English Dictionary
There are currently 15085 EnglishDictionary in this directory beginning with the letter P.
P
Pabulum (n.) The means of nutriment to animals or plants; food; nourishment; hence, that which feeds or sustains, as fuel for a fire; that upon which the mind or soul is nourished; as, intellectual pabulum.
Paca (n.) A small South American rodent (Coelogenys paca), having blackish brown fur, with four parallel rows of white spots along its sides; the spotted cavy. It is nearly allied to the agouti and the Guinea pig.
Pace (n.) A broad step or platform; any part of a floor slightly raised above the rest, as around an altar, or at the upper end of a hall.
Pace (n.) Manner of stepping or moving; gait; walk; as, the walk, trot, canter, gallop, and amble are paces of the horse; a swaggering pace; a quick pace.
Pace (n.) The length of a step in walking or marching, reckoned from the heel of one foot to the heel of the other; -- used as a unit in measuring distances; as, he advanced fifty paces.
Pace (v. i.) To move quickly by lifting the legs on the same side together, as a horse; to amble with rapidity; to rack.
Pace (v. t.) To walk over with measured tread; to move slowly over or upon; as, the guard paces his round.
Paced (a.) Having, or trained in, [such] a pace or gait; trained; -- used in composition; as, slow-paced; a thorough-paced villain.
Pachak (n.) The fragrant roots of the Saussurea Costus, exported from India to China, and used for burning as incense. It is supposed to be the costus of the ancients.
Pachometer (n.) An instrument for measuring thickness, as of the glass of a mirror, or of paper; a pachymeter.
Pachonta (n.) A substance resembling gutta-percha, and used to adulterate it, obtained from the East Indian tree Isonandra acuminata.
Pachydermata (n. pl.) A group of hoofed mammals distinguished for the thickness of their skins, including the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, tapir, horse, and hog. It is now considered an artificial group.
Pachyglossal (a.) Having a thick tongue; -- applied to a group of lizards (Pachyglossae), including the iguanas and agamas.
Pacific (a.) Of or pertaining to peace; suited to make or restore peace; of a peaceful character; not warlike; not quarrelsome; conciliatory; as, pacific words or acts; a pacific nature or condition.
Pacification (n.) The act or process of pacifying, or of making peace between parties at variance; reconciliation.
Pacify (v. t.) To make to be at peace; to appease; to calm; to still; to quiet; to allay the agitation, excitement, or resentment of; to tranquillize; as, to pacify a man when angry; to pacify pride, appetite, or importunity.
Pacinian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or discovered by, Filippo Pacini, an Italian physician of the 19th century.
Pack (n.) A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods.
Pack (n.) A full set of playing cards; also, the assortment used in a particular game; as, a euchre pack.
Pack (n.) A number of persons associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang; as, a pack of thieves or knaves.
Pack (n.) An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.
Pack (n.) Hence: To bring together or make up unfairly and fraudulently, in order to secure a certain result; as, to pack a jury or a causes.
Pack (n.) To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; esp., to send away peremptorily or suddenly; -- sometimes with off; as, to pack a boy off to school.
Pack (n.) To make a pack of; to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack; to press into close order or narrow compass; as to pack goods in a box; to pack fish.
Pack (n.) To render impervious, as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without giving passage to air, water, or steam; as, to pack a joint; to pack the piston of a steam engine.
Pack (n.) To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. e., on the backs of men or beasts).
Pack (v. i.) To admit of stowage, or of making up for transportation or storage; to become compressed or to settle together, so as to form a compact mass; as, the goods pack conveniently; wet snow packs well.
Package (n.) A bundle made up for transportation; a packet; a bale; a parcel; as, a package of goods.
Package (n.) A duty formerly charged in the port of London on goods imported or exported by aliens, or by denizens who were the sons of aliens.
Packer (n.) A person whose business is to pack things; especially, one who packs food for preservation; as, a pork packer.
Packet (n.) Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed days of sailing; a mail boat.
Packing (n.) A thin layer, or sheet, of yielding or elastic material inserted between the surfaces of a flange joint.
Packing (n.) A yielding ring, as of metal, which surrounds a piston and maintains a tight fit, as inside a cylinder, etc.
Pacos (n.) An earthy-looking ore, consisting of brown oxide of iron with minute particles of native silver.
Pacu (n.) A South American freah-water fish (Myleies pacu), of the family Characinidae. It is highly esteemed as food.
Pad (n.) A kind of cushion for writing upon, or for blotting; esp., one formed of many flat sheets of writing paper, or layers of blotting paper; a block of paper.
Paddle (v. i.) A small gate in sluices or lock gates to admit or let off water; -- also called clough.
Paddle (v. i.) An implement with a broad blade, which is used without a fixed fulcrum in propelling and steering canoes and boats.
Paddle (v. i.) One of the broad boards, or floats, at the circumference of a water wheel, or paddle wheel.
Paddle (v. i.) The broad part of a paddle, with which the stroke is made; hence, any short, broad blade, resembling that of a paddle.
Paddle (v. i.) To dabble in water with hands or feet; to use a paddle, or something which serves as a paddle, in swimming, in paddling a boat, etc.
Paddlefish (n.) A large ganoid fish (Polyodon spathula) found in the rivers of the Mississippi Valley. It has a long spatula-shaped snout. Called also duck-billed cat, and spoonbill sturgeon.
Paddlewood (n.) The light elastic wood of the Aspidosperma excelsum, a tree of Guiana having a fluted trunk readily split into planks.
Padella (n.) A large cup or deep saucer, containing fatty matter in which a wick is placed, -- used for public illuminations, as at St. Peter's, in Rome. Called also padelle.
Padishah (n.) Chief ruler; monarch; sovereign; -- a title of the Sultan of Turkey, and of the Shah of Persia.
Padlock (v. t.) To fasten with, or as with, a padlock; to stop; to shut; to confine as by a padlock.
Padrone (n.) A man who imports, and controls the earnings of, Italian laborers, street musicians, etc.
Paean (n.) An ancient Greek hymn in honor of Apollo as a healing deity, and, later, a song addressed to other deities.
Paedogenetic (a.) Producing young while in the immature or larval state; -- said of certain insects, etc.
Paeon (n.) A foot of four syllables, one long and three short, admitting of four combinations, according to the place of the long syllable.
Pagan (n.) Of or pertaining to pagans; relating to the worship or the worshipers of false goods; heathen; idolatrous, as, pagan tribes or superstitions.
Pagan (n.) One who worships false gods; an idolater; a heathen; one who is neither a Christian, a Mohammedan, nor a Jew.
Paganism (n.) The state of being pagan; pagan characteristics; esp., the worship of idols or false gods, or the system of religious opinions and worship maintained by pagans; heathenism.
Page (n.) A contrivance, as a band, pin, snap, or the like, to hold the skirt of a woman's dress from the ground.
Pageant (n.) An elaborate exhibition devised for the entertainmeut of a distinguished personage, or of the public; a show, spectacle, or display.
Pagination (n.) The act or process of paging a book; also, the characters used in numbering the pages; page number.
Pagoda (n.) A gold or silver coin, of various kinds and values, formerly current in India. The Madras gold pagoda was worth about three and a half rupees.
Pagoda (n.) A term by which Europeans designate religious temples and tower-like buildings of the Hindoos and Buddhists of India, Farther India, China, and Japan, -- usually but not always, devoted to idol worship.
Pagodite (n.) Agalmatolite; -- so called because sometimes carved by the Chinese into the form of pagodas. See Agalmatolite.
Paguma (n.) Any one of several species of East Indian viverrine mammals of the genus Paguma. They resemble a weasel in form.
Pagurian (n.) Any one of a tribe of anomuran crustaceans, of which Pagurus is a type; the hermit crab. See Hermit crab, under Hermit.
Pahoehoe (n.) A name given in the Sandwich Islands to lava having a relatively smooth surface, in distinction from the rough-surfaced lava, called a-a.
Pail (n.) A vessel of wood or tin, etc., usually cylindrical and having a bail, -- used esp. for carrying liquids, as water or milk, etc.; a bucket. It may, or may not, have a cover.
Pain (n.) Any uneasy sensation in animal bodies, from slight uneasiness to extreme distress or torture, proceeding from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; bodily distress; bodily suffering; an ache; a smart.
Pain (n.) Punishment suffered or denounced; suffering or evil inflicted as a punishment for crime, or connected with the commission of a crime; penalty.
Pain (n.) To put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment; to torture; as, his dinner or his wound pained him; his stomach pained him.
Pain (n.) To render uneasy in mind; to disquiet; to distress; to grieve; as a child's faults pain his parents.
Painful (a.) Full of pain; causing uneasiness or distress, either physical or mental; afflictive; disquieting; distressing.
Painful (a.) Requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with laborious effort; as a painful service; a painful march.
Pains (n.) Labor; toilsome effort; care or trouble taken; -- plural in form, but used with a singular or plural verb, commonly the former.
Paint (n.) The same prepared with a vehicle, as oil, water with gum, or the like, for application to a surface.
Paint (v. t.) Fig.: To color, stain, or tinge; to adorn or beautify with colors; to diversify with colors.
Paint (v. t.) Fig.: To represent or exhibit to the mind; to describe vividly; to delineate; to image; to depict.
Paint (v. t.) To cover with coloring matter; to apply paint to; as, to paint a house, a signboard, etc.
Paint (v. t.) To form in colors a figure or likeness of on a flat surface, as upon canvas; to represent by means of colors or hues; to exhibit in a tinted image; to portray with paints; as, to paint a portrait or a landscape.
