and measure.]  In geometry, the bounds and limits of a body or figure.  The perimeters of surfaces or figures are lines; those of bodies are surfaces. In circular figures, instead of perimeter, we use circumference or periphery.


Topic: Perioctahedral
Definition:
PERIOCTAHE'DRAL, a. [Gr. octahedral.]  Designating a crystal whose primitive form is a four sided prism, and in its secondary form is converted into a prism of eight sides.


Topic: Period
Definition:
PE'RIOD, n. [L. periodus; Gr. about, and way.]
1.  Properly, a circuit; hence, the time which is taken up by a planet in making its revolution round the sun, or the duration of its course till it returns to the point of its orbit where it began. Thus the period of the earth or its annual revolution is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 30 seconds.
2.  In chronology, a stated number of years; a revolution or series of years by which time is measured; as the Calippic period; the Dionysian period; the Julian period.
3.  Any series of years or of days in which a revolution is completed, and the same course is to begun.
4.  Any specified portion of time, designated by years, months, days or hours complete; as a period of a thousand years; the period of a year; the period of a day.
5.  End; conclusion.  Death puts a period to a state of probation.
6.  An indefinite portion of any continued state, existence or series of events; as the first period of life; the last period of a king's reign; the early periods of history.
7.  State at which any thing terminates; limit.
8.  Length or usual length of duration.
9.  A complete sentence from one full stop to another.
 Periods are beautiful when they are not too long.
    10. The point that marks the end of a complete sentence; a full stop,thus, (.)
    11. In numbers, a distinction made by a point or comma after every sixth place or figure.
    12. In medicine, the time of intention and remission of a disease, or of the paroxysm and remission.
Julian period, in chronology, a period of 7980 years; a number produced by multiplying 28, the years of the solar cycle, into 19, the years of the lunar cycle, and their product by 15, the years of the Roman indiction.
PE'RIOD, v.t.  To put an end to. [Not used.]


Topic: Periosteum
Definition:
PERIOS'TEUM, n. [Gr. about, and bone.]  A nervous vascular membrane endued with quick sensibility, immediately investing the bones of animals.
The periosteum has very little sensibility in a sound state, but in some cases of disease it appears to be very sensible.


Topic: Peripatetic
Definition:
PERIPATET'IC, a. [Gr. to walk about.]  Pertaining to Aristotle's system of philosophy, or to the sect of his followers.
PERIPATET'IC, n. A follower of Aristotle, so called because the founders of his philosophy taught, or his followers disputed questions, walking in the Lyceum at Athens.
1.  It is ludicrously applied to one who is obliged to walk, or cannot afford to ride.


Topic: Periphery
Definition:
PERIPH'ERY, n. [Gr. around, and to bear.]  The circumference of a circle, ellipsis, or other regular curvilinear figure.


Topic: Periphrase
Definition:
PER'IPHRASE, n. s as z. [Gr. about, and to speak.]  Circumlocution; a circuit of words; the use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a figure of rhetoric employed to avoid a common and trite manner of expression.
PER'IPHRASE, v.t.  To express by circumlocution.
PER'IPHRASE, v.i.  To use circumlocution.


Topic: Periplus
Definition:
PER'IPLUS, n. [Gr. about, and to sail.]  Circumnavigation; a voyage round a certain sea or sea coast.


Topic: Peripneumony
Definition:
PERIPNEU'MONY, n. [Gr. about, and the lungs.]  An inflammation of the lungs, or of some part of the thorax, attended with acute fever and difficult respiration.


Topic: Periscian
Definition:
PERIS'CIAN, n. [Gr. around, and shadow.]  An inhabitant of a frigid zone or within a polar circle, whose shadow moves round, and in the course of the day falls in every point of compass.  The Greek word periscii, in the plural, is generally used in geographies; but the English word is preferable.


Topic: Perish
Definition:
PER'ISH, v.i.[L. pereo, supposed to be compounded of per and eo, to go; literally, to depart wholly.]
1.  To die; to lose life in any manner; applied to animals. Men perish by disease or decay, by the sword, by drowning, by hunger or famine, &c.
2.  To die; to wither and decay; applied to plants.
3.  To waste away; as, a leg or an arm has perished.
4.  To be in a state of decay or passing away.
 Duration, and time which is  part of it, is the idea we have of perishing distance.
5.  To be destroyed; to come to nothing.
 Perish the lore that deadens young desire.
6.  To fail entirely or to be extirpated. 2 Kings.9.
7.  To be burst or ruined; as, the bottles shall perish. 
Luke 5.
8.  To be wasted or rendered useless. Jer.9.
9.  To be injured or tormented. 1 Cor.8.
    10. To be lost eternally; to be sentenced to endless misery. 2 Pet.2.
PER'ISH, v.t.  To destroy.  [Not legitimate.]


Topic: Perishable
Definition:
PER'ISHABLE, a. Liable to perish; subject to decay and destruction.  The bodies of animals and plants are perishable.  The souls of men are not perishable.
1.  Subject to speedy decay.
 Property of a perishable nature saved from a wreck, may be sold within a year and a day.


Topic: Perisperm
Definition:
PER'ISPERM, n. [Gr. around, and seed.]  A thick, farinaceous, fleshy, horny or woody part of the seed of plants, either entirely or only partially surrounding the embryo, and inclosed within the investing membrane.  It corresponds to the albumen of Gaertner. 


Topic: Perissology
Definition:
PERISSOL'OGY, n. [Gr. redundant,and discourse.]  Superfluous words; much talk to little purpose.  [Little used.]


Topic: Peristaltic
Definition:
PERISTAL'TIC, a. [Gr. to involve.]  Spiral; vermicular or worm-like.  The peristaltic motion of the intestines is performed by the contraction of the circular and longitudinal fibers composing their fleshy coats, by which the chyle is driven into the orifices of the lacteals, and the excrements are protruded towards the anus.


Topic: Peristyle
Definition:
PER'ISTYLE, n. [Gr. about, and a column.]  A circular range of columns, or a building encompassed with a row of columns on the outside.


Topic: Perisystole
Definition:
PERISYSTOLE, n. perisys'toly. [Gr. about, and contraction.]  The pause or interval between the systole or contraction, and the diastole or dilatation of the heart.


Topic: Peritoneum
Definition:
PERITONE'UM, n. [Gr. about, and to stretch.]  A thin, smooth, lubricous membrane investing the whole internal surface of the abdomen, and more or less completely, all the viscera contained in it.


Topic: Periwig
Definition:
PER'IWIG, n.  A small wig; a kind of close cap formed by an intertexture of false hair, worn by men for ornament or to conceal baldness.  Periwigs were in fashion in the days of Addison.
PER'IWIG, v.t.  To dress with a periwig, or with false hair, or with any thing in like form.


Topic: Perjure
Definition:
PERJURE, v.t. per'jur. [L. perjuro; per and juro, to swear; that is, to swear aside or beyond.]  Willfully to make a false oath when administered by lawful authority or in a court of justice; to forswear; as, the witness perjured himself.


Topic: Perjury
Definition:
PER'JURY, n.  [L. perjurium.]  The act or crime of willfully making a false oath, when lawfully administered; or a crime committed when a lawful oath is administered in some judicial proceeding, to a person who swears willfully, absolutely and falsely in a matter material to the issue.


Topic: Perk
Definition:
PERK, a.  Properly, erect; hence, smart; trim.
PERK, v.i.  To hold up the head with affected smartness.
PERK, v.t.  To dress; to make trim or smart; to prank.


Topic: Perkin
Definition:
PERK'IN, n.  Cyderkin; a kind of cyder made by steeping the murk in water.
Perlate acid, the acidulous phosphate of soda.
Perlated acid,or ouretic, biphosphate of soda.


Topic: Perlexity
Definition:
PERLEX'ITY, n. Intricacy; entanglement.  The jury were embarrassed by the perplexity of the case.
1.  Embarrassment of mind; disturbance from doubt, confusion, difficulty or anxiety.
 Perplexity not suffering them to be idle, they think and do, as it were, in a frenzy.


Topic: Permanent
Definition:
PER'MANENT, a. [L.permanens, permaneo,per and maneo, to remain.]
Durable; lasting; continuing in the same state, or without any change that destroys the form or nature of the thing. The laws, like the character of God, are unalterably permanent.  Human laws and institutions may be to a degree permanent, but they are subject to change and overthrow.  We speak of a permanent wall or building, a permanent bridge, when they are so constructed as to endure long; in which examples,permanent is equivalent to durable or lasting, but not to undecaying or unalterable.  So we say, a permanent residence, a permanent intercourse, permanent friendship,when it continues a long time without interruption.


Topic: Permanently
Definition:
PER'MANENTLY, adv.  With long continuance; durably; in a fixed state or place; as a government permanently established.


Topic: Permeable
Definition:
PER'MEABLE, a. [L.permeo; per and meo, to pass or glide.]
That may be passed through without rupture or displacement of its parts, as solid matter; applied particularly to substances that admit the passage of fluids.  Thus cloth, leather, wood are permeable to water and oil; glass is permeable to light, but not to water.


Topic: Permeate
Definition:
PER'MEATE, v.t. [L.permeo; per and meo, to glide, flow, or pass.]
To pass through the pores or interstices of a body; to penetrate and pass through a substance without rupture or displacement of its parts; applied particularly to fluids which pass through substances of loose texture; as, water permeates sand or a filtering stone; light permeates glass.


Topic: Permission
Definition:
PERMIS'SION, n. [L.permissio, from permitto, to permit.]
1.  The act of permitting or allowing.
2.  Allowance; license or liberty granted.
 You have given me your permission for this address.


Topic: Permissive
Definition:
PERMIS'SIVE, a.  Granting liberty; allowing.
1.  Granted; suffered without hinderance.
 Thus I emboldened spake,and freedom used
 Permissive,and acceptance found.


Topic: Permutation
Definition:
PERMUTA'TION, n. [L. permutatio,permuto; per and muto, to change.]
1.  In commerce, exchange of one thing for another; barter.
2.  In the canon law, the exchange of one benefice for another.
3. In algebra, change or different combination of any number of quantities.


Topic: Pernicious
Definition:
PERNI'CIOUS, a. [L. perniciosus, from pernicies; perneco, to kill; per and nex, necis,death.]
1.  Destructive; having the quality of killing, destroying or injuring; very injurious or mischievous. Food, drink or air may be pernicious to life or health.
2.  Destructive; tending to injure or destroy.  Evil examples are pernicious to morals. Intemperance is a pernicious vice.
3.  [L. pernix.]  Quick.  [Not used.]


Topic: Pernoctation
Definition:
PERNOCTA'TION, n. [L. pernocto; per and nox, night.]
The act of passing the whole night; a remaining all night.


Topic: Peroration
Definition:
PERORA'TION, n. [L. peroratio, from peroro; per and oro, to pray.]
The concluding part of an oration, in which the speaker recapitulates the principal points of his discourse or argument, and urges them with greater earnestness and force,with a view to make a deep impression on his hearers.


Topic: Perpend
Definition:
PERPEND', v.t. [L. perpendo; per and pendo, to weigh.]
To weigh in the mind; to consider attentively. [Little used.]


Topic: Perpendicular
Definition:
PERPENDIC'ULAR, a. [L. perpendicularis, from perpendiculum, a plumb line; perpendeo; per and pendeo, to hang.]
1.  Hanging or extending in a right line from any point towards the center of the earth or of gravity, or at right angles with the plane of the horizon.
2.  In geometry, falling directly on another line at right angles. The line A is perpendicular to the line B.
PERPENDIC'ULAR, n.  A line falling at right angles on the plane of the horizon,that is, extending from some point in a right line towards the center of the earth or center of gravity, or any body standing in that direction.
1.  In geometry, a line falling at right angles on another line, or making equal angles with it on each side.


Topic: Perpendicularly
Definition:
PERPENDIC'ULARLY, adv.  In a manner to fall on another line at right angles.
1.  So as to fall on the plane of the horizon at right angles; in a direction towards the center of the earth or of gravity.


Topic: Perpession
Definition:
PERPES'SION, n. [L.perpessio,perpetior, to suffer; per and patior.]
Suffering; endurance.  [Not used.]


Topic: Perpetrate
Definition:
PER'PETRATE, v.t. [L. perpetro; per and patro, to go through, to finish.]  To do; to commit; to perform; in an ill sense, that is, always used to express an evil act; as, to perpetrate a crime or an evil design.


Topic: Perpetual
Definition:
PERPET'UAL, a. [L. perpetuus, from perpes, perpetis; per and pes, from a root signifying to pass.]
1.  Never ceasing; continuing forever in future time; destined to be eternal; as a perpetual covenant; a perpetual statute.
[Literally true with respect to the decrees of the Supreme Being.]
2.  Continuing or continued without intermission; uninterrupted; as a perpetual stream; the perpetual action of the heart and arteries.
3.  Permanent; fixed; not temporary; as a perpetual law or edict; perpetual love or amity, perpetual incense. Ex.30.
4.  Everlasting; endless.
 Destructions are come to a perpetual end. Ps.9.
5.  During the legal dispensation. Ex.29.
Perpetual curacy, is where all the tithes are appropriated and no vicarage is endowed.
Perpetual motion, motion that generates a power of continuing itself forever or indefinitely, by means of mechanism or some application of the force of gravity; not yet discovered,and probably impossible.
Perpetual screw, a screw that acts against the teeth of a wheel and continues its action without end.


Topic: Perpetually
Definition:
PERPET'UALLY, adv.  Constantly; continually; applied to things which proceed without intermission, or which occur frequently or at intervals, without limitation.  A perennial spring flows perpetually; the weather varies perpetually.
 The Bible and common prayer book in the vulgar tongue, being perpetually read in churches, have proved a kind of standard for language.


Topic: Perpetuate
Definition:
PERPET'UATE, v.t. [L. perpetuo.]  To make perpetual; to eternize.
1.  To cause to endure or to be continued indefinitely; to preserve from extinction or oblivion; as, to perpetuate the remembrance of a great event or of an illustrious character.  The monument in London perpetuates the remembrance of the conflagration in 1666.  Medals may perpetuate the glories of a prince.
2.  To continue by repetition without limitation.


Topic: Perpetuation
Definition:
PERPETUA'TION, n.  The act of making perpetual, or of preserving from extinction or oblivion through an endless existence, or for an indefinite period of time.


Topic: Perpetuity
Definition:
PERPETU'ITY, n. [L.perpetuitas.]  Endless duration; continuance to eternity.
1.  Continued uninterrupted existence, or duration for an indefinite period of time; as the perpetuity of laws and institutions; the perpetuity of fame.
2.  Something of which there will be no end.


Topic: Perphosphate
Definition:
PERPHOS'PHATE, n.  A phosphate in which the phosphoric acid is combined with an oxyd at the maximum of oxydation.


Topic: Perplex
Definition:
PERPLEX', v.t. [L. perplexus, perplexor; per and plector, to twist; L. plico, to fold.]
1.  To make intricate; to involve; to entangle; to make complicated and difficult to be understood or unraveled.
 What was thought obscure,perplexed and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view.
2.  To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to tease with suspense, anxiety or ambiguity.
 We can distinguish no general truths, or at least shall be apt to perplex the mind.
 We are perplexed, but not in despair. 2 Cor. 4.
3.  To plague; to vex.
PERPLEX', a.  Intricate; difficult.  [Not used.]


Topic: Perplexedness
Definition:
PERPLEX'EDNESS, n.  Intricacy; difficulty from want of order or precision.
1.  Embarrassment of mind from doubt or uncertainty.


Topic: Perquadrisulphate
Definition:
PERQUADRISUL'PHATE, n. A sulphate with four proportions of sulphuric acid combined with a maximum oxyd.


Topic: Perquisite
Definition:
PER'QUISITE, n. s as z. [L.perquisitus, perquiro; per and quoero, to seek.]  A fee or pecuniary allowance to an officer for services, beyond his ordinary salary or settled wages; or a fee allowed by law to an officer for a specific service, in lieu of an annual salary.  [The latter is the common acceptation of the word in American.]


Topic: Perroquet
Definition:
PERROQUET', n.  A species of parrot; also, the Alca Psittacula, an aquatic fowl inhabiting the isles of Japan and the western shores of American.


Topic: Persecute
Definition:
PER'SECUTE, v.t. [L. persequor; per and sequor, to pursue.  See Seek and Essay.]
1.  In a general sense, to pursue in a manner to injure, vex or afflict; to harass with unjust punishment or penalties for supposed offenses; to inflict pain from hatred or malignity.
2.  Appropriately, to afflict, harass, or destroy for adherence to a particular creed or system of religious principles, or to a mode of worship. Thus Nero persecuted the Christians by crucifying some, burning others, and condemning others to be worried by dogs.  See Acts.22.
3.  To harass with solicitations or importunity.


Topic: Persecuted
Definition:
PER'SECUTED, pp.  Harassed by troubles or punishments unjustly inflicted, particularly for religious opinions.


Topic: Persecuting
Definition:
PER'SECUTING, ppr.  Pursuing with enmity or vengeance, particularly for adhering to a particular religion.


Topic: Persecution
Definition:
PERSECU'TION, n.  The act or practice of persecuting; the infliction of pain, punishment or death upon others unjustly, particularly for adhering to a religious creed or mode of worship, either by way of penalty or for compelling them to renounce their principles.  Historians enumerate ten persecutions suffered by the Christians, beginning with that of Nero, A.D. 31, and ending with that of Diocletian, A.D. 303 to 313.
1.  The state of being persecuted.
 Our necks are under persecution; we labor and have no rest. Lam.5.


Topic: Persecutor
Definition:
PER'SECUTOR, n.  One that persecutes; one that pursues another unjustly and vexatiously, particularly on account of religious principles.
 Henry rejected the pope's supremacy, but retained every corruption beside, and became a cruel persecutor.


Topic: Perseverance
Definition:
PERSEVE'RANCE, n. [L. perseverantia.  See Persevere.]
1.  Persistence in any thing undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business or enterprise begun; applied alike to good or evil.
 Perseverance keeps honor bright.
 Patience and perseverance overcome the greatest difficulties.
2.  In theology, continuance in a state of grace to a state of glory; sometimes called final perseverance.


Topic: Persevere
Definition:
PERSEVE'RE, v.i. [L.persevero.  The last component part of this word, severo,must be the same as in assevero, with the radical sense of set, fixed or continued.  So persist is formed with per and sisto, to stand.  Constant and continue have a like primary sense. So we say, to hold on.]
To persist in any business or enterprise undertaken; to pursue steadily any design or course commenced; not to give over or abandon what is undertaken; applied alike to good and evil.
 Thrice happy, if they know
 Their happiness, and persevere upright!
To persevere in any evil course, makes you unhappy in this life.


Topic: Persevering
Definition:
PERSEVE'RING, ppr.  Persisting in any business or course begun.
1.  a. Constant in the execution of a purpose or enterprise; as a persevering student.


Topic: Persimmon
Definition:
PERSIM'MON, n. A tree and its fruit, a species of Diospyros, a native of the states south of New York. The fruit is like a plum, and when not ripe, very astringent.


Topic: Persist
Definition:
PERSIST', v.i. [L. persisto; per and sisto, to stand or be fixed.]
To continue steadily and firmly in the pursuit of any business or course commenced; to persevere.  [Persist is nearly synonymous with persevere; but persist frequently implies more obstinacy than persevere, particularly in that which is evil or injurious to others.]
 If they persist in pointing their batteries against particular persons, no laws of war forbid the making reprisals.


Topic: Persistence
Definition:
PERSIST'ENCE, n.  The state of persisting; steady pursuit of what is undertaken; perseverance in a good or evil course, more generally in that which is evil and injurious to others, or unadvisable.
1.  Obstinacy; contumacy.


Topic: Person
Definition:
PERSON, n. per'sn. [L. persona; said to be compounded of per, through or by, and sonus, sound; a Latin word signifying primarily a mask used by actors on the state.]
1.  An individual human being consisting of body and soul. We apply the word to living beings only, possessed of a rational nature; the body when dead is not called a person.  It is applied alike to a man, woman or child.
 A person is a thinking intelligent being.
2.  A man, woman or child, considered as opposed to things, or distinct from them.
 A zeal for persons is far more easy to be perverted, than a zeal for things.
3.  A human being, considered with respect to the living body or corporeal existence only.  The form of her person is elegant.
 You'll find her person difficult to gain.
 
 The rebels maintained the fight for a small time, and for their persons showed no want of courage.
4.  A human being, indefinitely; one; a man.  Let a person's attainments be never so great, he should remember he is frail and imperfect.
5.  A human being represented in dialogue, fiction, or on the state; character.  A player appears in the person of king Lear.
 These tables, Cicero pronounced under the person of Crassus, were of more use and authority than all the books of the philosophers.
6.  Character of office.
 How different is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate and that of a friend.
7.  In grammar, the nominative to a verb; the agent that performs or the patient that suffers any thing affirmed by a verb; as, I write; he is smitten; she is beloved; the rain descends in torrents.  I, thou or you, he, she or it, are called the first, second and third persons.  Hence we apply the word person to the termination or modified form of the verb used in connection with the persons; as the first or the third person of the verb; the verb is in the second person.
8.  In law, an artificial person, is a corporation or body politic.
In person, by one's self; with bodily presence; not be representative.
 The king in person visits all around.


Topic: Personable
Definition:
PER'SONABLE, a.  Having a well formed body or person; graceful; of good appearance; as a personable man or woman.
1.  In law, enabled to maintain pleas in court.
2.  Having capacity to take any thing granted or given.
[The two latter senses, I believe, are little used.]


Topic: Personage
Definition:
PER'SONAGE, n.  A man or woman of distinction; as an illustrious personage.
1.  Exterior appearance; stature; air; as a tall personage; a stately personage.
2.  Character assumed.
 The Venetians,naturally grave,love to give in to the follies of such seasons, when disguised in a false personage.
3.  Character represented.
 Some persons must be found, already known in history,whom we may make the actors and personages of this fable.


Topic: Personal
Definition:
PER'SONAL, a. [L. personalis.]  Belonging to men or women, not to things; not real.
 Every man so termed by way of personal difference only.
1.  Relating to an individual; affecting individuals; peculiar or proper to him or her, or to private actions or character.
 The words are conditional; if thou doest well; and so personal to Cain.
 Character and success depend more on personal effort than on any external advantages.
So we speak of personal pride, personal reflections.
2.  Pertaining to the corporal nature; exterior; corporal; as personal charms or accomplishments.
3.  Present in person; not acting by representative; as a personal interview.
 The immediate and personal speaking of God almighty to Abraham, Job and Moses.
Personal estate, in law, movables; chattels; things belonging to the person; as money, jewels, furniture, &c. as distinguished from real estate in land and houses.
Personal action, in law, a suit or action by which a man claims a debt or personal duty, or damages in lieu of it; or wherein he claims satisfaction in damages for an injury to his person or property; an action founded on contract or on tort or wrong; as an action on a debt or promise, or an action for a trespass, assault or defamatory words; opposed to real actions, or such as concern real property.
Personal identity, in metaphysics, sameness of being, of which consciousness is the evidence.
Personal verb, in grammar, a verb conjugated in the three persons; thus called in distinction from an impersonal verb, which has the third person only.
PER'SONAL, n.  A movable. [Not in use.]


Topic: Personality
Definition:
PERSONAL'ITY, n.  That which constitutes an individual a distinct person, or that which constitutes individuality.
 The personality of an intelligent being extends itself beyond present existence to what is past, only by consciousness--
1.  Direct application or applicability to a person; as the personality of a remark.


Topic: Personally
Definition:
PER'SONALLY, adv.  In person; by bodily presence; not by representative or substitute; as, to be personally present; to deliver a letter personally.  They personally declared their assent to the measure.
1.  With respect to an individual; particularly.
 She bore a mortal hatred to the house of Lancaster, and personally to the king.
2.  With regard to numerical existence.
 The converted man is personally the same he was before.


Topic: Personate
Definition:
PER'SONATE, v.t.  To represent by a fictitious or assumed character so as to pass for the person represented.
1.  To represent by action or appearance; to assume the character and act the part of another.
2.  To pretend hypocritically.  [Little used.]
3.  To counterfeit; to feign; as a personated devotion.
4.  To resemble.
 The lofty cedar personates thee.
5.  To make a representation of, as in picture.
6.  To describe.
7.  To celebrate loudly. [L. persono.]  [Not used.]
PER'SONATE, a. [L. persona, a mask.]  Masked.  A personate corol is irregular and closed by a kind of palate; or ringent, but closed between the lips by the palate.


Topic: Personification
Definition:
PERSONIFICA'TION, n. [from personify.]  The giving to an inanimate being the figure or the sentiments and language of a rational being; prosopopoeia; as, 'confusion heard his voice.'


Topic: Personify
Definition:
PERSON'IFY, v.t. [L. persona and facio.]  To give animation to inanimate objects; to ascribe to an inanimate being the sentiments, actions or language of a rational being or person,or to represent an inanimate being with the affections and actions of a person. Thus we say, the plants thirst for rain.
 The trees said to the fig-tree, come thou, and reign over us. Judges 9.


Topic: Perspective
Definition:
PERSPEC'TIVE, a. [infra.]  Pertaining to the science of optics; optical.
1.  Pertaining to the art of perspective.
PERSPEC'TIVE, n. [L. perspicio; per and specio, to see.]
1.  A glass through which objects are viewed.
2.  The art of drawing on a plane surface true resemblances or pictures of objects, as the objects appear to the eye from any distance and situation, real and imaginary; as the rules of perspective.
3.  A representation of objects in perspective.
4.  View; vista; as perspectives of pleasant shades.
5.  A kind of painting, often seen in gardens and at the end of a gallery, designed expressly to deceive the sight by representing the continuation of an alley, a building, a landscape or the like.
Aerial perspective,the art of giving due diminution to the strength of light, shade and colors of objects, according to their distances and the quantity of light falling on them, and to the medium through which they are seen.


Topic: Perspicacious
Definition:
PERSPICA'CIOUS, a. [L. perspicax, from perspicio.]
1.  Quick sighted; sharp of sight.
2.  Of acute discernment.


Topic: Perspicacity
Definition:
PERSPICAC'ITY, n. [L. perspicacitas.]
1.  Acuteness of sight; quickness of sight.
2.  Acuteness of discernment or understanding.


Topic: Perspicuity
Definition:
PERSPICU'ITY, n. [L. perspicuitas, from perspicio.]
1.  Transparency; clearness; that quality of a substance which renders objects visible through it.  [Little used.]
2.  Clearness to mental vision; easiness to be understood; freedom from obscurity or ambiguity; that quality of writing or language which readily presents to the mind of another the precise ideas of the author.  Perspicuity is the first excellence of writing or speaking.


Topic: Perspicuous
Definition:
PERSPIC'UOUS, a. [L.perspicuus.]   
Transparent; translucent. [Little used.]
1.  Clear to the understanding; that may be clearly understood; not obscure or ambiguous. Language is perspicuous when it readily presents to the reader or hearer the precise ideas which are intended to be expressed. Meaning, sense or signification if perspicuous, when it is clearly and easily comprehended.


Topic: Perspicuousness
Definition:
PERSPIC'UOUSNESS, n.  Clearness to intellectual vision; plainness; freedom from obscurity.
[We generally apply perspicuous to objects of intellect, and conspicuous to objects of ocular sight.]


Topic: Perspirable
Definition:
PER'SPIRABLE, a. [from L. perspiro.  See Perspire.]
1.  That may be perspired; that may be evacuated through the pores of the skin.
2.  Emitting perspiration. [Not proper.]


Topic: Perspiration
Definition:
PERSPIRA'TION, n. [L. perspiro.  See Perspire.]
1.  The act of perspiring; excretion by the cuticular pores; evacuation of the fluids of the body through the pores of the skin.
2.  Matter perspired.


Topic: Perspire
Definition:
PERSPI'RE, v.i. [L. per and spiro, to breathe.]
1.  To evacuate the fluids of the body through the pores of the skin; as, a person perspires freely.
2.  To be evacuated or excreted through the pores of the skin; as, a fluid perspires.
PERSPI'RE,v.t.  To emit or evacuate through the pores of the skin.


Topic: Perstringe
Definition:
PERSTRINGE, v.t. perstrinj'. [L. perstringo; per and stringo, to graze or brush.]  To graze; to glance on.


Topic: Persuade
Definition:
PERSUA'DE, v.t. [L. persuadeo; per and suadeo, to urge or incite.]
1.  To influence by argument, advice, intreaty or expostulation; to draw or incline the will to a determination by presenting motives to the mind.
 I should be glad, if I could persuade him to write such another critick on any thing of mine.
 Almost thou persuadest me to be a christian. Acts.26.
2.  To convince by argument, or reasons offered; or to convince by reasons suggested by reflection or deliberation, or by evidence presented in any manner to the mind.
 Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you. Heb.6.
3.  To inculcate by argument or expostulation.  [Little used.]
4.  To treat by persuasion. [Not in use.]


Topic: Persuaded
Definition:
PERSUA'DED, pp.  Influenced or drawn to an opinion or determination by argument, advice or reasons suggested; convinced; induced.


Topic: Persuader
Definition:
PERSUA'DER, n.  One that persuades or influences another.
1.  That which incites.
 Hunger and thirst at once.
 Powerful persuaders!


Topic: Persuasion
Definition:
PERSUA'SION, n. s as z. [L. persuasio.]
1.  The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by any thing that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.
 For thou hast all the arts of fine persuasion.
2.  The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction proceeding from arguments and reasons offered by others, or suggested by one's own reflections.
 When we have no other certainty of being in the right, but our own persuasion that we are so--
3.  A creed or belief; or a sect or party adhering to a creed or system of opinions; as men of the same persuasion; all persuasions concur in the measure.


Topic: Persuasive
Definition:
PERSUA'SIVE, a.  Having the power of persuading; influencing the mind or passions; as persuasive eloquence; persuasive evidence.


Topic: Pert
Definition:
PERT, a.
1.  Lively; brisk; smart.
 Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth.
 On the lawny sands and shelves,
 Trip the pert fairies, and the dapper elves.
2.  Forward; saucy; bold; indecorously free.
 A lady bids me in a very pert manner mind my own affairs--


Topic: Pertain
Definition:
PERTA'IN, v.i. [L. pertineo, per and tenco, to hold.]
1.  To belong; to be the property, right or duty of.
 Men hate those who affect honor by ambition, which pertaineth not to them.
 He took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah. 2 Kings.12.
 It pertains to the governor to open the ports by proclamation.
2.  To have relation to.  Acts.1.


Topic: Pertilence
Definition:
PERT'ILENCE, n. [L. pestilentia, from pestilens; pestis,plague.]
1.  Plague, appropriately so called; but in a general sense, any contagious or infectious disease that is epidemic and mortal.
2.  Corruption or moral disease destructive to happiness.
 Profligate habits carry pestilence into the bosom of domestic society.


Topic: Pertinacious
Definition:
PERTINA'CIOUS, a. [L.pertinax; per and teneo, to hold.]
1.  Holding or adhering to any opinion, purpose or design with obstinacy; obstinate; perversely resolute or persistent; as pertinacious in opinion; a man of pertinacious confidence.
2.  Resolute; firm; constant; steady.
 Diligence is a steady, constant, pertinacious study--
[This word often implies a censurable degree of firmness of constancy, like obstinacy.


Topic: Pertinaciously
Definition:
PERTINA'CIOUSLY, adv.  Obstinately; with firm or perverse adherence to opinion or purpose.  He pertinaciously maintains his first opinions.


Topic: Pertinacy
Definition:
PER'TINACY, n. [supra.]  Obstinacy; stubbornness; persistency; resolution; steadiness.  [Little used.]


Topic: Pertinent
Definition:
PER'TINENT, a. [L. pertinens.]  Related to the subject or matter in 
hand; just to the purpose; adapted to the end proposed; apposite; not foreign to the thing intended.  We say, he used an argument not pertinent to his subject or design.  The discourse abounds with pertinent remarks.  He gave pertinent answers to the questions.
1.  Regarding; concerning; belonging. [Little used.]


Topic: Pertly
Definition:
PERT'LY, adv.  Briskly; smartly; with prompt boldness.
1.  Saucily; with indecorous confidence or boldness.


Topic: Pertness
Definition:
PERT'NESS, n.  Briskness; smartness.
1.  Sauciness; forward promptness or boldness; implying less than effrontery or impudence.
 Pertness and ignorance may ask a question in three lines, which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to answer.
2.  Petty liveliness; sprightliness without force,dignity or solidity.
 There is in Shaftsbury's works a lively pertness and a parade of literature.


Topic: Perturbation
Definition:
PERTURBA'TION, n. [L. perturbatio.]
1.  Disquiet or agitation of mind.
2.  Restlessness of passions; great uneasiness.
3.  Disturbance; disorder; commotion in public affairs.
4.  Disturbance of passions; commotion of spirit.
5.  Cause of disquiet.
 O polished perturbation, golden care!


Topic: Pertusion
Definition:
PERTU'SION, n.  s as z. [L. pertusus, pertundo.]
1.  The act of punching, piercing or thrusting through with a pointed instrument.
 The manner of opening a vein in Hippocrates's time, was by stabbing or pertusion.
2.  A little hole made by punching; a perforation.


Topic: Perusal
Definition:
PERU'SAL, n. s as z. [from peruse.]  The act of reading.
 This treatise requires application in the perusal.
1.  Careful view or examination.  [Unusual.]


Topic: Peruse
Definition:
PERU'SE, v.t. s as z.  [Some of the senses of this word would lead to the inference that it is from the Latin perviso. If not, I know not its origin.]
1.  To read, or to read with attention.
2.  To observe; to examine with careful survey.
 I have perus'd her well.
 Myself I then perus'd, and limb by limb 
 Survey'd.


Topic: Peruvian
Definition:
PERU'VIAN, a.  Pertaining to Peru, in South America.
Peruvian bark, the bark of the Cinchona, a tree of Peru; called also Jesuits' bark.  The taste is bitter and pungent,and it is used as an astringent and tonic, in cases of debility, and particularly as a febrifuge in intermittents.


Topic: Pervade
Definition:
PERVA'DE, v.t. [L. pervado; per and vado,to go; Eng. to wade.]
1.  To pass through an aperture,pore or interstice; to permeate; as liquors that pervade the pores.
2.  To pass or spread through the whole extent of a thing and into every minute part.
 What but God
 Pervades, adjusts and agitates the whole?
3.  We use this verb in a transitive form to express a passive or an intransitive signification. Thus when we say, 'the electric fluid pervades the earth,' or 'either pervades the universe,' we mean only that the fluid is diffused through the earth or universe, or exists in all parts of them.  So when we say, 'a spirit of conciliation pervades all classes of men,' we may mean that such a spirit passes through all classes, or it exists among all classes.


Topic: Perverse
Definition:
PERVERSE, a. pervers'. [L. perversus.  See Pervert.]
1. Literally, turned aside; hence, distorted from the right.
2.  Obstinate in the wrong; disposed to be contrary; stubborn; untractable.
 To so perverse a sex all grace is vain.
3.  Cross; petulant; peevish; disposed to cross and vex.
 I'll frown and be perverse, and say thee nay.