Painter (n.) An artist who represents objects or scenes in color on a flat surface, as canvas, plaster, or the like.
Painting (n.) The work of the painter; also, any work of art in which objects are represented in color on a flat surface; a colored representation of any object or scene; a picture.
Painty (a.) Unskillfully painted, so that the painter's method of work is too obvious; also, having too much pigment applied to the surface.
Pair (n.) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set; as, a pair or flight of stairs. "A pair of beads." Chaucer. Beau. & Fl. "Four pair of stairs." Macaulay. [Now mostly or quite disused, except as to stairs.]
Pair (n.) A single thing, composed of two pieces fitted to each other and used together; as, a pair of scissors; a pair of tongs; a pair of bellows.
Pair (n.) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion.
Pair (n.) Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time; as, there were two pairs on the final vote.
Pair (n.) Two things of a kind, similar in form, suited to each other, and intended to be used together; as, a pair of gloves or stockings; a pair of shoes.
Pair (v. t.) To engage (one's self) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
Pair (v. t.) To unite in couples; to form a pair of; to bring together, as things which belong together, or which complement, or are adapted to one another.
Palace (n.) The residence of a sovereign, including the lodgings of high officers of state, and rooms for business, as well as halls for ceremony and reception.
Palaeotype (n.) A system of representing all spoken sounds by means of the printing types in common use.
Palaetiology (n.) The science which explains, by the law of causation, the past condition and changes of the earth.
Palama (n.) A membrane extending between the toes of a bird, and uniting them more or less closely together.
Palamedeae (n. pl.) An order, or suborder, including the kamichi, and allied South American birds; -- called also screamers. In many anatomical characters they are allied to the Anseres, but they externally resemble the wading birds.
Palatable (a.) Agreeable to the palate or taste; savory; hence, acceptable; pleasing; as, palatable food; palatable advice.
Palatal (a.) Uttered by the aid of the palate; -- said of certain sounds, as the sound of k in kirk.
Palatal (n.) A sound uttered, or a letter pronounced, by the aid of the palate, as the letters k and y.
Palate (n.) Relish; taste; liking; -- a sense originating in the mistaken notion that the palate is the organ of taste.
Palatial (a.) Of or pertaining to a palace; suitable for a palace; resembling a palace; royal; magnificent; as, palatial structures.
Palatine (a.) Of or pertaining to a palace, or to a high officer of a palace; hence, possessing royal privileges.
Palatine (n.) One invested with royal privileges and rights within his domains; a count palatine. See Count palatine, under 4th Count.
Palatize (v. t.) To modify, as the tones of the voice, by means of the palate; as, to palatize a letter or sound.
Palato- () A combining form used in anatomy to indicate relation to, or connection with, the palate; as in palatolingual.
Palatopterygoid (a.) Pertaining to the palatine and pterygoid region of the skull; as, the palatopterygoid cartilage, or rod, from which the palatine and pterygoid bones are developed.
Palaver (n.) In Africa, a parley with the natives; a talk; hence, a public conference and deliberation; a debate.
Palaver (v. t. & i.) To make palaver with, or to; to used palaver;to talk idly or deceitfully; to employ flattery; to cajole; as, to palaver artfully.
Pale (n.) A pointed stake or slat, either driven into the ground, or fastened to a rail at the top and bottom, for fencing or inclosing; a picket.
Pale (n.) A space or field having bounds or limits; a limited region or place; an inclosure; -- often used figuratively.
Pale (n.) One of the greater ordinaries, being a broad perpendicular stripe in an escutcheon, equally distant from the two edges, and occupying one third of it.
Pale (v. i.) Not bright or brilliant; of a faint luster or hue; dim; as, the pale light of the moon.
Pale (v. i.) Wanting in color; not ruddy; dusky white; pallid; wan; as, a pale face; a pale red; a pale blue.
Palea (n.) One of the chaffy scales or bractlets growing on the receptacle of many compound flowers, as the Coreopsis, the sunflower, etc.
Paleaceous (a.) Chaffy; resembling or consisting of paleae, or chaff; furnished with chaff; as, a paleaceous receptacle.
Palearctic (a.) Belonging to a region of the earth's surface which includes all Europe to the Azores, Iceland, and all temperate Asia.
Paleechinoidea (n. pl.) An extinct order of sea urchins found in the Paleozoic rocks. They had more than twenty vertical rows of plates. Called also Palaeechini.
Paleface (n.) A white person; -- an appellation supposed to have been applied to the whites by the American Indians.
Paleichthyes (n. pl.) A comprehensive division of fishes which includes the elasmobranchs and ganoids.
Paleness (n.) The quality or condition of being pale; want of freshness or ruddiness; a sickly whiteness; lack of color or luster; wanness.
Paleo- () A combining form meaning old, ancient; as, palearctic, paleontology, paleothere, paleography.
Paleography (n.) An ancient manner of writing; ancient writings, collectively; as, Punic paleography.
Paleography (n.) The study of ancient inscriptions and modes of writing; the art or science of deciphering ancient writings, and determining their origin, period, etc., from external characters; diplomatics.
Paleology (n.) The study or knowledge of antiquities, esp. of prehistoric antiquities; a discourse or treatise on antiquities; archaeology .
Paleontology (n.) The science which treats of the ancient life of the earth, or of fossils which are the remains of such life.
Paleotherium (n.) An extinct genus of herbivorous Tertiary mammals, once supposed to have resembled the tapir in form, but now known to have had a more slender form, with a long neck like that of a llama.
Palette (n.) A thin, oval or square board, or tablet, with a thumb hole at one end for holding it, on which a painter lays and mixes his pigments.
Palette (n.) One of the plates covering the points of junction at the bend of the shoulders and elbows.
Palewise (adv.) In the manner of a pale or pales; by perpendicular lines or divisions; as, to divide an escutcheon palewise.
Palfrey (n.) A saddle horse for the road, or for state occasions, as distinguished from a war horse.
Pali (n.) A dialect descended from Sanskrit, and like that, a dead language, except when used as the sacred language of the Buddhist religion in Farther India, etc.
Palilogy (n.) The repetition of a word, or part of a sentence, for the sake of greater emphasis; as, "The living, the living, he shall praise thee."
Palimpsest (n.) A parchment which has been written upon twice, the first writing having been erased to make place for the second.
Palindrome (n.) A word, verse, or sentence, that is the same when read backward or forward; as, madam; Hannah; or Lewd did I live, & evil I did dwel.
Palingenesy (n.) A new birth; a re-creation; a regeneration; a continued existence in different manner or form.
Palinurus (n.) An instrument for obtaining directly, without calculation, the true bearing of the sun, and thence the variation of the compass
Palisade (n.) A strong, long stake, one end of which is set firmly in the ground, and the other is sharpened; also, a fence formed of such stakes set in the ground as a means of defense.
Palissy (a.) Designating, or of the nature of, a kind of pottery made by Bernard Palissy, in France, in the 16th centry.
Pall (a.) To become vapid, tasteless, dull, or insipid; to lose strength, life, spirit, or taste; as, the liquor palls.
Pall (n.) A figure resembling the Roman Catholic pallium, or pall, and having the form of the letter Y.
Pall (n.) A large cloth, esp., a heavy black cloth, thrown over a coffin at a funeral; sometimes, also, over a tomb.
Pall (n.) A piece of cardboard, covered with linen and embroidered on one side; -- used to put over the chalice.
Palladian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a variety of the revived classic style of architecture, founded on the works of Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect of the 16th century.
Palladic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, palladium; -- used specifically to designate those compounds in which the element has a higher valence as contrasted with palladious compounds.
Palladious (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, palladium; -- used specifically to designate those compounds in which palladium has a lower valence as compared with palladic compounds.
Palladium (n.) Any statue of the goddess Pallas; esp., the famous statue on the preservation of which depended the safety of ancient Troy.
Palladium (n.) Hence: That which affords effectual protection or security; a sateguard; as, the trial by jury is the palladium of our civil rights.
Pallah (n.) A large South African antelope (Aepyceros melampus). The male has long lyrate and annulated horns. The general color is bay, with a black crescent on the croup. Called also roodebok.
Pallas (n.) Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
Pallbearer (n.) One of those who attend the coffin at a funeral; -- so called from the pall being formerly carried by them.
Pallet (n.) A wooden implement used by potters, crucible makers, etc., for forming, beating, and rounding their works. It is oval, round, and of other forms.
Pallet (n.) One of a pair of shelly plates that protect the siphon tubes of certain bivalves, as the Teredo. See Illust. of Teredo.
Pallet (n.) One of the pieces or levers connected with the pendulum of a clock, or the balance of a watch, which receive the immediate impulse of the scape-wheel, or balance wheel.
Pallial (a.) Of or pretaining to a mantle, especially to the mantle of mollusks; produced by the mantle; as, the pallial line, or impression, which marks the attachment of the mantle on the inner surface of a bivalve shell. See Illust. of Bivalve.
Palliate (v. t.) To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate faults.
Palliate (v. t.) To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease withhout curing; as, to palliate a disease.
Palliation (n.) That which cloaks or covers; disguise; also, the state of being covered or disguised.
Palliation (n.) The act of palliating, or state of being palliated; extenuation; excuse; as, the palliation of faults, offenses, vices.
Pallium (n.) A band of white wool, worn on the shoulders, with four purple crosses worked on it; a pall.
Pallium (n.) A large, square, woolen cloak which enveloped the whole person, worn by the Greeks and by certain Romans. It is the Roman name of a Greek garment.
Palm (n.) A branch or leaf of the palm, anciently borne or worn as a symbol of victory or rejoicing.
Palm (n.) A lineal measure equal either to the breadth of the hand or to its length from the wrist to the ends of the fingers; a hand; -- used in measuring a horse's height.
Palm (n.) A metallic disk, attached to a strap, and worn the palm of the hand, -- used to push the needle through the canvas, in sewing sails, etc.
Palm (n.) Any symbol or token of superiority, success, or triumph; also, victory; triumph; supremacy.
Palm (n.) The broad flattened part of an antler, as of a full-grown fallow deer; -- so called as resembling the palm of the hand with its protruding fingers.
Palm (n.) The inner and somewhat concave part of the hand between the bases of the fingers and the wrist.
Palm (v. t.) To impose by fraud, as by sleight of hand; to put by unfair means; -- usually with off.
Palm Sunday () The Sunday next before Easter; -- so called in commemoration of our Savior's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the multitude strewed palm branches in the way.
Palma Christi () A plant (Ricinus communis) with ornamental peltate and palmately cleft foliage, growing as a woody perennial in the tropics, and cultivated as an herbaceous annual in temperate regions; -- called also castor-oil plant.
Palmated (a.) Having the distal portion broad, flat, and more or less divided into lobes; -- said of certain corals, antlers, etc.
Palmated (a.) Spreading from the apex of a petiole, as the divisions of a leaf, or leaflets, so as to resemble the hand with outspread fingers.
Palmatifid (a.) Palmate, with the divisions separated but little more than halfway to the common center.
Palmatisected (a.) Divided, as a palmate leaf, down to the midrib, so that the parenchyma is interrupted.
Palmer (n.) A wandering religious votary; especially, one who bore a branch of palm as a token that he had visited the Holy Land and its sacred places.
Palmerworm (n.) Any hairy caterpillar which appears in great numbers, devouring herbage, and wandering about like a palmer. The name is applied also to other voracious insects.
Palmerworm (n.) In America, the larva of any one of several moths, which destroys the foliage of fruit and forest trees, esp. the larva of Ypsolophus pometellus, which sometimes appears in vast numbers.
Palmette (n.) A floral ornament, common in Greek and other ancient architecture; -- often called the honeysuckle ornament.
Palmic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi); -- formerly used to designate an acid now called ricinoleic acid.
Palmistry (n.) The art or practice of divining or telling fortunes, or of judging of character, by the lines and marks in the palm of the hand; chiromancy.
Palmite (n.) A South African plant (Prionium Palmita) of the Rush family, having long serrated leaves. The stems have been used for making brushes.
Palmitolic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an artificial acid of the oleic acid series, isomeric with linoleic acid.
Palola (n.) An annelid (Palola viridis) which, at certain seasons of the year, swarms at the surface of the sea about some of the Pacific Islands, where it is collected for food.
Palpable (a.) Easily perceptible; plain; distinct; obvious; readily perceived and detected; gross; as, palpable imposture; palpable absurdity; palpable errors.
Palpator (n.) One of a family of clavicorn beetles, including those which have very long maxillary palpi.
Palpicorn (n.) One of a group of aquatic beetles (Palpicornia) having short club-shaped antennae, and long maxillary palpi.
Palpitate (v. i.) To beat rapidly and more strongly than usual; to throb; to bound with emotion or exertion; to pulsate violently; to flutter; -- said specifically of the heart when its action is abnormal, as from excitement.
Palpitation (n.) A rapid pulsation; a throbbing; esp., an abnormal, rapid beating of the heart as when excited by violent exertion, strong emotion, or by disease.
Palpocil (n.) A minute soft filamentary process springing from the surface of certain hydroids and sponges.
Palsgrave (n.) A count or earl who presided in the domestic court, and had the superintendence, of a royal household in Germany.
Palter (v. i.) To act in insincere or deceitful manner; to play false; to equivocate; to shift; to dodge; to trifle.
Paltry (superl.) Mean; vile; worthless; despicable; contemptible; pitiful; trifling; as, a paltry excuse; paltry gold.
Paludina (n.) Any one of numerous species of freshwater pectinibranchiate mollusks, belonging to Paludina, Melantho, and allied genera. They have an operculated shell which is usually green, often with brown bands. See Illust. of Pond snail, under Pond.
Paludism (n.) The morbid phenomena produced by dwelling among marshes; malarial disease or disposition.
Palus (n.) One of several upright slender calcareous processes which surround the central part of the calicle of certain corals.
Paly (a.) Divided into four or more equal parts by perpendicular lines, and of two different tinctures disposed alternately.
Pampas (n. pl.) Vast plains in the central and southern part of the Argentine Republic in South America. The term is sometimes used in a wider sense for the plains extending from Bolivia to Southern Patagonia.
Pamper (v. t.) To feed to the full; to feed luxuriously; to glut; as, to pamper the body or the appetite.
Pamper (v. t.) To gratify inordinately; to indulge to excess; as, to pamper pride; to pamper the imagination.
Pampero (n.) A violent wind from the west or southwest, which sweeps over the pampas of South America and the adjacent seas, often doing great damage.
Pamphlet (n.) A small book consisting of a few sheets of printed paper, stitched together, often with a paper cover, but not bound; a short essay or written discussion, usually on a subject of current interest.
Pampre (n.) An ornament, composed of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, used for decorating spiral columns.
Pan (n.) A shallow, open dish or vessel, usually of metal, employed for many domestic uses, as for setting milk for cream, for frying or baking food, etc.; also employed for various uses in manufacturing.
Pan (n.) The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the upper part of the head; the brainpan; the cranium.
Pan (v. i.) To turn out (profitably or unprofitably); to result; to develop; as, the investigation, or the speculation, panned out poorly.
Pan (v. i.) To yield gold in, or as in, the process of panning; -- usually with out; as, the gravel panned out richly.
Pan-Anglican (a.) Belonging to, or representing, the whole Church of England; used less strictly, to include the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States; as, the Pan-Anglican Conference at Lambeth, in 1888.
Panacea (n.) A remedy for all diseases; a universal medicine; a cure-all; catholicon; hence, a relief or solace for affliction.
Panache (n.) A plume or bunch of feathers, esp. such a bunch worn on the helmet; any military plume, or ornamental group of feathers.
Panama hat () A fine plaited hat, made in Central America of the young leaves of a plant (Carludovica palmata).
Pancratic (a.) Having all or many degrees of power; having a great range of power; -- said of an eyepiece made adjustable so as to give a varying magnifying power.
Pancratium (n.) A genus of Old World amaryllideous bulbous plants, having a funnel-shaped perianth with six narrow spreading lobes. The American species are now placed in the related genus Hymenocallis.
Pancreatic (a.) Of or pertaining to the pancreas; as, the pancreatic secretion, digestion, ferments.
Pancreatin (n.) One of the digestive ferments of the pancreatic juice; also, a preparation containing such a ferment, made from the pancreas of animals, and used in medicine as an aid to digestion.
Panda (n.) A small Asiatic mammal (Ailurus fulgens) having fine soft fur. It is related to the bears, and inhabits the mountains of Northern India.
Pandect (n.) The digest, or abridgment, in fifty books, of the decisions, writings, and opinions of the old Roman jurists, made in the sixth century by direction of the emperor Justinian, and forming the leading compilation of the Roman civil law.
Pandiculation (n.) A stretching and stiffening of the trunk and extremities, as when fatigued and drowsy.
Pandour (n.) One of a class of Hungarian mountaineers serving in the Austrian army; -- so called from Pandur, a principal town in the region from which they originally came.
Pandowdy (n.) A deep pie or pudding made of baked apples, or of sliced bread and apples baked together, with no bottom crust.
Panduriform (a.) Obovate, with a concavity in each side, like the body of a violin; fiddle-shaped; as, a panduriform leaf; panduriform color markings of an animal.
Pane (n.) A compartment of a surface, or a flat space; hence, one side or face of a building; as, an octagonal tower is said to have eight panes.
Pane (n.) A division; a distinct piece, limited part, or compartment of any surface; a patch; hence, a square of a checkered or plaided pattern.
Pane (n.) In irrigating, a subdivision of an irrigated surface between a feeder and an outlet drain.
Pane (n.) One of the openings in a slashed garment, showing the bright colored silk, or the like, within; hence, the piece of colored or other stuff so shown.
Paned (a.) Having panes; provided with panes; also, having openings; as, a paned window; paned window sash.
Panegyric (a.) An oration or eulogy in praise of some person or achievement; a formal or elaborate encomium; a laudatory discourse; laudation. See Synonym of Eulogy.
Panegyrist (n.) One who delivers a panegyric; a eulogist; one who extols or praises, either by writing or speaking.
Panegyrize (v. t.) To praise highly; to extol in a public speech; to write or deliver a panegyric upon; to eulogize.
Panel (n.) A board having its edges inserted in the groove of a surrounding frame; as, the panel of a door.
Panel (n.) A piece of parchment or a schedule, containing the names of persons summoned as jurors by the sheriff; hence, more generally, the whole jury.
Panel (n.) A plain strip or band, as of velvet or plush, placed at intervals lengthwise on the skirt of a dress, for ornament.
Panel (n.) A sunken compartment with raised margins, molded or otherwise, as in ceilings, wainscotings, etc.
Panel (n.) Formerly, a piece of cloth serving as a saddle; hence, a soft pad beneath a saddletree to prevent chafing.