Topic: Perverseness
Definition:
PERVERSENESS, n. pervers'ness.  Disposition to cross or vex; untractableness; crossness of temper; a disposition uncomplying, unaccommodating or acting in opposition to what is proper or what is desired by others.
 Her whom he wishes most, shall seldom gain
 Through her perverseness.
1.  Perversion.  [Not used.]


Topic: Perversion
Definition:
PERVER'SION, n. [L. perversus.]  The act of perverting; a turning from truth or propriety; a diverting from the true intent or object; change to something worse.  We speak of the perversion of the laws, when they are misinterpreted or misapplied;  a perversion of reason, when it is misemployed; a perversion of Scripture, when it is willfully misinterpreted or misapplied, &c.


Topic: Pervert
Definition:
PERVERT', v.t. [L. perverto; per and verto, to turn.]
1.  To turn from truth, propriety, or from its proper purpose; to distort from its true use or end; as, to pervert reason by misdirecting it; to pervert the laws by misinterpreting and misapplying them; to pervert justice; to pervert the meaning of an author; to pervert nature; to pervert truth.
2.  To turn from the right; to corrupt.
 He in the serpent had perverted Eve.


Topic: Perverter
Definition:
PERVERT'ER, n.  One that perverts or turns from right to wrong; one that distorts, misinterprets or misapplies.


Topic: Perverting
Definition:
PERVERT'ING, ppr.  Turning from right to wrong; distorting; misinterpreting; misapplying; corrupting.
[Pervert, when used of persons, usually implies evil design.]


Topic: Pervestigate
Definition:
PERVES'TIGATE, v.t. [L. pervestigo; per and vestigo, to trace; vestigium, a track.]  To find out by research.


Topic: Pervicacious
Definition:
PERVICA'CIOUS, a. [L. pervicax; composed perhaps of per and Teutonic wigan, to strive or contend.]
Very obstinate; stubborn; willfully contrary or refractory.


Topic: Pervious
Definition:
PER'VIOUS, a. [L. pervius; per and via, way, or from the root of that word.]
1.  Admitting passage; that may be penetrated by another body or substance; permeable; penetrable.  We say, glass is pervious to light; a porous stone is pervious to water; a wood is pervious or not pervious to a body of troops.
 A country pervious to the arms and authority of the conqueror.
2.  That may be penetrated by the mental sight.
 By darkness they mean God, whose secrets are pervious to no eye.
3.  Pervading; permeating; as pervious fire.  [Not proper.]


Topic: Perviousness
Definition:
PER'VIOUSNESS, n.  The quality of admitting passage or of being penetrated; as the perviousness of glass to light.


Topic: Pesade
Definition:
PESA'DE, n.  The motion of a horse when he raises his fore quarters, keeping his hind feet on the ground without advancing.


Topic: Pessary
Definition:
PES'SARY, n. [L. pessus.]  A solid substance composed of wool, lint or linen, mixed with powder, oil, wax, &c. made round and long like a finger, to be introduced into the neck of the matrix for the cure of some disorder.instrument that is introduced into the vagina to support the uterus.  It is made of wood, elastic gum, waxed linen, &c.


Topic: Pest
Definition:
PEST, n. [L. pestis; Heb. to be fetid.]
1.  Plague; pestilence; a fatal epidemic disease.
 Let fierce Achilles
 The god propitiate, and the pest assuage.
2.  Any thing very noxious, mischievous or destructive.  The tale bearer, the gambler,the libertine, the drunkard, are pests to society.
 Of all virtues justice is the best;
 Valor without it is a common pest.


Topic: Pester
Definition:
PEST'ER, v.t.  To trouble; to disturb; to annoy; to harass with little vexations.
 We are pestered with mice and rats.
 A multitude of scribblers daily pester the world with their insufferable stuff.
1.  To encumber.


Topic: Pestiferous
Definition:
PESTIF'EROUS, a. [L. pestis, plague, and fero, to produce.]
1.  Pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious.
2.  Noxious to peace, to morals or to society; mischievous; destructive.
3.  Troublesome; vexatious.


Topic: Pestilent
Definition:
PEST'ILENT, a. [L. pestilens, from pestis, plague.]
1. Producing the plague, or other malignant, contagious disease; noxious to health and life; as a pestilent air or climate.
2.  Mischievous; noxious to morals or society; destructive; in a general sense; as pestilent books.
3.  Troublesome; mischievous; making disturbance; corrupt; as a pestilent fellow.  Acts.24.


Topic: Pestilential
Definition:
PESTILEN'TIAL, a.  Partaking of the nature of the plague or other infectious disease; as a pestilential fever.
1.  Producing or tending to produce infectious disease; as pestilential vapors.
2.  Mischievous; destructive; pernicious.


Topic: Pestillation
Definition:
PESTILLA'TION, n. [from L. pistillum; Eng. pestle.]
The act of pounding and bruising in a mortar.  [Little used.]


Topic: Pestle
Definition:
PESTLE, n. pes'l. [L. pistillum, and probably pinso, for piso, to pound or beat.]  An instrument for pounding and breaking substances in a mortar.
Pestle of port, a gammon of bacon.


Topic: Pet
Definition:
PET, n. [This word may be contracted from petulant, or belong to the root of that word.  Peevish, which is evidently a contracted word, may be from the same root.]
A slight fit of peevishness or fretful discontent.
 Life given for noble purposes must not be thrown away in a pet, nor whined away in love.
PET, n. [formerly peat. L. peto.]
1.  A cade lamb; a lamb brought up by hand.
2.  A fondling; any little animal fondled and indulged.
PET, v.t.  To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.


Topic: Petal
Definition:
PE'TAL, n. [Gr. to expand; L. pateo.]  In botany, a flower leaf. In flowers of one petal, the corol and petal are the same.  In flowers of several petals, the corol is the whole,and the petals are the parts, or the petal is one of the leaves of which the whole corol is composed.


Topic: Petalism
Definition:
PET'ALISM, n. [Gr. See Petal.]  A form of sentence among the ancient Syracusans,by which they proscribed a citizen whose wealth or popularity alarmed their jealousy, or who was suspected of aspiring to sovereign power; temporary proscription, or banishment for five years. The mode was to give their votes by writing his name on a leaf.  Petalism in Syracuse answered to ostracism in Athens.


Topic: Petalite
Definition:
PET'ALITE, n. [Gr. a leaf.]  A rare mineral occurring in masses, having a foliated structure; its color milk white or shaded with gray, red or green.  The new alkali,lithia, was first discovered in this mineral.


Topic: Petalous
Definition:
PET'ALOUS, a.  Having petals; as a petaled flower; opposed to apetalous.  This word is much used in compounds; as one-petaled; three petaled.


Topic: Petard
Definition:
PET`ARD, n.  An engine of war made of metal, nearly in the shape of a hat, to be loaded with powder and fixed on a madrier or plank, and used to break gates, barricades, draw-bridges and the like, by explosion.


Topic: Petechial
Definition:
PETE'CHIAL, a.  Spotted.  A petechial fever is a malignant fever accompanied with purple spots on the skin.


Topic: Petit
Definition:
PETIT, a.  pet'ty.  Small; little; mean.
This word petit is now generally written petty.
Petit constable, an inferior civil officer subordinate to the high constable.
Petit jury, a jury of twelve freeholders who are empanneled to try causes at the bar of a court; so called in distinction from the grand jury, which tries the truth of indictments.
Petit larceny, the stealing of goods of the value of twelve pence, or under that amount; opposed to grand larceny.
serjeanty, in English law, the tenure of lands of the king, by the service of rendering to him annually some implement of war, as a bow, an arrow, a sword, lance, &c.
Petit treason, the crime of killing a person, to whom the offender owes duty or subjection.  Thus it is petit treason for a wife to kill her husband, or a servant his lord or master.


Topic: Petition
Definition:
PETI'TION, n. [L. petitio, from peto, to ask, properly to urge or press.]
1.  In a general sense, a request, supplication or prayer; but chiefly and appropriately, a solemn or formal supplication; a prayer addressed by a person to the Supreme Being, for something needed or desired, or a branch or particular article of prayer.
2.  A formal request or supplication, verbal or written; particularly, a written supplication from an inferior to a superior, either to a single person clothed with power, or to a legislative or other body, soliciting some favor, grant, right or mercy.
3.  The paper containing a supplication or solicitation.  Much of the time of our legislative bodies is consumed in attending to private petitions.  The speaker's table is often loaded with petitions.  Petitions to the king of Great Britain must contain nothing reflecting on the administration.
PETI'TION, v.t.  To make a request to; to ask from; to solicit; particularly, to make supplication to a superior for some favor or right; as, to petition the legislature; to petition a court of chancery.
 The mother petitioned her goddess to bestow on them the greatest gift that could be given.


Topic: Petitionary
Definition:
PETI'TIONARY, a.  Supplicatory; coming with a petition.
 Pardon thy petitionary countrymen.
1.  Containing a petition or request; as a petitionary prayer; a petitionary epistle.


Topic: Petitioning
Definition:
PETI'TIONING, ppr. Asking as a favor, grant, right or mercy; supplicating.
PETI'TIONING, n.  The act of asking or soliciting; solicitation; supplication. Tumultuous petitioning is made penal by statute.


Topic: Petong
Definition:
PETONG', n.  The Chinese name of a species of copper of a white color.  It is sometimes confounded with tutenag.


Topic: Petrifaction
Definition:
PETRIFAC'TION,n. [See Petrify.]  The process of changing into stone; the conversion of wood or any animal or vegetable substance into stone or a body of stony hardness.
 When the water in which wood is lodged is slightly impregnated with petrescent particles, the petrifaction very slowly takes place.
1.  That which is converted from animal or vegetable substance into stone.
 --The calcarious petrifaction called osteocolla.
An organized body rendered hard by depositions of stony matter in its cavities.
2.  In popular usage, a body incrusted with stony matter; an incrustation.


Topic: Petrifactive
Definition:
PETRIFAC'TIVE, a.  Pertaining to petrifaction.
1.  Having power to convert vegetable or animal substances into stone.


Topic: Petrific
Definition:
PETRIF'IC, a. Having power to convert into stone.
 The cold, dry, petrific mace of a false and unfeeling philosophy.


Topic: Petrification
Definition:
PETRIFICA'TION, n.  The process of petrifying.
1.  That which is petrified; a petrifaction.
[The latter word is generally used.]
2.  Obduracy; callousness.


Topic: Petrify
Definition:
PET'RIFY, v.t. [L. petra; Gr. a stone or rock, and facio, to make.]
1.  To convert to stone or stony substance; as an animal or vegetable substance.
 North of Quito,there is a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves.
2.  To make callous or obdurate; as, to petrify the heart.
 And petrify a genius to a dunce.
3.  To fix; as, to petrify one with astonishment.
PET'RIFY, v.i.  To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as animal or vegetable substances by means of calcarious or other depositions in their cavities.


Topic: Petrosilex
Definition:
PET'ROSILEX, n. [L. petra, Gr. a stone, and silex, flint.]
Rock stone; rock flint, or compact feldspar.


Topic: Pettitoes
Definition:
PET'TITOES, n. [petty and toes.]  The toes or feet of a pig; sometimes used for the human feet in contempt.


Topic: Petty
Definition:
PET'TY, a.  Small; little; trifling; inconsiderable; as a petty trespass; a petty crime.
1.  Inferior; as a petty prince.
We usually write petty constable, petty jury, petty larceny, petty treason.  [See Petit.]


Topic: Pettychaps
Definition:
PET'TYCHAPS, n.  A small bird of the genus Motacilla, called also beambird; found in the north of Europe.
The beambird is the spotted fly-catcher, of the genus Muscicapa.


Topic: Petulanceulancy
Definition:
PET'ULANCE'ULANCY, n. [L. petulantia.]  Freakish passion; peevishness; pettishness; sauciness.  Peevishness is not precisely synonymous with petulance; the former implying more permanence of a sour, fretful temper; the latter more temporary or capricious irritation.
 That which looked like pride in some, and petulance in others.
 The pride and petulance of youth.


Topic: Petulant
Definition:
PET'ULANT, a. [L. petulans.]  Saucy; pert or forward with fretfulness or sourness of temper; as a petulant youth.
1.  Manifesting petulance; proceeding from pettishness; as a petulant demand; a petulant answer.
2.  Wanton; freakish in passion.


Topic: Pew
Definition:
PEW, n.  [L. podium.]  An inclosed seat in a church.  Pews were formerly made square; in modern churches in America they are generally long and narrow, and sometimes called slips.
PEW, v.t.  To furnish with pews.  [Little used.]


Topic: Pewter
Definition:
PEW'TER, n.
1.  A composition or factitious metal, consisting of tin and lead, or tin, lead and brass, in the proportions of a hundred pounds of tin to fifteen of lead, and six of brass.  This was formerly in extensive use in domestic utensils or vessels; but being a soft composition and easily melted, is now less used.
2.  Vessels or utensils made of pewter; as plates, dishes, porringers and the like.


Topic: Phaeton
Definition:
PHA'ETON, n. [Gr. to shine.]
1. In mythology, the son of Phoebus and Clymene, or of Cephalus and Aurora,that is, the son of light or of the sun.  This aspiring youth begged of Phoebus that he would permit him to guide the chariot of the sun, in doing which he manifested want of skill, and being struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, he was hurled headlong into the river Po.  This fable probably originated in the appearance of a comet with a splendid train, which passed from the sight in the northwest of Italy and Greece.
2.  An open carriage like a chaise, on four wheels, and drawn by two horses.
3.  In ornithology, a genus of fowls, the tropic bird.


Topic: Phagedenic
Definition:
PHAGEDEN'IC, a. [Gr. to eat.]  Eating or corroding flesh; as a phagedenic ulcer or medicine.
Phagedenic water, is made from quick lime and corrosive sublimate.
PHAGEDEN'IC, n.  A medicine or application that eats away proud or fungous flesh.


Topic: Phalangious
Definition:
PHALAN'GIOUS, a. [Gr. a kind of spider.]  Pertaining to the genus of spiders denominated phalangium.


Topic: Phalanx
Definition:
PHAL'ANX, n. In Grecian antiquity, a square battalion or body of soldiers, formed in ranks and files close and deep, with their shields joined and pikes crossing each other, so as to render it almost impossible to break it. The Macedonian phalanx, celebrated for its force, consisted of 8000 men; but smaller bodies of soldiers were called by the same name.
1.  Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of union.
2.  In anatomy, the three rows of small bones forming the fingers.
3.  In natural history, a term used to express the arrangement of the columns of a sort of fossil corolloid, called lithostrotion, found in Wales.


Topic: Phalarope
Definition:
PHAL'AROPE, n.  The name of several species of water fowls inhabiting the northern latitudes of Europe and America.


Topic: Phantasm
Definition:
PHAN'TASM, n. [Gr. to show, to shine, to appear.]
That which appears to the mind; the image of an external object; hence, an idea or notion.  It usually denotes a vain or airy appearance; something imagined.
 All the interim is
 Like a phantasm or a hideous dream.


Topic: Phantom
Definition:
PHAN'TOM, n. [L.phantasma.]
1.  Something that appears; an apparition; a specter.
 Strange phantoms rising as the mists arise.
2.  A fancied vision.


Topic: Pharisaicalness
Definition:
PHARISA'ICALNESS, n.  Devotion to external rites and ceremonies; external show of religion without the spirit of it.


Topic: Pharisaicical
Definition:
PHARISA'IC'ICAL, a. [from Pharisee.]  Pertaining to the Pharisees; resembling the Pharisees, a sect among the Jews, distinguished by their zeal for the traditions of the elders, and by their exact observance of these traditions and the ritual law.  Hence pharisaic denotes addicted to external forms and ceremonies; making a show of religion without the spirit of it; as pharisaic holiness.


Topic: Pharisaism
Definition:
PHAR'ISAISM, n.  The notions, doctrines and conduct of the Pharisees, as a sect.
1.  Rigid observance of external forms of religion without genuine piety; hypocrisy in religion.


Topic: Pharisee
Definition:
PHAR'ISEE, n. [Heb. to separate.]  One of a sect among the Jews, whose religion consisted in a strict observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders,and whose pretended holiness led them to separate themselves as a sect, considering themselves as more righteous than other Jews.


Topic: Pharmacolite
Definition:
PHAR'MACOLITE, n.  Arseniate of lime, snow white or milk white, inclining to reddish or yellowish white.  It occurs in small reniform, botryoidal and globular masses, and has a silky luster.


Topic: Pharmacologist
Definition:
PHARMACOL'OGIST, n. [Gr.]  One that writes on drugs, or the composition and preparation of medicines.


Topic: Pharmacology
Definition:
PHARMACOL'OGY, n. [supra.]  The science or knowledge of drugs, or the art of preparing medicines.
1.  A treatise on the art of preparing medicines.


Topic: Pharmacopy
Definition:
PHAR'MACOPY, n.  [Gr. to make.]  A dispensatory; a book or treatise describing the preparations of the several kinds of medicines, with their uses and manner of application.


Topic: Pharmacy
Definition:
PHAR'MACY, n. [Gr. a medicament, whether salutary or poisonous.]
The art or practice of preparing, preserving and compounding substances, whether vegetable, mineral or animal, for the purposes of medicine; the occupation of an apothecary.


Topic: Pharos
Definition:
PHA'ROS, n. [Gr. This word is generally supposed to be taken from the name of a small isle, near Alexandria,in Egypt.  But qu. is not the word from the root of fire, or from the Celtic fairim, to watch, and the isle so called from the tower upon it?]
1.  A light-house or tower which anciently stood on a small isle of that name, adjoining the Egyptian shore, over against Alexandria.  It consisted of several stories and galleries, with a lantern on the top, which was kept burning at night as a guide to seamen.
2.  Any light-house for the direction of seamen; a watch-tower; a beacon.


Topic: Pharyngotomy
Definition:
PHARYNGOT'OMY, n. [Gr. the muscular and glandular bag that leads to the esophagus, and to cut.]  
The operation of making an incision into the pharynx to remove a tumor or any thing that obstructs the passage.


Topic: Phasis
Definition:
PHA'SIS, n. plu. phases. [Gr. to shine.]
1. In a general sense, an appearance; that which is exhibited to the eye; appropriately, any appearance or quantity of illumination of the moon or other planet. The moon presents different phases at the full and the quadratures.
2.  In mineralogy, transparent green quartz.


Topic: Pheasant
Definition:
PHEASANT, n. phez'ant. [L. phasianus.]  A fowl of the genus Phasianus, of beautiful plumage, and its flesh delicate food.


Topic: Phengite
Definition:
PHEN'GITE, n.  [Gr. to shine.]  A beautiful species of alabaster, superior in brightness to most species of marbles.


Topic: Phenicopter
Definition:
PHEN'ICOPTER, n. [Gr. red winged; red, and wing.]
A fowl of the genus Phaenicopterus, the flamingo, inhabiting the warm latitudes of both continents.


Topic: Phenix
Definition:
PHE'NIX, n. [L. phoenix, the palm or date tree, and a fowl.]
1.  The fowl which is said to exist single, and to rise again from its own ashes.
2.  A person of singular distinction.


Topic: Phenomenon
Definition:
PHENOM'ENON, n. plu. phenomena. [Gr. to appear.]
In a general sense, an appearance; any thing visible; whatever is presented to the eye by observation or experiment,or whatever is discovered to exist; as the phenomena of the natural world; the phenomena of heavenly bodies, or of terrestrial substances; the phenomena of heat or of color.  It sometimes denotes a remarkable or unusual appearance.


Topic: Phial
Definition:
PHI'AL, n. [L. phiala.]
1.  A glass vessel or bottle; in common usage, a small glass vessel used for holding liquors, and particularly liquid medicines.  It is often written and pronounced vial.
2.  A large vessel or bottle made of glass; as the Leyden phial, which is a glass vessel partly coated with tinfoil, to be used in electrical experiments.
PHI'AL, v.t.  To put or keep in a phial.


Topic: Philadelphian
Definition:
PHILADELPH'IAN, a. [Gr.]  Pertaining to Philadelphia, or to Ptolemy Philadelphus.
PHILADELPH'IAN, n. One of the family of love.


Topic: Philanthropist
Definition:
PHILAN'THROPIST, n.  A person of general benevolence; one who loves or wishes well to his fellow men, and who exerts himself in doing them good.


Topic: Philanthropy
Definition:
PHILAN'THROPY, n. [Gr. to love, a friend, and man.]  The love of mankind; benevolence towards the whole human family; universal good will.  It differs from friendship, as the latter is an affection for individuals.


Topic: Philippic
Definition:
PHILIP'PIC, n.  An oration of Demosthenes, the Grecian orator, against Philip, king of Macedon, in which the orator inveighs against the indolence of the Athenians.  Hence the word is used to denote any discourse or declamation full of acrimonious invective. The fourteen orations of Cicero against Mark Anthony are also called Philippics.


Topic: Philippize
Definition:
PHIL'IPPIZE, v.i.  To write or utter invective; to declaim against. [Unusual.]
1.  To side with Philip; to support or advocate Philip.


Topic: Philologist
Definition:
PHILOL'OGIST, n.  One versed in the history and construction of language.  Philologist is generally used.


Topic: Philology
Definition:
PHILOL'OGY, n. [Gr. to love, a word.]
1.  Primarily, a love of words, or a desire to know the origin and construction of language.  In a more general sense,
2.  That branch of literature which comprehends a knowledge of the etymology or origin and combination of words; grammar, the construction of sentences or use of words in language; criticism, the interpretation of authors, the affinities of different languages, and whatever relates to the history or present state of languages.  It sometimes includes rhetoric, poetry, history and antiquities.


Topic: Philopolemic
Definition:
PHILOPOLEM'IC, a. [Gr. a lover, and warlike.]
Ruling over opposite or contending natures; an epithet of Minerva.


Topic: Philosopher
Definition:
PHILOS'OPHER, n. [See Philosophy.]  A person versed in philosophy, or in the principles of nature and morality; one who devotes of nature and morality; one who devotes himself to the study of physics, or of moral or intellectual science.
1.  In a general sense, one who is profoundly versed in any science.
Philosopher's stone, a stone or preparation which the alchimists formerly sought, as the instrument of converting the baser metals into pure gold.


Topic: Philosophically
Definition:
PHILOSOPH'ICALLY, adv.  In a philosophical manner; according to the rules or principles of philosophy; as, to argue philosophically.
1.  Calmly; wisely; rationally.


Topic: Philosophism
Definition:
PHILOS'OPHISM, n. [Gr. a lover, and sophism.]
1.  The love of fallacious arguments or false reasoning.
2.  The practice of sophistry.


Topic: Philosophize
Definition:
PHILOS'OPHIZE, v.i. [from philosophy.]  To reason like a philosopher; to search into the reason and nature of things; to investigate phenomena and assign rational causes for their existence.  Sir Isaac Newton lays down four rules of philosophizing.
 Two doctors of the schools were philosophizing on the advantages of mankind above all other creatures.


Topic: Philosophy
Definition:
PHILOS'OPHY, n. [L. philosophia; Gr. love, to love, and wisdom.]
1.  Literally, the love of wisdom.  But in modern acceptation, philosophy is a general term denoting an explanation of the reasons of things; or an investigation of the causes of all phenomena both of mind and of matter. When applied to any particular department of knowledge, it denotes the collection of general laws or principles under which all the subordinate phenomena or facts relating to that subject, are comprehended.  Thus, that branch of philosophy which treats of God, &c. is called theology; that which treats of nature, is called physics or natural philosophy; that which treats of man is called logic and ethics, or moral philosophy; that which treats of the mind is called intellectual or mental philosophy, or metaphysics.
The objects of philosophy are to ascertain facts or truth, and the causes of things or their phenomena; to enlarge our views of God and his works, and to render our knowledge of both practically useful and subservient to human happiness.
 True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle.
2.  Hypothesis or system on which natural effects are explained.
 We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our schools.
3.  Reasoning; argumentation.
4.  Course of sciences read in the schools.


Topic: Philosphate
Definition:
PHILOS'PHATE, v.i. [L. philosophor, philosophatus.]
To play the philosopher; to moralize.  [Not used.]


Topic: Philter
Definition:
PHIL'TER, n. [L. philtra; Gr. to love.]
1.  A potion intended or adapted to excite love.
2.  A charm to excite love.
PHIL'TER, v.t.  To impregnate with a love-potion; as, to philter a draught.
1.  To charm to love; to excite to love or animal desire by a potion.


Topic: Phlebotomy
Definition:
PHLEBOT'OMY, n. [Gr. a vein, and to cut.]  The act or practice of opening a vein for letting blood for the cure of diseases or preserving health.


Topic: Phlegmatic
Definition:
PHLEGMAT'IC, a. [Gr.]
1.  Abounding in phlegm; as phlegmatic humors; a phlegmatic constitution.
2.  Generating phlegm; as phlegmatic meat.
3.  Watery.
4.  Cold; dull; sluggish; heavy; not easily excited into action or passion; as a phlegmatic temper or temperament.


Topic: Phlegmonous
Definition:
PHLEG'MONOUS, a. Having the nature or properties of a phlegmon; inflammatory; burning; as a phlegmonous tumor.


Topic: Phlem
Definition:
PHLEM, n. [Gr. inflammation; and pituitous matter, to burn; hence the word must have originally expressed the matter formed by suppuration.]
1.  Cold animal fluid; water matter; one of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed.
2.  In common usage, bronchial mucus; the thick viscid matter secreted in the throat.
3.  Among chimists, water, or the water of distillation.
4.  Dullness; coldness; sluggishness; indifference.


Topic: Phlogiston
Definition:
PHLOGIS'TON, n. [Gr. to burn or inflame.]
The principle of inflammability; the matter of fire in composition with other bodies. Stahl gave this name to an element which he supposed to be pure fire fixed in combustible bodies, in order to distinguish it from fire in action or in a state of liberty.  But the theory has been proved to be false and is generally abandoned.


Topic: Phonics
Definition:
PHON'ICS, n. [Gr. sound.]  The doctrine or science of sounds; otherwise called acoustics.
1.  The art of combining musical sounds.


Topic: Phonocamptic
Definition:
PHONOCAMP'TIC, a. [Gr. sound, and to inflect.]  Having the power to inflect sound, or turn it from its direction, and thus to alter it.


Topic: Phonolite
Definition:
PHON'OLITE, n. [Gr. sound, and stone.]  Sounding stone; a name proposed as a substitute for klingstein [jingling stone.]


Topic: Phonology
Definition:
PHONOL'OGY, n. [Gr. sound, voice, and discourse.]  A treatise on sounds, or the science or doctrine of the elementary sounds uttered by the human voice in speech, including its various distinctions or subdivisions of tones.


Topic: Phosgene
Definition:
PHOS'GENE, a. [Gr. light, and to generate.]  Generating light.  Phosgene gas is generated by the action of light on chlorin and carbonic oxyd gas.


Topic: Phosphate
Definition:
PHOS'PHATE, n. [See Phosphor and Phosphorus.]
1.  A salt formed by a combination of phosphoric acid with a base of earth, alkali or metal.
2.  A mineral found in Estremadura, &c.


Topic: Phosphor
Definition:
PHOS'PHOR, n. [Gr. light, to shine, and to bring.  See Phosphorus.]
The morning star or Lucifer; Venus, when it precedes the sun and shines in the morning.  In this sense, it is also written Phosphorus.


Topic: Phosphoresce
Definition:
PHOSPHORESCE, v.i. phosphoress'.  [See Phosphorus.]
To shine, as phosphorus, by exhibiting a faint light without sensible heat.
 Arenaceous limestone phosphoresces in the dark, when scraped with a knife.


Topic: Phosphorescence
Definition:
PHOSPHORES'CENCE, n.  A faint light or luminousness of a body, unaccompanied with sensible heat.  It is exhibited by certain animals, as well as by vegetable and mineral substances.


Topic: Phosphoric
Definition:
PHOS'PHORIC, a.  Pertaining to or obtained from phosphorus.  The phosphoric acid is formed by a saturated combination of phosphorus and oxygen.


Topic: Phosphuret
Definition:
PHOS'PHURET, n.  A combination of phosphorus not oxygenated, with a base; as phosphyret of iron or copper.


Topic: Photology
Definition:
PHOTOL'OGY, n. [Gr. light, and discourse.]  The doctrine or science of light, explaining its nature and phenomena.


Topic: Photometer
Definition:
PHOTOM'ETER, n. [Gr. light, and measure.]
An instrument for measuring the relative intensities of light.


Topic: Phrase
Definition:
PHRASE, n. s as z. [Gr. to speak.]
1.  A short sentence or expression.  A phrase may be complete, as when it conveys complete sense, as humanum est errare, to err is human; or it may be incomplete, as when it consists of several words without affirming any thing, or when the noun and the verb do the office of a noun only; as, that which is true, that is, truth, satisfied the mind.
2.  A particular mode of speech; a peculiar sentence of short idiomatic expression; as a Hebrew phrase; an Italian phrase.
3.  Style; expression.
 Thou speak'st
 In better phrase.
4.  In music, any regular symmetrical course of notes which begin and complete the intended expression.
PHRASE, v.t.  To call; to style; to express in words or in peculiar words.
 These suns,
 For so they phrase them.


Topic: Phraseology
Definition:
PHRASEOL'OGY, n. [Gr. phrase, and to speak.]
1.  Manner of expression; peculiar words used in a sentence; diction.
2.  A collection of phrases in a language.


Topic: Phrenetic
Definition:
PHRENET'IC, a. [Gr. See Phrensy.]  Subject to strong or violent sallies of imagination or excitement, which in some measure pervert the judgment and cause the person to act in a manner different from the more rational part of mankind; wild and erratic; partially mad.  [It has been sometimes written phrentic, but is now generally written frantic.]
PHRENET'IC, n.  A person who is wild and erratic in his imagination.


Topic: Phrenitis
Definition:
PHREN'ITIS, n. [Gr. from the mind; L. animus, animosus,and the Teutonic mod; Eng. mood.]
1. In medicine, an inflammation of the brain, or of the meninges of the brain, attended with acute fever and delirium.
2.  Madness, or partial madness; delirium; phrenzy.  [It is generally written in English, phrensy or frenzy.


Topic: Phrenology
Definition:
PHRENOL'OGY, n. [Gr. the mind, and discourse.]  The science of the human mind and its various properties.
Phrenology is now applied to the science of the mind as connected with the supposed organs of thought and passion in the brain, broached by Gall.


Topic: Phrensy
Definition:
PHREN'SY, n. s as z. [supra.]  Madness; delirium, or that partial madness which manifests itself in wild and erratic sallies of the imagination. It is written also frenzy.
 Demoniac phrensy; moping melancholy.


Topic: Phrygian
Definition:
PHRYG'IAN, a. [from Phrygia, in Asia Minor.]  Pertaining to Phrygia; an epithet applied to a sprightly animating kind of music.
Phrygian stone, a stone described by the ancients,used in dyeing; a light spungy stone resembling a pumice, said to be drying and stringent.


Topic: Phylactery
Definition:
PHYLAC'TERY, n. [Gr. to defend or guard.]
1.  In a general sense, any charm, spell or amulet worn as a preservative from danger or disease.
2.  Among the Jews, a slip of parchment on which was written some text of Scripture, particularly of the decalogue, worn by devout persons on the forehead, breast or neck as a mark of their religion.
3.  Among the primitive christians, a case in which they inclosed the relics of the dead.


Topic: Phyllite
Definition:
PHYL'LITE, n. [Gr. a leaf, and a stone.]  A petrified leaf, or a mineral having the figure of a leaf.


Topic: Physalite
Definition:
PHYS'ALITE, n. [Gr. to swell or inflate, and a stone.]  A mineral of a greenish white color, a subspecies of prismatic topaz; called also pyrophysalite, as it intumesces in heat.


Topic: Physianthropy
Definition:
PHYSIAN'THROPY, n. [Gr.nature,and man.]  The philosophy of human life, or the doctrine of the constitution and diseases of man, and the remedies.


Topic: Physic
Definition:
PHYS'IC, n. s as z. [Gr. from nature; to produce.]
1.  The art of healing diseases.  This is now generally called medicine.
2.  Medicines; remedies for diseases.  We desire physic only for the sake of health.
3.  In popular language, a medicine that purges; a purge; a cathartic. [In technical and elegant language this sense is not used.]
PHYS'IC, v.t.  To treat with physic; to evacuate the bowels with a cathartic; to purge.
1.  To cure.


Topic: Physical
Definition:
PHYS'ICAL, a.  Pertaining to nature or natural productions, or to material things, as opposed to things moral or imaginary.  We speak of physical force or power, with reference to material things; as, muscular strength is physical force; armies and navies are the physical force of a nation; whereas wisdom, knowledge, skill, &c. constitute moral force.  A physical point is a real point, in distinction from a mathematical or imaginary point.  A physical body or substance is a material body or substance,in distinction from spirit or metaphysical substance.
1.  External; perceptible to the senses; as the physical characters of a mineral; opposed to chimical.
2.  Relating to the art of healing; as a physical treatise.
3.  Having the property of evacuating the bowels; as physical herbs.
4.  Medicinal; promoting the cure of diseases.
5.  Resembling physic; as a physical taste.
[In the three latter senses, nearly obsolete among professional men.]
Physical education, the education which is directed to the object of giving strength, health and vigor to the bodily organs and powers.


Topic: Physically
Definition:
PHYS'ICALLY, adv.  According to nature; by natural power or the operation of natural laws in the material system of things, as distinguished from moral power or influence.  We suppose perpetual motion to by physically impossible.
 I am not now treating physically of light or colors.
1.  According to the art or rules of medicine.
 He that lives physically, must live miserably.


Topic: Physician
Definition:
PHYSI'CIAN, n.  A person skilled in the art of healing; one whose profession is to prescribe remedies for diseases.
1.  In a spiritual sense, one that heals moral diseases; as a physician of the soul.


Topic: Physico-theology
Definition:
PHYSICO-THEOL'OGY, n. [physic or physical and theology.]  Theology or divinity illustrated or enforced by physics or natural philosophy.


Topic: Physics
Definition:
PHYS'ICS, n. s as z.  In its most extensive sense, the science of nature or of natural objects, comprehending the study or knowledge of whatever exists.
1.  In the usual and more limited sense, the science of the material system, including natural history and philosophy.  This science is of vast extent, comprehending whatever can be discovered of the nature and properties of bodies, their causes, effects, affections, operations, phenomena and laws.


Topic: Physiognomicical
Definition:
PHYSIOGNOM'IC'ICAL, a. s as z.  [See Physiognomy.]  Pertaining to physiognomy; expressing the temper,disposition or other qualities of the mind by signs in the countenance; or drawing a knowledge of the state of the mind from the features of the face.


Topic: Physiognomics
Definition:
PHYSIOGNOM'ICS, n.  Among physicians, signs in the countenance which indicate the state, temperament or constitution of the body and mind.