Panel (n.) One of the districts divided by pillars of extra size, into which a mine is laid off in one system of extracting coal.
Pang (n.) A paroxysm of extreme pain or anguish; a sudden and transitory agony; a throe; as, the pangs of death.
Pangolin (n.) Any one of several species of Manis, Pholidotus, and related genera, found in Africa and Asia. They are covered with imbricated scales, and feed upon ants. Called also scaly ant-eater.
Panhellenic (a.) Of or pertaining to all Greece, or to Panhellenism; including all Greece, or all the Greeks.
Panic (a.) A sudden, overpowering fright; esp., a sudden and groundless fright; terror inspired by a trifling cause or a misapprehension of danger; as, the troops were seized with a panic; they fled in a panic.
Panic (a.) Extreme or sudden and causeless; unreasonable; -- said of fear or fright; as, panic fear, terror, alarm.
Panic (n.) A plant of the genus Panicum; panic grass; also, the edible grain of some species of panic grass.
Panicle (n.) A pyramidal form of inflorescence, in which the cluster is loosely branched below and gradually simpler toward the end.
Panicum (n.) A genus of grasses, including several hundred species, some of which are valuable; panic grass.
Panislamism (n.) A desire or plan for the union of all Mohammedan nations for the conquest of the world.
Pannier (n.) A bread basket; also, a wicker basket (used commonly in pairs) for carrying fruit or other things on a horse or an ass
Pannier (n.) A framework of steel or whalebone, worn by women to expand their dresses; a kind of bustle.
Pannier (n.) A shield of basket work formerly used by archers as a shelter from the enemy's missiles.
Pannus (n.) A very vascular superficial opacity of the cornea, usually caused by granulation of the eyelids.
Panoistic (a.) Producing ova only; -- said of the ovaries of certain insects which do not produce vitelligenous cells.
Panopticon (n.) A prison so contructed that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times, without being seen.
Panorama (n.) A picture representing scenes too extended to be beheld at once, and so exhibited a part at a time, by being unrolled, and made to pass continuously before the spectator.
Panorpid (n.) Any neuropterous insect of the genus Panorpa, and allied genera. The larvae feed on plant lice.
Panpresbyterian (a.) Belonging to, or representative of, those who hold Presbyterian views in all parts of the world; as, a Panpresbyterian council.
Panshon (n.) An earthen vessel wider at the top than at the bottom, -- used for holding milk and for various other purposes.
Pansophy (n.) Universal wisdom; esp., a system of universal knowledge proposed by Comenius (1592 -- 1671), a Moravian educator.
Panspermist (n.) A believer in panspermy; one who rejects the theory of spontaneous generation; a biogenist.
Panspermy (n.) The doctrine of the widespread distribution of germs, from which under favorable circumstances bacteria, vibrios, etc., may develop.
Panspermy (n.) The doctrine that all organisms must come from living parents; biogenesis; -- the opposite of spontaneous generation.
Panstereorama (n.) A model of a town or country, in relief, executed in wood, cork, pasteboard, or the like.
Pansy (n.) A plant of the genus Viola (V. tricolor) and its blossom, originally purple and yellow. Cultivated varieties have very large flowers of a great diversity of colors. Called also heart's-ease, love-in-idleness, and many other quaint names.
Pant (v. i.) To beat with unnatural violence or rapidity; to palpitate, or throb; -- said of the heart.
Pant (v. i.) To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp.
Pantagruelism (n.) The theory or practice of the medical profession; -- used in burlesque or ridicule.
Pantalet (n.) One of the legs of the loose drawers worn by children and women; particularly, the lower part of such a garment, coming below the knee, often made in a separate piece; -- chiefly in the plural.
Pantaloon (n.) A bifurcated garment for a man, covering the body from the waist downwards, and consisting of breeches and stockings in one.
Pantaloon (n.) A ridiculous character, or an old dotard, in the Italian comedy; also, a buffoon in pantomimes.
Pantechnicon (n.) A depository or place where all sorts of manufactured articles are collected for sale.
Pantheism (n.) The doctrine that the universe, taken or conceived of as a whole, is God; the doctrine that there is no God but the combined force and laws which are manifested in the existing universe; cosmotheism.
Pantheon (n.) The collective gods of a people, or a work treating of them; as, a divinity of the Greek pantheon.
Panther (n.) A large dark-colored variety of the leopard, by some zoologists considered a distinct species. It is marked with large ringlike spots, the centers of which are darker than the color of the body.
Pantile (n.) A roofing tile, of peculiar form, having a transverse section resembling an elongated S laid on its side (/).
Pantisocracy (n.) A Utopian community, in which all should rule equally, such as was devised by Coleridge, Lovell, and Southey, in their younger days.
Panto- () Combining forms signifying all, every; as, panorama, pantheism, pantagraph, pantograph. Pan- becomes pam- before b or p, as pamprodactylous.
Pantograph (n.) An instrument for copying plans, maps, and other drawings, on the same, or on a reduced or an enlarged, scale.
Pantology (n.) A systematic view of all branches of human knowledge; a work of universal information.
Pantomime (n.) A dramatic and spectacular entertainment of which dumb acting as well as burlesque dialogue, music, and dancing by Clown, Harlequin, etc., are features.
Pantomime (n.) A dramatic representation by actors who use only dumb show; hence, dumb show, generally.
Pantomime (n.) One who acts his part by gesticulation or dumb show only, without speaking; a pantomimist.
Pantoscopic (a.) Literally, seeing everything; -- a term applied to eyeglasses or spectacles divided into two segments, the upper being designed for distant vision, the lower for vision of near objects.
Panzoism (n.) A term used to denote all of the elements or factors which constitute vitality or vital energy.
Papacy (n.) The Roman Catholic religion; -- commonly used by the opponents of the Roman Catholics in disparagement or in an opprobrious sense.
Papain (n.) A proteolytic ferment, like trypsin, present in the juice of the green fruit of the papaw (Carica Papaya) of tropical America.
Papal (a.) Of or pertaining to the pope of Rome; proceeding from the pope; ordered or pronounced by the pope; as, papal jurisdiction; a papal edict; the papal benediction.
Papaveraceous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a natural order of plants (Papaveraceae) of which the poppy, the celandine, and the bloodroot are well-known examples.
Papaw (n.) A tree of the genus Asimina (A. triloba), growing in the western and southern parts of the United States, and producing a sweet edible fruit; also, the fruit itself.
Papboat (n.) A large spiral East Indian marine shell (Turbinella rapha); -- so called because used by native priests to hold the oil for anointing.
Paper (a.) Of or pertaining to paper; made of paper; resembling paper; existing only on paper; unsubstantial; as, a paper box; a paper army.
Paper (n.) A medicinal preparation spread upon paper, intended for external application; as, cantharides paper.
Paper (n.) A paper containing (usually) a definite quantity; as, a paper of pins, tacks, opium, etc.
Paper (n.) A printed or written instrument; a document, essay, or the like; a writing; as, a paper read before a scientific society.
Paper (n.) A substance in the form of thin sheets or leaves intended to be written or printed on, or to be used in wrapping. It is made of rags, straw, bark, wood, or other fibrous material, which is first reduced to pulp, then molded, pressed, and dried.
Paper (n.) Negotiable evidences of indebtedness; notes; bills of exchange, and the like; as, the bank holds a large amount of his paper.
Paphian (a.) Of or pertaining to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus, having a celebrated temple of Venus; hence, pertaining to Venus, or her rites.
Papier-mache (n.) A hard and strong substance made of a pulp from paper, mixed with sise or glue, etc. It is formed into various articles, usually by means of molds.
Papilionaceous (a.) Belonging to that suborder of leguminous plants (Papilionaceae) which includes the bean, pea, vetch, clover, and locust.
Papilionaceous (a.) Having a winged corolla somewhat resembling a butterfly, as in the blossoms of the bean and pea.
Papillary (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a papilla or papillae; bearing, or covered with, papillae; papillose.
Papilloma (n.) A tumor formed by hypertrophy of the papillae of the skin or mucous membrane, as a corn or a wart.
Papillose (a.) Covered with, or bearing, papillae; resembling papillae; papillate; papillar; papillary.
Papillote (n.) a small piece of paper on which women roll up their hair to make it curl; a curl paper.
Papion (n.) A West African baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx), allied to the chacma. Its color is generally chestnut, varying in tint.
Papist (n.) A Roman catholic; one who adheres to the Church of Rome and the authority of the pope; -- an offensive designation applied to Roman Catholics by their opponents.
Papistical (a.) Of or pertaining to the Church of Rome and its doctrines and ceremonies; pertaining to popery; popish; -- used disparagingly.
Pappus (n.) The hairy or feathery appendage of the achenes of thistles, dandelions, and most other plants of the order Compositae; also, the scales, awns, or bristles which represent the calyx in other plants of the same order.
Papula (n.) A pimple; a small, usually conical, elevation of the cuticle, produced by congestion, accumulated secretion, or hypertrophy of tissue; a papule.
Papula (n.) One of the numerous small hollow processes of the integument between the plates of starfishes.
Papular (a.) Consisting of papules; characterized by the presence of papules; as, a papular eruption.
Papyrus (n.) A manuscript written on papyrus; esp., pl., written scrolls made of papyrus; as, the papyri of Egypt or Herculaneum.
Papyrus (n.) A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.
Papyrus (n.) The material upon which the ancient Egyptians wrote. It was formed by cutting the stem of the plant into thin longitudinal slices, which were gummed together and pressed.
Par (n.) Equal value; equality of nominal and actual value; the value expressed on the face or in the words of a certificate of value, as a bond or other commercial paper.
Par (prep.) By; with; -- used frequently in Early English in phrases taken from the French, being sometimes written as a part of the word which it governs; as, par amour, or paramour; par cas, or parcase; par fay, or parfay.
Para (n.) A piece of Turkish money, usually copper, the fortieth part of a piaster, or about one ninth of a cent.
Para grass () A valuable pasture grass (Panicum barbinode) introduced into the Southern United States from Brazil.
Para- () A prefix signifying alongside of, beside, beyond, against, amiss; as parable, literally, a placing beside; paradox, that which is contrary to opinion; parachronism.
Parabanic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a nitrogenous acid which is obtained by the oxidation of uric acid, as a white crystalline substance (C3N2H2O3); -- also called oxalyl urea.
Parablast (n.) A portion of the mesoblast (of peripheral origin) of the developing embryo, the cells of which are especially concerned in forming the first blood and blood vessels.
Parable (n.) A comparison; a similitude; specifically, a short fictitious narrative of something which might really occur in life or nature, by means of which a moral is drawn; as, the parables of Christ.
Parabolical (a.) Generated by the revolution of a parabola, or by a line that moves on a parabola as a directing curve; as, a parabolic conoid.
Parabolical (a.) Having the form or nature of a parabola; pertaining to, or resembling, a parabola; as, a parabolic curve.
Parabolical (a.) Of the nature of a parable; expressed by a parable or figure; allegorical; as, parabolical instruction.
Parabolism (n.) The division of the terms of an equation by a known quantity that is involved in the first term.
Paraboloid (n.) The solid generated by the rotation of a parabola about its axis; any surface of the second order whose sections by planes parallel to a given line are parabolas.
Paracelsian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or in conformity with, the practice of Paracelsus, a Swiss physician of the 15th century.
Paracentesis (n.) The perforation of a cavity of the body with a trocar, aspirator, or other suitable instrument, for the evacuation of effused fluid, pus, or gas; tapping.
Parachordal (a.) Situated on either side of the notochord; -- applied especially to the cartilaginous rudiments of the skull on each side of the anterior part of the notochord.
Parachronism (n.) An error in chronology, by which the date of an event is set later than the time of its occurrence.
Parachute (n.) A contrivance somewhat in the form of an umbrella, by means of which a descent may be made from a balloon, or any eminence.
Parachute (n.) A web or fold of skin which extends between the legs of certain mammals, as the flying squirrels, colugo, and phalangister.
Paraclete (n.) An advocate; one called to aid or support; hence, the Consoler, Comforter, or Intercessor; -- a term applied to the Holy Spirit.
Paraconic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an organic acid obtained as a deliquescent white crystalline substance, and isomeric with itaconic, citraconic, and mesaconic acids.
Paraconine (n.) A base resembling and isomeric with conine, and obtained as a colorless liquid from butyric aldehyde and ammonia.
Paracrostic (n.) A poetical composition, in which the first verse contains, in order, the first letters of all the verses of the poem.
Paracyanogen (n.) A polymeric modification of cyanogen, obtained as a brown or black amorphous residue by heating mercuric cyanide.
Parade (v. i.) To assemble in military order for evolutions and inspection; to form or march, as in review.
Parade (v. t.) That which is displayed; a show; a spectacle; an imposing procession; the movement of any body marshaled in military order; as, a parade of firemen.
Parade (v. t.) To assemble and form; to marshal; to cause to maneuver or march ceremoniously; as, to parade troops.
Paradigm (n.) An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection.
Paradise (n.) A place of bliss; a region of supreme felicity or delight; hence, a state of happiness.
Paradise (n.) An open space within a monastery or adjoining a church, as the space within a cloister, the open court before a basilica, etc.
Parados (n.) An intercepting mound, erected in any part of a fortification to protect the defenders from a rear or ricochet fire; a traverse.
Paradox (n.) A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion; an assertion or sentiment seemingly contradictory, or opposed to common sense; that which in appearance or terms is absurd, but yet may be true in fact.
Paradoxure (n.) Any species of Paradoxurus, a genus of Asiatic viverrine mammals allied to the civet, as the musang, and the luwack or palm cat (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). See Musang.
Parage (n.) Equality of condition, blood, or dignity; also, equality in the partition of an inheritance.
Paragenic (a.) Originating in the character of the germ, or at the first commencement of an individual; -- said of peculiarities of structure, character, etc.
Paraglobulin (n.) An albuminous body in blood serum, belonging to the group of globulins. See Fibrinoplastin.
Paraglossa (n.) One of a pair of small appendages of the lingua or labium of certain insects. See Illust. under Hymenoptera.
Paragogical (a.) Of, pertaining to, or constituting, a paragoge; added to the end of, or serving to lengthen, a word.
Paragon (n.) A model or pattern; a pattern of excellence or perfection; as, a paragon of beauty or eloquence.
Paragonite (n.) A kind of mica related to muscovite, but containing soda instead of potash. It is characteristic of the paragonite schist of the Alps.
Paragraph (n.) A brief composition complete in one typographical section or paragraph; an item, remark, or quotation comprised in a few lines forming one paragraph; as, a column of news paragraphs; an editorial paragraph.
Paragrele (n.) A lightning conductor erected, as in a vineyard, for drawing off the electricity in the atmosphere in order to prevent hailstorms.
Parakeet (n.) Any one of numerous species of small parrots having a graduated tail, which is frequently very long; -- called also paroquet and paraquet.
Paralbumin (n.) A proteidlike body found in the fluid from ovarian cysts and elsewhere. It is generally associated with a substance related to, if not identical with, glycogen.
Parallax (n.) The apparent difference in position of a body (as the sun, or a star) as seen from some point on the earth's surface, and as seen from some other conventional point, as the earth's center or the sun.
Parallax (n.) The apparent displacement, or difference of position, of an object, as seen from two different stations, or points of view.
Parallel (a.) Continuing a resemblance through many particulars; applicable in all essential parts; like; similar; as, a parallel case; a parallel passage.
Parallel (a.) Extended in the same direction, and in all parts equally distant; as, parallel lines; parallel planes.
Parallel (a.) Having the same direction or tendency; running side by side; being in accordance (with); tending to the same result; -- used with to and with.
Parallel (n.) A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines (thus, ) used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.
Parallel (n.) A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity; as, Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope.
Parallel (n.) A line which, throughout its whole extent, is equidistant from another line; a parallel line, a parallel plane, etc.
Parallel (n.) Anything equal to, or resembling, another in all essential particulars; a counterpart.
Parallel (n.) Conformity continued through many particulars or in all essential points; resemblance; similarity.
Parallel (n.) One of a series of long trenches constructed before a besieged fortress, by the besieging force, as a cover for troops supporting the attacking batteries. They are roughly parallel to the line of outer defenses of the fortress.
Parallel (n.) One of the imaginary circles on the surface of the earth, parallel to the equator, marking the latitude; also, the corresponding line on a globe or map.
Parallel (v. t.) To place or set so as to be parallel; to place so as to be parallel to, or to conform in direction with, something else.
Parallelogram (n.) A right-lined quadrilateral figure, whose opposite sides are parallel, and consequently equal; -- sometimes restricted in popular usage to a rectangle, or quadrilateral figure which is longer than it is broad, and with right angles.
Parallelopiped (n.) A solid, the faces of which are six parallelograms, the opposite pairs being parallel, and equal to each other; a prism whose base is a parallelogram.
Paralogism (n.) A reasoning which is false in point of form, that is, which is contrary to logical rules or formulae; a formal fallacy, or pseudo-syllogism, in which the conclusion does not follow from the premises.
Paralysis (n.) Abolition of function, whether complete or partial; esp., the loss of the power of voluntary motion, with or without that of sensation, in any part of the body; palsy. See Hemiplegia, and Paraplegia. Also used figuratively.
Paralyze (v. t.) Fig.: To unnerve; to destroy or impair the energy of; to render ineffective; as, the occurrence paralyzed the community; despondency paralyzed his efforts.
Paramaleic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained from malic acid, and now called fumaric acid.
Paramastoid (a.) Situated beside, or near, the mastoid portion of the temporal bone; paroccipital; -- applied especially to a process of the skull in some animals.
Parament (n.) Ornamental hangings, furniture, etc., as of a state apartment; rich and elegant robes worn by men of rank; -- chiefly in the plural.
Paramere (n.) One of the symmetrical halves of any one of the radii, or spheromeres, of a radiate animal, as a starfish.
Parameter (n.) Specifically (Conic Sections), in the ellipse and hyperbola, a third proportional to any diameter and its conjugate, or in the parabola, to any abscissa and the corresponding ordinate.
Parameter (n.) The ratio of the three crystallographic axes which determines the position of any plane; also, the fundamental axial ratio for a given species.
Paramo (n.) A high, bleak plateau or district, with stunted trees, and cold, damp atmosphere, as in the Andes, in South America.
Paramorph (n.) A kind of pseudomorph, in which there has been a change of physical characters without alteration of chemical composition, as the change of aragonite to calcite.
Paramorphism (n.) The change of one mineral species to another, so as to involve a change in physical characters without alteration of chemical composition.
Paramount (a.) Having the highest rank or jurisdiction; superior to all others; chief; supreme; preeminent; as, a paramount duty.
Paramour (n.) A lover, of either sex; a wooer or a mistress (formerly in a good sense, now only in a bad one); one who takes the place, without possessing the rights, of a husband or wife; -- used of a man or a woman.