Topic: Physiognomist
Definition:
PHYSIOG'NOMIST, n.  One that is skilled in physiognomy; one that is able to judge of the particular temper or other qualities of the mind, by signs in the countenance.


Topic: Physiognomy
Definition:
PHYSIOG'NOMY, n. [Gr. nature, and knowing; to know.]
1.  The art or science of discerning the character of the mind from the features of the face; or the art of discovering the predominant temper or other characteristic qualities of the mind by the form of the body, but especially by the external signs of the countenance, or the combination of the features.
2.  The face or countenance with respect to the temper of the mind; particular configuration, cast or expression of countenance.
[This word formerly comprehended the art of foretelling the future fortunes of persons by indications of the countenance.]


Topic: Physiography
Definition:
PHYSIOG'RAPHY, n. [Gr. nature, and to describe.]  A description of nature, or the science of natural objects.


Topic: Physiologist
Definition:
PHYSIOL'OGIST, n.  One who is versed in the science of living beings, or in the properties and functions of animals and plants.
1.  One that treats of physiology.


Topic: Physiology
Definition:
PHYSIOL'OGY, n. [Gr. nature, to discourse.]
1.  According to the Greek, this word signifies a discourse or treatise of nature, but the moderns use the word in a more limited sense, for the science of the properties and functions of animals and plants, comprehending what is common to all animals and plants, and what is peculiar to individuals and species.
2.  The science of the mind, of its various phenomena, affections and powers.


Topic: Phytivorous
Definition:
PHYTIV'OROUS, a. [Gr. a plant, and L. voro, to eat.]  Feeding on plants or herbage; as phytivorous animals.


Topic: Phytology
Definition:
PHYTOL'OGY, n. [Gr. a plant, and discourse.]  A discourse or treatise of plants, or the doctrine of plants; description of the kinds and properties of plants.
Pia mater, [L.] in anatomy, a thin membrane immediately investing the brain.


Topic: Piaba
Definition:
PIABA, n.  A small fresh water fish of Brazil, about the size of the minnow, much esteemed for food.


Topic: Piaculous
Definition:
PIAC'ULOUS, a. [L. piacularis, from pio, to expiate.]
1.  Expiatory; having power to atone.
2.  Requiring expiation.
3.  Criminal; atrociously bad.
[These words are little used.]


Topic: Piano-forte
Definition:
PIANO-FORTE, n. [L. planus,plain, smooth; L. fortis, strong.]
A keyed musical instrument of German origin and of the harpsichord kind, but smaller; so called from its softer notes or expressions.  Its tones are produced by hammers instead of quills, like the virginal and spinet.


Topic: Piaster
Definition:
PIAS'TER, n.  An Italian coin of about 80 cents value, or 3s.7d. sterling.  But the value is different in different states or countries.  It is called also, a piece of eight.


Topic: Pibroch
Definition:
PI'BROCH, n.  A wild irregular species of music, peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and adapted to excite or assuage passion, and particularly to rouse a martial spirit among troops going to battle.


Topic: Pica
Definition:
PI'CA, n.  In ornithology, the pie or mag-pie, a species of Corvus.
1.  In medicine, a vitiated appetite which makes the patient crave what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, &c.
2.  A printing type of a large size; probably named from litera picata, a great black letter at the beginning of some new order in the liturgy; hence,
3.  Pica, pye or pie,formerly an ordinary, a table or directory for devotional services; also, an alphabetical catalogue of names and things in rolls and records.
Pica marina, the sea-pye, ostralegus, or oyster-catcher; an aquatic fowl of the genus Haematopus.  This fowl feeds on oysters, limpets and marine insects.


Topic: Picaroon
Definition:
PICAROON', n.  A plunderer; a pirate.  This word is not applied to a highway robber, but to pirates and plunderers of wrecks.
 In all wars, Corsica and Majorca have been nests of picaroons.


Topic: Pick
Definition:
PICK, v.t. [L. pecto.]
1.  To pull off or pluck with the fingers something that grows or adheres to another thing; to separate by the hand, as fruit from trees; as, to pick apples or oranges; to pick strawberries.
2.  To pull off or separate with the teeth, beak or claws; as, to pick flesh from a bone; hence,
3.  To clean by the teeth, fingers or claws, or by a small instrument, by separating something that adheres; as, to pick a bone; to pick the ears.
4.  To take up; to cause or seek industriously; as, to pick a quarrel.
5.  To separate or pull asunder; to pull into small parcels by the fingers; to separate locks for loosening and cleaning; as, to pick wool.
6.  To pierce; to strike with a pointed instrument; as, to pick an apple with a pin.
7.  To strike with the bill or beak; to puncture. In this sense, we generally use peck.
8.  To steal by taking out with the fingers or hands; as, to pick the pocket.
9.  To open by a pointed instrument; as, to pick a lock.
    10. To select; to cull; to separate particular things from others; as, to pick the best men from a company. In this sense,the word is often followed by out.
To pick off, to separate by the fingers or by a small pointed instrument.
pick out, to select; to separate individuals from numbers.
To pick up, to take up with the fingers or beak; also, to take particular things here and there; to gather; to glean.
To pick a hole in one's coat, to find fault.
PICK, v.i.  To eat slowly or by morsels; to nibble.
1.  To do any thing nicely or by attending to small things.
PICK, n.  A sharp pointed tool for digging or removing in small quantities.
 What the miners call chert and whern--is so hard that the picks will not touch it.
1.  Choice; right of selection.  You may have your pick.
2.  Among printers, foul matter which collects on printing types from the balls, bad ink, or from the paper impressed.


Topic: Picked
Definition:
PICK'ED, pp.  Plucked off by the fingers, teeth or claws; cleaned by picking; opened by an instrument; selected.
PICK'ED


Topic: Pickeer
Definition:
PICKEE'R, v.t.
1.  To pillage; to pirate.
2.  To skirmish, as soldiers on the outposts of an army, or in pillaging parties.


Topic: Picker
Definition:
PICK'ER, n.  One that picks or culls.
1.  A pickax or instrument for picking or separating.
2.  One that excites a quarrel between himself and another.


Topic: Picket
Definition:
PICK'ET, n.  A stake sharpened or pointed; used in fortification and encampments.
1.  A narrow board pointed; used in making fence.
2.  A guard posted in front of an army to give notice of the approach of the enemy.
3.  A game at cards.  [See Piquet.]
4.  A punishment with consists in making the offender stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
PICK'ET, v.t.  To fortify with pointed stakes.
1.  To inclose or fence with narrow pointed boards.
2.  To fasten to a picket.


Topic: Picking
Definition:
PICK'ING, ppr.  Pulling off with the fingers or teeth; selecting.
PICK'ING, n.  The act of plucking; selection; gathering; gleaning.


Topic: Pickle
Definition:
PICK'LE, n.  Brine; a solution of salt and water, sometimes impregnated with spices,in which flesh, fish or other substance is preserved; as pickle for beef; pickle for capers or for cucumbers; pickle for herring.
1.  A thing preserved in pickle.
2.  A state of condition of difficulty or disorder; a word used in ridicule or contempt.  You are in a fine pickle.
 How cam'st thou in this pickle?
3.  A parcel of land inclosed with a hedge. [Local.]
PICK'LE, v.t.  To preserve in brine or pickle; as, to pickle herring.
1.  To season in pickle.
2.  To imbue highly with any thing bad; as a pickled rogue.


Topic: Picklock
Definition:
PICK'LOCK, n. [pick and lock.]  An instrument for opening locks without the key.
1.  A person who picks locks.


Topic: Pickthank
Definition:
PICK'THANK, n.  An officious fellow who does what he is not desired to do, for the sake of gaining favor; a whispering parasite.


Topic: Picktooth
Definition:
PICK'TOOTH, n.  An instrument for picking or cleaning the teeth. [But toothpick is more generally used.]


Topic: Picrolite
Definition:
PIC'ROLITE, n.  A mineral composed chiefly of the carbonate of magnesia, of a green color.  [See Pikrolite.]


Topic: Picrotoxin
Definition:
PICROTOX'IN, n. [Gr. bitter, and L. toxicum.]  The bitter and poisonous principle of the Cocculus Indicus.


Topic: Picture
Definition:
PIC'TURE, n. [L. pictura, from pingo, to paint.]
1.  A painting exhibiting the resemblance of any thing; a likeness drawn in colors.
 Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects.
2.  The words of painters; painting.
 Quintilian, when he saw any well expressed image of grief, either in picture or sculpture, would usually weep.
3.  Any resemblance or representation, either to the eye or to the understanding.  Thus we say, a child is the picture of his father; the poet has drawn an exquisite picture of grief.
PIC'TURE, v.t.  To paint a resemblance.
 Love is like a painter, who, in drawing the picture of a friend having a blemish in one eye, would picture only the other side of the face.
1.  To represent; to form or present an ideal likeness.
 I do picture it in my mind.


Topic: Picturesk
Definition:
PICTURESK', a. [L. pictura, or pictor. In English,this would be picturish.]   Expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; striking the mind with great power or pleasure in representing objects of vision, and in painting to the imagination any circumstance or event as clearly as if delineated in a picture.


Topic: Piddler
Definition:
PID'DLER, n.  One who busies himself about little things.
1.  One that eats squeamishly or without appetite.


Topic: Pie
Definition:
PIE, n. [Gr. thick; or from mixing.]
An article of food consisting of paste baked with something in it or under it, as apple, minced meat, &c.
PIE, n. [L. pica.]  The magpie, a party-colored bird of the genus Corvus.  It is sometimes written pye.
1.  The old popish service book, supposed to be so called from the different color of the text and rubric, or from litera picata, a large black letter, used at the beginning of each order.
2.  Printers' types mixed or unsorted.
Cork and pie, an adjuration by the pie or service book, and by the sacred name of the Deity corrupted.


Topic: Piece
Definition:
PIECE, n. [Heb. to cut off or clip.]
1.  A fragment or part of any thing separated from the whole, in any manner, by cutting, splitting, breaking or tearing; as, to cut in pieces, break in pieces, tear in pieces, pull in pieces, &c.; a piece of a rock; a piece of paper.
2.  A part of any thing, though not separated, or separated only in idea; not the whole; a portion; as a piece of excellent knowledge.
3.  A distinct part or quantity; a part considered by itself, or separated from the rest only by a boundary or divisional line; as a piece of land in the meadow or on the mountain.
4.  A separate part; a thing or portion distinct from others of a like kind; as a piece of timber; a piece of cloth; a piece of paper hangings.
5.  A composition, essay or writing of no great length; as a piece of poetry or prose; a piece of music.
6.  A separate performance; a distinct portion of labor; as a piece of work.
7.  A picture or painting.
 If unnatural, the finest colors are but daubing,and the piece is a beautiful monster at the best.
8.  A coin; as a piece of eight.
9.  A gun or single part of ordnance. We apply the word to a cannon, a mortar, or a musket.  Large guns are called battering pieces; smaller guns are called field pieces.
   10. In heraldry, an ordinary or charge. The fess, the bend, the pale, the bar, the cross, the saltier, the chevron are called honorable pieces.
    11. In ridicule or contempt. A piece of a lawyer is a smatterer.
    12. A castle; a building. [Not in use.]
A-piece, to each; as, he paid the men a dollar a-piece.
Of a piece, like; of the same sort, as if taken from the same whole.  They seemed all of a piece. Sometimes followed by with.
 The poet must be of a piece with the spectators to gain reputation.
PIECE, v.t.  To enlarge or mend by the addition of a piece; to patch; as, to piece a garment; to piece the time.
To piece out, to extend or enlarge by addition of a piece or pieces.
PIECE, v.i.  To unite by coalescence of parts; to be compacted, as parts into a whole.


Topic: Piecemeal
Definition:
PIE'CEMEAL, adv.
1.  In pieces; in fragments.
 On which it piecemeal broke.
2.  By pieces; by little and little in succession.
 Piecemeal they win this acre first, then that.
PIE'CEMEAL, a.  Single; separate; made of parts or pieces.


Topic: Pied
Definition:
PI'ED, a. [allied probably to pie,in piebald, and a contracted word, perhaps from the root of L. pictus.]
Variegated with spots of different colors; spotted.  We now apply the word chiefly or wholly to animals which are marked with large spots of different colors.  If the spots are small, we use speckled.  This distinction was not formerly observed, and in some cases, pied is elegantly used to express a diversity of colors in small spots.
 Meadows trim with daisies pied.


Topic: Piepoudre
Definition:
PIE'POUDRE, n.  An ancient court of record in England,incident to every fair and market, of which the steward of him who owns or has the toll, is the judge.  It had jurisdiction of all causes arising in the fair or market.


Topic: Pier
Definition:
PIER, n. [L. petra.]
1.  A mass of solid stone work for supporting an arch or the timbers of a bridge or other building.
2.  A mass of stone work or a mole projecting into the sea, for breaking the force of the waves and making a safe harbor.


Topic: Pierce
Definition:
PIERCE, v.t. pers.
1.  To thrust into with a pointed instrument; as, to pierce the body with a sword or spear; to pierce the side with a thorn.
2.  To penetrate; to enter; to force a way into; as, a column of troops pierced the main body of the enemy; a shot pierced the ship.
3.  To penetrate the heart deeply; to touch the passions; to excite or affect the passions. 1 Tim.6.
4.  To dive or penetrate into, as a secret or purpose.
PIERCE, v.i. pers.  To enter; as a pointed instrument.
1. To penetrate; to force a way into or through any thing. The shot pierced through the side of the ship.
 Her tears will pierce into a marble heart.
2.  To enter; to dive or penetrate, as into a secret.
 She would not pierce further into his meaning than himself should declare.
3.  To affect deeply.


Topic: Piercer
Definition:
PIERCER, n. pers'er.  An instrument that pierces, penetrates or bores.
1.  One that pierces or perforates.


Topic: Piercing
Definition:
PIERCING, ppr.  pers'ing.  Penetrating; entering, as a pointed instrument; making a way by force into another body.
1.  Affecting deeply; as eloquence piercing the heart.
2.  a. Affecting; cutting; keen.


Topic: Pietist
Definition:
PI'ETIST, n.  One of a sect professing great strictness and purity of life, despising learning, school theology and ecclesiastical polity, as also forms and ceremonies in religion, and giving themselves up to mystic theology.  This sect sprung up among the protestants of Germany, in the latter part of the seventeenth century.


Topic: Piety
Definition:
PI'ETY, n. [L. pietas, from pius, or its root, probably a contracted word.]
1.  Piety in principle, is a compound of veneration or reverence of the Supreme Being and love of his character, or veneration accompanied with love; and piety in practice, is 
the exercise of these affections in obedience to his will and devotion to his service.
 Piety is the only proper and adequate relief of decaying man.
2.  Reverence of parents or friends, accompanied with affection and devotion to their honor and happiness.


Topic: Piezometer
Definition:
PIEZOM'ETER, n. [Gr. to press, and measure.]  An instrument for ascertaining the compressibility of water, and the degree of such compressibility under any given weight.


Topic: Pig
Definition:
PIG, n.
1.  The young of swine, male or female.
2.  An oblong mass of unforged iron, lead or other metal.  A pig of lead is the eighth of a fother, or 250 pounds.
PIG, v.t. or i.  To bring forth pigs.


Topic: Pigeon
Definition:
PIG'EON, n.  A fowl of the genus Columba, of several species, as the stock dove, the ring dove, the turtle dove, and the migratory or wild pigeon of America.  The domestic pigeon breeds in a box, often attached to a building, called a dovecot or pigeon-house. The wild pigeon builds a nest on a tree in the forest.


Topic: Pigeon-holes
Definition:
PIG'EON-HOLES, n.  An old English game in which balls were rolled through little cavities or arches.


Topic: Pigment
Definition:
PIG'MENT, n. [L. pigmentum, from the root of pingo, to paint.]
Paint; a preparation used by painters, dyers, &c. to impart colors to bodies.


Topic: Pigmy
Definition:
PIG'MY, n. [L. pygmoeus; Gr. the fist.]  A dwarf; a person of very small stature; a name applied to a fabled nation said to have been devoured by cranes.
PIG'MY, a.  Very small in size; mean; feeble; inconsiderable.


Topic: Pignut
Definition:
PIG'NUT, n. [pig and nut.]  The ground nut, a plant of the genus Bunium; also, a tree and its fruit of the genus Juglans.


Topic: Pigtail
Definition:
PIG'TAIL, n. [pig and tail.]  A cue; the hair of the head tied in the form of a pig's tail.
1.  A small roll of tobacco.


Topic: Pike
Definition:
PIKE, n. [This word belongs to a numerous family of words expressing something pointed, or a sharp point, or as verbs, to dart,to thrust, to prick.]
1.  A military weapon consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a flat steel head pointed; called the spear. This weapon was formerly used by infantry, but its use is now limited to officers, and it is called a sponton or spontoon.  Its use among soldiers is superseded by the bayonet.
2.  A fork used in husbandry; but we now use fork or pitchfork.
3.  Among turners, the iron sprigs used to fasten any thing to be turned.
4.  In ichthyology, a fish of the genus Esox, so named from its long shape or from the form of its snout. It is a fresh water fish, living in deep water and very voracious, but very palatable food.
 The pike, the tyrant of the flood.


Topic: Pikrolite
Definition:
PIK'ROLITE, n. [Gr.bitter, and a stone.]  A mineral found at Taberg, in Sweden, supposed to be a variety of serpentine.


Topic: Pilchard
Definition:
PIL'CHARD, n. A fish resembling the herring, but thicker and rounder; the nose is shorter and turns up; the under jaw is shorter; the back more elevated, and the belly less sharp.  These fishes appear on the Cornish coast in England, about the middle of July, in immense numbers, and furnish a considerable article of commerce.


Topic: Pile
Definition:
PILE, n. [L. pila.]
1.  A heap; a mass or collection of things in a roundish or elevated form; as a pile of stones; a pile of bricks; a pile of wood or timber; a pile of ruins.
2.  A collection of combustibles for burning a dead body; as a funeral pile.
3.  A large building or mass of buildings; an edifice.
 The pile o'erlook'd the town and drew the sight.
4.  A heap of balls or shot laid in horizontal courses, rising into a pyramidical form.
PILE, n. [L. palus.]
1.  A large stake or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building or other superstructure.  The stadthouse in Amsterdam is supported by piles.
2.  One side of a coin; originally, a punch or puncheon used in stamping figures on coins, and containing the figures to be impressed.  Hence the arms-side of a coin is called the pile, and the head the cross, which was formerly in the place of the head.  Hence cross and pile.
3.  In heraldry, an ordinary in form of a point inverted or a stake sharpened.
PILE, n. [L. pilum.]  The head of an arrow.
PILE, n. [L. pilus.]  Properly, a hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton and the like; hence, the nap, the fine hairy substance of the surface of cloth.
PILE, v.t.  To lay or throw into a heap; to collect many things into a mass; as, to pile wood or stones.
1.  To bring into an aggregate; to accumulate; as, to pile quotations or comments.
2.  To fill with something heaped.
3.  To fill above the brim or top.
4.  To break off the awns of threshed barley.  [Local.]


Topic: Pilfer
Definition:
PIL'FER, v.i.  To steal in small quantities; to practice petty theft; as a boy accustomed to pilfer.
 A pilfering hand.
PIL'FER, v.t.  To steal or gain by petty theft; to filch.
 He would not pilfer the victory, and the defeat was easy.


Topic: Pilfering
Definition:
PIL'FERING, pp.  Stealing; practicing petty thefts.
PIL'FERING, n.  Petty theft.
 Pilfering was so universal in all the South sea islands, that it was hardly recognized in the moral code of the natives as an offense, much less a crime.


Topic: Pilgrim
Definition:
PIL'GRIM, n. [L. peregrinus. Gu.L. peragro, to wander, palor.]
1.  A wanderer; a traveler; particularly, one that travels to a distance from his own country to visit a holy place, or to pay his devotion to the remains of dead saints.  [See Pilgrimage.]
2.  In Scripture, one that has only a temporary residence on earth. Heb.11.
PIL'GRIM, v.i. To wander or ramble. [Not used.]


Topic: Pilgrimage
Definition:
PIL'GRIMAGE, n.  A long journey, particularly a journey to some place deemed sacred and venerable, in order to pay devotion to the relics of some deceased saint.  Thus in the middle ages, kings, princes, bishops and others made pilgrimages to Jerusalem,in pious devotion to the Savior.  Pilgrims now resort to Loretto,in Italy, to visit the chamber of the blessed virgin, and the Mohammedans make pilgrimages to Mecca, where their prophet was buried.
1.  In Scripture, the journey of human life.  Gen.47.
2.  Time irksomely spent.


Topic: Pill
Definition:
PILL, n. [L. pila, a ball; pilula, a little ball.]
1.  In pharmacy, a medicine in the form of a little ball or small round mass, to be swallowed whole.
2.  Any thing nauseous.
PILL, v.t.  To rob; to plunder; to pillage, that is, to peel, to strip.  [See Peel, the same word in the proper English orthography.]
PILL, v.i.  To be peeled; to come off in flakes.
1.  To rob.  [See Peel.]


Topic: Pillage
Definition:
PILL'AGE, n.
1.  Plunder; spoil; that which is taken from another by open force, particularly and chiefly from enemies in war.
2.  The act of plundering.
3.  In architecture, a square pillar behind a column to bear up the arches.
PILL'AGE, v.t.  To strip of money or goods by open violence; as, troops pillage the camp or towns of an enemy; to plunder; to spoil. It differs from stealing, as it implies open violence,and from robbery, which may be committed by one individual on another; whereas pillaging is usually the act of bands or numbers. To pillage and to rob are however sometimes used synonymously.


Topic: Pillar
Definition:
PIL'LAR, n. [L. pila, a pile, a pillar, a mortar and pestle.  The L. pila denotes a heap, or things thrown, put or driven together.]
Literally, a pile or heap; hence,
1.  A kind or irregular column round an insulate, but deviating from the proportions of a just column.  Pillars are either too massive or too slender for regular architecture; they are not restricted to any rules, and their parts and proportions are arbitrary.  A square pillar is a massive work, called also a pier or piedroit, serving to support arches. &c.
2.  A supporter; that which sustains or upholds; that on which some superstructure rests. Gal.2.
3.  A monument raised to commemorate any person or remarkable transaction.
 And Jacob set a pillar on her grave. Gen.35. 2 Sam.18.
4.  Something resembling a pillar; as a pillar of salt. Gen.19.
 So a pillar of a cloud, a pillar of fire. Ex.13.
5.  Foundation; support. Job.9.
6.  In ships, a square or round timber fixed perpendicularly under the middle of the beams for supporting the decks.
7.  In the manege, the center of the volta, ring or manege ground, around which a horse turns.  There are also pillars on the circumference or side, placed at certain distances by two and two.


Topic: Pilled-garlick
Definition:
PILL'ED-G`ARLICK,n. [pilled, peeled,and garlick.]  One who has lost his hair by disease; a poor forsaken wretch.


Topic: Pillion
Definition:
PILLION, n. pil'yun, [L. pilus, hair, or from stuffing. See Pillow.]
1.  A cushion for a woman to ride on behind a person on horseback.
2.  A pad; a pannel; a low saddle.
3.  The pad of a saddle that rests on the horse's back.


Topic: Pillory
Definition:
PIL'LORY, n. [L. palus, a stake, a pile.]  A frame of wood erected on posts, with movable boards and holes, through which are put the head and hands of a criminal for punishment.
PIL'LORY, v.t.  To punish with the pillory.


Topic: Pillow
Definition:
PIL'LOW, n. [L. pulvinar; from L. pilus, hair, or from stuffing.]
1.  A long cushion to support the head of a person when reposing on a bed; a sack or case filled with feathers, down or other soft material.
2.  In a ship, the block on which the inner end of a bowsprit is supported.
The pillow of a plow, is a cross piece of wood which serves to raise or lower the beam.
PIL'LOW, v.t.  To rest or lay on for support.


Topic: Pilot
Definition:
PI'LOT, n.  
1.  One who steers a ship in a dangerous navigation, or rather one whose office or occupation is to steer ships, particularly along a coast, or into and out of a harbor, bay or river, where navigation is dangerous.
2.  A guide; a director of the course of another person. [In colloquial use.]
PI'LOT, v.t.  To direct the course of a ship in any place where navigation is dangerous.


Topic: Pilot-fish
Definition:
PI'LOT-FISH, n.  A fish, a species of Gasterosteus, called also rudder-fish, of an oblong shape; so named because it often accompanies ships.


Topic: Pilotage
Definition:
PI'LOTAGE, n.  The compensation made or allowed to one who directs the course of a ship.
1.  The pilot's skill or knowledge of coasts, rocks, bars and channels. [Not now used.]


Topic: Piloting
Definition:
PI'LOTING, ppr. Steering; as a ship in dangerous navigation.
PI'LOTING, n.  The act of steering a ship.


Topic: Pilous
Definition:
PI'LOUS, a. [L. pilosus, from pilus, hair.]  Hairy.  A pilose leaf, in botany, is one covered with long distinct hairs.  A pilose receptacle has hairs between the florets.


Topic: Pimelite
Definition:
PIM'ELITE, n. [Gr. fat, and stone.]  A terrene substance of an apple green color, fat and unctuous to the touch, tender and not fusible by the blowpipe.  It is supposed to be colored by nickel. It is a variety of steatite.


Topic: Pimento
Definition:
PIMEN'TO, n.  Jamaica pepper, popularly called allspice.  The tree producing this spice is of the genus Myrtus, and grows spontaneously in Jamaica in great abundance.


Topic: Pimp
Definition:
PIMP, n. A man who provides gratifications for the lust of others; a procurer; a pander.
PIMP, v.i.  To pander; to procure lewd women for the gratification of others.


Topic: Pimpinel
Definition:
PIM'PINEL, n. [L. pimpinella.]  The name of several plants of different genera.  The scarlet pimpernel is of the genus Anagallis, the water pimpernel of the genus Veronica, and the yellow pimpernel of the genus Lysimachia.


Topic: Pin
Definition:
PIN, n.  [L. penna,pinna.]
1.  A small pointed instrument made of brass wire and headed; used chiefly by females for fastening their clothes.
2.  A piece of wood or metal sharpened or pointed,used to fasten together boards,plank or other timber. The larger pins of metal are usually called bolts,and the wooden pins used in ship building are called treenails [trunnels.]  A small wooden pin is called a peg.
3.  A thing of little value.  It is not a pin's matter.  I care not a pin.
4.  A linchpin.
5.  The central part.
6.  A peg used in musical instruments in straining and relaxing the strings.
7.  A note or strain.
8.  A horny induration of the membranes of the eye.
9.  A cylindrical roller made of wood.
    10. A noxious humor in a hawk's foot.
    11. The pin of a block is the axis of the sheave.
PIN, v.t.  To fasten with a pin or with pins of any kind; as, to pin the clothes; to pin boards or timbers.
1.  To fasten; to make fast; or to join and fasten together.
 Our gates--we have but pinned with rushes.
 She lifted the princess from the earth, and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart.
2.  To inclose; to confine.  [See the verbs Pen and Pound.]


Topic: Pinch
Definition:
PINCH, v.t.
1.  To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, the teeth, claws, or with an instrument, &c.
2.  To squeeze or compress between any two hard bodies.
3.  To squeeze the flesh till it is pained or livid.
4.  To gripe; to straiten; to oppress with want; as, to pinch a nation; to pinch the belly; to be pinched for want of food.
5.  To pain by constriction; to distress; as pinching cold. The winter pinches.
6.  To press; to straiten by difficulties; as,the argument pinches the objector.
 The respondent is pinched with a strong objection.
7.  To press hard; to try thoroughly.
PINCH, v.i.  To act with pressing force; to bear hard; to be puzzling.  You see where the reasons pinch.
1.  To spare; to be straitened; to be covetous.
 The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare,
 Starve, steal and pilfer to enrich an heir.
PINCH, n. A close compression with the ends of the fingers.
1.  A gripe; a pang.
2.  Distress inflected or suffered; pressure; oppression; as necessity's sharp pinch.
3.  Straits; difficulty; time of distress from want.


Topic: Pinchbeck
Definition:
PINCH'BECK, n. [said to be from the name of the inventor.]
An alloy of copper; a mixture of copper and zink, consisting of three or four parts of copper with one of zink.


Topic: Pinchers
Definition:
PINCH'ERS, n. plu. [from pinch, not from the French pincette.]
An instrument for drawing nails from boards and the like, or for griping things to be held fast.


Topic: Pincushion
Definition:
PIN'CUSHION, n.  A small case stuffed with some soft material, in which females stick pins for safety and preservation.


Topic: Pindaric
Definition:
PINDAR'IC, a.  After the style and manner of Pindar.
PINDAR'IC, n.  An ode in imitation of the odes of Pindar the Grecian, and prince of the lyric poets; an irregular ode.


Topic: Pine
Definition:
PINE, n. [L. pinus.]  A tree of the genus Pinus, of many species, some of which furnish timber of the most valuable kind.  The species which usually bear this name in the United States, are the white pine, Pinus strobus,the prince of our forests; the yellow pine, Pinus resinosa; and the pitch pine, Pinus rigida.  The other species of this genus are called by other names, a fir,hemlock, larch, spruce, &c.
PINE, v.i.
1.  To languish; to lose flesh or wear away under any distress of anxiety of mind; to grow lean; followed sometimes by away.
 Ye shall not mourn nor weep, but ye shall pine away for your iniquities. Ezek.24.
2.  To languish with desire; to waste away with longing for something; usually followed by for.
 Unknowing that she pin'd for your return.
PINE, v.t. To wear out; to make to languish.
 Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime.
 Beroe pined with pain.
1.  To grieve for; to bemoan in silence.
 Abashed the devil stood--
 Virtue in her own shape how lovely, saw,
 And pined his loss.
[In the transitive sense, this verb is now seldom used, and this use is improper, except by ellipsis.]
PINE, n.  Woe; want; penury; misery.
[This is obsolete. See Pain.]


Topic: Pine-apple
Definition:
PINE-APPLE, n. The ananas, a species of Bromelia, so called from its resemblance to the cone of the pine tree.


Topic: Pineal
Definition:
PIN'EAL, a. [L. pinus.]  The pineal gland is a part of the brain, about the bigness of a pea, situated in the third ventricle; so called from its shape.  It was considered by Descartes as the seat of the soul.


Topic: Pinfold
Definition:
PIN'FOLD, n. [pin or pen and fold; Eng. to pound.]
A place in which beasts are confined.  We now call it a pound.


Topic: Pinion
Definition:
PINION, n. pin'yon.
1.  The joint of a fowl's wing, remotest from the body.
2.  A fether; a quill.
3.  A wing.
 Hope humbly then, on trembling pinions soar.
4.  The tooth of a smaller wheel, answering to that of a larger.
5.  Fetters or bands for the arms.
PINION, v.t. pin'yon.  To bind or confine the wings.
1.  To confine by binding the wings.
2.  To cut off the first joint of the wing.
3.  To bind or confine the arm or arms to the body.
4.  To confine; to shackle; to chain; as, to be pinioned by formal rules of state.
5.  To bind; to fasten to.


Topic: Pinite
Definition:
PIN'ITE, n. [from Pini, a mine in Saxony.]
A mineral holding a middle place between steatite and mica; the micarel of Kirwan.  It is found in prismatic crystals of a greenish white color, brown or deep red.  It occurs also massive.


Topic: Pink
Definition:
PINK, n.  
1. An eye, or a small eye; but now disused except in composition, as in pink-eyed, pink-eye.
2.  A  plant and flower of the genus Dianthus, common in our gardens.
3.  A color used by painters; from the color of the flower.
4.  Any thing supremely excellent.
5.  A ship with a very narrow stern.
6.  A fish, the minnow.
PINK, v.t.  To work in eyelet-holes; to pierce with small holes.
1.  To stab; to pierce.


Topic: Pinnace
Definition:
PIN'NACE, n.  A small vessel navigated with oars and sails, and having generally two masts rigged like those of a schooner; also, a boat usually rowed with eight oars.


Topic: Pinnacle
Definition:
PIN'NACLE, n. [L. pinna.]
1.  A turret, or part of a building elevated above the main building.
 Some metropolis
 With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd.
2.  A high spiring point; summit.
PIN'NACLE, v.t.  To build or furnish with pinnacles.


Topic: Pinnatifid
Definition:
PIN'NATIFID, a. [L. pinna, a fether, and findo, to cleave.]
In botany, fether-cleft.  A pinnatifid leaf is a species of simple leaf, divided transversely by oblong horizontal segments or jags, not extending to the mid rib.


Topic: Pinner
Definition:
PIN'NER, n.  One that pins or fastens; also, a pounder of cattle, or the pound keeper.
1.  A pin-maker.
2.  The lappet of a head which flies loose.


Topic: Pint
Definition:
PINT, n.  Half a quart, or four gills.  In medicine, twelve ounces.  It is applied both to liquid and dry measure.


Topic: Pioneer
Definition:
PIONEE'R, n.  
1.  In the art and practice of war, one whose business is to march with or before an army, to repair the road or clear it of obstructions, work at intrenchments, or form mines for destroying an enemy's works.
2.  One that goes before to remove obstructions or prepare the way for another.


Topic: Pious
Definition:
PI'OUS, a. [L. pius.]
1.  Godly; reverencing and honoring the Supreme Being in heart and in the practice of the duties he has enjoined; having due veneration and affection for the character of God, and habitually obeying his commands; religious; devoted to the service of God; applied to persons.
2.  Dictated by reverence to God; proceeding from piety; applied to things; as pious awe; pious services of affections; pious sorrow.
3.  Having due respect and affection for parents or other relatives; practicing the duties of respect and affection towards parents or other near relatives.
4.  Practiced under the pretense of religion; as pious frauds.


Topic: Piously
Definition:
PI'OUSLY, adv.  In a pious manner; with reverence and affection for God; religiously; with due regard to sacred things or to the duties God has enjoined.
1.  With due regard to natural or civil relations and to the duties which spring from them.


Topic: Pip
Definition:
PIP, n.  A disease of fowls; a horny pellicle that grows on the tip of their tongue.
1.  A spot on cards.
PIP, v.i. [L. pipio.]  To cry or chirp, as a chicken; commonly pronounced peep.


Topic: Pipe
Definition:
PIPE, n. [Eng. fife.]
1.  A wind instrument of music, consisting of a long tube of wood or metal; as a rural pipe.  The word, I believe, is not now the proper technical name of any particular instrument, but is applicable to any tubular wind instrument, and it occurs in bagpipe.
2.  A long tube or hollow body; applied to the veins and arteries of the body, and to many hollow bodies, particularly such as are used for conductors of water or other fluids.
3.  A tube of clay with a bowl at one end; used in smoking tobacco.
4.  The organs of voice and respiration; as in windpipe.
5.  The key or sound of the voice.
6.  In England, a roll in the exchequer, or the exchequer itself.  Hence, pipe-office is an office in which the clerk of the pipe makes out leases of crown lands, accounts of sheriffs, &c.
7.  A cask containing two hogsheads or 120 gallons, used for wine; or the quantity which it contains.
8.  In mining, a pipe is where the ore runs forward endwise in a hole, and does not sink downwards or in a vein.
PIPE, v.i.  To play on a pipe, fife, flute or other tubular wind instrument of music.
 We have piped to you, and ye have not danced. Matt.11.
1.  To have a shrill sound; to whistle.
PIPE, v.t.  To play on a wind instrument. 1 Cor.14.


Topic: Piperidge
Definition:
PIP'ERIDGE, n.  A shrub, the berberis, or barberry.
 The piperidge of New England is the nyssa villosa, a large tree with very tough wood.


Topic: Piperin
Definition:
PIP'ERIN, n.  A concretion of volcanic ashes.
1.  A peculiar crystalline substance extracted from black pepper.  The crystals of piperin are transparent, of a straw color, and they assume the tetrahedral prismatic form with oblique summits.


Topic: Piping
Definition:
PI'PING, ppr.  Playing on a pipe.
1.  a. Weak; feeble; sickly. [Vulgar and not in use in America.]
2.  Very hot; boiling; from the sound of boiling fluids.  [Used in vulgar language.]


Topic: Pippin
Definition:
PIP'PIN, n.  A kind of apple; a tart apple.  This name in America is given to several kinds of apples, as to the Newtown pippin, an excellent winter apple, and the summer pippin, a large apple, but more perishable than the Newtown pippin.


Topic: Piquant
Definition:
PIQUANT, a. pik'ant.
1.  Pricking; stimulating to the tongue; as rock as piguant to the tongue as salt.
2.  Sharp; tart; pungent; severe; as piquant railleries.


Topic: Pique
Definition:
PIQUE, n. peek.  An offense taken; usually, slight anger, irritation or displeasure at persons, rather temporary than permanent, and distinguished either in degree or temporariness from settled enmity or malevolence.
 Out of personal pique to those in service, he stands as a looker on, when the government is attacked.
1.  A strong passion.
2.  Point; nicety; punctilio.
 Add long prescription of established laws,
 And pique of honor to maintain a cause.
PIQUE, v.t. peek.
1.  To offend; to nettle; to irritate; to sting; to fret; to excite a degree of anger. It expresses less than exasperate.
 The lady was piqued by her indifference.
2.  To stimulate; to excite to action; to touch with envy; jealousy or other passion.
 Piqu'd by Protogenes'fame,
 From Co to Rhodes Apelles came--
3.  With the reciprocal pronoun, to pride or value one's self.
 Men pique themselves on their skill in the learned languages.


Topic: Piquet
Definition:
PIQUET.  [See Picket.]
PIQUET, n. piket'.  A game at cards played between two persons, with only thirty two cards; all the deuces, threes, fours, fives and sixes being set aside.


Topic: Piracy
Definition:
PI'RACY, n. [L. piratica, from Gr. to attempt, to dare, to enterprise, whence L. periculum, experior; Eng. to fare.]
1.  The act, practice or crime of robbing on the high seas; the taking of property from others by open violence and without authority, on the sea; a crime that answers to robbery on land.
Other acts than robbery on the high seas, are declared by statute to be piracy.  See Act of Congress, April 30, 1790.
2.  The robbing of another by taking his writings.


Topic: Piragua
Definition:
PIRAGUA, n. pirau'gua. This word is variously written, periagua or pirogue. The former is the spelling of Washington and Jefferson; the latter of Charlevoix.]
1.  A canoe formed out of the truck of a tree, or two canoes united.
2.  In modern usage in America, a narrow ferry boat carrying two masts and a leeboard.


Topic: Pirate
Definition:
PI'RATE, n. [L. pirata.]
1.  A robber on the high seas; one that by open violence takes the property of another on the high seas. In strictness, the word pirate is one who makes it his business to cruise for robbery or plunder; a freebooter on the seas.
2. An armed ship or vessel which sails without legal commission, for the purpose of plundering other vessels indiscriminately on the high seas.
3.  A bookseller that seizes the copies or writings of other men without permission.
PI'RATE, v.i.  To rob on the high seas.
PI'RATE, v.t.  To take by theft or without right or permission, as books or writings.
 They advertised they would pirate his edition.


Topic: Piratical
Definition:
PIRAT'ICAL, a. [L. piraticus.]  Robbing or plundering by open violence on the high seas; as a piratical commander or ship.
1.  Consisting in piracy; predatory; robbing; as a piratical trade or occupation.
2.  Practicing literary theft.
 The errors of the press were multiplied by piratical printers.


Topic: Pirating
Definition:
PI'RATING, ppr.  Robbing on the high seas; taking without right, as a book or writing.
1.  a. Undertaken for the sake of piracy; as a pirating expedition.


Topic: Piscary
Definition:
PIS'CARY, n. [L. piscis, a fish; piscor, to fish.]
In law, the right or privilege of fishing in another man's waters.


Topic: Pisces
Definition:
PIS'CES, n. plu. [L. piscis.]  In astronomy, the Fishes, the twelfth sign or constellation in the zodiac.


Topic: Piscivorous
Definition:
PISCIV'OROUS, a. [L. piscis, a fish,and voro, to eat.]
Feeding or subsisting on fishes.  Many species of aquatic fowls are piscivorous.


Topic: Pish
Definition:
PISH, exclam.  A word expressing contempt; sometimes spoken and written pshaw.
PISH, v.i.  To express contempt.


Topic: Pisiform
Definition:
PIS'IFORM, a. [L. pisum, a pea, and forma, form.]
Having the form of a pea.
 Masses of pisiform argillaceous iron ore.


Topic: Pisolite
Definition:
PIS'OLITE, n. [Gr. a pea, and a stone.]  Peastone, a carbonate of lime, slightly colored by the oxyd of iron.  It occurs in little globular concretions of the size of a pea or larger, which usually contain each a grain of sand as a nucleus. These concretions in union sometimes compose entire beds of secondary mountains.  It is sometimes called calcarious tufa.


Topic: Pisophalt
Definition:
PIS'OPHALT, n.  Pea-mineral or mineral-pea; a soft bitumen, black and of a strong pungent smell.  It appears to be petrol passing to asphalt.  It holds a middle place between petrol, which is liquid,and asphalt, which is dry and brittle.


Topic: Piss
Definition:
PISS, v.t.  To discharge the liquor secreted by the kidneys and lodged in the urinary bladder.
PISS, n.  Urine; the liquor secreted by the kidneys into the bladder of an animal and discharged through the proper channel.


Topic: Pissasphalt
Definition:
PIS'SASPHALT, n. [Gr. pitch, and asphalt.]  Earth-pitch; pitch mixed with bitumen, natural or artificial; a fluid opake mineral substance, thick and inflammable,but leaving a residuum after burning.


Topic: Pistil
Definition:
PIS'TIL, n. [L. pistillum, a pestle.]  In botany, the pointal, an organ of female flowers adhering to the fruit for the reception of the pollen, supposed to be a continuation of the pith, and when perfect, consisting of three parts, the germ or ovary, the style, and the stigma.


Topic: Pistillation
Definition:
PISTILLA'TION, n. [L. pistillum, a pestle, that is, a beater or driver.]  The act of pounding in a mortar. [Little used.]


Topic: Pistilliferous
Definition:
PISTILLIF'EROUS, a. [pistil and L. fero, to bear.]  
Having a pistil without stamens; as a female flower.


Topic: Pistol
Definition:
PIS'TOL, n.  A small fire-arm, or the smallest fire-arm used, differing from a musket chiefly in size.  Pistols are of different lengths, and borne by horsemen in cases at the saddle bow, or by a girdle.  Small pistols are carried in the pocket.
PIS'TOL, v.t.  To shoot with a pistol.


Topic: Piston
Definition:
PIS'TON, n. [L. pinso, the primary sense of which is to press, send, drive, thrust or strike, like embolus.]
A short cylinder of metal or other solid substance, used in pumps and other engines or machines for various purposes.  It is fitted exactly to the bore of another body so as to prevent the entrance or escape of air, and is usually applied to the purpose of forcing some fluid into or out of the canal or tube which it fills, as in pumps, fire-engines and the like.
1.  An artificial cavity made in the earth by digging; a deep hole in the earth.
2.  A deep place; an abyss; profundity.
 Into what pit thou seest
 From what height fallen.
3.  The grave. Ps.28 and 30.
4.  The area for cock-fighting; whence the phrase, to fly the pit.
5.  The middle part of a theater.
6.  The hollow of the body at the stomach. We say, the pit of the stomach.
7.  The cavity under the shoulder; as the arm-pit.
8.  A dint made by impression on a soft substance, as by the finger, &c.
9.  A little hollow in the flesh, made by a pustule, as in the small picks.
    10. A hollow place in the earth excavated for catching wild beasts; hence in Scripture, whatever ensnares and brings into calamity or misery, from which it is difficult to escape. Ps.7. Prov.22. and 23.
    11. Great distress and misery, temporal, spiritual or eternal. Is.38. Ps.40.
    12. Hell; as the bottomless pit. Rev.20.


Topic: Pit
Definition:
PIT, v.t.  To indent; to press into hollows.
1.  To mark with little hollows, as by variolous pustules; as the face pitted by the small pocks.
2.  To set in competition, as in combat.


Topic: Pit-fish
Definition:
PIT-FISH, n.  A small fish of the Indian seas, about the size of a smelt, of a green and yellow color.  It has the power of protruding or retracting its eyes at pleasure.


Topic: Pitapat
Definition:
PIT'APAT, adv. [probably allied to beat.]  In a flutter; with palpitation or quick succession of beats; as, his heart went pitapat.
PIT'APAT, n.  A light quick step.
 Now I hear the pitapat of a pretty foot, through the dark alley.


Topic: Pitch
Definition:
PITCH, n. [L. pix; Gr. most probably named from its thickness or inspissation; L. figo.]
1.  A thick tenacious substance,the juice of a species of pine or fir called abies picea, obtained by incision from the bark of the tree.  When melted and pressed in bags of cloth, it is received into barrels.  This is white or Burgundy pitch; by mixture with lampblack it is converted into black pitch.  When kept long in fusion with vinegar, it becomes dry and brown, and forms colophony. The smoke of pitch condensed forms lampblack.
2.  The resin of pine, or turpentine, inspissated; used in caulking ships and paying the sides and bottom.
PITCH, n. [from the root of pike, peak.]
1.  Literally, a point; hence, any point or degree of elevation; as a high pitch; lowest pitch.
 How high a pitch his resolution soars.
 Alcibiades was one of the best orators of his age, notwithstanding he lived when learning was at its highest pitch.
2.  Highest rise.
3.  Size; stature.
 So like in person, garb and pitch.
4.  Degree; rate.
 No pitch of glory from the grave is free.
5.  The point where a declivity begins, or the declivity itself; descent; slope; as the pitch of a hill.
6.  The degree of descent or declivity.
7.  A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.
8.  Degree of elevation of the key-note of a tune or of any note.
PITCH, v.t. [L. figo, to fix, and uniting pike, pique with fix.]
1.  To throw or thrust, and primarily, to thrust a long or  pointed object; hence, to fix; to plant; to set; as, to pitch a tent or pavilion, that is, to set the stakes.
2.  To throw at a point; as, to pitch quoits.
3.  To throw headlong; as, to pitch one in the mire or down a precipice.
4.  To throw with a fork; as, to pitch hay or sheaves of corn.
5.  To regulate or set the key-note of a tune in music.
6.  To set in array; to marshal or arrange in order; used chiefly in the participle; as a pitched battle.
7.  [from pitch.]  To smear or pay over with pitch; as, to pitch the seams of a ship.
PITCH, v.i.  To light; to settle; to come to rest from flight.
 Take a branch of the tree on which the bees pitch, and wipe the hive.
1.  To fall headlong; as, to pitch from a precipice; to pitch on the head.
2.  To plunge; as, to pitch into a river.
3.  To fall; to fix choice; with on or upon.
 Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will render it the most easy.
4.  To fix a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.
 Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead.  Gen.31.
5.  In navigation, to rise and fall, as the head and stern of a ship passing over waves.
6.  To flow or fall precipitously, as a river.
 Over this rock, the river pitches in one entire sheet.


Topic: Pitcher
Definition:
PITCH'ER, n.
1.  An earthen vessel with a spout for pouring out liquors. This is its present signification.  It seems formerly to have signified a water pot, jug or jar with ears.
2.  An instrument for piercing the ground.


Topic: Pitchfarthing
Definition:
PITCH'FARTHING, n.  A play in which copper coin is pitched into a hole; called also chuck-farthing, from the root of choke.


Topic: Pitchfork
Definition:
PITCH'FORK, n.  A fork or farming utensil used in throwing hay or sheaves of grain, in loading or unloading carts and wagons.


Topic: Pitching
Definition:
PITCH'ING, ppr.  Setting; planting or fixing; throwing headlong; plunging; daubing with pitch; setting, as a tune.
1.  a. Declivous; descending; sloping; as a hill.
PITCH'ING, n.  In navigation, the rising and falling of the head and stern of a ship, as she moves over waves; or the vertical vibration of a ship about her center of gravity.


Topic: Pitchpipe
Definition:
PITCH'PIPE, n.  An instrument used by choristers in regulating the pitch or elevation of the key or leading note of a tune.


Topic: Pitchy
Definition:
PITCH'Y, a.  Partaking of the qualities of pitch; like pitch.
1.  Smeared with pitch.
2.  Black; dark; dismal; as the pitchy mantle of night.


Topic: Piteous
Definition:
PIT'EOUS, a. [See Pity.]  Sorrowful; mournful; that may excite pity; as a piteous look.
1.  Wretched; miserable; deserving compassion; as a piteous condition.
2.  Compassionate; affected by pity.
3.  Pitiful; paltry; poor; as piteous amends.


Topic: Pitfall
Definition:
PIT'FALL, n.  A pit slightly covered for concealment, and intended to catch wild beasts or men.
PIT'FALL, v.t.  To lead into a pitfall.


Topic: Pith
Definition:
PITH, n.
1.  The soft spungy substance in the center of plants and trees.
2.  In animals, the spinal marrow.
3.  Strength or force.
4.  Energy; cogency; concentrated force; closeness and vigor of thought and style.
5.  Condensed substance or matter; quintessence.  The summary contains the pith of the original.
6.  Weight; moment; importance.
 Enterprises of great pith and moment.


Topic: Pithy
Definition:
PITH'Y, a.  Consisting of pith; containing pith; abounding with pith; as a pithy substance; a pithy stem.
1.  Containing concentrated force; forcible; energetic; as a pithy word or expression.
 This pithy speech prevailed and all agreed.
2.  Uttering energetic words or expressions.
 In all these, Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy.


Topic: Pitiable
Definition:
PIT'IABLE, a.  Deserving pity; worthy of compassion; miserable; as pitiable persons; a pitiable condition.


Topic: Pitiful
Definition:
PIT'IFUL, a. [See Pity.]  Full of pity; tender; compassionate; having a heart to feel sorrow and sympathy for the distressed.  James 5. 1 Pet.3.  [This is the proper sense of the word.]
1.  Miserable; moving compassion; as a sight most pitiful; a pitiful condition.
2.  To be pitied for its littleness or meanness; paltry; contemptible; despicable.
 That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.
3.  Very small; insignificant.


Topic: Pitifully
Definition:
PIT'IFULLY, adv.  With pity; compassionately.
 Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts.
1.  In a manner to excite pity.
 They would sign and groan as pitifully as other men.
2.  Contemptibly; with meanness.


Topic: Pitifulness
Definition:
PIT'IFULNESS, n.  Tenderness of heart that disposes to pity; mercy; compassion.
1.  Contemptibleness.


Topic: Pitiless
Definition:
PIT'ILESS, a.  Destitute of pity; hardhearted; applied to persons; as a pitiless master.
1.  Exciting no pity; as a pitiless state.


Topic: Pittance
Definition:
PIT'TANCE, n. [The word signifies primarily, a portion of food allowed to a monk.  The Spanish has pitar, to distribute allowances of meat, and pitancero, a person who distributes allowances, or a friar who lives on charity.]
1.  An allowance of meat in a monastery.
2.  A very small portion allowed or assigned.
3.  A very small quantity.


Topic: Pituitary
Definition:
PITU'ITARY, a. [L. pituita, phlegm, rheum; Gr. to spit.]
That secretes phlegm or mucus; as the pituitary membrane.
The pituitary gland is a small oval body on the lower side of the brain, supposed by the ancients to secrete the mucus of the nostrils.


Topic: Pity
Definition:
PITY, n.  [The Latin,Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages unite pity and piety in the same word, and the word may be from the root of compassion; L. patior, to suffer.]
1.  The feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion or fellow-suffering.
 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord.  Prov.19.
In Scripture however, the word pity usually includes  
compassion accompanied with some act of charity or benevolence, and not simply a fellow feeling of distress.
 Pity is always painful, yet always agreeable.
2.  The ground or subject of pity; cause of grief; thing to be regretted.
 What pity is it
 That we can die but once to serve our country!
 That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it.
In this sense, the word has a plural.  It is a thousand pities he should waste his estate in prodigality.


Topic: Pix
Definition:
PIX, n. [L. pyxis.]  A little box or chest in which the consecrated host is kept in Roman catholic countries.
1.  A box used for the trial of gold and silver coin.


Topic: Pizzle
Definition:
PIZ'ZLE, n.  In certain quadrupeds, the part which is official to generation and the discharge of urine.


Topic: Placableness
Definition:
PLA'CABLENESS, n. [from placable.]  The quality of being appeasable; susceptibility of being pacified.


Topic: Placard
Definition:
PLAC`ARD, n.  Properly, a written or printed paper posted in a public place.  It seems to have been formerly the name of an edict, proclamation or manifesto issued by authority, but this sense is, I believe, seldom or never annexed to the word.  A placard now is an advertisement, or a libel, or a paper intended to censure public or private characters or public measures, posted in a public place.  In the case of libels or papers intended to censure public or private characters, or the measures of government, these papers are usually pasted up at night for secrecy.


Topic: Place
Definition:
PLACE, n.
1.  A particular portion of space of indefinite extent, occupied or intended to be occupied by any person or thing, and considered as the space where a person or thing does or may rest or has rested, as distinct from space in general.
 Look from the place where thou art. Gen.13.
 The place where thou standest is holy ground. Ex.3.
 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours. .11.
 David's place was empty. 1 Sam.20.
2.  Any portion of space, as distinct from space in general.
 Enlargement and deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place. Esth.4.
3.  Local existence.
 From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Rev.20.
4.  Separate room or apartment.
 His catalogue had an especial place for sequestered divines.
5.  Seat; residence; mansion.
 The Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. John.11.
6.  A portion or passage of writing or of a book.
 The place of the Scripture which he read was this. Acts.8.
7.  Point or degree in order of proceeding; as in the first place; in the second place; in the last place.  Hence,
8.  Rank; order of priority, dignity or importance.  He holds the first place in society, or in the affections of the people.
9.  Office, employment; official station.  The man has a place under the government.
 Do you your office, or give up your place.
    10. Ground; room.
 There is no place of doubting but that it is the very same.
    11. Station in life; calling; occupation; condition. All, in their several places, perform their duty.
    12. A city, a town; a village. In what place does he reside?  He arrived at this place in the mail coach. Gen.18.
    13. In military affairs, a fortified town or post; a fortress; a fort; as a strong place; a place easily defended. The place was taken by assault.
    14. A country; a kingdom. England is the place of his birth.
    15. Space in general.
 But she all place within herself confines.
    16. Room; stead; with the sense of substitution.
 And Joseph said unto them, fear not; for am I in the place of God?  Gen.1.
    17. Room; kind reception.
 My word hath no place in you.  John 8.
    18. The place of the moon, in astronomy,is the part of its orbit where it is found at any given time. The place of the sun or a star, is the sign and degree of the zodiac, in which it is at any given time, or the degree of the ecliptic, reckoning from the beginning of Aries, which the star's circle of longitude cuts, and therefore coincides with the longitude of the sun or star.
To take place, to come; to happen; to come into actual existence or operation; as when we say, this or that event will or will not take place.  The perfect exemption of man from calamity can never take place in this state of existence.
1.  To take the precedence or priority.
take the place, but sometimes to take place, omitting the article, is to occupy the place or station of another.
To have place, to have a station, room or seat.  Such desires can have no place in a good heart.
1.  To have actual existence.
To give place, to make room or way.  Give place to your superiors.
1.  To give room; to give advantage; to yield to the influence of; to listen to.
 Neither give place to the devil. Eph.4.
2.  To give way; to yield to and suffer to pass away.
High place, in Scripture, a mount on which sacrifices were offered.
PLACE, v.t.  To put or set in a particular part of space, or in a particular part of the earth, or in something on its surface; to locate; as, to place a house by the side of a stream; to place a book on a shelf; to place a body of cavalry on each flank of any army.
1.  To appoint, set, induct or establish in an office.
 Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, &c. Ex.18.
 It is a high moral duty of sovereigns and supreme magistrates and councils, to place in office men of unquestionable virtue and talents.
2.  To put or set in any particular rank, state or condition.  Some men are placed in a condition of rank and opulence, others are placed in low or narrow circumstances; but in whatever sphere men are placed, contentment will insure to them a large portion of happiness.
3.  To set; to fix; as, to place one's affections on an object; to place confidence in a friend.
4.  To put; to invest; as, to place money in the funds or in a bank.
5.  To put out at interest; to lend; as, to place money in good hands or in good security.


Topic: Placenta
Definition:
PLACEN'TA, n. [L.]
1. In anatomy, the substance that connects the fetus to the womb, a soft roundish mass or cake by which the circulation is carried on between the parent and the fetus.
2.  The part of a plant or fruit to which the seeds are attached.


Topic: Placentation
Definition:
PLACENTA'TION, n. In botany, the disposition of the cotyledons or lobes in the vegetation or germination of seeds.


Topic: Placid
Definition:
PLAC'ID, a. [L. placidus, from placo, to appease.]
1.  Gentle; quiet; undisturbed; equable; as a placid motion of the spirits.
2.  Serene; mild; unruffled; indicating peace of mind; as a placid countenance or smile.
3.  Calm; tranquil; serene; not stormy; as a placid sky.
4.  Calm; quiet; unruffled; as a placid stream.


Topic: Placidness
Definition:
PLAC'IDNESS, n.  Calmness; quiet; tranquillity; unruffled state.
1.  Mildness; gentleness; sweetness of disposition.


Topic: Placit
Definition:
PLAC'IT, n. [L. placitum, that which pleases, a decree, from placeo, to please.]  A decree or determination.  [Not in use.]


Topic: Placket
Definition:
PLACK'ET,n.  A petticoat.  If this is the sense of the word in Shakespeare, it is a derivative.  The word signifies the opening of the garment; but it is nearly or wholly obsolete.


Topic: Plad
Definition:
PLAD, n.  A striped or variegated cloth worn by the highlanders in Scotland.  It is a narrow woolen stuff worn round the waist or on the shoulders, reaching to the knees, and in cold weather to the feet.  It is worn by both sexes.


Topic: Plagiarism
Definition:
PLA'GIARISM, n. [from plagiary.]  The act of purloining another man's literary works, or introducing passages from another man's writings and putting them off as one's own; literary theft.


Topic: Plagiary
Definition:
PLA'GIARY, n. [L. plagium, a kidnapping, probably from plagoe,nets, toils, that which is layed or spread, from the root of Eng. lay.  The L. plaga, a stroke, is the same word differently applied, a laying on.]
1.  A thief in literature; one that purloins another's writings and offers them to the public as his own.
2.  The crime of literary theft.  [Not used.]
PLA'GIARY, a.  Stealing men; kidnapping.  [Not used.]
1.  Practicing literary theft.


Topic: Plague
Definition:
PLAGUE, n. plag.  [L. plaga, a stroke; Gr. See Lick and Lay. The primary sense is a stroke or striking.  So afflict is from the root of flog, and probably of the same family as plague.]
1.  Any thing troublesome or vexatious; but in this sense, applied to the vexations we suffer from men, and not to the unavoidable evils inflicted on us by Divine Providence.  The application of the word to the latter, would now be irreverent and reproachful.
2.  A pestilential disease; an acute, malignant and contagious disease that often prevails in Egypt, Syria and Turkey, and has at times infected the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality.
3.  A state of misery. Ps.38.
4.  Any great natural evil or calamity; as the ten plagues of Egypt.
PLAGUE, v.t. plag.
1.  To infest with disease, calamity or natural evil of any kind.
 Thus were they plagued
 And worn with famine.
2.  To vex; to tease; to harass; to trouble; to embarrass; a very general and indefinite signification.
 If her nature be so,
 That she will plague the man that loves her most--


Topic: Plaguily
Definition:
PLAGUILY, adv.  Vexatiously; in a manner to vex,harass or embarrass; greatly; horribly.  [In vulgar use.]


Topic: Plain-dealing
Definition:
PLAIN-DE'ALING, a. [plain and deal.]  Dealing or communicating with frankness and sincerity; honest; open; speaking and acting without art; as a plain-dealing man.
PLAIN-DE'ALING, n.  A speaking or communicating with openness and sincerity; management without art, stratagem or disguise; sincerity.


Topic: Plain-hearted
Definition:
PLA'IN-HE`ARTED, a.  Having a sincere heart; communicating without art, reserve or hypocrisy; of a frank disposition.


Topic: Plain-song
Definition:
PLA'IN-SONG, n.  The plain unvaried chant of churches; so called in contradistinction from the prick-song, or variegated music sung by note.


Topic: Plainly
Definition:
PLA'INLY, adv.  With a level surface.  [Little used.]
1.  Without cunning or disguise.
2.  Without ornament or artificial embellishment; as, to be plainly clad.
3.  Frankly; honestly; sincerely; as, deal plainly with me.
4.  In earnest; fairly.
5.  In a manner to be easily seen or comprehended.
 Thou shalt write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly. Deut.27.
6.  Evidently; clearly; not obscurely.  The doctrines of grace are plainly taught in the Scriptures.


Topic: Plainness
Definition:
PLA'INNESS, n.  Levelness; evenness or surface.
1.  Want of ornament; want of artificial show.
 So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.
2.  Openness; rough, blunt or unrefined frankness.
 Your plainness and your shortness please me well.
3.  Artlessness; simplicity; candor; as unthinking plainness.
4.  Clearness; openness; sincerity.
 Seeing then we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. 2 Cor.3.


Topic: Plaint
Definition:
PLAINT, n. [L. plango, to strike, to beat, to lament, whence complaint; Gr. to strike, from the root disused, whence, a stroke; L. plaga, Eng. plague.]
1.  Lamentation; complaint; audible expression of sorrow.
 From inward grief
 His bursting passion into plaints thus pour'd.
2.  Complaint; representation made of injury or wrong done.
 There are three just grounds of war with Spain; one of plaints; two upon defense.
3.  In law, a private memorial tendered to a court, in which the person sets forth his cause of action.
4.  In law, a complaint; a formal accusation exhibited by a private person against an offender for a breach of law or a public offense.


Topic: Plaintif
Definition:
PLA'INTIF, n.  In law, the person who commences a suit before a tribunal, for the recovery of a claim; opposed to defendant.
[Prior uses this word as an adjective, in the French sense, for plaintive, but the use is not authorized.]


Topic: Plaintive
Definition:
PLA'INTIVE, a.  Lamenting; complaining; expressive of sorrow; as a plaintive sound or song.
1.  Complaining; expressing sorrow or grief; repining.
 To sooth the sorrows of her plaintive son.


Topic: Plaise
Definition:
PLAISE, n.  A fish of the genus Pleuronectes, growing to the size of eight or ten pounds or more.  This fish is more flat and square than the halibut.


Topic: Plait
Definition:
PLAIT, n. [Gr. to twist.]
1.  A fold; a doubling; as of cloth.
 It is very difficult to trace out the figure of a vest through all the plaits and folding of the drapery.
2.  A braid of hair; a tress.
PLAIT, v.t.  To fold; to double in narrow streaks; as, to plait a gown or a sleeve.
1.  To braid; to interweave strands; as, to plait the hair.
2.  To entangle; to involve.


Topic: Plan
Definition:
PLAN,n.
1.  A draught or form; properly, the representation of any thing drawn on a plane, as a map or chart, which is a representation of some portion of land or water.  But the word is applied particularly to the model of a building, showing the form, extent and divisions in miniature,and it may be applied to the draught or representation of any projected work on paper or on a plain surface; as the plan of a town or city, or of a harbor or fort.  The form of a machine in miniature, is called a model.
2.  A scheme devised; a project; the form of something to be done existing in the mind, with the several parts adjusted in idea, expressed in words or committed to writing; as the plan of a constitution of government; the plan of a treaty; the plan of an expedition.
PLAN, v.t.  To form a draught or representation of any intended work.
1.  To scheme; to devise; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country; to plan a reduction of taxes or of the national debt.


Topic: Plane
Definition:
PLANE, n. [from L. planus.  See Plain.]  In geometry, an even or level surface, like plain in popular language.
1.  In astronomy, an imaginary surface supposed to pass through any of the curves described on the celestial sphere; as the plane of the ecliptic; the plane of a planet's orbit; the plane of a great circle.
2.  In mechanics.  [See Plain figure.]
3.  In joinery and cabinet work, an instrument consisting of a smooth piece of wood, with an aperture, through which passes obliquely a piece of edged steel or chisel, used in paring or smoothing boards or wood of any kind.
PLANE, v.t.  To make smooth; to pare off the inequalities of the surface of a board or other piece of wood by the use of a plane.
1.  To free from inequalities of surface.


Topic: Plane-tree
Definition:
PLA'NE-TREE, n. [L. platanus.]  A tree of the genus Platanus. The oriental plane-tree is a native of Asia; it rises with a straight smooth branching stem to a great highth, with palmated leaves and long pendulous peduncles, sustaining several heads of small close sitting flowers.  The seeds are downy,and collected into round, rough, hard balls.  The occidental plane-tree, which grows to a great highth, is a native of N. America; it is called also button-wood.


Topic: Planet
Definition:
PLAN'ET, n. [L. planeta; Gr. wandering, to wander, allied to L. planus. See Plant.]   A celestial body which revolves about the sun or other center, or a body revolving about another planet as its center. The planets which revolve about the sun as their center, are called primary planets; those which revolve about other planets as their center, and with them revolve about the sun, are called secondary planets, satellites or moons. The primary planets are named Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell. Four smaller planets, denominated by some, asteroids, namely, Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, have recently been discovered between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell, being without the earth's orbit, are sometimes called the superior planets; Venus and Mercury, being within the earth's orbit, are called inferior planets. The planets are opake bodies which receive their light from the sun. They are so named from their motion or revolution, in distinction from the fixed stars,and are distinguished from the latter by their not twinkling.


Topic: Planetarium
Definition:
PLANETA'RIUM, n.  An astronomical machine which, by the movement of its parts, represents the motions and orbits of the planets, agreeable to the Copernican system.


Topic: Planetary
Definition:
PLAN'ETARY, a.  Pertaining to the planets; as planetary inhabitants; planetary motions.
1.  Consisting of planets; as a planetary system.
2.  Under the dominion or influence of a planet; as a planetary hour. [Astrology.]
3.  Produced by planets; as planetary plague or influence.
4.  Having the nature of a planet; erratic or revolving.
Planetary days, the days of the week as shared among the planets, each having its day, as we name the days of the week after the planets.


Topic: Planifolious
Definition:
PLANIFO'LIOUS, a. [L. planus, plain, and folium, leaf.]
In botany, a planifolious flower is one made up of plain leaves, set together in circular rows round the center.  [See Planipetalous.]


Topic: Planimetry
Definition:
PLANIM'ETRY, n. [L. planus, plain, and Gr. to measure.]
The mensuration of plain surfaces, or that part of geometry which regards lines and plain figures, without considering their highth or depth.


Topic: Planipetalous
Definition:
PLANIPET'ALOUS, a. [L. planus, plain, and Gr. a petal.]
In botany, flat-leafed, as when the small flowers are hollow only at the bottom, but flat upwards, as in dandelion and succory.


Topic: Planisphere
Definition:
PLAN'ISPHERE, n. [L. planus, plain, and sphere.]  A sphere projected on a plane, in which sense, maps in which are exhibited the meridians and other circles, are planispheres.


Topic: Plank
Definition:
PLANK, n.  A broad piece of sawed timber, differing from a board only in being thicker.  In America, broad pieces of sawed timber which are not more than an inch or an inch and a quarter thick, are called boards; like pieces from an inch and a half to three or four inches thick, are called planks.  Sometimes pieces more than four inches thick are called planks.
PLANK, v.t.  To cover or lay with planks; as, to plank a floor or a ship.


Topic: Plano-convex
Definition:
PLANO-CON'VEX, a. [plain and convex.]  Plain or flat on one side and convex on the other; as a plano-convex lens.


Topic: Plant
Definition:
PLANT, n. [L. planta; splendeo, splendor.]
1.  A vegetable; an organic body, destitute of sense and spontaneous motion, adhering to another body in such a manner as to draw from it its nourishment, and having the power of propagating itself by seeds; 'whose seed is in itself.'  Gen.1.  This definition may not be perfectly correct, as it respects all plants, for some marine plants grow without being attached to any fixed body.
The woody or dicotyledonous plants consist of three parts; the bark or exterior coat, which covers the wood; the wood which is hard and constitutes the principal part; and the pith or center of the stem.  In monocotyledonous plants, the ligneous or fibrous parts, and the pithy or parenchymatous, are equally distributed through the whole internal substance; and in the lower plants, funguses, sea weed, &c. the substance is altogether parenchymatous.  By means of proper vessels, the nourishing juices are distributed to every part of the plant.  In its most general sense, plant comprehends all vegetables, trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, &c.  In popular language,the word is generally applied to the smaller species of vegetables.
2.  A sapling.
3.  In Scripture, a child; a descendant; the inhabitant of a country. Ps.144.  Jer.48.
4.  The sole of the foot. [Little used.]
Sea-plant, a plant that grows in the sea or in salt water; sea weed.
Sensitive plant, a plant that shrinks on being touched,the mimosa.
PLANT, v.t.  To put in the ground and cover, as seed for growth; as, to plant maiz.
1.  To set in the ground for growth, as a young tree or a vegetable with roots.
2.  To engender; to set the germ of any thing that may increase.
 It engenders choler, planteth anger.
3.  To set; to fix.
 His standard planted on Laurentum's towers.
4.  To settle; to fix the first inhabitants; to establish; as, to plant a colony.
5.  To furnish with plants; to lay out and prepare with plants; as, to plant a garden or an orchard.
6.  To set and direct or point; as, to plant cannon against a fort.
7.  To introduce and establish; as, to plant christianity among the heathen.
 I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 1 Cor.3.
8.  To unite to Christ and fix in a state of fellowship with him. Ps.92.
PLANT, v.i. To perform the act of planting.


Topic: Plantain
Definition:
PLANT'AIN, n. [L. plantago.]  A plant of the genus Plantago, of several species.  The water plantain is of the genus Alisma.
PLANT'AIN


Topic: Plantain-tree
Definition:
PLANT'AIN-TREE, n.  A tree of the genus Musa, the most remarkable species of which are, the paradisiaca or plantain, and the sapietum or banana tree.  The plantain rises with a soft stem fifteen or twenty feet high, and the fruit is a substitute for bread.