Paramylum (n.) A substance resembling starch, found in the green frothy scum formed on the surface of stagnant water.
Parapeptone (n.) An albuminous body formed in small quantity by the peptic digestion of proteids. It can be converted into peptone by pancreatic juice, but not by gastric juice.
Parapet (n.) A low wall, especially one serving to protect the edge of a platform, roof, bridge, or the like.
Parapet (n.) A wall, rampart, or elevation of earth, for covering soldiers from an enemy's fire; a breastwork. See Illust. of Casemate.
Paraph (n.) A flourish made with the pen at the end of a signature. In the Middle Ages, this formed a sort of rude safeguard against forgery.
Parapherna (n. pl.) The property of a woman which, on her marriage, was not made a part of her dower, but remained her own.
Paraphernalia (n. pl.) Something reserved to a wife, over and above her dower, being chiefly apparel and ornaments suited to her degree.
Paraphimosis (n.) A condition in which the prepuce, after being retracted behind the glans penis, is constricted there, and can not be brought forward into place again.
Paraphrase (v. t.) To express, interpret, or translate with latitude; to give the meaning of a passage in other language.
Paraphrastical (a.) Paraphrasing; of the nature of paraphrase; explaining, or translating in words more clear and ample than those of the author; not literal; free.
Paraphysis (n.) A minute jointed filament growing among the archegonia and antheridia of mosses, or with the spore cases, etc., of other flowerless plants.
Paraplegy (n.) Palsy of the lower half of the body on both sides, caused usually by disease of the spinal cord.
Parapterum (n.) A special plate situated on the sides of the mesothorax and metathorax of certain insects.
Paraschematic (a.) Of or pertaining to a change from the right form, as in the formation of a word from another by a change of termination, gender, etc.
Paraselene (n.) A mock moon; an image of the moon which sometimes appears at the point of intersection of two lunar halos. Cf. Parhelion.
Parasita (n. pl.) A division of copepod Crustacea, having a sucking mouth, as the lerneans. They are mostly parasites on fishes. Called also Siphonostomata.
Parasita (n. pl.) An artificial group formerly made for parasitic insects, as lice, ticks, mites, etc.
Parasite (n.) A plant living on or within an animal, and supported at its expense, as many species of fungi of the genus Torrubia.
Parasite (n.) A plant obtaining nourishment immediately from other plants to which it attaches itself, and whose juices it absorbs; -- sometimes, but erroneously, called epiphyte.
Parasite (n.) An animal which habitually uses the nest of another, as the cowbird and the European cuckoo.
Parasite (n.) An animal which lives during the whole or part of its existence on or in the body of some other animal, feeding upon its food, blood, or tissues, as lice, tapeworms, etc.
Parasite (n.) One who frequents the tables of the rich, or who lives at another's expense, and earns his welcome by flattery; a hanger-on; a toady; a sycophant.
Parasitical (a.) Of or pertaining to parasites; living on, or deriving nourishment from, some other living animal or plant. See Parasite, 2 & 3.
Parasphenoid (a.) Near the sphenoid bone; -- applied especially to a bone situated immediately beneath the sphenoid in the base of the skull in many animals.
Parataxis (n.) The mere ranging of propositions one after another, without indicating their connection or interdependence; -- opposed to syntax.
Parauque (n.) A bird (Nyctidromus albicollis) ranging from Texas to South America. It is allied to the night hawk and goatsucker.
Paraxanthin (n.) A crystalline substance closely related to xanthin, present in small quantity in urine.
Paraxylene (n.) A hydrocarbon of the aromatic series obtained as a colorless liquid by the distillation of camphor with zinc chloride. It is one of the three metamers of xylene. Cf. Metamer, and Xylene.
Parcel (a. & adv.) Part or half; in part; partially. Shak. [Sometimes hyphened with the word following.]
Parcel (n.) A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.
Parcel (v. t.) To make up into a parcel; as, to parcel a customer's purchases; the machine parcels yarn, wool, etc.
Parceling (n.) Long, narrow slips of canvas daubed with tar and wound about a rope like a bandage, before it is served; used, also, in mousing on the stayes, etc.
Parcenary (n.) The holding or occupation of an inheritable estate which descends from the ancestor to two or more persons; coheirship.
Parcener (n.) A coheir, or one of two or more persons to whom an estate of inheritance descends jointly, and by whom it is held as one estate.
Parch (v. t.) To burn the surface of; to scorch; to roast over the fire, as dry grain; as, to parch the skin; to parch corn.
Parchment (n.) The skin of a lamb, sheep, goat, young calf, or other animal, prepared for writing on. See Vellum.
Pardon (v. t.) A release, by a sovereign, or officer having jurisdiction, from the penalties of an offense, being distinguished from amenesty, which is a general obliteration and canceling of a particular line of past offenses.
Pardon (v. t.) The act of pardoning; forgiveness, as of an offender, or of an offense; release from penalty; remission of punishment; absolution.
Pardon (v. t.) To absolve from the consequences of a fault or the punishment of crime; to free from penalty; -- applied to the offender.
Pardon (v. t.) To remit the penalty of; to suffer to pass without punishment; to forgive; -- applied to offenses.
Pardonable (a.) Admitting of pardon; not requiring the excution of penalty; venial; excusable; -- applied to the offense or to the offender; as, a pardonable fault, or culprit.
Pardoning (a.) Relating to pardon; having or exercising the right to pardon; willing to pardon; merciful; as, the pardoning power; a pardoning God.
Pare (v. t.) To cut off, or shave off, the superficial substance or extremities of; as, to pare an apple; to pare a horse's hoof.
Pare (v. t.) To remove; to separate; to cut or shave, as the skin, ring, or outside part, from anything; -- followed by off or away; as; to pare off the ring of fruit; to pare away redundancies.
Paregoric (n.) A medicine that mitigates pain; an anodyne; specifically, camphorated tincture of opium; -- called also paregoric elexir.
Parelectronomy (n.) A condition of the muscles induced by exposure to severe cold, in which the electrical action of the muscle is reversed.
Parelle (n.) A kind of lichen (Lecanora parella) once used in dyeing and in the preparation of litmus.
Parenchyma (n.) The soft celluar substance of the tissues of plants and animals, like the pulp of leaves, to soft tissue of glands, and the like.
Parenchymous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or connected with, the parenchyma of a tissue or an organ; as, parenchymatous degeneration.
Parent (n.) That which produces; cause; source; author; begetter; as, idleness is the parent of vice.
Parentage (n.) Descent from parents or ancestors; parents or ancestors considered with respect to their rank or character; extraction; birth; as, a man of noble parentage.
Parental (a.) Becoming to, or characteristic of, parents; tender; affectionate; devoted; as, parental care.
Parental (a.) Of or pertaining to a parent or to parents; as, parental authority; parental obligations.
Parenthesis (n.) A word, phrase, or sentence, by way of comment or explanation, inserted in, or attached to, a sentence which would be grammatically complete without it. It is usually inclosed within curved lines (see def. 2 below), or dashes.
Parenthetical (a.) Of the nature of a parenthesis; pertaining to, or expressed in, or as in, a parenthesis; as, a parenthetical clause; a parenthetic remark.
Parepididymis (n.) A small body containing convoluted tubules, situated near the epididymis in man and some other animals, and supposed to be a remnant of the anterior part of the Wolffian body.
Parethmoid (a.) Near or beside the ethmoid bone or cartilage; -- applied especially to a pair of bones in the nasal region of some fishes, and to the ethmoturbinals in some higher animals.
Parget (v. t.) To coat with parget; to plaster, as walls, or the interior of flues; as, to parget the outside of their houses.
Pariah (n.) One of an aboriginal people of Southern India, regarded by the four castes of the Hindoos as of very low grade. They are usually the serfs of the Sudra agriculturalists. See Caste.
Parian (a.) Of or pertaining to Paros, an island in the Aegean Sea noted for its excellent statuary marble; as, Parian marble.
Parian (n.) A ceramic ware, resembling unglazed porcelain biscuit, of which are made statuettes, ornaments, etc.
Parietal (a.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the parietal bones, which form the upper and middle part of the cranium, between the frontals and occipitals.
Parietal (n.) One of the special scales, or plates, covering the back of the head in certain reptiles and fishes.
Parietes (n. pl.) The walls of a cavity or an organ; as, the abdominal parietes; the parietes of the cranium.
Parietic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid found in the lichen Parmelia parietina, and called also chrysophanic acid.
Parieto- () A combining form used to indicate connection with, or relation to, the parietal bones or the parietal segment of the skull; as, the parieto-mastoid suture.
Parillin (n.) A glucoside resembling saponin, found in the root of sarsaparilla, smilax, etc., and extracted as a bitter white crystalline substance; -- called also smilacin, sarsaparilla saponin, and sarsaparillin.
Paripinnate (a.) Pinnate with an equal number of leaflets on each side; having no odd leaflet at the end.
Paris (n.) A plant common in Europe (Paris quadrifolia); herb Paris; truelove. It has been used as a narcotic.
Parish (a.) Of or pertaining to a parish; parochial; as, a parish church; parish records; a parish priest; maintained by the parish; as, parish poor.
Parish (n.) That circuit of ground committed to the charge of one parson or vicar, or other minister having cure of souls therein.
Parish (n.) The same district, constituting a civil jurisdiction, with its own officers and regulations, as respects the poor, taxes, etc.
Parity (n.) The quality or condition of being equal or equivalent; A like state or degree; equality; close correspondence; analogy; as, parity of reasoning.