Topic: Plantation
Definition:
PLANTA'TION, n. [L. plantatio, from planto, to plant.]
1.  The act of planting or setting in the earth for growth.
2.  The place planted; applied to ground planted with trees,as an orchard or the like.
3.  In the United States and the West Indies, a cultivated estate; a farm.  In the United States, this word is applied to an estate, a tract of land occupied and cultivated, in those states only where the labor is performed by slaves,and where the land is more or less appropriated to the culture of tobacco, rice, indigo and cotton, that is, from Maryland to Georgia inclusive, on the Atlantic, and in the western states where the land is appropriated to the same articles or to the culture of the sugar cane.  From Maryland, northward and eastward,estates in land are called farms.
4.  An original settlement in a new country; a town or village planted.
 While these plantations were forming in Connecticut--
5.  A colony.
6.  A first planting; introduction; establishment; as the plantation of christianity in England.


Topic: Planted
Definition:
PLANT'ED, pp.  Set in the earth for propagation; set; fixed; introduced; established.
1.  Furnished with seeds or plants for growth; as a planted field.
2.  Furnished with the first inhabitants; settled; as territory planted with colonists.
3.  Filled or furnished with what is new.
 A man in all the world's new fashion planted. [See Def.3.]


Topic: Planter
Definition:
PLANT'ER, n.  One that plants, sets, introduces or establishes; as a planter of maiz; a planter of vines; the planters of a colony.
1.  One that settles in a new or uncultivated territory; as the first planters in Virginia.
2.  One who owns a plantation; used in the West Indies and southern states of America.
3.  One that introduces and establishes.
 The apostles were the first planters of christianity.


Topic: Plantership
Definition:
PLANT'ERSHIP, n.  The business of a planter, or the management of a plantation, as in the West Indies.


Topic: Planting
Definition:
PLANT'ING, ppr.  Setting in the earth for propagation; setting; settling; introducing; establishing.
PLANT'ING, n.  The act or operation of setting in the ground for propagation, as seeds, trees, shrubs, &c.


Topic: Plash
Definition:
PLASH, n. [Gr. superabundant moisture.]
1.  A small collection of standing water; a puddle.
2.  The branch of a tree partly cut or lopped and bound to other branches.
PLASH, v.i.  To dabble in water; usually splash.
PLASH, v.t. [L. plico, to fold.]  To interweave branches; as, to plash a hedge or quicksets.  [In New England, to splice.]


Topic: Plashing
Definition:
PLASH'ING, ppr. Cutting and interweaving, as branches in a hedge.
PLASH'ING, n.  The act or operation of cutting and lopping small trees and interweaving them, as in hedges.


Topic: Plasm
Definition:
PLASM, n. [Gr. to form.]  A mold or matrix in which any thing is cast or formed to a particular shape. [Little used.]


Topic: Plasma
Definition:
PLAS'MA, n. A silicious mineral of a color between grass green and leek green, occurring in angular pieces in beds, associated with common chalcedony, and among the ruins of Rome.


Topic: Plaster
Definition:
PL`ASTER, n. [L. emplastrum; Gr. to daub or smear, properly to lay or spread on; to daub or to fashion, mold or shape.]
1.  A composition of lime, water and sand, well mixed into a kind of paste and used for coating walls and partitions of houses.  This composition when dry becomes hard, but still retains the name of plaster.  Plaster is sometimes made of different materials, as chalk, gypsum,&c. and is sometimes used to parget the whole surface of a building.
2.  In pharmacy, an external application of a harder consistence than an ointment, to be spread, according to different circumstances,either on linen or leather.
Plaster of Paris, a composition of several species of gypsum dug near Montmartre, near Paris in France, used in building and in casting busts and statues.  In popular language, this name is applied improperly to plaster-stone, or to any species of gypsum.
PL`ASTER, v.t.  To overlay with plaster, as the partitions of a house, walls, &c.
1.  To cover with plaster, as a wound.
2.  In popular language, to smooth over; to cover or conceal defects or irregularities.


Topic: Plastering
Definition:
PL`ASTERING, ppr.  Covering with or laying on plaster.
PL`ASTERING, n.  The act or operation of overlaying with plaster.
1.  The plaster-work of a building; a covering of plaster.


Topic: Plastic
Definition:
PLAS'TIC, a. [Gr. to form.]  Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as the plastic hand of the Creator; the plastic virtue of nature.


Topic: Plastron
Definition:
PLAS'TRON, n.  [See Plaster.]  A piece of leather stuffed; used by fencers to defend the body against pushes.


Topic: Platband
Definition:
PLAT'BAND, n. A border of flowers in a garden, along a wall or the side of a parterre.
1.  In architecture, a flat square molding whose highth much exceeds its projecture, such as the faces of an architrave.
2.  The lintel of a door or window.
3.  A list or fillet between the flutings of a column.


Topic: Plate
Definition:
PLATE, n.  [L. Latus, with the radical sense of laid, spread.]
1.  A piece of metal, flat or extended in breadth.
2.  Armor of plate, composed of broad pieces, and thus distinguished from mail.
3.  A piece of wrought silver, as a dish or other shallow vessel; hence, vessels of silver; wrought silver in general.  Plate, by the laws of some states, is subject to a tax by the ounce.
4.  A small shallow vessel, made of silver or other metal, or of earth glazed and baked, from which provisions are eaten at table.  A wooden plate is called a trencher.
5.  The prize given for the best horse in a race.
6.  In architecture, the piece of timber which supports the ends of the rafters.  [See Platform.]
PLATE, v.t.  To cover or overlay with plate or with metal; used particularly of silver; as plated vessels.
1.  To arm with plate or metal for defense; as, to plate sin with gold.
 Why plated in habiliments of war?
2.  To adorn with place; as a plated harness.
3.  To beat into thin flat pieces or lamens.


Topic: Platen
Definition:
PLAT'EN, n. [from its flatness.]  Among printers, the flat part of a press by which the impression is made.


Topic: Platform
Definition:
PLAT'FORM, n. [plat, flat, form.]  The sketch of any thing horizontally delineated; the ichnography.
1.  A place laid out after any model.
2.  In the military art, an elevation of earth or a floor of wood or stone, on which cannons are mounted to fire on an enemy.
3.  In architecture, a row of beams or a piece of timber which supports the timber-work of a roof, and lying on the top of the wall.
This in New England is called the plate.
4.  A kind of terrace or broad smooth open walk on the top of a building, as in the oriental houses.
5.  In ships, the orlop.  [See Orlop.]
6.  Any number of planks or other materials forming a floor for any purpose.
7.  A plan; a scheme; ground-work.
8.  In some of the New England states, an ecclesiastical constitution, or a plan for the government of churches; as the Cambridge or Saybrook platform.
Platic aspect, in astrology, a ray cast from one planet to another, not exactly, but within the orbit of its own light.


Topic: Platinum
Definition:
PLATI'NUM, n.  A metal discovered in the mines of Choco in Peru, nearly of the color of silver, but less bright, and the heaviest of the metals.  Its specific gravity is to that of water as 23 to 1.  It is harder than iron, undergoes no alteration in air, resists the action of acids and alkalies, is very ductile and capable of being rolled into thin plates.


Topic: Platonic
Definition:
PLATON'IC, a.  Pertaining to Plato the philosopher, or to his philosophy, his school or his opinions.
Platonic love, is a pure spiritual affection subsisting between the sexes, unmixed with carnal desires, and regarding the mind only and its excellencies; a species of love for which Plato was a warm advocate.
Platonic year,the great year, or a period of time determines by the revolution of the equinoxes, or the space of time in which the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect to the equinoxes.  This revolution, which is calculated by the precession of the equinoxes, is accomplished in about 25,000 years.


Topic: Platonism
Definition:
PLA'TONISM, n.  The philosophy of Plato, consisting of three branches, theology, physics and mathematics.  Under theology is included moral philosophy.  The foundation of Plato's theology is the opinion that there are two eternal, primary, independent and incorruptible principles or causes of all things, and matter, from which all things are made.  It was a fundamental maxim with him that from nothing, nothing can proceed.  While therefore he held God to be the maker of the universe, he held matter, the substance of which the universe was made, to be eternal.


Topic: Platonizing
Definition:
PLA'TONIZING, ppr.  Adopting the principles of Plato; accommodating to the principles of the Platonic school.


Topic: Platoon
Definition:
PLATOON', n.  A small square body of soldiers or musketeers, drawn out of a battalion of foot when they form a hollow square, to strengthen the angles; or a small body acting together, but separate from the main body; as, to fire by platoons.


Topic: Platter
Definition:
PLAT'TER, n. [from plate.]  A large shallow dish for holding the provisions of a table.
1.  One that plats or forms by weaving.  [See Plat.]


Topic: Platypus
Definition:
PLAT'YPUS, n.  A quadruped of New Holland, whose jaws are elongated into the shape of a duck's bill.  The body is covered with thick hair and the feet are webbed.
This animal has been arranged with the Mammalia, but it is now presumed to be oviparous; at least its breasts have not hitherto been observed.


Topic: Plaudit
Definition:
PLAUD'IT, n. [L. plaudo, to praise, said to be taken from plaudite,a demand of applause by players when they left the stage.]
Applause; praise bestowed.


Topic: Plausible
Definition:
PLAUS'IBLE, a. s as z. [L. plausibilis, from plaudo, to clap hands in token of approbation; laus, laudo; Eng. loud.]
1.  That may be applauded; that may gain favor or approbation; hence, superficially pleasing; apparently right; specious; popular; as a plausible argument; a plausible pretext; a plausible doctrine.
2.  Using specious arguments or discourse; as a plausible man.


Topic: Plausibly
Definition:
PLAUS'IBLY, adv.  With fair show; speciously; in a matter adapted to gain favor or approbation.
 They could talk plausibly about what they did not understand.


Topic: Play
Definition:
PLAY, v.i.  
1.  To use any exercise for pleasure or recreation; to do something not as a task or for profit, but for amusement; as, to play at cricket.
 The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Ex.32.
2.  To sport; to frolick; to frisk.
 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day,
 Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
3.  To toy; to act with levity.
4.  To trifle; to act wantonly and thoughtlessly.
 Men are apt to play with their healths and their lives as they do with their clothes.
5.  To do something fanciful; to give a fanciful turn to; as, to play upon words.
6.  To make sport,or practice sarcastic merriment.
 I would make use of it rather to play upon those I despise,than trifle with those I love.
7.  To mock; to practice illusion.
 Art thou alive,
 Or is it fancy plays upon our eyesight?
8.  To contend in a game; as, to play at cards or dice; to play for diversion; to play for money.
9.  To practice a trick or deception.
 His mother played false with a smith.
    10. To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute, a violin or a harpsichord.
 Play, my friend, and charm the charmer.
    11. To move, or to move with alternate dilatation and contraction.
 The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play.
    12. To operate; to act. The engines play against a fire.
    13. To move irregularly; to wanton.
 Ev'n as the waving sedges play with wind.
 The setting sun
 Plays on their shining arms and burnish'd helmets.
 All fame is foreign, but of true desert,
 Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
    14. To act a part on the stage; to personate a character.
 A lord will hear you play to-night.
    15. To represent a standing character.
 Courts are theaters where some men play.
    16. To act in any particular character; as, to play the fool; to play the woman; to play the man.
   17. To move in any manner; to move one way and another; as any part of a machine.
PLAY, v.t.  To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon or a fire-engine.
1.  To use an instrument of music; as, to play the flute or the organ.
2.  To act a sportive part or character.
 Nature here
 Wanton'd as in her prime, and play'd at will
 Her virgin fancies.
3.  To act or perform by representing a character; as, to play a comedy; to play the part of king Lear.
4.  To act; to perform; as, to play our parts well on the stage of life.
     5. To perform in contest for amusement or for a prize; as, to play a game at whist.
To play off, to display; to show; to put in exercise; as, to play off tricks.
To play on or upon, to deceive; to mock or to trifle with.
1.  To give a fanciful turn to.
PLAY, n.  Any exercise or series of actions intended for pleasure, amusement or diversion, as at cricket or quoit, or at blind man's buff.
1.  Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols.
 Two gentle fawns at play.
2.  Game; gaming; practice of contending for victory, for amusement or for a prize, as at dice, cards or billiards.
3.  Practice in any contest; as sword-play.
 He was resolved not to speak distinctly, knowing his best play to be in the dark.
 John naturally loved rough play.
 4.  Action; use; employment; office.
 --But justifies the next who comes in play.
5.  Practice; action; manner of acting in contest or negotiation; as fair play; foul play.
6.  A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action.
 A play ought to be a just image of human nature.
7.  Representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, to be at the play. He attends every play.
8.  Performance on an instrument of music.
9.  Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as the play of a wheel or piston.
    10. State of agitation or discussion.
 Many have been sav'd, and many may,
 Who never heard this question brought in play.
    11. Room for motion.
 The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them.
    12. Liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth. Let the genius have free play.


Topic: Player
Definition:
PLA'YER, n.  One who plays in any game or sport.
1.  An idler.
2.  An actor of dramatic scenes; one whose occupation is to imitate characters on the stage.
3.  A mimic.
4.  One who performs on an instrument of music.
5.  A gamester.
6.  One that acts a part in a certain manner.


Topic: Playful
Definition:
PLA'YFUL, a.  Sportive; given to levity; as a playful child.
1.  Indulging a sportive fancy; as a playful genius.


Topic: Plaything
Definition:
PLA'YTHING, n.  A toy; any thing that serves to amuse.
 A child knows his nurse,and by degrees the playthings of a little more advanced age.


Topic: Plea
Definition:
PLEA, n. [L. lis, litis.]  
1.  In law, that which is alleged by a party in support of his demand; but in a more limited and technical sense, the answer of the defendant to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. That which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant's plea.  Pleas are dilatory, or pleas to the action.  Dilatory pleas, are to the jurisdiction of the court, to the disability of the plaintiff, or in abatement.  Pleas to the action are an answer to the merits of the complaint, which confesses or denies it.  Pleas that deny the plaintiff's complaint or demand, are the general issue, which denies the whole declaration; or special pleas in bar, which state something which precludes the plaintiff's right of recovery.
2.  A cause in court; a lawsuit, or a criminal process; as the pleas of the crown; the court of common pleas.
 The supreme judicial court shall have cognizance of pleas real, personal and mixed.
3.  That which is alleged in defense or justification; an excuse; an apology; as the tyrant's plea.
 When such occasions are,
 No plea must serve; 'tis cruelty to spare.
4.  Urgent prayer or entreaty.


Topic: Plead
Definition:
PLEAD, v.i.  [See Plea.]  In a general sense, to argue in support of a claim, or in defense against the claim of another.
1.  In law, to present an answer to the declaration of a plaintiff; to deny the plaintiff's declaration and demand, or to allege facts which show that he ought not to recover in the suit.  The plaintiff declares or alleges; the defendant pleads to his declaration.  The king or the state prosecutes an offender, and the offender pleads not guilty, or confesses the charge.
2.  To urge reasons for or against; to attempt to persuade one by argument or supplication; as, to plead for the life of a criminal; to plead in his favor; to plead with a judge or with a father.
 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!  Job.16.
3.  To supplicate with earnestness.
4.  To urge; to press by operating on the passions.
 Since you can love,and yet your error see,
 The same resistless power may plead for me.
PLEAD, v.t.  To discuss, defend and attempt to maintain by arguments or reasons offered to the tribunal or person who has the power of determining; as, to plead a cause before a court or jury.  In this sense, argue is more generally used by lawyers.
1.  To allege or adduce in proof, support or vindication.  The law of nations may be pleaded in favor of the rights of embassadors.
2.  To offer in excuse.
 I will neither plead my age nor sickness in excuse of faults.
3.  To allege and offer in a legal plea or defense,or for repelling a demand in law; as, to plead usury; to plead a statute of limitations.
4.  In Scripture, to plead the cause of the righteous, as God, is to avenge or vindicate them against enemies, or to redress their grievances. Is.51.


Topic: Pleadable
Definition:
PLE'ADABLE, a.  That may be pleaded; that may be alleged in proof, defense or vindication; as a right or privilege pleadable at law.


Topic: Pleader
Definition:
PLE'ADER, n.  One who argues in a court of justice.
1.  One that forms pleas or pleadings; as a special pleader.
2.  One that offers reasons for or against; one that attempts to maintain by arguments.
 So fair a pleader any cause may gain.


Topic: Pleading
Definition:
PLE'ADING, ppr.  Offering in defense; supporting by arguments or reasons; supplicating.
PLE'ADING, n.  The art of supporting by arguments, or of reasoning to persuade.


Topic: Pleadings
Definition:
PLE'ADINGS, n.  In law, the mutual altercations between the plaintiff and defendant, or written statements of the parties in support of their claims, comprehending the declaration, count or narration of the plaintiff,the plea of the defendant in reply, the replication of the plaintiff to the defendant's plea, the defendant's rejoinder, the plaintiff's sur-rejoinder,the defendant's rebutter, the plaintiff's sur-rebutter, &c. till the question is brought to issue, that is, to rest on a single point.


Topic: Pleasant
Definition:
PLEASANT, a. plez'ant.
1.  Pleasing; agreeable; grateful to the mind or to the senses; as a pleasant ride; a pleasant voyage; a pleasant view.  Light is pleasant to the eye; an orange is pleasant to the taste; harmony is pleasant to the ear; a rose is pleasant to the smell.
 How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  Ps.133.
2.  Cheerful; enlivening; as pleasant society or company.
3.  Gay; lively; humorous; sportive; as a pleasant companion.
4.  Trifling; adapted rather to mirth than use.
5.  Giving pleasure; gratifying.
 This word expresses less than delightful, to the mind, and delicious, to the taste.


Topic: Pleasantly
Definition:
PLEASANTLY, adv.  plez'antly.  In such a manner as to please or gratify.
1.  Gayly; merrily; in good humor.
2.  Lightly; ludicrously.


Topic: Pleasantness
Definition:
PLEASANTNESS, n. plez'antness.  State of being pleasant or agreeable; as the pleasantness of a situation.
1.  Cheerfulness; gayety; merriment; as the pleasantness of youth.


Topic: Pleasantry
Definition:
PLEASANTRY, n. plez'antry.  Gayety; merriment.
 The harshness of reasoning is not a little softened and smoothed by the infusions of mirth and pleasantry.
1.  Sprightly saying; lively talk; effusion of humor.
 The grave abound in pleasantries, the dull in repartees and points of wit.


Topic: Please
Definition:
PLEASE, v.t.  s as z. [L. placere, placeo.]
1.  To excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to gratify; as, to please the taste; to please the mind.
 Their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem, Hamor's son. Gen.34.
 Leave such to trifle with more grace than ease,
 Whom folly pleases, and whose follies please.
2.  To satisfy; to content.
 What next I bring shall please
 Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.
3.  To prefer; to have satisfaction in; to like; to choose.
 Many of our most skilful painters were pleased or recommend this author to me.
To be pleased in or with, to approve; to have complacency in.  Matt.3.
To please God, is to love his character and law and perform his will, so as to become the object of his approbation.
 They that are in the flesh cannot please God.  Rom.8.
PLEASE, v.i.  s as z.  To like; to choose; to prefer.
 Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease
 Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.
1.  To condescend; to comply; to be pleased; a word of ceremony.
 Please you, lords,
 In sight of both our battles we may meet.
 The first words that I learnt were, to express my desire that he would please to give me my liberty.
Please expresses less gratification than delight.


Topic: Pleaser
Definition:
PLE'ASER, n.  One that pleases or gratifies; one that courts favor by humoring or flattering compliances or a show of obedience; as men-pleasers.  Eph.6.  Col.3.


Topic: Pleasing
Definition:
PLE'ASING, ppr.  Gratifying; exciting agreeable sensations or emotions in.
PLE'ASING, a.  Giving pleasure or satisfaction; agreeable to the senses or to the mind; as a pleasing prospect; a pleasing reflection; pleasing manners.
1.  Gaining approbation.  1 John 3.
PLE'ASING, n.  The act of gratifying.


Topic: Pleasurable
Definition:
PLEASURABLE, a. plezh'urable. [from pleasure.]  Pleasing; giving pleasure; affording gratification.
 Planting of orchards is very profitable as well as pleasurable.


Topic: Pleasure
Definition:
PLEASURE, n.  plezh'ur.  
1.  The gratification of the senses or of the mind; agreeable sensations or emotions; the excitement, relish or happiness produced by enjoyment or the expectation of good; opposed to pain.  We receive pleasure from the indulgence of appetite; from the view of a beautiful landscape; from the harmony of sounds; from agreeable society; from the expectation of seeing an absent friend; from the prospect of gain or success of any kind.  Pleasure, bodily and mental, carnal and spiritual, constitutes the whole of positive happiness, as pain constitutes the whole of misery.
Pleasure is properly positive excitement of the passions or the mind; but we give the name also to the absence of excitement, when that excitement is painful; as when we cease to labor, or repose after fatigue, or when the mind is tranquilized after anxiety or agitation.
Pleasure is susceptible of increase to any degree; but the word when unqualified, expresses less excitement or happiness than delight or joy.
2.  Sensual or sexual gratification.
3.  Approbation.
 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people. Ps. 147. 
and 149.
4.  What the will dictates or prefers; will; choice; purpose; intention; command; as, use your pleasure.
 Cyrus, he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure.  Is.44.
 My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.
Is.46.
5.  A favor; that which pleases.
 Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul.  Acts.25.
6.  Arbitrary will or choice. He can vary his scheme at pleasure.


Topic: Pleasure-ground
Definition:
PLEAS'URE-GROUND, n.  Ground laid out in an ornamental manner and appropriated to pleasure or amusement.


Topic: Plebeian
Definition:
PLEBE'IAN, a.  [L. plebeius, from plebs, the common people.]
1.  Pertaining to the common people; vulgar; as plebeian minds; plebeian sports.
2.  Consisting of common people; as a plebeian throng.
PLEBE'IAN, n.  One of the common people or lower ranks of men.  [Usually applied to the common people of ancient Rome.]


Topic: Pledge
Definition:
PLEDGE, n. [L. plico.]
1.  Something put in pawn; that which is deposited with another as security for the repayment of money borrowed, or for the performance of some agreement or obligation; a pawn.  A borrows ten pounds of B, and deposits his watch as a pledge that the money shall be repaid; and by repayment of the money, A redeems the pledge.
2.  Any thing given or considered as a security for the performance of an act.  Thus a man gives a word or makes a promise to another, which is received as a pledge for fulfillment.  The mutual affection of husband and wife is a pledge for the faithful performance of the marriage covenant.  Mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties.
3.  A surety; a hostage.
4.  In law, a gage or security real or personal, given for the repayment of money.  It is of two kinds; vadium vivum, a living pledge, as when a man borrows money and grants an estate to be held by the pledgee, till the rents and profits shall refund the money, in which case the land or pledge is said to be living; or it is vadium mortuum, a dead pledge, called a mortgage.  [See Mortgage.]
5.  In law, bail; surety given for the prosecution of a suit, or for the appearance of a defendant, or for restoring goods taken in distress and replevied.  The distress itself is also called a pledge, and the glove formerly thrown down by a champion in trial by battel, was a pledge by which the champion stipulated to encounter his antagonist in that trial.
6.  A warrant to secure a person from injury in drinking.
To put in pledge, to pawn.
To hold in pledge, to keep as security.
PLEDGE, v.t.
1.  To deposit in pawn; to deposit or leave in possession of a person something which is to secure the repayment of money borrowed, or the performance of some act.  [This word is applied chiefly to the depositing of goods or personal property.  When real estate is given as security we usually apply the word mortgage.]
2. To give as a warrant or security; as, to pledge one's word or honor; to pledge one's veracity.
3.  To secure by a pledge.
 I accept her,
 And here to pledge my vow I give my hand.  [Unusual.]
4.  To invite to drink by accepting the cup or health after another.  Or to warrant or be surety for a person that he shall receive no harm while drinking, or from the draught; a practice which originated among our ancestors in their rude state, and which was intended to secure the person from being stabbed while drinking, or from being poisoned by the liquor. In the first case, a by-stander pledges the person drinking; in the latter, the person drinking pledges his guest by drinking first, and then handing the cup to his guest.  The latter practice is frequent among the common people in America to this day; the owner of the liquor taking the cup says to his friend, I pledge you, and drinks, then hands the cup to his guest; a remarkable instance of the power of habit, as the reason of the custom has long since ceased.


Topic: Pledger
Definition:
PLEDG'ER, n.  One that pledges or pawns any thing; one that warrants or secures. [Pledgor, in Blackstone, is not to be countenanced.]
1.  One that accepts the invitation to drink after another, or that secures another by drinking.


Topic: Pledget
Definition:
PLEDG'ET, n. [from folding or laying.]  In surgery, a compress or small flat tent of lint, laid over a wound to imbibe the matter discharged and keep it clean.


Topic: Pleiads
Definition:
PLEIADS, n. ple'yads.  [L. Pleiades; Gr. to sail, as the rising of seven stars indicated the time of safe navigation.]
In astronomy, a cluster of seven stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus.  The Latins called them Vergilioe, from ver, spring, because of their rising about the vernal equinox.


Topic: Plenary
Definition:
PLE'NARY, a. [L. plenus.]  Full; entire; complete; as a plenary license; plenary consent; plenary indulgence.  The plenary indulgence of the pope is an entire remission of penalties to all sins.
PLE'NARY, n. Decisive procedure.  [Not used.]


Topic: Plenipotentiary
Definition:
PLENIPOTEN'TIARY,n.  A person invested with full power to transact any business; usually, an embassador or envoy to a foreign court, furnished with full power to negotiate a treaty or to transact other business.
PLENIPOTEN'TIARY, a.  Containing full power; as plenipotentiary license or authority.


Topic: Plenitude
Definition:
PLEN'ITUDE, n. [L. plenitudo, from plenus, full.]
Fullness; as the plenitude of space.
1.  Repletion; animal fullness; plethora; redundancy of blood and humors in the animal body.
2.  Fullness; complete competence; as the plenitude of the pope's power.
3.  Completeness; as the plenitude of a man's fame.


Topic: Plenteous
Definition:
PLEN'TEOUS, a. [from plenty.]  Abundant; copious; plentiful; sufficient for every purpose; as a plenteous supply of provisions; a plenteous crop.
1.  Yielding abundance; as a plenteous fountain.
 The seven plenteous years. Gen.41.
2.  Having an abundance.
 The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods. Deut.28.
3.  Possessing in abundance and ready to bestow liberally.
Ps.86.
[This word is less used than plentiful.]


Topic: Plenteousness
Definition:
PLEN'TEOUSNESS, n.  Abundance; copious supply; plenty; as the seven years of plenteousness in Egypt.


Topic: Plentiful
Definition:
PLEN'TIFUL, a. [from plenty.]  Copious; abundant; adequate to every purpose; as a plentiful crop of grain; a plentiful harvest; a plentiful supply of water; a plentiful fortune.
1.  Yielding abundant crops; affording ample supply; fruitful; as a plentiful year.


Topic: Plentifulness
Definition:
PLEN'TIFULNESS, n.  The state of being plentiful; abundance.
1.  The quality of affording full supply.


Topic: Plenty
Definition:
PLEN'TY, n. [from L. plenus.]  Abundance; copiousness; full or adequate supply; as, we have a plenty of corn for bread; the garrison has a plenty of provisions.  Its application to persons, as a plenty of buyers or sellers, is inelegant.
1.  Fruitfulness; a poetic use.
 The teeming clouds
 Descend in gladsome plenty o'er the world.
PLEN'TY, a.  Plentiful; being in abundance.
 Where water is plenty--
 If reasons were as plenty as blackberries.
 In every country where liquors are plenty.
 The common sorts of fowls and the several gallinaceous species are plenty.
 A variety of other herbs and roots which are plenty.
 They seem formed for those countries where shrubs are plenty and water scarce.
 When laborers are plenty, their wages will be low.
 In the country, where wood is more plenty, they make their beams stronger.
[The use of this word as an adjective seems too well authorized to be rejected.  It is universal in common parlance in the United States.]


Topic: Pleonasm
Definition:
PLE'ONASM, n. [L. pleonasmus; Gr. full, more, L. pleo, in impleo, to fill.]  Redundancy of words in speaking or writing; the use of more words to express ideas, than are necessary.  This may be justifiable when we intend to present thoughts with particular perspicuity or force.


Topic: Pleonaste
Definition:
PLE'ONASTE, n. [Gr. abundant; from its four facets, sometimes found on each solid angle of the octahedron.]
A mineral, commonly considered as a variety of the spinelle ruby.  [See Ceylonite.]


Topic: Plethora
Definition:
PLETH'ORA, n. [Gr. fullness.]  Literally, fullness.
In medicine, fullness of blood; excess of blood; repletion; the state of the vessels of the human body, when they are too full or overloaded with fluids.


Topic: Pleurisy
Definition:
PLEU'RISY, n. [Gr. the side.]  An inflammation of the pleura or membrane that covers the inside of the thorax.  It is accompanied with fever, pain, difficult respiration and cough.  The usual remedies are venesection, other evacuations, diluents, &c.


Topic: Pliability
Definition:
PLIABIL'ITY, n. [from pliable.]  The quality of bending or yielding to pressure or force without rupture; flexibility; pliableness.


Topic: Pliable
Definition:
PLI'ABLE, a. [L. plico.]
1.  Easy to be bent; that readily yields to pressure without rupture; flexible; as, willow is a pliable plant.
2.  Flexible in disposition; readily yielding to moral influence, arguments, persuasion or discipline; as a pliable youth.


Topic: Pliableness
Definition:
PLI'ABLENESS, n.  Flexibility; the quality of yielding to force or to moral influence; pliability; as the pliableness of a plant or of the disposition.


Topic: Pliancy
Definition:
PLI'ANCY, n. [from pliant.]  Easiness to be bent; in a physical sense; as the pliancy of a rod, of cordage or of limbs.
1.  Readiness to yield to moral influence; as pliancy of temper.


Topic: Pliant
Definition:
PLI'ANT, a.  That may be easily bent; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking; flexible; flexile; lithe; limber; as a pliant thread.
1.  That may be easily formed or molded to a different shape; as pliant wax.
2.  Easily yielding to moral influence; easy to be persuaded; ductile.
 The will was then more ductile and pliant to right reason.


Topic: Plica
Definition:
PLI'CA, n. [L. a fold.]  The plica polonica is a disease of the hair, peculiar to Poland and the neighboring countries. In this disease, the hair of the head is matted or clotted by means of an acrid viscid humor which exudes from the hair.


Topic: Plight
Definition:
PLIGHT, v.t. plite. [L. plico; flecto, to bend; ligo.  See Alloy and Ply.]
1.  To pledge; to give as security for the performance of some act; but never applied to property or goods.  We say, he plighted his hand, his faith, his vows, his honor, his truth or troth.  Pledge is applied to property as well as to word, faith, truth, honor, &c.  To plight faith is, as it were, to deposit it in pledge for the performance of an act, on the non-performance of which, the pledge is forfeited.
2.  To weave; to braid.
[This is the primary sense of the word, L. plico, but now obsolete.]
PLIGHT, n. plite.  Literally, a state of being involved, [L. plicatus, implicatus, implicitus;]  hence, perplexity, distress, or a distressed state or condition; as a miserable plight.  But the word by itself does not ordinarily imply distress.  Hence,
1.  Condition; state; and sometimes good case; as, to keep cattle in plight.
In most cases, this word is now accompanied with an adjective which determines its signification; as bad plight; miserable or wretched plight; good plight.
2.  Pledge; gage.
 The Lord, whose hand must take my plight.
3.  A fold [L. plica;] a double; a plait.
 All in a silken Camus, lily white,
 Purfled upon with many a folded plight.
4.  A garment. [Not used.]


Topic: Plinth
Definition:
PLINTH, n. [Gr. a brick or tile; L. plinthus.]
In architecture, a flat square member in form of a brick, which serves as the foundation of a column; being the flat square table under the molding of the base and pedestal, at the bottom of the order.  Vitruvius gives the name to the abacus or upper part of the Tuscan order, from its resemblance to the plinth.
Plinth of a statue, is a base, flat, round or square.
Plinth of a wall, two or three rows of bricks advanced from the wall in form of a platband; and in general, any flat high molding that serves in a front wall to mark the floors, to sustain the eaves of a wall or the larmier of a chimney.


Topic: Plod
Definition:
PLOD, v.i.  To travel or work slowly or with steady laborious diligence.
 A plodding diligence brings us sooner to our journey's end, than a fluttering way of advancing by starts.
 Some stupid, plodding, money-loving wight.
1.  To study heavily with steady diligence.
2.  To toil; to drudge.


Topic: Plodding
Definition:
PLOD'DING, ppr.  Traveling or laboring with slow movement and steady diligence; studying closely but heavily.
1.  a. Industrious; diligent, but slow in contrivance or execution.
PLOD'DING, n.  Slow movement or study with steadiness or persevering industry.


Topic: Plot
Definition:
PLOT, n.  [a different orthography of plat.]
1.  A plat or small extent of ground; as a garden plot.
 It was a chosen plot of fertile land.
 When we mean to build,
 We first survey the plot.
2.  A plantation laid out.
3.  A plan or scheme. [Qu. the next word.]
4.  In surveying, a plan or draught of a field, farm or manor surveyed and delineated on paper.
PLOT, v.t.  To make a plan of; to delineate.
PLOT, n.  
1.  Any scheme, stratagem or plan of a complicated nature, or consisting of many parts, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a mischievous one.  A plot may be formed by a  single person or by numbers.  In the latter case, it is a conspiracy or an intrigue.  The latter word more generally denotes a scheme directed against individuals; the former against the government.  But this distinction is not always observed.
 O think what anxious moments pass between
 The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods!
2.  In dramatic writings, the knot or intrigue; the story of a  play, comprising a complication of incidents which are at last unfolded by unexpected means.
 If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before.
3.  Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot.
 A man of much plot.
PLOT, v.i.  To form a scheme of mischief against another, or against a government or those who administer it. A traitor plots against his king.
 The wicked plotteth against the just. Ps.37.
1.  To contrive a plan; to scheme.
 The prince did plot to be secretly gone.
PLOT, v.t.  To plan; to devise; to contrive; as, to plot an unprofitable crime.


Topic: Plover
Definition:
PLOV'ER, n. [L. pluvialis, rainy; pluo, to rain.]
The common name of several species of birds that frequent the banks of rivers and the sea shore, belonging to the genus Charadrius.