Park (n.) A piece of ground inclosed, and stored with beasts of the chase, which a man may have by prescription, or the king's grant.
Park (n.) A piece of ground, in or near a city or town, inclosed and kept for ornament and recreation; as, Hyde Park in London; Central Park in New York.
Park (n.) A space occupied by the animals, wagons, pontoons, and materials of all kinds, as ammunition, ordnance stores, hospital stores, provisions, etc., when brought together; also, the objects themselves; as, a park of wagons; a park of artillery.
Park (n.) A tract of ground kept in its natural state, about or adjacent to a residence, as for the preservation of game, for walking, riding, or the like.
Park (v. t.) To bring together in a park, or compact body; as, to park the artillery, the wagons, etc.
Parkeria (n.) A genus of large arenaceous fossil Foraminifera found in the Cretaceous rocks. The species are globular, or nearly so, and are of all sizes up to that of a tennis ball.
Parkesine (n.) A compound, originally made from gun cotton and castor oil, but later from different materials, and used as a substitute for vulcanized India rubber and for ivory; -- called also xylotile.
Parlance (n.) Conversation; discourse; talk; diction; phrase; as, in legal parlance; in common parlance.
Parlante (a. & adv.) Speaking; in a speaking or declamatory manner; to be sung or played in the style of a recitative.
Parley (n.) Mutual discourse or conversation; discussion; hence, an oral conference with an enemy, as with regard to a truce.
Parley (v. i.) To speak with another; to confer on some point of mutual concern; to discuss orally; hence, specifically, to confer orally with an enemy; to treat with him by words, as on an exchange of prisoners, an armistice, or terms of peace.
Parliament (n.) A formal conference on public affairs; a general council; esp., an assembly of representatives of a nation or people having authority to make laws.
Parliament (n.) In France, before the Revolution of 1789, one of the several principal judicial courts.
Parliamentarian (n.) One versed in the rules and usages of Parliament or similar deliberative assemblies; as, an accomplished parliamentarian.
Parliamentary (a.) According to the rules and usages of Parliament or of deliberative bodies; as, a parliamentary motion.
Parlor (n.) Commonly, in the United States, a drawing-room, or the room where visitors are received and entertained.
Parlor (n.) The apartment in a monastery or nunnery where the inmates are permitted to meet and converse with each other, or with visitors and friends from without.
Parnassia (n.) A genus of herbs growing in wet places, and having white flowers; grass of Parnassus.
Parnassian (n.) Any one of numerous species of butterflies belonging to the genus Parnassius. They inhabit the mountains, both in the Old World and in America.
Parnassus (n.) A mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and famous for a temple of Apollo and for the Castalian spring.
Paroccipital (a.) Situated near or beside the occipital condyle or the occipital bone; paramastoid; -- applied especially to a process of the skull in some animals.
Parochialism (n.) The quality or state of being parochial in form or nature; a system of management peculiar to parishes.
Parody (n.) A writing in which the language or sentiment of an author is mimicked; especially, a kind of literary pleasantry, in which what is written on one subject is altered, and applied to another by way of burlesque; travesty.
Parol (a.) Given or done by word of mouth; oral; also, given by a writing not under seal; as, parol evidence.
Parole (n.) A watchword given only to officers of guards; -- distinguished from countersign, which is given to all guards.
Parole (n.) Word of promise; word of honor; plighted faith; especially (Mil.), promise, upon one's faith and honor, to fulfill stated conditions, as not to bear arms against one's captors, to return to custody, or the like.
Paronomasia (n.) A play upon words; a figure by which the same word is used in different senses, or words similar in sound are set in opposition to each other, so as to give antithetical force to the sentence; punning.
Paronymous (a.) Having a similar sound, but different orthography and different meaning; -- said of certain words, as al/ and awl; hair and hare, etc.
Paronymous (a.) Having the same derivation; allied radically; conjugate; -- said of certain words, as man, mankind, manhood, etc.
Paroophoron (n.) A small mass of tubules near the ovary in some animals, and corresponding with the parepididymis of the male.
Parorchis (n.) The part of the epididymis; or the corresponding part of the excretory duct of the testicle, which is derived from the Wolffian body.
Parostosis (n.) Ossification which takes place in purely fibrous tracts; the formation of bone outside of the periosteum.
Parotoid (a.) Resembling the parotid gland; -- applied especially to cutaneous glandular elevations above the ear in many toads and frogs.
Parovarium (n.) A group of tubules, a remnant of the Wolffian body, often found near the ovary or oviduct; the epoophoron.
Paroxysm (n.) The fit, attack, or exacerbation, of a disease that occurs at intervals, or has decided remissions or intermissions.
Paroxysmal (a.) Of the nature of a paroxysm; characterized or accompanied by paroxysms; as, a paroxysmal pain; paroxysmal temper.
Parquet (n.) A body of seats on the floor of a music hall or theater nearest the orchestra; but commonly applied to the whole lower floor of a theater, from the orchestra to the dress circle; the pit.
Parquetry (n.) A species of joinery or cabinet-work consisting of an inlay of geometric or other patterns, generally of different colors, -- used especially for floors.
Parr (n.) A young salmon in the stage when it has dark transverse bands; -- called also samlet, skegger, and fingerling.
Parrel (n.) The rope or collar by which a yard or spar is held to the mast in such a way that it may be hoisted or lowered at pleasure.
Parricide (n.) Properly, one who murders one's own father; in a wider sense, one who murders one's father or mother or any ancestor.
Parry (n.) A warding off of a thrust or blow, as in sword and bayonet exercises or in boxing; hence, figuratively, a defensive movement in debate or other intellectual encounter.
Parry (v. t.) To ward off; to stop, or to turn aside; as, to parry a thrust, a blow, or anything that means or threatens harm.
Parse (n.) To resolve into its elements, as a sentence, pointing out the several parts of speech, and their relation to each other by government or agreement; to analyze and describe grammatically.
Parsee (n.) One of the adherents of the Zoroastrian or ancient Persian religion, descended from Persian refugees settled in India; a fire worshiper; a Gheber.
Parsimonious (a.) Exhibiting parsimony; sparing in expenditure of money; frugal to excess; penurious; niggardly; stingy.
Parsimony (n.) Closeness or sparingness in the expenditure of money; -- generally in a bad sense; excessive frugality; niggardliness.
Parsley (n.) An aromatic umbelliferous herb (Carum Petroselinum), having finely divided leaves which are used in cookery and as a garnish.
Parsnip (n.) The aromatic and edible spindle-shaped root of the cultivated form of the Pastinaca sativa, a biennial umbelliferous plant which is very poisonous in its wild state; also, the plant itself.
Parson (n.) A person who represents a parish in its ecclesiastical and corporate capacities; hence, the rector or incumbent of a parochial church, who has full possession of all the rights thereof, with the cure of souls.
Parson (n.) Any clergyman having ecclesiastical preferment; one who is in orders, or is licensed to preach; a preacher.
Parsonage (n.) A certain portion of lands, tithes, and offerings, for the maintenance of the parson of a parish.
Parsonage (n.) The glebe and house, or the house only, owned by a parish or ecclesiastical society, and appropriated to the maintenance or use of the incumbent or settled pastor.
Part (n.) A constituent of character or capacity; quality; faculty; talent; -- usually in the plural with a collective sense.
Part (n.) A constituent portion of a living or spiritual whole; a member; an organ; an essential element.
Part (n.) A particular character in a drama or a play; an assumed personification; also, the language, actions, and influence of a character or an actor in a play; or, figuratively, in real life. See To act a part, under Act.
Part (n.) An equal constituent portion; one of several or many like quantities, numbers, etc., into which anything is divided, or of which it is composed; proportional division or ingredient.
Part (n.) One of the different melodies of a concerted composition, which heard in union compose its harmony; also, the music for each voice or instrument; as, the treble, tenor, or bass part; the violin part, etc.
Part (n.) Such portion of any quantity, as when taken a certain number of times, will exactly make that quantity; as, 3 is a part of 12; -- the opposite of multiple. Also, a line or other element of a geometrical figure.
Part (n.) That which belongs to one, or which is assumed by one, or which falls to one, in a division or apportionment; share; portion; lot; interest; concern; duty; office.
Part (n.) To divide; to separate into distinct parts; to break into two or more parts or pieces; to sever.
Part (n.) To separate by a process of extraction, elimination, or secretion; as, to part gold from silver.
Part (n.) To separate or disunite; to cause to go apart; to remove from contact or contiguity; to sunder.
Part (v. i.) To be broken or divided into parts or pieces; to break; to become separated; to go asunder; as, rope parts; his hair parts in the middle.
Part (v. i.) To go away; to depart; to take leave; to quit each other; hence, to die; -- often with from.
Part (v. i.) To perform an act of parting; to relinquish a connection of any kind; -- followed by with or from.
Partake (v. i.) To have something of the properties, character, or office; -- usually followed by of.
Partake (v. i.) To take a part, portion, lot, or share, in common with others; to have a share or part; to participate; to share; as, to partake of a feast with others.
Parted (a.) Cleft so that the divisions reach nearly, but not quite, to the midrib, or the base of the blade; -- said of a leaf, and used chiefly in composition; as, three-parted, five-parted, etc.
Partenope (n.) One of the Sirens, who threw herself into the sea, in despair at not being able to beguile Ulysses by her songs.
parterie (n.) Articles made of the blades or fiber of the Lygeum Spartum and Stipa (/ Macrochloa) tenacissima, kinds of grass used in Spain and other countries for making ropes, mats, baskets, nets, and mattresses.