Topic: Plow
Definition:
PLOW, n.
1.  In agriculture, an instrument for turning up, breaking and preparing the ground for receiving the seed.  It is drawn by oxen or horses and saves the labor of digging; it is therefore the most useful instrument in agriculture.
 The emperor lays hold of the plow and turns up several furrows.
 When fern succeeds, ungrateful to the plow.
2.  Figuratively, tillage; culture of the earth; agriculture.
3.  A joiner's instrument for grooving.
PLOW, v.t.  To trench and turn up with a plow; as, to plow the ground for wheat; to plow it into ridges.
1.  To furrow; to divide; to run through in sailing.
 With speed we plow the watery wave.
2.  To tear; to furrow.
3.  In Scripture, to labor in any calling.
 He that ploweth should plow in hope. 1 Cor.9.
To plow on the back, to scourge; to mangle, or to persecute and torment. Ps.129.
To plow with one's heifer, to deal with the wife to obtain something from the husband. Judges 14.
To plow iniquity or wickedness, and reap it, to devise and practice it, and at last suffer the punishment of it.  Job.14. Hos.10.
To plow in, to cover by plowing; as, to plow in wheat.
To plow up or out, to turn out of the ground by plowing.
To put one's hand to the plow and look back, is to enter on the service of Christ and afterwards abandon it. Luke 9.
[This difference of orthography often made between the noun and verb is wholly unwarrantable, and contrary to settled analogy in our language. Such a difference is never made in changing into verbs, plot, harrow, notice, question, and most other words.  See Practice.]


Topic: Plow-bote
Definition:
PLOW'-BOTE, n.  In English law, wood or timber allowed to a tenant for the repair of instruments of husbandry.


Topic: Plowing
Definition:
PLOW'ING, ppr.  Turning up with a plow; furrowing.
PLOW'ING, n.  The operation of turning up ground with a plow; as the first and second plowing; three plowings.


Topic: Plowman
Definition:
PLOW'MAN, n. One that plows or holds a plow.
At last the robber binds the plowman and carries him off with the oxen.
1.  A cultivator of grain; a husbandman.
2.  A rustic; a countryman; a hardy laborer.


Topic: Plowshare
Definition:
PLOW'SHARE, n.  [See Shear.]  The part of a plow which cuts the ground at the bottom of the furrow, and raises the slice to the mold-board, which turns it over.


Topic: Pluck
Definition:
PLUCK, v.t.
1.  To pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off, out or from, with a twitch.  Thus we say, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes or other fruit.
 They pluck the fatherless from the breast. Job.24.
2.  To strip by plucking; as, to pluck a fowl.
 They that pass by do pluck her. Ps.80.
The sense of this verb is modified by particles.
To pluck away, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away.
 He shall pluck away his crop with his feathers. Lev.1.
To pluck down, to pull down; to demolish; or to reduce to a lower state.
To pluck off, is to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin. Mic.3.
To pluck on, to pull or draw on.
pluck up, to tear up by the roots or from the foundation; to eradicate; to exterminate; to destroy; as, to pluck up a plant; to pluck up a nation. Jer.12.
To pluck out, to draw out suddenly or to tear out; as, to pluck out the eyes; to pluck out the hand from the bosom. Ps.74.
To pluck up, to resume courage; properly, to pluck up the heart.  [Not elegant.]
PLUCK, n.  The heart, liver and lights of an animal.


Topic: Plug
Definition:
PLUG, n.  A stopple; any piece of pointed wood or other substance used to stop a hole, but larger than a peg or spile.
Hawse-plug, in marine affairs, a plug to stop a hawse-hole.
Shot-plug, a plug to stop a breach made by a cannon ball in the side of a ship.
PLUG, v.t.  To stop with a plug; to make tight by stopping a hole.


Topic: Plum
Definition:
PLUM, n.
1.  The fruit of a tree belonging to the genus Prunus.  The fruit is a drupe, containing a nut or stone with prominent sutures and inclosing a kernel.  The varieties of the plum are numerous and well known.
2.  A grape dried in the sun; a raisin.
3.  The sum of f100,000 sterling.
4.  A kind of play.
[Dr. Johnson remarks that this word is often written improperly plumb.  This is true, not only of this word, but of all words in which b follows m, as in thumb, dumb, &c.]


Topic: Plumb
Definition:
PLUMB, n. plum. [L. plumbum, lead; probably a clump or lump.]
A mass of lead attached to a line, and used to ascertain a perpendicular position of buildings and the like.  But the word as a noun is seldom used, except in composition.  [See Plumb-line.]
PLUMB, a.  Perpendicular, that is, standing according to a plumb-line.  The post of the house or the wall is plumb.  [This is the common language of our mechanics.]
PLUMB, adv.  In a perpendicular direction; in a line perpendicular to the plane of the horizon.  The wall stands plumb.
 Plumb down he falls.
1.  Directly; suddenly; at once; as a falling mass; usually pronounced plump.  He fell plumb into the water.
PLUMB, v.t.  To adjust by a plumb-line; to set in a perpendicular direction; as, to plumb a building or a wall.
1.  To sound with a plummet, as the depth of water. [Little used.]


Topic: Plumb-line
Definition:
PLUMB-LINE, n. plum'-line.  A line perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; or a line directed to the center of gravity in the earth.


Topic: Plumbery
Definition:
PLUMBERY, n. plum'mery.  Works in lead; manufactures of lead; the place where lead is wrought.
1.  The art of casting and working lead, or of making sheets and pipes of lead.


Topic: Plume
Definition:
PLUME, n. [L. pluma.]
1.  The feather of a fowl, particularly a large feather.
2.  A feather worn as an ornament, particularly an ostrich's feather.
 And his high plume that nodded o'er his head.
3.  Pride; towering mien.
4.  Token of honor; prize of contest.
 Ambitious to win from me some plume.
PLUME


Topic: Plumiped
Definition:
PLU'MIPED, a. [infra.]  Having feet covered with feathers.
PLU'MIPED, n. [L. pluma, feather, and pes, foot.]
A fowl that has feathers on its feet.


Topic: Plummet
Definition:
PLUM'MET, n.  [See Plumb.]
1.  A long piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water.
2.  An instrument used by carpenters, masons, &c. in adjusting erections to a perpendicular line, and with a square, to determine a horizontal line.  It consists of a piece of lead fastened to a line.
3.  Any weight.
4.  A piece of lead used by school boys to rule their paper for writing.


Topic: Plumming
Definition:
PLUM'MING, n. Among miners, the operation of finding by means of a mine dial the place where to sink an air shaft, or to bring an adit to the work,or to find which way the lode inclines.


Topic: Plumous
Definition:
PLU'MOUS, a. [L. plumosus.]  Feathery; resembling feathers.
1. In botany, a plumose bristle is one that has hairs growing on the sides of the main bristle.  Plumose pappus or down is a flying crown to some seeds, composed of feathery hairs.


Topic: Plump
Definition:
PLUMP, a.
1.  Full; swelled with fat or flesh to the full size; fat; having a full skin; round; as a plump boy; a plump habit of body.
 The famish'd crow grows plump and round.
2.  Full; blunt; unreserved; unqualified; as a plump lie.
PLUMP, n.  A knot; a cluster; a clump; a number of things closely united or standing together; as a plump of trees; a plump of fowls; a plump of horsemen.
[This word is not now used in this sense, but the use of it formerly, is good evidence that plump is clump, with a different prefix, and both are radically one word with lump.  Plumb, L. plumbum, is the same word, a lump or mass.
PLUMP, v.t. [from the adjective.]  To swell; to extend to fullness; to dilate; to fatten.
 The particles of air expanding themselves, plump out the sides of the bladder.
 A wedding at our house will plump me up with good cheer.
PLUMP, v.i.
1.  To plunge or fall like a heavy mass or lump of dead matter; to fall suddenly or at once.
2.  To enlarge to fullness; to be swelled.
PLUMP, adv.  Suddenly; heavily; at once, or with a sudden heavy fall.


Topic: Plumper
Definition:
PLUMP'ER, n.  Something carried in the mouth to dilate the cheeks; any thing intended to swell out something else.
1.  A full unqualified lie.  [In vulgar use.]


Topic: Plumply
Definition:
PLUMP'LY, adv.  Fully; roundly; without reserve; as, to assert a thing plumply; a word in common popular use.


Topic: Plumpness
Definition:
PLUMP'NESS, n.  Fullness of skin; distention to roundness; as the plumpness of a boy; plumpness of the eye or cheek.


Topic: Plumule
Definition:
PLU'MULE, n.  In botany, the ascending scaly part of the corculum or heart of a seed; the scaly part of the embryo plant within the seed, which rises and becomes the stem or body.  It extends itself into the cavity of the lobes, and is terminated by a small branch resembling a feather, from which it derives its name.


Topic: Plumy
Definition:
PLU'MY, a. [from plume.]  Feathered; covered with feathers.
1.  Adorned with plumes; as a plumy crest.


Topic: Plunder
Definition:
PLUN'DER, v.t.
1.  To pillage; to spoil; to strip; to take the goods of an enemy by open force.  Nebuchadnezzar plundered the temple of the Jews.
2.  To take by pillage or open force.  The enemy plundered all the goods they found.  We say, he plundered the tent, or he plundered the goods of the tent.  The first is the proper use of the word.
3.  To rob, as a thief; to take from; to strip; as, the thief plundered the house; the robber plundered a man of his money and watch; pirates plunder ships and men.
PLUN'DER, n.  That which is taken from an enemy by force; pillage; prey; spoil.
1.  That which is taken by theft, robbery or fraud.


Topic: Plunge
Definition:
PLUNGE, v.t.
1.  To thrust into water or other fluid substance, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse in a fluid; to drive into flesh, mire or earth, &c.; as, to plunge the body in water; to plunge the arm into fire or flame; to plunge a dagger into the breast.
2.  To thrust or drive into any state in which the thing is considered as enveloped or surrounded; as, to plunge one's self into difficulties or distress; to plunge a nation into war.
3.  To baptize by immersion.
PLUNGE, v.i.  To pitch; to thrust or drive one's self into water or a fluid; to dive or to rush in. He plunged into the river.
The troops plunged into the stream.
 His courser plung'd,
 And threw him off; the waves whelm'd over him.
1.  To fall or rush into distress or any state or circumstances in which the person or thing is enveloped, inclosed or overwhelmed; as, to plunge into a gulf; to plunge into debt or embarrassments; to plunge into war; a body of cavalry plunged into the midst of the enemy.
2.  To pitch or throw one's self headlong.
PLUNGE, n.  The act of thrusting into water or any penetrable substance.
1.  Difficulty; strait; distress; a state of being surrounded or overwhelmed with difficulties.
 People when put to a plunge, cry out to heaven for help.
 And wilt thou not reach out a friendly arm,
 To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrow?
[In this sense, the word is now little used.]


Topic: Plural
Definition:
PLU'RAL, a. [L. pluralis, from plus, pluris, more.]
1.  Containing more than one; consisting of two or more, or designating two or more; as a plural word.
2.  In grammar, the plural number is that which designates more than one, that is, any number except one.  Thus in most languages, a word in the plural number expresses two or more.  But the Greek has a dual number to express two; and the plural expresses more than two.


Topic: Pluralist
Definition:
PLU'RALIST, n.  A clerk or clergyman who holds more ecclesiastical benefices than one, with cure of souls.


Topic: Plurality
Definition:
PLURAL'ITY, n. [L. pluralis.]
1.  A number consisting of two or more of the same kind; as a plurality of gods; a plurality of worlds.
2.  A state of being or having a greater number.
3.  In elections, a plurality of votes is when one candidate has more votes than any other, but less than half of the whole number of votes given.  It is thus distinguished from a majority, which is more than half of the whole number.
4.  Plurality of benefices, is where the same clerk is possessed of more benefices than one, with cure of souls.  In this case, each benefice thus held is called a plurality.


Topic: Pluriliteral
Definition:
PLURILIT'ERAL, a.  [L. plus and litera, letter.]
Containing more letters than three.
PLURILIT'ERAL, n.  A word consisting of more letters than three.


Topic: Plush
Definition:
PLUSH, n.  Shag; a species of shaggy cloth or stuff with a velvet nap on one side, composed regularly of a woof of a single thread and a double warp; the one, wool of two threads twisted, the other of goat's or camel's hair.  But some plushes are made wholly of worsted; others wholly of hair.


Topic: Plutonian
Definition:
PLUTO'NIAN, a.  Plutonic, which see.
PLUTO'NIAN, n.  One who maintains the origin of mountains, &c. to be from fire.
The Plutonian theory of the formation of rocks and mountains is opposed to the Neptunian.


Topic: Plutonic
Definition:
PLUTON'IC, a. [from Pluto, in mythology, the king of the infernal regions.]  Pertaining to or designating the system of the Plutonists; as the Plutonic theory.


Topic: Plutonist
Definition:
PLU'TONIST, n.  One who adopts the theory of the formation of the world in its present state from igneous fusion. 


Topic: Ply
Definition:
PLY, v.t. [Gr. to fold; L. plico.]
1.  To lay on, to put to or on with force and repetition; to apply to closely, with continuation of efforts or urgency.
 And plies him with redoubled strokes.
 The hero from afar
 Plies him with darts and stones.
We retain the precise sense in the phrase to lay on, to put it on him.
2.  To employ with diligence; to apply closely and steadily; to keep busy.
 Her gentle wit she plies.
 The wearied Trojans ply their shattered oars.
3.  To practice or perform with diligence.
 Their bloody task, unweari'd, still they ply.
4.  To urge; to solicit with pressing or persevering importunity.
 He plies the duke at morning and at night.
5.  To urge; to press; to strain; to force.
PLY, v.i.  To bend; to yield.
 The willow plied and gave way to the gust.
1.  To work steadily.
 He was forced to ply in the streets.
2.  To go in haste.
 Thither he plies undaunted.
3.  To busy one's self; to be steadily employed.
4.  To endeavor to make way against the wind.
PLY, n.  A fold; a plait.
1.  Bent; turn; direction; bias.
 The late learners cannot so well take the ply.


Topic: Plyer
Definition:
PLY'ER, n.  He or that which plies.  In fortification, plyers denotes a kind of balance used in raising and letting down a drawbridge, consisting of timbers joined in the form of St. Andrew's cross.


Topic: Plying
Definition:
PLY'ING, ppr.  Laying on with steadiness or repetition; applying closely; employing; performing; urging; pressing or attempting to make way against the wind.
PLY'ING, n.  Urgent solicitation.
1.  Effort to make way against the wind.


Topic: Pneumatics
Definition:
PNEUMAT'ICS, n.  In natural philosophy, that branch which treats of air.  In chimistry, that branch which treats of the gases.
1.  In the schools, the doctrine of spiritual substances, as God, angels, and the souls of men.


Topic: Pneumatology
Definition:
PNEUMATOL'OGY, n. [Gr. air, and discourse.]
1.  The doctrine of the properties of elastic fluids, or of spiritual substances.
2.  A treatise on elastic fluids, or on spiritual substances.


Topic: Poach
Definition:
POACH, v.t.
1.  To boil slightly.
2.  To dress by boiling slightly and mixing in a soft mass.
3.  To begin and not complete.
4.  To tread soft ground, or snow and water, as cattle, whose feet penetrate the soil of soft substance and leave deep tracks. 
5.  To steal game; properly, to pocket game, or steal it and convey it away in a bag.
6.  To steal; to plunder by stealth.
 They poach Parnassus,and lay claim for praise.
POACH, v.t. [Eng. poke, poker, to punch; L. pungo.]  
To stab; to pierce; to spear; as, to poach fish.
POACH, v.i.  To be trodden with deep tracks, as soft ground.  We say, the ground is soft in spring, and poaches badly.
 Chalky and clay lands burn in hot weather, chap in summer, and poach in winter.


Topic: Poachiness
Definition:
POACHINESS, n.  Wetness and softness; the state of being easily penetrable by the feet of beasts; applied to land.


Topic: Poachy
Definition:
POACHY, a.  Wet and soft; such as the feet of cattle will penetrate to some depth; applied to land or ground of any kind.


Topic: Pochard
Definition:
POCHARD, n. [from poach.]  A fresh water duck of an excellent taste, weighing a pound and twelve ounces.  It is the red headed duck of Lawson; found in America and in the north of Europe.


Topic: Pock
Definition:
POCK, n. [Eng. big.]  A pustule raised on the surface of the body in the variolous and vaccine diseases, named from the pustules, small pox, or as it ought to be written,small pocks.


Topic: Pocket
Definition:
POCK'ET, n.
1.  A small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles.
2.  A small bag or net to receive the balls in billiards.
3.  A certain quantity; as a pocket of hops, as in other cases we use sack.  [Not used in America.]
POCK'ET, v.t.  To put or conceal in the pocket; as, to pocket a penknife.
1.  To take clandestinely.
To pocket an insult or affront, to receive it without resenting it, or at least without seeking redress.  [In popular use.]


Topic: Pocket-book
Definition:
POCK'ET-BOOK, n.  A small book of paper covered with leather; used for carrying papers in the pocket.


Topic: Pocky
Definition:
POCK'Y, a. [from pock.]  Infected with the small pocks; full of pocks.
1.  Vile; rascally; mischievous; contemptible.  [In vulgar use.]


Topic: Pod
Definition:
POD, n.  The pericarp, capsule or seed vessel of certain plants.  The silique or pod is an oblong, membranaceous, two valved pericarp, having the seeds fixed along both sutures.  A legume is a pericarp of two valves, in which the seeds are fixed along one suture only.
According to these descriptions, the seed vessels of peas and beans are legumes, and not pods; but in popular language, pod is used for the legume as well as for the silique or siliqua.  In New England, it is the only word in popular use.
POD, v.i.  To swell; to fill; also, to produce pods.


Topic: Poem
Definition:
PO'EM, n. [L. poema; Gr. to make, to compose songs.]
1.  A metrical composition; a composition in which the verses consist of certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme; as the poems of Homer or of Milton; opposed to prose.
2.  This term is also applied to some compositions in which the language is that of excited imagination; as the poems of Ossian.


Topic: Poesy
Definition:
PO'ESY, n. [L. poesis; Gr. to make.]
1.  The art or skill of composing poems; as, the heavenly gift of poesy.
2.  Poetry; metrical composition.
 Music and poesy used to quicken you.
3.  A short conceit engraved on a ring or other thing.


Topic: Poet
Definition:
PO'ET, n. [L. poeta.  See Poem.]
1.  The author of a poem; the inventor or maker of a metrical composition.
 A poet is a maker, as the word signifies; and he who cannot make, that is, invent,hath his name for nothing.
2.  One skilled in making poetry, or who has a particular genius for metrical composition; one distinguished for poetic talents.  Many write verses who cannot be called poets.


Topic: Poet-laureat
Definition:
POET-LAUREAT, n.  A poet employed to compose poems for the birth days of a prince or other special occasion.


Topic: Poet-musician
Definition:
POET-MUSI'CIAN, n.  An appellation given to the bard and lyrist of former ages, as uniting the professions of poetry and music.


Topic: Poetry
Definition:
PO'ETRY, n. [Gr.]  Metrical composition; verse; as heroic poetry; dramatic poetry; lyric or Pindaric poetry.
1.  The art or practice of composing in verse.  He excels in poetry.
2.  Poems; poetical composition.  We take pleasure in reading poetry.
3.  This term is also applied to the language of excited imagination and feeling.


Topic: Poignancy
Definition:
POIGNANCY, n. poin'ancy.  [See Poignant.]
1.  Sharpness; the power of stimulating the organs of taste.
2.  Point; sharpness; keenness; the power of irritation; asperity; as the poignancy of wit or sarcasm.
3.  Severity; acuteness.


Topic: Poignant
Definition:
POIGNANT, a.  poin'ant. [L. pungere, pungo, to prick.]
1.  Sharp; stimulating the organs of taste; as poignant sauce.
2.  Pointed; keen; bitter; irritating; satirical; as poignant wit.
3.  Severe; piercing; very painful or acute; as poignant pain or grief.


Topic: Poignantly
Definition:
POIGNANTLY, adv.  poin'antly.  In a stimulating, piercing or irritating manner; with keenness or point.


Topic: Point
Definition:
POINT, n. [L. punctum, from pungo, to prick, properly to thrust, pret. pepugi, showing that n is not radical.]
1.  The sharp end of any instrument or body; as the point of a knife, of a sword or of a thorn.
2.  A string with a tag; as a silken point.
3.  A small cape, headland or promontory; a tract of land extending into the sea, a lake or river, beyond the line of the shore, and becoming narrow at the end; as point Judith; Montauk point.  It is smaller than a cape.
4.  The sting of an epigram; a lively turn of thought or expression that strikes with force and agreeable surprise.
 With periods, points and tropes he slurs his crimes.
5.  An indivisible part of time or space.  We say, a point of time, a point of space.
6.  A small space; as a small point of land.
7.  Punctilio; nicety; exactness of ceremony; as points of precedence.
8.  Place near, next or contiguous to; verge; eve. He is on the point of departure, or at the point of death.
9.  Exact place.  He left off at the point where he began.
    10. Degree; state of elevation, depression or extension; as, he has reached an extraordinary point of excellence. He has fallen to the lowest point of degradation.
    11. A character used to mark the divisions of writing, or the pauses to be observed in reading or speaking; as the comma, semi-colon, colon and period. The period is called a full stop,as it marks the close of a sentence.
    12. A spot; a part of a surface divided by spots or lines; as the ace or sise point.
    13. In geometry, that which has neither parts nor magnitude.
 A point is that which has position but not magnitude.
 A point is a limit terminating a line.
    14. In music, mark or note anciently used to distinguish tones or sounds. Hence, simple counterpoint is when a note of the lower part answers exactly to that of the upper, and figurative counterpoint, is when a note is syncopated and one of the parts makes several notes or inflections of the voice while the other holds on one.
    15. In modern music, a dot placed by a note to raise its value or prolong its time by one half, so as to make a semibreve equal to three minims; a minim equal to three quavers, &c.
    16. In astronomy, a division of the great circles of the horizon, and of the mariner's compass. The four cardinal points, are the east, west, north and south. On the space between two of these points, making a quadrant or quarter of a circle, the compass is marked with subordinate divisions, the whole number being thirty two points.
    17. In astronomy, a certain place marked in the heavens, or distinguished for its importance in astronomical calculations. The zenith and nadir are called vertical points; the nodes are the points where the orbits of the planets intersect the plane of the ecliptic; the place where the equator and ecliptic intersect are called equinoctial points; the points of the ecliptic at which the departure of the sun from the equator, north and south, is terminated, are called solstitial points.
    18. In perspective, a certain pole or place with regard to the perspective plane.
    19. In manufactories, a lace or work wrought by the needle; as point le Venice, point de Genoa, &c. Sometimes the word is used for lace woven with bobbins. Point devise is used for needle work, or for nice work.
    20. The place to which any thing is directed, or the direction in which an object is presented to the eye. We say, in this point of view, an object appears to advantage. In this or that point of view, the evidence is important.
    21. Particular; single thing or subject. In what point do we differ?  All points of controversy between the parties are adjusted. We say, in point of antiquity, in point of fact, in point of excellence. The letter in every point is admirable. The treaty is executed in every point.
    22. Aim; purpose; thing to be reached or accomplished; as, to gain one's point.
    23. The act of aiming or striking.
 What a point your falcon made.
    24. A single position; a single assertion; a single part of a complicated question or of a whole.
 These arguments are not sufficient to prove the point.
 Strange point and new!
 Doctrine which we would know whence learned.
    25. A note or tune.
 Turning your tongue divine
 To a loud trumpet, and a point of war.
    26. In heraldry, points are the several different parts of the escutcheon, denoting the local positions of figures.
    27. In electricity, the acute termination of a body which facilitates the passage of the fluid to or from the body.
    28. In gunnery, point-blank denotes the shot of a gun leveled horizontally. The point-blank range is the extent of the apparent right line of a ball discharged. In shooting point-blank,the ball is supposed to move directly to the object, without a curve. Hence adverbially, the word is equivalent to directly.
    29. In marine language, points are flat pieces of braided cordage, tapering from the middle towards each end; used in reefing the courses and top-sails of square-rigged vessels.
Point de vise, [Fr.] exactly in the point of view.
Vowel-points, in the Hebrew and other eastern languages, are certain marks placed above or below the consonants, or attached to them, as in the Ethiopic, representing the vocal sounds or vowels, which precede or follow the articulations.
The point, the subject; the main question; the precise thing to be considered, determined or accomplished.  This argument may be true, but it is not to the point.
POINT, v.t.  To sharpen; to cut, forge, grind or file to an acute end; as, to point a dart or a pin; also, to taper, as a rope.
1.  To direct towards an object or place, to show its position, or excite attention to it; as, to point the finger at an object; to point the finger of scorn at one.
2.  To direct the eye or notice.
 Whosoever should be guided through his battles by Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them, would see nothing but subjects of surprise.
3.  To aim; to direct towards an object; as, to point a musket at a wolf; to point a cannon at a gate.
4.  To mark with characters for the purpose of distinguishing the members of a sentence, and designating the pauses; as, to point a written composition.
5.  To mark with vowel-points.
6.  To appoint.  [Not in use.]
7.  To fill the joints with mortar, and smooth them with the point of a trowel; as, to point a wall.
To point out, to show by the finger or by other means.
To point a sail, to affix points through the eyelet-holes of the reefs.
POINT, v.i.  To direct the finger for designating an object, and exciting attention to it; with at.
 Now must the world point at poor Catherine.
 Point at the tatter'd coat and ragged shoe.
1.  To indicate, as dogs do to sportsmen.
 He treads with caution, and he points with fear.
2.  To show distinctly by any means.
 To point at what time the balance of power was most equally held between the lords and commons at Rome, would perhaps admit a controversy.
3.  To fill the joints or crevices of a wall with mortar.
4.  In the rigging of a ship, to taper the end of a rope or splice, and work over the reduced part a small close netting, with an even number of knittles twisted from the same.
To point at, to treat with scorn or contempt by pointing or directing attention to.


Topic: Pointal
Definition:
POINT'AL, n.  In botany, the pistil of a plant; an organ or viscus adhering to the fruit for the reception of the pollen.  Its appearance is that of a column or set of columns in the center of the flower.


Topic: Pointed
Definition:
POINT'ED, pp.  Sharpened; formed to a point; directed; aimed.
1.  Aimed at a particular person or transaction.
2.  a. Sharp; having a sharp point; as a pointed rock.
3.  Epigrammatical; abounding in conceits or lively turns; as pointed wit.


Topic: Pointedly
Definition:
POINT'EDLY, adv.  In a pointed manner; with lively turns of thought or expression.
 He often wrote too pointedly for his subject.
1.  With direct assertion; with direct reference to a subject; with explicitness; as, he declared pointedly he would accede to the proposition.


Topic: Pointedness
Definition:
POINT'EDNESS, n.  Sharpness; pickedness with asperity.
1.  Epigrammatical keenness or smartness.
 In this you excel Horace, that you add pointedness of thought.


Topic: Pointel
Definition:
POINT'EL, n.  Something on a point.
 These poises or pointels are, for the most part, little balls set at the top of a slender stalk, which they can move every way at pleasure.
1. A kind of pencil or style.


Topic: Pointer
Definition:
POINT'ER, n.  Any thing that points.
1.  The hand of a time-piece.
2.  A dog that points out the game to sportsmen.


Topic: Pointing
Definition:
POINT'ING, ppr.  Directing the finger; showing; directing.
1.  Marking with points; as a writing.
2.  Filling the joints and crevices of a wall with mortar or cement.
POINT'ING, n.  The art of making the divisions of a writing; punctuation.
1.  The state of being pointed with marks or points.


Topic: Pointless
Definition:
POINT'LESS, a.  Having no point; blunt; obtuse; as a pointless sword.
1.  Having no smartness or keenness.


Topic: Poise
Definition:
POISE, n. poiz.
1.  Weight; gravity; that which causes a body to descend or tend to the center.
2.  The weight or mass of metal used in weighing with steelyards, to balance the substance weighed.
3.  Balance; equilibrium; a state in which things are balanced by equal weight or power; equipoise.  The mind may rest in a poise between two opinions.
 The particles forming the earth, must convene from all quarters towards the middle, which would make the whole compound rest in a poise.
4.  A regulating power; that which balances.
 Men of an unbounded imagination often want the poise of judgment.
POISE, v.t. poiz.
1.  To balance in weight; to make of equal weight; as, to poise the scales of a balance.
2.  To hold or place in equilibrium or equiponderance.
 Our nation with united interest blest,
 Not now content to poise, shall sway the rest.
3.  To load with weight for balancing.
 Where could they find another form so fit,
 To poise with solid sense a sprightly wit?
4.  To examine or ascertain, as by the balance; to weigh.
 He cannot consider the strength, poise the weight, and discern the evidence of the clearest argumentations, where they would conclude against his desires.
5.  To oppress; to weigh down.
 Lest leaden slumber poise me down to-morrow,
 When I should mount on wings of victory.


Topic: Poison
Definition:
POISON, n. poiz'n. [L. pus.]
1.  A substance which, when taken into the stomach,mixed with the blood or applied to the skin or flesh, proves fatal or deleterious by an action not mechanical; venom.  The more active and virulent poisons destroy life in a short time; others are slow in their operation, others produce inflammation without proving fatal.  In the application of poison, much depends on the quantity.
2.  Any thing infectious, malignant, or noxious to health; as the poison of pestilential diseases.
3.  That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.


Topic: Poison-tree
Definition:
POIS'ON-TREE, n.  A tree that poisons the flesh.  This name is given to a species of Rhus or sumac,the Rhus vernix or poison ash, a native of America; also to the bohun upas of Java.


Topic: Poisonous
Definition:
POIS'ONOUS, a.  Venomous; having the qualities of poison; corrupting; impairing soundness of purity.


Topic: Poke-weed
Definition:
PO'KE-WEED, n.  The popular name of a plant of the genus Phytolacca, otherwise called cocum and garget; a native of N. America.  As a medicine, it has emetic and cathartic qualities, and has had some reputation as a remedy for rheumatism.  It was formerly called in Virginia, pocan.


Topic: Poker
Definition:
PO'KER, n.  [from poke.]  An iron bar used in stirring the fire when coal is used for fuel.
PO'KER, n. [L. bos, bovis.]  Any frightful object, especially in the dark; a bugbear; a word in common popular use in America.


Topic: Poking
Definition:
PO'KING, ppr.  Feeling in the dark; stirring with a poker; thrusting at with the horns; putting a poke on.
PO'KING, a.  Drudging; servile.


Topic: Polacre
Definition:
POLA'CRE, n.  A vessel with three masts, used in the Mediterranean.  The masts are usually of one piece, so that they have neither tops, caps nor cross-trees, nor horses to their upper yards.


Topic: Polar
Definition:
PO'LAR, a.
1.  Pertaining to the poles of the earth, north or south, or to the poles of artificial globes; situated near one of the poles; as polar regions; polar seas; polar ice or climates.
2.  Proceeding from one of the regions near the poles, as polar winds.
3.  Pertaining to the magnetic pole, or to the point to which the magnetic needle is directed.


Topic: Polarity
Definition:
POLAR'ITY, n.  That quality of a body in virtue of which peculiar properties reside in certain points; usually, as in electrified or magnetized bodies, properties of attraction or repulsion, or the power of taking a certain direction.  Thus we speak of the polarity of the magnet or magnetic needle, whose pole is not always that of the earth, but a point somewhat easterly or westerly; and the deviation of the needle from a north and south line is called its variation.  A mineral is said to possess polarity, when it attracts one pole of a magnetic needle and repels the other.


Topic: Polarization
Definition:
POLARIZA'TION, n.  The act of giving polarity to a body.
Polarization of light, a change produced upon light by the action of certain media, by which it exhibits the appearance of having polarity, or poles possessing different properties.  This property of light was first discovered by Huygens in his investigation of the cause of double refraction, as seen in the Iceland crystal.  The attention of opticians was more particularly directed towards it by the discoveries of Malus, in 1810.  The knowledge of this singular property of light, has afforded an explanation of several very intricate phenomena in optics.


Topic: Pole
Definition:
POLE, n. [L. palus.  See Pale.]
1.  A  long slender piece of wood, or the stem of a small tree deprived of its branches. Thus seamen use poles for setting or driving boats in shallow water; the stems of small trees are used for hoops and called hoop-poles; the stems of small, but tall straight trees, are used as poles for supporting the scaffolding in building.
2.  A rod; a perch; a measure of length of five yards and a half.
[In New England, rod is generally used.]
3.  An instrument for measuring.
Bare poles.  A ship is under bare poles, when her sails are all furled.
POLE, n. [L. polus; Gr. to turn.]
1.  In astronomy, one of the extremities of the axis on which the sphere revolves.  These two points are called the poles of the world.
2.  In spherics, a point equally distant from every part of the circumference of a great circle of the sphere; or it is a point 90 deg. distant from the plane of a circle, and in a line passing perpendicularly through the center, called the axis.  Thus the zenith and nadir are the poles of the horizon.
3.  In geography, the extremity of the earth's axis, or one of the points on the surface of our globe through which the axis passes.
4.  The star which is vertical to the pole of the earth; the pole-star.
Poles of the ecliptic, are two points on the surface of the sphere, 23 deg. 30' distant from the poles of the world.
Magnetic poles, two points in a lodestone, corresponding to the poles of the world; the one pointing to the north, the other to the south.
POLE, n. [from Poland.]  A native of Poland.
POLE, v.t.  To furnish with poles for support; as, to pole beans.
1.  To bear or convey on poles; as, to pole hay into a barn.
2.  To impel by poles, as a boat; to push forward by the use of poles.


Topic: Pole-star
Definition:
PO'LE-STAR, n.  A star which is vertical, or nearly so, to the pole of the earth; a lodestar.  The northern pole-star is of great use to navigators in the northern hemisphere.
1.  That which serves as a guide or director.


Topic: Polemarch
Definition:
POL'EMARCH, n. [Gr. war, and to rule, or chief.]
1.  Anciently, a magistrate of Athens and Thebes, who had under his care all strangers and sojourners in the city, and all children of parents who had lost their lives in the service of their country.
2.  A military officer in Lacedaemon.


Topic: Polemoscope
Definition:
POLEM'OSCOPE, n. [Gr. war, and to view.]  An oblique perspective glass contrived for seeing objects that do not lie directly before the eye. It consists of a concave glass placed near a plane mirror in the end of a short round tube, and a convex glass in a hole in the side of the tube.  It is called opera-glass, or diagonal opera-glass.


Topic: Police
Definition:
POLICE, n. [L. politia; Gr. city.]
1.  The government of a city or town; the administration of the laws and regulations of a city or incorporated town or borough; as the police of London, of New York or Boston.  The word is applied also to the government of all towns in New England which are made corporations by a general statute, for certain purposes.
2.  The internal regulation and government of a kingdom or state.
3.  The corporation or body of men governing a city.
4.  In Scottish, the pleasure-ground about a gentleman's seat.


Topic: Policy
Definition:
POL'ICY, n. [L. politia; Gr. city.]
1.  Policy, in its primary signification, is the same as polity, comprehending the fundamental constitution or frame of civil government in a state or kingdom.  But by usage, policy is now more generally used to denote what is included under legislation and administration, and may be defined, the art or manner of governing a nation; or that system of measures which the sovereign of a country adopts and pursues, as best adapted to the interests of the nation.  Thus we speak of domestic policy, or the system of internal regulations in a nation; foreign policy, or the measures which respect foreign nations; commercial policy, or the measures which respect commerce.
2.  Art, prudence, wisdom or dexterity in the management of public affairs; applied to persons governing.  It has been the policy of France to preclude females from the throne.  It has been the policy of Great Britain to encourage her navy, by keeping her carrying trade in her own hands.  In this she manifests sound policy.  Formerly, England permitted wool to be exported and manufactured in the Low Countries, which was very bad policy.
 The policy of all laws has made some forms necessary in the wording of last wills and testaments.
 All violent policy defeats itself.
3.  In common usage, the art, prudence or wisdom of individuals in the management of their private or social concerns.
4.  Stratagem; cunning; dexterity of management.
5.  A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.
6.  Policy, in commerce, the writing or instrument by which a contract of indemnity is effected between the insurer and the insured; or the instrument containing the terms or conditions on which a person or company undertakes to indemnify another person or company against losses of property exposed to peculiar hazards, as houses or goods exposed to fire, or ships and goods exposed to destruction on the high seas.  This writing is subscribed by the insurer, who is called the underwriter.  The terms policy of insurance, or assurance, are also used for the contract between the insured and the underwriter.
Policies are valued or open; valued, when the property or goods insured are valued at prime cost; open, when the goods are not valued, but if lost, their value must be proved.
Wagering policies, which insure sums of money, interest or no interest, are illegal.
 All insurances, interest or no interest, or without further proof of interest than the policy itself, are null and void.
The word policy is used also for the writing which insures against other events, as well as against loss of property.


Topic: Poling
Definition:
PO'LING, n.  In gardening, the operation of dispersing the worm-casts all over the walks, with long ash poles. This destroys the worm-casts and is beneficial to the walks.
PO'LING, ppr.  Furnishing with poles for support.
1.  Bearing on poles.
2.  Pushing forward with poles, as a boat.


Topic: Polishing
Definition:
POL'ISHING, ppr.  Making smooth and glossy; refining.
POL'ISHING, n.  Smoothness; glossiness; refinement.


Topic: Polite
Definition:
POLI'TE, a. [L. politus, polished, from polio, supra.]
1.  Literally, smooth, glossy, and used in this sense till within a century.
 Rays of light falling on a polite surface.
[This application of the word is, I believe, entirely obsolete.]
2.  Being polished or elegant in manners; refined in behavior; well bred.
 He marries, bows at court and grows polite.
3.  Courteous; complaisant; obliging.
 His manners were warm without insincerity, and polite without pomp.


Topic: Politeness
Definition:
POLI'TENESS, n.  Polish or elegance of manners; gentility; good breeding; ease and gracefulness of manners, united with a desire to please others and a careful attention to their wants and wishes.
1.  Courteousness; complaisance; obliging attentions.


Topic: Politic
Definition:
POL'ITIC, a. [L. politicus; Gr. a city.]
1.  Wise; prudent and sagacious in devising and pursuing measures adapted to promote the public welfare; applied to persons; as a politic prince.
2.  Well devised and adapted to the public prosperity; applied to things.
 This land was famously enriched
 With politic grave counsel.
3.  Ingenious in devising and pursuing any scheme of personal or national aggrandizement, without regard to the morality of the measure; cunning; artful; sagacious in adapting means to the end, whether good or evil.
 I have been politic with my friend, smooth with my enemy.
4.  Well devised; adapted to its end, right or wrong.


Topic: Political
Definition:
POLIT'ICAL, a. [supra.]  Pertaining to policy, or to civil government and its administration.  Political measures or affairs are measures that respect the government of a nation or state.  So we say, political power or authority; political wisdom; a political scheme; political opinions.  A good prince is the political father of his people.  The founders of a state and wise senators are also called political fathers.
1.  Pertaining to a nation or state, or to nations or states, as distinguished from civil or municipal; as in the phrase, political and civil rights, the former comprehending rights that belong to a nation, or perhaps to a citizen as an individual of a nation; and the latter comprehending the local rights of a corporation or any member of it.
  Speaking of the political state of Europe, we are accustomed to say of Sweden, she lost her liberty by the revolution.
2.  Public; derived from office or connection with government; as political character.
3.  Artful; skillful.  [See Politic.]
4.  Treating of politics or government; as a political writer.
Political arithmetic, the art of reasoning by figures, or of making arithmetical calculations on matters relating to a nation, its revenues, value of lands and effects, produce of lands or manufactures, population, &c.
Political economy, the administration of the revenues of a nation; or the management and regulation of its resources and productive property and labor.  Political economy comprehends all the measures by which the property and labor of citizens are directed in the best manner to the success of individual industry and enterprise, and to the public prosperity.  Political economy is now considered as a science.


Topic: Politically
Definition:
POLIT'ICALLY, adv.  With relation to the government of a nation or state.
1.  Artfully; with address.


Topic: Politician
Definition:
POLITI'CIAN, a.  Cunning; using artifice.
POLITI'CIAN,n.  One versed in the science of government and the art of governing; one skilled in politics.
1.  A man of artifice or deep contrivance.


Topic: Politics
Definition:
POL'ITICS, n.  The science of government; that part of ethics which consists in the regulation and government of a nation or state, for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity; comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals.  Politics, as a science or an art, is a subject of vast extent and importance.


Topic: Polity
Definition:
POL'ITY, n. [Gr.]  The form or constitution of civil government of a nation or state; and in free states, the frame or fundamental system by which the several branches of government are established, and the powers and duties or each designated and defined.
 Every branch of our civil polity supports and is supported, regulates and is regulated by the rest.
 With respect to their interior polity, our colonies are properly of three sorts; provincial establishments, proprietary governments, and charter governments.
This word seems also to embrace legislation and administration of government.
1.  The constitution or general fundamental principles of government of any class of citizens, considered in an appropriate character, or as a subordinate state.
 Were the whole christian world to revert back to the original model, how far more simple, uniform and beautiful would the church appear,and how far more agreeable to the ecclesiastical polity instituted by the holy apostles.


Topic: Poll
Definition:
POLL, n.
1.  The head of a person, or the back part of the head, and in composition, applied to the head of a beast, as in poll-evil.
2.  A register of heads, that is, of persons.
3.  The entry of the names of electors who vote for civil officers.  Hence,
4.  An election of civil officers, or the place of election.
Our citizens say, at the opening or close of the poll, that is, at the beginning of the register of voters and reception of votes, or the close of the same.  They say also, we are going to the poll; many voters appeared at the poll.
5.  A fish called a chub or chevin.  [See Pollard.]
POLL, v.t.  To lop the tops of trees.
1.  To clip; to cut off the ends; to cut off hair or wool; to shear.  The phrases, to poll the hair, and to poll the head, have been used.  The latter is used in 2 Sam.14.26.  To poll a deed, is a phrase still used in law language.
2.  To mow; to crop.  [Not used.]
3.  To peel; to strip; to plunder.
4.  To take a list or register of persons; to enter names in  a list.
5.  To enter one's name in a list or register.
6.  To insert into a number as a voter.


Topic: Poll-evil
Definition:
POLL-EVIL, n. [poll and evil.]  A swelling or impostem on a horse's head, or on the nape of the neck between the ears.


Topic: Pollard
Definition:
POL'LARD, n. [from poll.]  A tree lopped.
1.  A clipped coin.
2.  The chub fish.
3.  A stag that has cast his horns.
4.  A mixture of bran and meal.
POL'LARD, v.t.  To lop the tops of trees; to poll.


Topic: Pollen
Definition:
POL'LEN, n. [L. pollen, pollis, fine flour; pulvis.]
1.  The fecundating dust or fine substance like flour or meal, contained in the anther of flowers, which is dispersed on the pistil for impregnation; farin or farina.
2.  Fine bran.


Topic: Pollenin
Definition:
POL'LENIN, n. [from pollen.]  A substance prepared from the pollen of tulips, highly inflammable, and insoluble in agents which dissolve other vegetable products.  Exposed to the air, it soon undergoes putrefaction.


Topic: Poller
Definition:
POLLER, n. [from poll.]  One that shaves persons; a barber. [Not used.
1.  One that lops or polls trees.
2.  A pillager; a plunderer; one that fleeces by exaction. [Not used.]
3.  One that registers voters, or one that enters his name as a voter.


Topic: Pollution
Definition:
POLLU'TION, n. [L. pollutio.]
1.  The act of polluting.
2.  Defilement; uncleanness; impurity; the state of being polluted.
3.  In the Jewish economy, legal or ceremonial uncleanness, which disqualified a person for sacred services or for common intercourse with the people, or rendered any thing unfit for sacred use.
4.  In medicine, the involuntary emission of semen in sleep.
5.  In a religious sense, guilt,the effect of sin; idolatry, &c.


Topic: Pollux
Definition:
POL'LUX, n.  A fixed star of the second magnitude, in the constellation Gemini or the Twins.
1.  [See Castor.]


Topic: Polonoise
Definition:
POLONOISE, n.  In music, a movement of three crotchets in a bar, with the rhythmical cesure on the last.


Topic: Polyadelph
Definition:
POL'YADELPH, n. [Gr. many, and brother.
1. In botany, a plant having its stamens united in three or more bodies or bundles by the filaments.


Topic: Polyander
Definition:
POLYAN'DER, n. [Gr. many, and a male.]  In botany, a plant having many stamens, or any number above twenty, inserted in the receptacle.


Topic: Polyandrian
Definition:
POLYAN'DRIAN, a.  Having many stamens, that is, any number above twenty, inserted in the receptacle.


Topic: Polyandry
Definition:
POLYAN'DRY, n. [supra.]  The practice of females' having more husbands than one at the same time; plurality of husbands.


Topic: Polyautography
Definition:
POLYAUTOG'RAPHY, n. [Gr. many, he himself, and to write.]
The act or practice of multiplying copies of one's own handwriting or of manuscripts, by engraving on stone; a species of lithography.


Topic: Polychrest
Definition:
POL'YCHREST, n. [Gr. many, and useful.]  In pharmacy, a medicine that serves for many uses, or that cures many diseases.


Topic: Polycotyledon
Definition:
POLYCOTYL'EDON, n. [Gr. many, and a cavity.]  In botany, a plant that has many or more than two cotyledons or lobes to the seed.


Topic: Polygamy
Definition:
POLYG'AMY, n. [Gr. many, and marriage.]  A plurality of wives or husbands at the same time; or the having of such plurality. When a man has more wives than one, or a woman more husbands than one, at the same time, the offender is punishable for polygamy.  Such is the fact in christian countries.  But polygamy is allowed in some countries, as in Turkey.


Topic: Polygenous
Definition:
POLYG'ENOUS, a. [Gr. many, and kind.]  Consisting of many kinds; as a polygenous mountain, which is composed of strata of different species of stone.


Topic: Polyglot
Definition:
POL'YGLOT, a. [Gr. many, and tongue.]  Having or containing many languages; as a polyglot lexicon or Bible.
POL'YGLOT, n.  A book containing many languages, particularly the Bible containing the Scriptures in several languages.
1.  One who understands many languages.  [Not in use.]


Topic: Polygon
Definition:
POL'YGON, n. [Gr. many, and an angle.]  In geometry, a figure of many angles and sides, and whose perimeter consists at least of more than four sides.


Topic: Polygraph
Definition:
POL'YGRAPH, n. [See Polygraphy.]  An instrument for multiplying copies of a writing with ease and expedition.


Topic: Polygraphy
Definition:
POLYG'RAPHY, n. [Gr. many, and a writing; to write.]
The art of writing in various ciphers, and of deciphering the same.


Topic: Polygyny
Definition:
POLYG'YNY, n. [Gr. many, and a female.]  
The practice of having more wives than one at the same time.


Topic: Polyhalite
Definition:
POLYHA'LITE, n. [Gr. many, and salt.]  A mineral or salt occurring in masses of a fibrous structure, of a brick red color, being tinged with iron.  It contains sulphates of lime, of magnesia, of potash and of soda.


Topic: Polymathy
Definition:
POLYM'ATHY, n. [Gr.many, and learning; to learn.]  The knowledge of many arts and sciences; acquaintance with many branches of learning or with various subjects.


Topic: Polymnite
Definition:
POL'YMNITE, n. [stone of many marshes.]  A stone marked with dendrites and black lines, and so disposed as to represent rivers, marshes and ponds.


Topic: Polymorph
Definition:
POL'YMORPH, n. [Gr. many and form.]   A name given by Soldani to a numerous tribe or series of shells, which are very small, irregular and singular in form, and which cannot be referred to any known genus.


Topic: Polyneme
Definition:
POL'YNEME, n.  A fish having a scaly compressed head,with a blunt prominent nose, and pliform appendages to the pectoral fins.


Topic: Polynesia
Definition:
POLYNE'SIA, n. s as z. [Gr. many and isle.]  A new term in geography, used to designate a great number of isles in the Pacific ocean, as the Pelew isles, the Ladrones, the Carolinas,the Sandwich isles,the Marquesas, the Society isles and the Friendly isles.


Topic: Polyphyllous
Definition:
POLYPH'YLLOUS, a. [Gr. many and leaf.]  In botany, many-leafed; as a polyphyllous calyx or perianth.


Topic: Polypier
Definition:
POL'YPIER, n.  The name given to the habitations of polypes, or to the common part of those compound animals called polypes.


Topic: Polypody
Definition:
POLYP'ODY, n. [L. polypodium, from the Greek.  See Polype.]
A plant of the genus Polypodium, of the order of Filices or ferns.  The fructifications are in roundish points, scattered over the inferior disk of the frons or leaf. There are numerous species, of which the most remarkable is the common male fern.


Topic: Polypous
Definition:
POL'YPOUS, a. [from polypus.]  Having the nature of the polypus; having many feet or roots, like the polypus; as a polypous concretion.


Topic: Polypus
Definition:
POL'YPUS, n. [Gr. many and foot.]
1.  Something that has many feet or roots.
2.  In zoology, a species of fresh water insect, belonging to the genus Hydra and order of zoophytes.  Of this animal it is remarkable, that if cut into pieces, each part will shoot out a new head and tail and become a distinct animal.  The general character of this animal is, it fixes itself by its base, is gelatinous, linear, naked, contractile, and capable of changing place.
The common name of all those small gelatinous animals, whose mouth is surrounded by tentacula or feelers, (whence the name,)
and conducts to a simple stomach, or one followed by intestines in the form of vessels.  They constitute a distinct class or order of zoophytes, and include those compound animals, with a fixed and solid stem, which were formerly regarded as marine plants. 
3.  A concretion of blood in the heart and blood vessels.
4.  A tumor with a narrow base, somewhat resembling a pear;
found in the nose, uterus, &c.


Topic: Polysyllable
Definition:
POL'YSYLLABLE, n. [Gr.many and a syllable.]  A word of many syllables, that is, consisting of more syllables than three, for words of a less number than four are called monosyllables, dissyllables and trisyllables.


Topic: Polysyndeton
Definition:
POLYSYN'DETON, n. [Gr. many and connecting.]  A figure of rhetoric by which the copulative is often repeated; as, 'we have ships and men and money and stores.'


Topic: Polytheism
Definition:
POL'YTHEISM, n. [Gr. many and God.]  The doctrine of a plurality of gods or invisible beings superior to man, and having an agency in the government of the world.


Topic: Pomace
Definition:
POMACE, n. [from L. pomum, an apple.]  The substance of apples or of similar fruit crushed by grinding.  In America, it is so called before and after being pressed.  [See Pomp and Pommel.]


Topic: Pome
Definition:
POME, n. [L. pomum.]  In botany, a pulpy pericarp without valves, containing a capsule or core, as the apple, pear, &c.
POME, v.i.  To grow to a head, or form a head in growing.  [Not used.]


Topic: Pomegranate
Definition:
POMEGRAN'ATE, n. [L. pomum, an apple, and granatum, grained.  See Grain and Granate.]
1.  The fruit of a tree belonging to the genus Punica.  This fruit is as large as an orange, having a hard rind filled with a soft pulp and numerous seeds.  It is of a reddish color.
2.  The tree that produces pomegranates.
3.  An ornament resembling a pomegranate, on the robe and ephod of the Jewish high priest.


Topic: Pomiferous
Definition:
POMIF'EROUS, a. [L. pomum, an apple, and fero, to produce.]
Apple-bearing; an epithet applied to plants which bear the larger fruits, such as melons, gourds, pumpkins, cucumbers, &c. in distinction from the bacciferous or berry-bearing plants.


Topic: Pomp
Definition:
POMP, n. [L. pompa; bombus; Eng. bomb, bombast.]
1.  A procession distinguished by ostentation of grandeur and splendor; as the pomp of a Roman triumph.
2.  Show of magnificence; parade; splendor.
 Hearts formed for love, but doom'd in vain to glow
 In prison'd pomp, and weep in splendid woe.


Topic: Pompholyx
Definition:
POM'PHOLYX,n. [L. from Gr. a tumor; a blast, a puff, a bubble, a pustule.  See Pomp.]  The white oxyd which sublimes during the combustion of zink; called flowers of zink. It rises and adheres to the dome of the furnace and the covers of crucibles.


Topic: Pompous
Definition:
POMP'OUS, a.
1.  Displaying pomp; showy with grandeur; splendid; magnificent; as a pompous procession; a pompous triumph.
2.  Ostentatious; boastful; as a pompous account of private adventures.


Topic: Pompousness
Definition:
POMP'OUSNESS, n.  The state of being pompous; magnificence; splendor; great display of show; ostentatiousness.


Topic: Pond
Definition:
POND, n. [L. pono; pontus, the sea.]
1.  A body of stagnant water without an outlet, larger than a puddle, and smaller than a lake; or a like body of water with a small outlet. In the United States, we give this name to collections of water in the interior country, which are fed by springs, and from which issues a small stream.  These ponds are often a mile or two or even more in length, and the current issuing from them is used to drive the wheels of mills and furnaces.
2.  A collection of water raised in a river by a dam, for the purpose of propelling mill-wheels. These artificial ponds are called mill-ponds.
Pond for fist.  [See Fish-pond.]
POND, v.t. [from the noun.]  To make a pond; to collect in a pond by stopping the current of a river.
POND, v.t.  To ponder.  [Not in use.]


Topic: Pond-weed
Definition:
POND'-WEED, n. [pond and weed.]  A plant of the genus Potamogeton.  The triple-headed pond-weed is of the genus Zannichellia.


Topic: Ponder
Definition:
PON'DER, v.t. [L. pondero, from pondo, pondus, a pound; pendeo,pendo, to weigh.]
1.  To weigh in the mind; to consider and compare the circumstances or consequences of an event, or the importance of the reasons for or against a decision.
 Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.  Luke 2.
2.  To view with deliberation; to examine.
 Ponder the path of thy feet. Prov.4.
 The Lord pondereth the hearts. Prov.21.
To ponder on, is sometimes used, but is not be to countenanced.


Topic: Ponderal
Definition:
PON'DERAL, a. [from L. pondus, weight.]  Estimated or ascertained by weight, as distinguished from numeral; as a ponderal drachma.


Topic: Ponderous
Definition:
PON'DEROUS, a. [L. ponderosus.]
1.  Very heavy; weighty; as a ponderous shield; a ponderous load.
2.  Important; momentous; as a ponderous project.  [This application of the word is unusual.]
3.  Forcible; strongly impulsive; as a motion vehement or ponderous; a ponderous blow.
Ponderous spar, heavy spar, or baryte.


Topic: Pongo
Definition:
PON'GO, n.  A name of the orang outang.
The name pongo was applied by Buffon to a large species of orang outang, which is now ascertained to have been an imaginary animal.  It is applied by Cuvier to the largest species of ape known, which inhabits Borneo, and resembles the true orang outang in its general form and erect position, but has the cheek pouches and lengthened muzzle of the baboon.  It has also been applied [Ed.Encyc.] to the Simia troglodytes or chimpanzee of Curvier, a native of W. Africa.


Topic: Poniard
Definition:
PONIARD, n. pon'yard. [L. pugnus.]  A small dagger; a pointed instrument for stabbing, borne in the hand or at the  girdle, or in the pocket.
PONIARD, v.t. pon'yard.  To pierce with a poniard; to stab.


Topic: Pontee
Definition:
PONTEE', n.  In glass words, an iron instrument used to stick the glass at the bottom, for the more convenient fashioning the neck of it.


Topic: Pontif
Definition:
PONT'IF, n. [L. pontifex; said to be from pons, a bridge, and facio, to make.]  A high priest.  The Romans had a college of pontifs; the Jews had their pontifs; and in modern times, the pope is called pontif or sovereign pontif.


Topic: Pontifical
Definition:
PONTIF'ICAL, a. [L. pontificalis.]  Belonging to a high priest; as pontifical authority; hence, belonging to the pope; popish.
1.  Splendid; magnificent.
2.  Bridge-building.  [Not used.]
PONTIF'ICAL, n.  A book containing rites and ceremonies ecclesiastical.
1.  The dress and ornaments of a priest or bishop.


Topic: Pontificate
Definition:
PONTIF'ICATE, n.  [L. pontificatus.]  The state or dignity of a high priest; particularly, the office or dignity of the pope.
 He turned hermit in the view of being advanced to the pontificate.
1.  The reign of a pope.
 Painting, sculpture and architecture may all recover themselves under the present pontificate.


Topic: Pontoon
Definition:
PONTOON', n. [L. pons, a bridge, probably from the root of pono, to lay.]
1.  A flat-bottomed boat, whose frame of wood is covered and lined with tin, or covered with copper; used in forming bridges over rivers for armies.
2.  A lighter; a low flat vessel resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans and other machinery; used in careening ships, chiefly in the Mediterranean.
Pontoon-bridge, is a bridge formed with pontoons, anchored or made fast in two lines, about five feet asunder.
Pontoon-Carriage, is made with two wheels only, and two long side pieces, whose fore ends are supported by timbers.


Topic: Pool
Definition:
POOL, n.  [L. palus; Gr. probably from setting, standing, like L. stagnum, or from issuing, as a spring.]
A small collection of water in a hollow place, supplied by a spring, and discharging its surplus water by an outlet. It is smaller than a lake, and in New England is never confounded with pond or lake. It signifies with us, a spring with a small basin or reservoir on the surface of the earth.  It is used by writers with more latitude, and sometimes signifies a body of stagnant water.
POOL


Topic: Poop
Definition:
POOP, n. [L. puppis; probably a projection.]
The highest and aftmost part of a ship's desk.
POOP, v.t.  To strike upon the stern, as a heavy sea.
1.  To strike the stern, as one vessel that runs her stem against another's stern.


Topic: Pooping
Definition:
POOP'ING, n.  The shock of a heavy sea on the stern or quarter of a ship, when scudding in a tempest; also, the action of one ship's running her stem against another's stern.


Topic: Poor
Definition:
POOR, a. [L. pauper.]
1.  Wholly destitute of property, or not having property sufficient for a comfortable subsistence; needy. It is often synonymous with indigent, and with necessitous, denoting extreme want; it is also applied to persons who are not entirely destitute of property, but are not rich; as a poor man or woman; poor people
2.  In law, so destitute of property as to be entitled to maintenance from the public.
3.  Destitute of strength, beauty or dignity; barren; mean; jejune; as a poor composition; a poor essay; a poor discourse.
4.  Destitute of value, worth or importance; of little use; trifling.
 That I have wronged no man, will be a poor plea or apology at the last day.
5.  Paltry; mean; of little value; as a poor coat; a poor house.
6.  Destitute of fertility; barren; exhausted; as poor land.  The ground is become poor.
7.  Of little worth; unimportant; as in my poor opinion.
8.  Unhappy; pitiable.
 Vex'd sailors curse the rain
 For which poor shepherds pray'd in vain.
9.  Mean; depressed; low; dejected; destitute of spirit.
 A soothsayer made Antonius believe that his genius,which was otherwise brave, was, in the presence of Octavianus, poor and cowardly.
    10. Lean; emaciated; as a poor horse. The ox is poor.
    11. Small, or of a bad quality; as a poor crop; a poor harvest.
    12. Uncomfortable; restless; ill. The patient has had a poor night.
    13. Destitute of saving grace. Rev.3.
    14. In general, wanting good qualities, or the qualities which render a thing valuable, excellent, proper, or sufficient for its purpose; as a poor pen; a poor ship; a poor carriage; poor fruit; poor bread; poor wine, &c.
    15. A word of tenderness or pity; dear.
 Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing.
    16. A word of slight contempt; wretched.
 The poor monk never saw many of the decrees and councils he had occasion to use.
    17. The poor, collectively, used as a noun; those who are destitute of property; the indigent; the needy; in a legal sense, those who depend on charity or maintenance by the public.
 I have observed the more public provisions are made for the poor, the less they provide for themselves.
Poor in spirit, in a Scriptural sense, humble; contrite; abased in one's own sight by a sense of guilt.  Matt.5.


Topic: Poorly
Definition:
POOR'LY, adv.  Without wealth; in indigence or want of the conveniences and comforts of life; as, to live poorly.
1.  With little or no success; with little growth, profit or advantage; as, wheat grows poorly on the Atlantic borders of New England; these men have succeeded poorly in business.
2.  Meanly; without spirit.
 Nor is their courage or their wealth so low,
 That from his wars they poorly would retire.
3.  Without excellence or dignity.  He performs poorly in elevated characters.
POOR'LY, a.  Somewhat ill; indisposed; not in health; a common use of the word in America.
 For three or four weeks past I have lost ground, having been poorly in health.


Topic: Poorness
Definition:
POOR'NESS, n.  Destitution of property; indigence; poverty; want; as the poorness of the exchequer.
 No less I hate him than the gates of hell,
 That poorness can force an untruth to tell.
[In this sense, we generally use poverty.]
1.  Meanness; lowness; want of dignity; as the poorness of language.
2.  Want of spirit; as poorness and degeneracy of spirit.
3.  Barrenness; sterility; as the poorness of land or soil.
4.  Unproductiveness; want of the metallic substance; as the poorness of ore.
5.  Smallness or bad quality; as the poorness of crops or of grain.
6.  Want of value or importance; as the poorness of a plea.
7.  Want of good qualities, or the proper qualities which constitute a thing good in its kind; as the poorness of a ship or of cloth.
8.  Narrowness; barrenness; want of capacity.
Poorness of spirit, in a theological sense, true humility or contrition of heart on account of sin.


Topic: Pop
Definition:
POP, n.  A small smart quick sound or report.
POP, v.i.  To enter or issue forth with a quick, sudden motion.
 I startled at his popping upon me unexpectedly.
1.  To dart; to start from place to place suddenly.
POP, v.t.  To thrust or push suddenly with a quick motion.
 He popp'd a paper into his hand.
Did'st thou never pop
 Thy head into a tinman's shop?
To pop off, to thrust away; to shift off.
POP, adv.  Suddenly; with sudden entrance or appearance.


Topic: Pope
Definition:
POPE, n. [Low L. papa.]
1.  The bishop of Rome, the head of the catholic church.
2.  A small fish, called also a ruff.


Topic: Popedom
Definition:
PO'PEDOM, n.  The place, office or dignity of the pope; papal dignity.
1.  The jurisdiction of the pope.


Topic: Popinjay
Definition:
POP'INJAY, n.
1.  A parrot.
2.  A woodpecker, a bird with a gay head.
 The green woodpecker, with a scarlet crown, a native of Europe.
3.  A gay, trifling young man; a fop or coxcomb.


Topic: Popish
Definition:
PO'PISH, a.  Relating to the pope; taught by the pope; pertaining to the pope or to the church of Rome; as popish tenets or ceremonies.


Topic: Popishly
Definition:
PO'PISHLY, adv.  In a popish manner; with a tendency to popery; as, to be popishly affected or inclined.


Topic: Poplar
Definition:
POP'LAR, n. [L. populus.]  A tree of the genus Populus, of several species, as the abele, the white poplar,the black poplar, the aspen-tree, &c. It is numbered among the aquatic trees.


Topic: Poppy
Definition:
POP'PY, n. [L. papaver.]  A plant of the genus Papaver, of several species, from one of which, the somniferum or white poppy, is collected opium. This is the milky juice of the capsule when half grown, which exudes from incisions in the cortical part of the capsule, is scraped off,and worked in an iron pot in the sun's heat, till it is of a consistence to form cakes.


Topic: Populace
Definition:
POP'ULACE, n. [L. populus.  See People.]  The common people; the vulgar; the multitude, comprehending all persons not distinguished by rank, education, office, profession or erudition.


Topic: Popular
Definition:
POP'ULAR, a. [L. popularis.  See People.]
1.  Pertaining to the common people; as the popular voice; popular elections.
 So the popular vote inclines.
2.  Suitable to common people; familiar; plain; easy to be comprehended; not critical or abstruse.
 Homilies are plain and popular instructions.
3.  Beloved by the people; enjoying the favor of the people; pleasing to people in general; as a popular governor; a popular preacher; a popular ministry; a popular discourse; a popular administration; a popular war or peace.  Suspect the man who endeavors to make that popular which is wrong.
4. Ambitious; studious of the favor of the people.
 A popular man is in truth no better than a prostitute to common fame and to the people.
[This sense is not used.  It is more customary to apply this epithet to a person who has already gained the favor of the people.]
5.  Prevailing among the people; extensively prevalent; as a popular disease.
6.  In law, a popular action is one which gives a penalty to the person that sues for the same.
[Note.  Popular, at least in the United States, is not synonymous with vulgar; the latter being applied to the lower classes of people, the illiterate and low bred; the former is applied to all classes, or to the body of the people, including a great portion at least of well educated citizens.]


Topic: Popularity
Definition:
POPULAR'ITY, n. [L. popularitas.]  Favor of the people; the state of possessing the affections and confidence of the people in general; as the popularity of the ministry; the popularity of a public officer or of a preacher.  It is applied also to things; as the popularity of a law or public measure; the popularity of a book or poem.  The most valuable trait in a patriot's character is to forbear all improper compliances for gaining popularity.
 I have long since learned the little value which is to be placed in popularity, acquired by any other way than virtue; I have also learned that it is often obtained by other means.
The man whose ruling principle is duty--is never perplexed with anxious corroding calculations of interest and popularity.
1.  Representation suited to vulgar or common conception; that which is intended or adapted to procure the favor of the people. [Little used.]


Topic: Popularize
Definition:
POP'ULARIZE, v.t.  To make popular or common; to spread among the people; as, to popularize philosophy or physics; to popularize a knowledge of chimical principles.


Topic: Popularly
Definition:
POP'ULARLY, adv.  In a popular manner; so as to please the populace.
 The victor knight,
 Bareheadaed, popularly low had bow'd.
1.  According to the conceptions of the common people.


Topic: Populate
Definition:
POP'ULATE, v.i. [L. populus.]  To breed people; to propagate.
 When there be great shoals of people which go on to populate.
POP'ULATE, v.t.  To people; to furnish with inhabitants, either by natural increase, or by immigration or colonization.


Topic: Population
Definition:
POPULA'TION, n.  The act or operation of peopling or furnishing with inhabitants; multiplication of inhabitants. The value of our western lands is annually enhanced by population.
1.  The whole number of people or inhabitants in a country.  The population of England is estimated at ten millions of souls; that of the United States in 1823, was ten millions.
 A country may have a great population, and yet not be populous.
2.  The state of a country with regard to its number of inhabitants, or rather with regard to its numbers compared with their expenses, consumption of goods and productions, and earnings.
 Neither is the population to be reckoned only by number; for a smaller number that spend more and earn less, do wear out an estate sooner than a greater number that live lower and gather more.


Topic: Populous
Definition:
POP'ULOUS, a. [L. populosus.]  Full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country.  A territory containing fifteen or twenty inhabitants to a square mile is not a populous country.  The Netherlands, and some parts of Italy, containing a hundred and fifty inhabitants to a square mile, are deemed populous.


Topic: Populousness
Definition:
POP'ULOUSNESS, n.  The state of having many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country.
 By populousness, in contradistinction to population, is understood the proportion the number bears to the surface of the ground they live on.


Topic: Porcelain
Definition:
POR'CELAIN, n. [L. portulaca.]
1.  The finest species of earthen ware, originally manufactured in China and Japan, but now made in several European countries.  All earthen wares which are white and semi-transparent, are called porcelains, but they differ much in their fineness and beauty.  The porcelain of China is said to be made of two species of earth, the petuntse, which is fusible, and the kaolin, which is not fusible, or not with the degree of heat which fuses the petuntse, and that in porcelain the substances are only semi-vitrified, or one substance only is vitrified, the other not.  Hence it is concluded that porcelain is an intermediate substance between earth and glass.  Hence the second degree of fusibility, of which emollescence is the first, is called by Kirwan the porcelain state.
2.  The plant called purslain, which see.


Topic: Porcellaneous
Definition:
PORCELLA'NEOUS, a. [from porcelain.]  Pertaining to or resembling porcelain; as porcellaneous shells.


Topic: Porcellanite
Definition:
POR'CELLANITE, n.  A silicious mineral, a species of jasper, of various colors.  It seems to be formed accidentally in coal mines which have indurated and semi-vitrified beds of coal-shale or slate-clay.  It is sometimes marked with vegetable impressions of a brick red color.


Topic: Porch
Definition:
PORCH, n. [L. porticus, from porta, a gate, entrance or passage, or from portus, a shelter.]
1.  In architecture, a kind of vestibule supported by columns at the entrance of temples, halls, churches or other buildings.
2.  A portico; a covered walk.
3.  By way of distinction, the porch, was a public portico in Athens, where Zeno, the philosopher, taught his disciples.  It was called the painted porch, from the pictures of Polygnotus and other eminent painters, with which it was adorned.  Hence, the Porch is equivalent to the school of the Stoics.


Topic: Porcine
Definition:
POR'CINE, a. [L. porcinus, from porcus.  See Pork.]
Pertaining to swine; as the porcine species of animals.


Topic: Porcupine
Definition:
POR'CUPINE, n. [L. porcus; spina, a spine or thorn.]
In zoology, a quadruped of the genus Hystrix.  The crested porcupine has a body about two feet in length, four toes on each of the fore feet, and five on each of the hind feet, a crested head, a short tail, and the upper lip divided like that of the hare.  The body is covered with prickles which are very sharp, and some of them nine or ten inches long; these he can erect at pleasure.  When attacked, he rolls his body into a round form, in which position the prickles are presented in every direction to the enemy.  This species is a native of Africa and Asia.


Topic: Porcupine-fish
Definition:
POR'CUPINE-FISH, n. A fish which is covered with spines or prickles.  It is of the diodon kind,and about fourteen inches in length.


Topic: Pore
Definition:
PORE, n. [Gr. to go, to pass.; Eng. to fare.  See Fare.]
1.  In anatomy, a minute interstice in the skin of an animal, through which the perspirable matter passes to the surface or is excreted.
2.  A small spiracle, opening or passage in other substances; as the pores of plants or of stones.
PORE, v.i. [Gr. to inspect.]  To look with steady continued attention or application.  To pore on, is to read or examine with steady perseverance, to dwell on; and the word seems to be limited in its application to the slow patient reading or examination of books, or something written or engraved.
 Painfully to pore upon a book.
 With sharpened sight pale antiquaries pore.


Topic: Porism
Definition:
PO'RISM, n. [Gr. acquisition, to gain, a passing, to pass.]
In geometry, a name given by ancient geometers to two classes of propositions.  Euclid gave this name to propositions involved in others which he was investigating, and obtained without a direct view to their discovery.  These he called acquisitions, but such propositions are now called corollaries.  A porism is defined, 'a proposition affirming the possibility of finding such conditions as will render a certain problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions.'  It is not a theorem, nor a problem, or rather it includes both.  It asserts that a certain problem may become indeterminate, and so far it partakes of the nature of a theorem, and in seeking to discover the conditions by which this may be effected, it partakes of the nature of a problem.


Topic: Pork
Definition:
PORK, n. [L. porcus, a hog or pig; porca, a ridge; or from his snout and rooting.]  The flesh of swine, fresh or salted, used for food.


Topic: Porous
Definition:
PO'ROUS, a. [from pore.]  Having interstices in the skin or substance of the body; having spiracles or passages for fluids; as a porous skin; porous wood; porous earth.


Topic: Porousness
Definition:
PO'ROUSNESS, n.  The quality of having pores, porosity; as the porousness of the skin of an animal, or of wood, or of fossils.
1.  The porous parts. [Not authorized.]


Topic: Porpess
Definition:
POR'PESS, n.  In zoology, a cetaceous fish of the genus Delphinus, whose back is usually blackish or brown, whence it is called in Dutch, bruinvisch, brown fish; the body is thick towards the head, but more slender towards the tail, which is semi-lunar.  This fish preys on other fish, and seeks food not only by swimming, but by rooting like a hog in the sand and mud, whence some persons suppose the name has been given to it.
 Of cetaceous fish, we met with porpesses, or as some sailors call them, sea-hogs.


Topic: Porphyraceous
Definition:
PORPHYRA'CEOUS, a.  [See Porphyry.]  Pertaining to porphyry; resembling porphyry.
1.  Containing or composed of porphyry; as porphyraceous mountains.


Topic: Porphyry
Definition:
POR'PHYRY, n. [Gr. purple; L. porphyrites.]  A mineral consisting of a homogeneous ground with crystals of some other mineral imbedded, giving to the mass a speckled complexion.  One variety of Egyptian porphyry has a purple ground, whence the name of the species; but the homogeneous ground with imbedded crystals, being all that is essential to porphyry, its composition and colors are consequently various.
Porphyry is very hard, and susceptible of a fine polish.
Porphyry is composed of paste in which are disseminated a multitude of little angular and granuliform parts, of a color different from the ground.


Topic: Porphyry-shell
Definition:
PORPHYRY-SHELL, n.  An animal or shell of the genus Murex.  It is of the snail kind, the shell consisting of one spiral valve.  From one species of this genus was formerly obtained a liquor that produced the Tyrian purple.


Topic: Porraceous
Definition:
PORRA'CEOUS, a. [L. porraceus, from porrum, a leek or onion.]
Greenish; resembling the leek in color.


Topic: Porrection
Definition:
PORREC'TION, n. [L. porrectio,porrigo; per or por; Eng. for, fore, and rego; to reach.]  The act of stretching forth.  [Not used.]


Topic: Porridge
Definition:
POR'RIDGE,n. [L. farrago, or from porrum, a leek.]
A kind of food made by boiling meat in water; broth.
This mixture is usually called in America, broth or soup, but not porridge. With us, porridge is a mixture of meal or flour, boiled with water.  Perhaps this distinction is not always observed.


Topic: Porringer
Definition:
POR'RINGER, n.
1.  A small metal vessel in which children eat porridge or milk, or used in the nursery for warming liquors.
2.  A head-dress in the shape of a porringer; in contempt.


Topic: Port
Definition:
PORT, n. [L. portus, porto, to carry; L. fero; Eng. to bear.]
1.  A harbor; a haven; any bay,cove, inlet or recess of the sea or of a lake or the mouth of a river, which ships or vessels can enter, and where they can lie safe from injury by storms.  Ports may be natural or artificial, and sometimes works of art, as piers and moles, are added to the natural shores of a place to render a harbor more safe.  The word port is generally applied to spacious harbors much resorted to be ships, as the port of London or of Boston, and not to small bays or coves which are entered occasionally, or in stress of weather only.  Harbor includes all places of safety for shipping.
2.  A gate. [L. porta.]
 From their ivory port the cherubim
 Forth issued.
3.  An embrasure or opening in the side of a ship of war, through which cannon are discharged; a port-hole.
4.  The lid which shuts a port-hole.
5.  Carriage; air; mien; manner of movement or walk; demeanor; external appearance; as a proud port; the port of a gentleman.
 Their port was more than human.
 With more terrific port
 Thou walkest.
6.  In seamen's language,the larboard or left side of a ship; as in the phrase,'the ship heels to port.'  'Port the helm,' is an order to put the helm to the larboard side.
7.  A kind of wine made in Portugal; so called from Oporto.
of the voice, in music, the faculty or habit of making the shakes, passages and diminutions, in which the beauty of a song consists.
PORT, v.t.  To carry in form; as ported spears.
1.  To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship.  See the noun, No.6.  It is used in the imperative.


Topic: Port-bar
Definition:
PORT-BAR, n.  A bar to secure the ports of a ship in a gale of wind.
Port-charges, in commerce, charges to which a ship or its cargo is subjected in a harbor, as wharfage, &c.


Topic: Port-fire
Definition:
PORT-FIRE, n.  A composition for setting fire to powder, &c. frequently used in preference to a match.  It is wet or dry.  The wet is composed of saltpeter, four parts, of sulphur one, and of mealed powder four; mixed and sifted,moistened with a little lintseed oil,and well rubbed. The dry is composed of saltpeter, four parts, sulphur one, mealed powder two, and antimony one.  These compositions are driven into small papers for use.


Topic: Portable
Definition:
PORTABLE, a. [L. porto, to carry.]
1.  That may be carried by the hand or about the person, on horseback, or in a traveling vehicle; not bulky or heavy; that may be easily conveyed from place to place with one's traveling baggage; as a portable bureau or secretary.
2.  That may be carried from place to place.
3.  That may be borne along with one.
 The pleasure of the religious man is an easy and portable pleasure.
4.  Sufferable; supportable. [Not in use.]


Topic: Portage
Definition:
PORTAGE, n.  The act of carrying.
1.  The price of carriage.
2.  A port-hole. [Unusual.]
3.  A carrying place over land between navigable waters.


Topic: Portal
Definition:
PORTAL, n.  In architecture, a little gate, where there are two gates of different dimensions.
1.  A little square corner of a room, separated from the rest by a wainscot, and forming a short passage into a room.
2.  A kind of arch of joiner's work before a door.
3.  A gate; an opening for entrance; as the portals of heaven.


Topic: Portcullis
Definition:
PORTCUL'LIS, n. [L. clausus.]  In fortification, an assemblage of timbers joined across one another, like those of a harrow, and each pointed with iron; hung over the gateway of a fortified town, to be let down in case of surprise, to prevent the entrance of an enemy.
PORTCUL'LIS, v.t.  To shut; to bar; to obstruct.


Topic: Porte
Definition:
PORTE, n.  The Ottoman court, so called from the gate of the Sultan's palace where justice is administered; as the Sublime Porte.


Topic: Portend
Definition:
PORTEND', v.t. [L. portendo; por; Eng. fore, and tendo, to stretch.]   To foreshow; to foretoken; to indicate something future by previous signs.
 A moist and cool summer portends a hard winter.


Topic: Portent
Definition:
PORTENT', n. [L. portentum.]  An omen of ill; any previous sign or prodigy indicating the approach of evil or calamity.
 My loss by dire portents the god foretold.


Topic: Portentous
Definition:
PORTENT'OUS, a. [L. portentosus.]  Ominous; foreshowing ill.  Ignorance and superstition hold meteors to be portentous.
1.  Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; in an ill sense.
 No beast of more portentous size,
 In the Hercynian forest lies.


Topic: Porter
Definition:
PORTER, n. [L. porta, a gate.]
1.  A man that has the charge of a door or gate; a door-keeper.
2.  One that waits at the door to receive messages.
3.  [L. porto.]  A carrier; a person who carries or conveys burdens for hire.
4.  A malt liquor which differs from ale and pale beer, in being made with high dried malt.


Topic: Porterage
Definition:
PORTERAGE, n.  Money charged or paid for the carriage of burdens by a porter.
1.  The business of a porter or door-keeper.


Topic: Portfolio
Definition:
PORTFOLIO, n. [L. folium.]  A case of the size of a large book, to keep loose papers in.
To have or hold the portfolio, is to hold the office of minister of foreign affairs.


Topic: Portion
Definition:
PORTION, n. [L. portio, from partio, to divide, from pars, part. See Part.]
1.  In general, a part of any thing separated from it.  Hence,
2.  A part, though not actually divided, but considered by itself.
 These are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him.  Job.26.
3.  A part assigned; an allotment; a dividend.
 How small
 A portion to your share would fall.
 The priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh. Gen.47.
4.  The part of an estate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate.
5.  A wife's fortune.
PORTION, v.t.  To divide; to parcel; to allot a share or shares.
 And portion to his tribes the wide domain.
1.  To endow.
 Him portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans blest.


Topic: Portionist
Definition:
PORTIONIST, n.  One who has a certain academical allowance or portion.
1.  The incumbent of a benefice which has more rectors or vicars than one.


Topic: Portland-stone
Definition:
PORTLAND-STONE, n.  A compact sandstone from the isle of Portland in England, which forms a calcarious cement.


Topic: Portliness
Definition:
PORTLINESS, n. [from portly.]  Dignity of mien or of personal appearance, consisting in size and symmetry of body, with dignified manners and demeanor.


Topic: Portly
Definition:
PORTLY, a. [from port.]  Grand or dignified in mien; of a noble appearance and carriage.
1.  Bulky; corpulent.


Topic: Portmanteau
Definition:
PORTMAN'TEAU, n. [L. mantele.]  A bag usually made of leather, for carrying apparel and other furniture on journeys, particularly on horseback.


Topic: Portoise
Definition:
PORTOISE, n.  The gunwale of a ship.
To lower the yards a portlast, is to lower them to the gunwale.
To ride a portoise, is to have the lower yards and top-masts struck or lowered down, when at anchor in a gale of wind.


Topic: Portrait
Definition:
PORTRAIT, n. [Eng. to portray; pour; for, fore, and traire; L. trahere; Eng. to draw.]  A picture or representation of a person, and especially of a face, drawn from the life.
 In portraits, the grace, and we may add, the likeness, consist more in the general air than in the exact similitude of every feature.
PORTRAIT, v.t.  To portray; to draw.  [Not used.]


Topic: Portray
Definition:
PORTRA'Y, v.t.
1.  To paint or draw the likeness of any thing in colors; as, to portray a king on horseback; to portray a city or temple with a pencil or with chalk.
2.  To describe in words. It belongs to the historian to portray the character of Alexander of Russia. Homer portrays the character and achievements of his heroes in glowing colors.
3.  To adorn with pictures; as shields portrayed.


Topic: Portreeve
Definition:
PORTREEVE, n. [L. portus, a port.]  Formerly, the chief magistrate of a port or maritime town. This officer is now called mayor or bailiff.


Topic: Pose
Definition:
POSE, n. s as z.  [See the Verb.]  In heraldry, a lion, horse or other beast standing still, with all his feet on the ground.
POSE, n. s as z.  A stuffing of the head; catarrh.
POSE, v.t. s as z.  [L. posui.]
1.  To puzzle, [a word of the same origin;]  to set; to put to a stand or stop; to gravel.
 Learning was pos'd, philosophy was set.

 I design not to pose them with those common enigmas of magnetism.
2.  To puzzle or put to a stand by asking difficult questions; to set by questions; hence, to interrogate closely, or with a view to scrutiny.


Topic: Posited
Definition:
POS'ITED, a. [L. positus, from pono, to put; probably however, pono is a different root, and positus from the root of pose.]
Put; set; placed.


Topic: Position
Definition:
POSI'TION, n. [L. positio, form positus.  See Pose and Posited.]
1.  State of being placed; situation; often with reference to other objects, or to different parts of the same object.
 We have different prospects of the same thing according to our different positions to it.
2.  Manner of standing or being placed; attitude; as an inclining position.
3.  Principle laid down; proposition advanced or affirmed as a fixed principle, or stated as the ground of reasoning, or to be proved.
 Let not the proof of any position depend on the positions that follow, but always on those which precede.
4.  The advancement of any principle.
5.  State; condition.
 Great Britain, at the peace of 1763, stood in a position to prescribe her own terms.
6.  In grammar, the state of a vowel placed between two consonants, as in pompous, or before a double consonant, as in axle.  In prosody, vowels are said to be long or short by position.


Topic: Positive
Definition:
POS'ITIVE, a. [Low L. positivus.]
1.  Properly, set; laid down; expressed; direct; explicit; opposed to implied; as, he told us in positive words; we have his positive declaration to the fact; the testimony is positive.
2.  Absolute; express; not admitting any condition or discretion.  The commands of the admiral are positive.
3.  Absolute; real; existing in fact; opposed to negative, as positive good, which exists by itself, whereas negative good is merely the absence of evil; or opposed to relative or arbitrary, as beauty is not a positive thing, but depends on the different tastes of people.
4.  Direct; express; opposed to circumstantial; as positive proof.
5.  Confident; fully assured; applied to persons.  The witness is very positive that he is correct in his testimony.
6.  Dogmatic; over-confident in opinion or assertion.
 Some positive persisting fops we know,
 That, if once wrong, will needs be always so.
7.  Settled by arbitrary appointment; opposed to natural or inbred.
 In laws, that which is natural, bindeth universally; that which is positive, not so.
 Although no laws but positive are mutable, yet all are not mutable which are positive.
8.  Having power to act directly; as a positive voice in legislation.
Positive degree, in grammar, is the state of an adjective which denotes simple or absolute quality, without comparison or relation to increase or diminution; as wise, noble.
Positive electricity, according to Dr. Franklin, consists in a superabundance of the fluid in a substance.  Others suppose it to consist in a tendency of the fluid outwards.  It is not certain in what consists the difference between positive and negative electricity.  Positive electricity being produced by rubbing glass, is called the vitreous; negative electricity, produced by rubbing amber or resin, is called the resinous.
POS'ITIVE, n.  What is capable of being affirmed; reality.
1.  That which settles by absolute appointment.
2.  In grammar, a word that affirms or asserts existence.


Topic: Positively
Definition:
POS'ITIVELY, adv.  Absolutely; by itself, independent of any thing else; not comparatively.
 Good and evil removed may be esteemed good or evil comparatively, and not positively or simply.
1.  Not negatively; really; in its own nature; directly; inherently.  A thing is positively good, when it produces happiness by its own qualities or operation.  It is negatively good,when it prevents an evil, or does not produce it.
2.  Certainly; indubitably.  This is positively your handwriting.
3.  Directly; explicitly; expressly.  The witness testified positively to the fact.
4.  Peremptorily; in strong terms.
 The divine law positively requires humility and meekness.
5.  With full confidence or assurance.  I cannot speak positively in regard to the fact.
Positively electrified, in the science of electricity.  A body is said to be positively electrified or charged with electric matter, when it contains a superabundance of the fluid, and negatively electrified or charged, when some part of the fluid which it naturally contains, has been taken from it.
According to other theorists, when the electric fluid is directed outwards from a body,the substance is electrified positively; but when it is entering or has a tendency to enter another substance, the body is supposed to be negatively electrified. The two species of electricity attract each other, and each repels its own kind.


Topic: Positiveness
Definition:
POS'ITIVENESS, n.  Actualness; reality of existence; not mere negation.
The positiveness of sins of commission lies both in the habitude of the will and in the executed act too; the positiveness of sins of omission is in the habitude of the will only.
1.  Undoubting assurance; full confidence; peremptoriness; as, the man related the facts with positiveness. In matters of opinion, positiveness is not an indication of prudence.


Topic: Pospolite
Definition:
POS'POLITE, n.  A kind of militia in Poland, consisting of the gentry, who in case of invasion, are summoned to arms for the defense of the country.
Posse comitatus, in law, the power of the country, or the citizens, who are summoned to assist an officer in suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed.  The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone is used in the same sense.
1.  In low language, a number or crowd of people; a rabble.


Topic: Possess
Definition:
POSSESS', v.t. [L. possessus, possideo, a compound of po, a Russian preposition, perhaps by, and sedeo, to sit; to sit in or on.
1.  To have the just and legal title, ownership or property of a thing; to own; to hold the title of, as the rightful proprietor, or to hold both the title and the thing.  A man may possess the farm which he cultivates,or he may possess an estate in a foreign country, not in his own occupation.  He may possess many farms which are occupied by tenants.  In this as in other cases, the original sense of the word is enlarged, the holding or tenure being applied to the title or right, as well as to the thing itself.
2.  To hold; to occupy without title or ownership.
 I raise up the Chaldeans, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. Hab.1.
 Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own.  Acts.4.
3.  To have; to occupy.  The love of the world usually possesses the heart.
4.  To seize; to gain; to obtain the occupation of.
 The English marched towards the river Eske, intending to possess a hill called Under-Eske.
5.  To have power over; as an invisible agent or spirit.  
Luke 8.
 Beware what spirit rages in your breast;
 For ten inspired, ten thousand are possess'd.
6.  To affect by some power.
 Let not your ears despise my tongue,
 Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
 That ever yet they heard.
To possess of, or with, more properly to possess of, is to give possession, command or occupancy.
 Of fortune's favor long possess'd
 This possesses us of the most valuable blessing of human life, friendship.
To possess one's self of, to take or gain possession or command; to make one's self master of.
 We possessed ourselves of the kingdom of Naples.
To possess with, to furnish or fill with something permanent; or to be retained.
 It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention.

 If they are possessed with honest minds.


Topic: Possession
Definition:
POSSES'SION, n.  The having, holding or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy, either rightful or wrongful.  One man may have the possession of a thing, and another may have the right of possession or property.
 If the possession is severed from the property; if A has the right of property, and B by unlawful means has gained possession, this is an injury to A.  This is a bare or naked possession.
In bailment, the bailee, who receives goods to convey, or to keep for a time, has the possession of the goods, and a temporary right over them, but not the property.  Property in possession, includes both the right and the occupation.  Long undisturbed possession is presumptive proof of right or property in the possessor.
1.  The thing possessed; land, estate or goods owned; as foreign possessions.
 The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Obad.17.
 When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Matt.19.
2.  Any thing valuable possessed or enjoyed. Christian peace of mind is the best possession of life.
3.  The state of being under the power of demons or invisible beings; madness; lunacy; as demoniacal possession.
Writ of possession, a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment.
To take possession, to enter on, or to bring within one's power or occupancy.
To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy.
POSSES'SION, v.t.  To invest with property.  [Not used.]


Topic: Possessive
Definition:
POSSESS'IVE, a. [L. possessivus.]  Pertaining to possession; having possession.
Possessive case, in English grammar, is the genitive case, or case of nouns and pronouns, which expresses, 1st, possession, ownership, as John's book; or 2dly, some relation of one thing to another, as Homer's admirers.


Topic: Possessor
Definition:
POSSESS'OR, n.  An occupant; one that has possession; a person who holds in his hands or power any species of property, real or personal.  The owner or proprietor of property is the permanent possessor by legal right; the lessee of land and the bailee of goods are temporary possessors by right; the disseizor of land and the thief are wrongful possessors.
1.  One that has, holds or enjoys any good or other thing.
 Think of the happiness of the prophets and apostles, saints and martyrs, possessors of eternal glory.


Topic: Possessory
Definition:
POSSESS'ORY, a.  Having possession; as a possessory lord.
Possessory action, in law, an action or suit in which the right of possession only, and not that of property, is contested.


Topic: Possibility
Definition:
POSSIBIL'ITY, n. [from possible.]  The power of being or existing; the power of happening; the state of being possible.  It often implies improbability or great uncertainty.  There is a possibility that a new star may appear this night.  There is a possibility of a hard frost in July in our latitude.  It is not expedient to hazard much on the bare possibility of success.  It is prudent to reduce contracts to writing, and to render them so explicit as to preclude the possibility of mistake or controversy.


Topic: Possible
Definition:
POS'SIBLE, a. [L. possibilis, from posse.  See Power.]
That may be or exist; that may be now, or may happen or come to pass; that may be done; not contrary to the nature of things.  It is possible that the Greeks and Turks may now be engaged in battle.  It is possible that peace of Europe may continue a century.  It is not physically possible that a stream should ascend a mountain, but it is possible that the Supreme Being may suspend a law of nature, that is, his usual course of proceeding.  It is not possible that 2 and 3 should be 7, or that the same action should be morally right and morally wrong.
This word when pronounced with a certain emphasis, implies improbability.  A thing is possible, but very improbable.


Topic: Possibly
Definition:
POS'SIBLY, adv.  By any power, moral or physical, really existing.  Learn all that can possibly be known.
 Can we possibly his love desert?
1.  Perhaps; without absurdity.
 Arbitrary power tends to make a man a bad sovereign, who might possibly have been a good one, had he been invested with authority circumscribed by laws.


Topic: Post
Definition:
POST, a.  Suborned; hired to do what is wrong.  [Not in use.]
POST, n. [L. postis, from positus, the given participle of pono, to place.]
1.  A piece of timber set upright, usually larger than a stake, and intended to support something else; as the posts of a  house; the posts of a door; the posts of a gate; the posts of a fence.
2.  A military station; the place where a single soldier or a body of troops is stationed.  The sentinel must not desert his post.  The troops are ordered to defend the post.  Hence,
3.  The troops stationed in a particular place, or the ground they occupy.
4.  A public office or employment, that is, a fixed place or station.
 When vice prevails and impious men bear sway,
 The post of honor is a private station.
5.  A messenger or a carrier of letters and papers; one that goes at stated times to convey the mail or dispatches.  This sense also denotes fixedness, either from the practice of using relays of horses stationed at particular places, or of stationing men for carrying dispatches, or from the fixed stages where they were to be supplied with refreshment.  [See Stage.]  Xenophon informs us the Cyrus, king of Persia, established such stations or houses.
6.  A seat or situation.
7.  A sort of writing paper, such as is used for letters; letter paper.
8.  An old game at cards.
To ride post, to be employed to carry dispatches and papers, and as such carriers rode in haste, hence the phrase signifies to ride in haste, to pass with expedition.  Post is used also adverbially, for swiftly, expeditiously, or expressly.
 Sent from Media post to Egypt.
Hence, to travel post, is to travel expeditiously by the use of fresh horses taken at certain stations.
Knight of the post, a fellow suborned or hired to do a bad action.
POST, v.i.  To travel with speed.
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest.
POST, v.t.  To fix to a post; as, to post a notification.
1.  To expose to public reproach by fixing the name to a post; to expose to opprobrium by some public action; as, to post a coward.
2.  To advertise on a post or in a public place; as, to post a stray horse.
3.  To set; to place; to station; as, to post troops on a hill, or in front or on the flank of an army.
4.  In book-keeping, to carry accounts from the waste-book or journal to the ledger.
To post off, to put off; to delay.  [Not used.]
POST, a Latin preposition, signifying after.  It is used in this sense in composition in many English words.


Topic: Post-disseizin
Definition:
POST-DISSE'IZIN, n.  A subsequent disseizin.  A writ of post-disseizin is intended to put in possession a person who has been disseized after a judgment to recover the same lands of the same person, under the statute of Merton.


Topic: Post-disseizor
Definition:
POST-DISSE'IZOR, n.  A person who disseizes another of lands which he had before recovered of the same person.


Topic: Post-fine
Definition:
POST-FINE, n.  In English law, a fine due to the king by prerogative, after a licentia concordandi given in a fine of lands and tenements; called also the king's silver.


Topic: Post-haste
Definition:
POST-HASTE, n.  Haste or speed in traveling, like that of a post or courier.
POST-HASTE, adv.  With speed or expedition. He traveled post-haste, that is, by an ellipsis, with post-haste.


Topic: Post-house
Definition:
POST-HOUSE, n.  A house where a post-office is kept for receiving and dispatching letters by public mails; a post-office. 
[The latter word is now in general use.]


Topic: Post-note
Definition:
POST-NOTE, n. [post and note.]  In commerce, a bank note intended to be transmitted to a distant place by the public mail,and made payable to order. In this it differs from a common bank note, which is payable to the bearer.


Topic: Post-office
Definition:
POST-OFFICE, n.  An office or house where letters are received for delivery to the persons to whom they are addressed, or to be transmitted to other places in the public mails; a post-house.


Topic: Post-town
Definition:
POST-TOWN, n. A town in which a post-office is established by law.
1.  A town in which post-horses are kept.


Topic: Postage
Definition:
POSTAGE, n.  The price established by law to be paid for the conveyance of a letter in a public mail.
1.  A portage.  [Not used.]


Topic: Postdate
Definition:
POSTDA'TE, v.t. [L. post, after, and date, L. datum.]
To date after the real time; as, to postdate a contract, that is, to date it after the true time of making the contract.


Topic: Postea
Definition:
POSTEA, n. [L.]  The record of what is done in a cause subsequent to the joining of issue and awarding of trial.


Topic: Posted
Definition:
POSTED, pp.  Placed; stationed.
1.  Exposed on a post or by public notice.
2.  Carried to a ledger, as accounts.


Topic: Posterior
Definition:
POSTE'RIOR, a. [from L. posterus, from post.]
1.  Later or subsequent in time.
 Hesiod was posterior to Homer.
2.  Later in the order of proceeding or moving; coming after. [Unfrequent.]


Topic: Posteriority
Definition:
POSTERIOR'ITY, n.  The state of being later or subsequent; as posteriority of time or of an event; opposed to priority.


Topic: Posterity
Definition:
POSTER'ITY, n. [L. posteritas, from posterus, from post, after.]
1.  Descendants; children, children's children, &c. indefinitely; the race that proceeds from a progenitor.  The whole human race are the posterity of Adam.
2.  In a general sense, succeeding generations; opposed to ancestors.
 To the unhappy that unjustly bleed,
 Heav'n gives posterity t' avenge the deed.


Topic: Postern
Definition:
POSTERN, n. [L. post, behind.]
1.  Primarily, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate.
2.  In fortification , a small gate, usually in the angle of the flank of a bastion, or in that of the curtain or near the orillon, descending into the ditch.
POSTERN, a.  Back; being behind; private.


Topic: Postfix
Definition:
POSTFIX, n. [L. post, after, and fix.]  In grammar, a letter, syllable or word added to the end of another word; a suffix.


Topic: Posthumous
Definition:
POST'HUMOUS, a. [L. post, after, and humus, earth; humatus,buried.]
1.  Born after the death of the father, or taken from the dead body of the mother; as a posthumous son or daughter.
2.  Published after the death of the author; as posthumous works.
3.  Being after one's decease; as a posthumous character.


Topic: Postil
Definition:
POS'TIL, n. [L. post.]  A marginal note; originally, a note in the margin of the Bible, so called because written after the text.
POS'TIL, v.t.  To write marginal notes; to gloss; to illustrate with marginal notes.


Topic: Postiler
Definition:
POS'TILER, n.  One who writes marginal notes; one who illustrates the text of a book by notes in the margin.


Topic: Postillion
Definition:
POSTILLION, n. postil'yon.  One that rides and guides the first pair of horses in a coach or other carriage; also, one that rides one of the horses, when one pair only is used, either in a coach or post-chaise.


Topic: Posting
Definition:
POSTING, ppr.  Setting up on a post; exposing the name or character to reproach by public advertisement.
1.  Placing; stationing.
2.  Transferring accounts to a ledger.


Topic: Postmaster
Definition:
POSTMASTER, n.  The officer who has the superintendence and direction of a post-office.
Postmaster-general, is the chief officer of the post-office department, whose duty is to make contracts for the conveyance of the public mails and see that they are executed, and who receives the moneys arising from the postage of letters, pays the expenses, keeps the accounts of the office, and superintends the whole department.


Topic: Postmeridian
Definition:
POSTMERID'IAN, a. [L. postmeridianus.  See Meridian.]
Being or belonging to the afternoon; as postmeridian sleep.


Topic: Postnuptial
Definition:
POSTNUPTIAL, a. [post and nuptial.] Being or happening after marriage; as a postnuptial settlement on a wife.


Topic: Postpone
Definition:
POSTPO'NE, v.t. [L. postpono; post, after, and pono, to put.]
1.  To put off; to defer to a future or later time; to delay; as, to postpone the consideration of a bill or question to the afternoon, or to the following day.
2.  To set below something else in value or importance.
 All other considerations should give way and be postponed to this.


Topic: Postscript
Definition:
POSTSCRIPT, n. [L. post, after, and scriptum, written.]
A paragraph added to a letter after it is concluded and signed by the writer; or any addition made to a book or composition after it had been supposed to be finished, containing something omitted, or something new occurring to the writer.


Topic: Postulate
Definition:
POS'TULATE, n. [L. postulatum, from postulo, to demand, from the root of posco, to ask or demand.  The sense is to urge or push.]
A position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident, or too plain to require illustration.
 A self-evident problem, answering to axiom, which is a self-evident theorem.
POS'TULATE, v.t. [supra.]  To beg or assume without proof.  [Little used.]
1.  To invite; to solicit; to require by entreaty.
2.  To assume; to take without positive consent.
 The Byzantine emperors appear to have exercised, or at least to have postulated a sort of paramount supremacy over this nation.


Topic: Postulation
Definition:
POSTULA'TION, n. [L. postulatio.]  The act of supposing without proof; gratuitous assumption.
1.  Supplication; intercession; also, suit; cause.


Topic: Posture
Definition:
POS'TURE, n. [L. positura; pono, positus.]
1.  In painting and sculpture, attitude; the situation of a figure with regard to the eye, and of the several principal members with regard to each other, by which action is expressed.  Postures should be accommodated to the character of the figure, and the posture of each member to its office.  Postures are natural or artificial.  Natural postures are such as our ordinary actions and the occasions of life lead us to exhibit; artificial postures are such as are assumed or learnt for particular purposes, or in particular occupations, as in dancing, fencing, &c.
2.  Situation; condition; particular state with regard to something else; as the posture of public affairs before or after a war.
3.  Situation of the body; as an abject posture.
4.  State; condition.  The fort is in a posture of defense.
5.  The situation or disposition of the several parts of the body with respect to each other, or with respect to a particular purpose.
 He casts
 His eyes against the moon in most strange postures.

 The posture of a poetic figure is the description of the heroes in the performance of such or such an action.
6.  Disposition; frame; as the posture of the soul.
POS'TURE, v.t.  To place in a particular manner; to dispose the parts of a body for a particular purpose.
 He was raw with posturing himself according to the direction of the chirurgeons.


Topic: Pot
Definition:
POT, n.
1.  A vessel more deep than broad, made of earth, or iron or other metal, used for several domestic purposes; as an iron pot, for boiling meat or vegetables; a pot for holding liquors; a cup, as a pot of ale; an earthen pot for plants, called a flower pot, &c.
2.  A sort of paper of small sized sheets.
To go to pot, to be destroyed, ruined, wasted or expended.  [A low phrase.]
POT, v.t. To preserve seasoned in pots; as potted fowl and fish.
1.  To inclose or cover in pots of earth.
2.  To put in casks for draining; as, to pot sugar, by taking it from the cooler and placing it in hogsheads with perforated heads, from which the molasses percolates through the spongy stalk of a plantain leaf.


Topic: Pot-companion
Definition:
POT-COMPAN'ION, n.  An associate or companion in drinking; applied generally to habitual hard drinkers.


Topic: Pot-hook
Definition:
POT'-HOOK, n.  A hook on which pots and kettles are hung over the fire.
1. A letter or character like a pot-hook; a scrawled letter.


Topic: Potable
Definition:
PO'TABLE, a. [Low L. potabilis; from L. poto, to drink; potus, drink; Gr. to drink.]  Drinkable; that may be drank; as water fresh and potable.
 Rivers run potable gold.
PO'TABLE, n.  Something that may be drank.


Topic: Potage
Definition:
POT'AGE, n.  A species of food made of meat boiled to softness in water, usually with some vegetables or sweet herbs.


Topic: Potash
Definition:
POT'ASH, n. [pot and ashes.]  The popular name of vegetable fixed alkali in an impure state, procured from the ashes of plants by lixiviation and evaporation.  The matter remaining after evaporation is refined in a crucible or furnace, and the extractive substance burnt off or dissipated.  Refined potash is called pearlash.  The plants which yield the greatest quantity of potash are wormwood and fumitory.
By recent discoveries of Sir H. Davy, it appears that potash is a metallic oxyd; the metal is called potassium, and the alkali, in books of science, is called potassa.


Topic: Potassium
Definition:
POTAS'SIUM, n.  A name given to the metallic basis of vegetable alkali.  According to Dr. Davy, 100 parts of potash consist of 86.1 parts of the basis, and 13.9 of oxygen.
Potassium has the most powerful affinity for oxygen of all substances known; it takes it from every other compound, and hence is a most important agent in chimical analysis.


Topic: Potation
Definition:
POTA'TION, n. [L. potatio.  See Potable.]
1.  A drinking or drinking bout.
2.  A draught.
3.  A species of drink.


Topic: Potato
Definition:
POTA'TO, n.  A plant and esculent root of the genus Solanum, a native of America.  The root of this plant, which is usually called potatoe, constitutes one of the cheapest and most nourishing species of vegetable food; it is the principal food of the poor in some countries, and has often contributed to prevent famine.  It was introduced into the British dominions by Sir Walter Raleigh or other adventurers in the 16th century; but is came slowly into use, and at this day is not much cultivated and used in some countries of Europe.  In the British dominions and in the United States, it has proved one of the greatest blessings bestowed on man by the Creator.


Topic: Potch
Definition:
POTCH, v.t.  [Eng. to poke.]  To thrust; to push. [Not used.]
1.  To poach; to boil slightly.  [Not used.]


Topic: Potency
Definition:
PO'TENCY, n. [L. potentia, from potens; possum, posse. See Power.]
1.  Power; physical power, energy or efficacy; strength.
2.  Moral power; influence; authority.
 Now arriving
 At place of potency and sway o' th' state.


Topic: Potent
Definition:
PO'TENT, a. [L. potens.]  Powerful; physically strong; forcible; efficacious; as a potent medicine.
 Moses once more his potent rod extends.
1.  Powerful, in a moral sense; having great influence; as potent interest; a potent argument.
2.  Having great authority, control or dominion; as a potent prince.
PO'TENT, n.  A prince; a potentate. [Not in use.]
1.  A walking staff or crutch.  [Not used.]


Topic: Potentate
Definition:
PO'TENTATE, n.  A person who possesses great power or sway; a prince; a sovereign; an emperor, king or monarch.
 Exalting him not only above earthly princes and potentates, but above the highest of the celestial hierarchy.