Parterre (n.) An ornamental and diversified arrangement of beds or plots, in which flowers are cultivated, with intervening spaces of gravel or turf for walking on.
Parthenogenesis (n.) The production of seed without fertilization, believed to occur through the nonsexual formation of an embryo extraneous to the embrionic vesicle.
Parthenon (n.) A celebrated marble temple of Athene, on the Acropolis at Athens. It was of the pure Doric order, and has had an important influence on art.
Partial (n.) Inclined to favor one party in a cause, or one side of a question, more then the other; baised; not indifferent; as, a judge should not be partial.
Partial (n.) Of, pertaining to, or affecting, a part only; not general or universal; not total or entire; as, a partial eclipse of the moon.
Partial (n.) Pertaining to a subordinate portion; as, a compound umbel is made up of a several partial umbels; a leaflet is often supported by a partial petiole.
Partialist (n.) One who holds that the atonement was made only for a part of mankind, that is, for the elect.
Partiality (n.) A predilection or inclination to one thing rather than to others; special taste or liking; as, a partiality for poetry or painting.
Partiality (n.) The quality or state of being partial; inclination to favor one party, or one side of a question, more than the other; undue bias of mind.
Partially (adv.) In a partial manner; with undue bias of mind; with unjust favor or dislike; as, to judge partially.
Partibility (n.) The quality or state of being partible; divisibility; separability; as, the partibility of an inherttance.
Partible (a.) Admitting of being parted; divisible; separable; susceptible of severance or partition; as, an estate of inheritance may be partible.
Participate (v. i.) To have a share in common with others; to take a part; to partake; -- followed by in, formely by of; as, to participate in a debate.
Participation (n.) The act or state of participating, or sharing in common with others; as, a participation in joy or sorrows.
Participial (a.) Having, or partaking of, the nature and use of a participle; formed from a participle; as, a participial noun.
Particle (n.) A minute part or portion of matter; a morsel; a little bit; an atom; a jot; as, a particle of sand, of wood, of dust.
Particle (n.) A subordinate word that is never inflected (a preposition, conjunction, interjection); or a word that can not be used except in compositions; as, ward in backward, ly in lovely.
Particle (n.) Any very small portion or part; the smallest portion; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue.
Particular (a.) Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise; as, a full and particular account of an accident; hence, nice; fastidious; as, a man particular in his dress.
Particular (a.) Containing a part only; limited; as, a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder.
Particular (a.) Of or pertaining to a single person, class, or thing; belonging to one only; not general; not common; hence, personal; peculiar; singular.
Particular (a.) Relating to a part or portion of anything; concerning a part separated from the whole or from others of the class; separate; sole; single; individual; specific; as, the particular stars of a constellation.
Particular (a.) Separate or distinct by reason of superiority; distinguished; important; noteworthy; unusual; special; as, he brought no particular news; she was the particular belle of the party.
Particular (n.) A separate or distinct member of a class, or part of a whole; an individual fact, point, circumstance, detail, or item, which may be considered separately; as, the particulars of a story.
Particular (n.) One of the details or items of grounds of claim; -- usually in the pl.; also, a bill of particulars; a minute account; as, a particular of premises.
Particularism (n.) Devotion to the interests of one's own kingdom or province rather than to those of the empire.
Particularity (n.) The state or quality of being particular; distinctiveness; circumstantiality; minuteness in detail.
Particularize (v. i.) To mention or attend to particulars; to give minute details; to be circumstantial; as, to particularize in a narrative.
Particularize (v. t.) To give as a particular, or as the particulars; to mention particularly; to give the particulars of; to enumerate or specify in detail.
Particularly (adv.) In a particular manner; expressly; with a specific reference or interest; in particular; distinctly.
Particularly (adv.) In an especial manner; in a high degree; as, a particularly fortunate man; a particularly bad failure.
Parting (n.) Lamellar separation in a crystallized mineral, due to some other cause than cleavage, as to the presence of twinning lamellae.
Parting (n.) The separation and determination of alloys; esp., the separation, as by acids, of gold from silver in the assay button.
Parting (n.) The surface of the sand of one section of a mold where it meets that of another section.
Partisan (a.) Adherent to a party or faction; especially, having the character of blind, passionate, or unreasonable adherence to a party; as, blinded by partisan zeal.
Partisan (n.) An adherent to a party or faction; esp., one who is strongly and passionately devoted to a party or an interest.
Partisan (n.) The commander of a body of detached light troops engaged in making forays and harassing an enemy.
Partisanship (n.) The state of being a partisan, or adherent to a party; feelings or conduct appropriate to a partisan.
Partite (a.) Divided nearly to the base; as, a partite leaf is a simple separated down nearly to the base.
Partition (v. t.) To divide into parts or shares; to divide and distribute; as, to partition an estate among various heirs.
Partition (v.) The act of parting or dividing; the state of being parted; separation; division; distribution; as, the partition of a kingdom.
Partition (v.) The servance of common or undivided interests, particularly in real estate. It may be effected by consent of parties, or by compulsion of law.
Partlet (n.) A covering for the neck, and sometimes for the shoulders and breast; originally worn by both sexes, but laterby women alone; a ruff.
Partner (n.) A framework of heavy timber surrounding an opening in a deck, to strengthen it for the support of a mast, pump, capstan, or the like.
Partner (n.) An associate in any business or occupation; a member of a partnership. See Partnership.
Partnership (n.) An alliance or association of persons for the prosecution of an undertaking or a business on joint account; a company; a firm; a house; as, to form a partnership.
Partnership (n.) The state or condition of being a partner; as, to be in partnership with another; to have partnership in the fortunes of a family or a state.
Partridge (n.) Any one of numerous species of small gallinaceous birds of the genus Perdix and several related genera of the family Perdicidae, of the Old World. The partridge is noted as a game bird.
Partridge (n.) Any one of several species of quail-like birds belonging to Colinus, and allied genera.
Parturition (n.) The act of bringing forth, or being delivered of, young; the act of giving birth; delivery; childbirth.
Party (v.) A number of persons invited to a social entertainment; a select company; as, a dinner party; also, the entertainment itself; as, to give a party.
Party (v.) A number of persons united in opinion or action, as distinguished from, or opposed to, the rest of a community or association; esp., one of the parts into which a people is divided on questions of public policy.
Party (v.) A part of a larger body of company; a detachment; especially (Mil.), a small body of troops dispatched on special service.
Party (v.) One concerned or interested in an affair; one who takes part with others; a participator; as, he was a party to the plot; a party to the contract.
Party (v.) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries; as, an escutcheon party per pale.
Party (v.) The plaintiff or the defendant in a lawsuit, whether an individual, a firm, or corporation; a litigant.
Parumbilical (a.) Near the umbilicus; -- applied especially to one or more small veins which, in man, connect the portal vein with the epigastric veins in the front wall of the abdomen.
Parusia (n.) A figure of speech by which the present tense is used instead of the past or the future, as in the animated narration of past, or in the prediction of future, events.
Parvanimity (n.) The state or quality of having a little or ignoble mind; pettiness; meanness; -- opposed to magnanimity.
Parvise (n.) a court of entrance to, or an inclosed space before, a church; hence, a church porch; -- sometimes formerly used as place of meeting, as for lawyers.
Parvolin (n.) A nonoxygenous ptomaine, formed in the putrefaction of albuminous matters, especially of horseflesh and mackerel.
Parvoline (n.) A liquid base, C/H/N, of the pyridine group, found in coal tar; also, any one of the series of isometric substances of which it is the type.
Pasha (n.) An honorary title given to officers of high rank in Turkey, as to governers of provinces, military commanders, etc. The earlier form was bashaw.
Pasigraphy (n.) A system of universal writing, or a manner of writing that may be understood and used by all nations.
Paspy (n.) A kind of minuet, in triple time, of French origin, popular in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and for some time after; -- called also passing measure, and passymeasure.
Pass (v. i.) An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier; a passageway; a defile; a ford; as, a mountain pass.
Pass (v. i.) In football, hockey, etc., to make a pass; to transfer the ball, etc., to another player of one's own side.
Pass (v. i.) Permission or license to pass, or to go and come; a psssport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission; as, a railroad or theater pass; a military pass.
Pass (v. i.) To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance; as, an estate passes by a certain clause in a deed.
Pass (v. i.) To decline to take an optional action when it is one's turn, as to decline to bid, or to bet, or to play a card; in euchre, to decline to make the trump.
Pass (v. i.) To go by or glide by, as time; to elapse; to be spent; as, their vacation passed pleasantly.
Pass (v. i.) To go through any inspection or test successfully; to be approved or accepted; as, he attempted the examination, but did not expect to pass.
Pass (v. i.) To go unheeded or neglected; to proceed without hindrance or opposition; as, we let this act pass.
Pass (v. i.) To move beyond the range of the senses or of knowledge; to pass away; hence, to disappear; to vanish; to depart; specifically, to depart from life; to die.
Pass (v. i.) To move or be transferred from one state or condition to another; to change possession, condition, or circumstances; to undergo transition; as, the business has passed into other hands.
Pass (v. i.) To move or to come into being or under notice; to come and go in consciousness; hence, to take place; to occur; to happen; to come; to occur progressively or in succession; to be present transitorily.
Pass (v. t.) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over; as, the waiter passed bisquit and cheese; the torch was passed from hand to hand.
Pass (v. t.) To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance; as, to pass a person into a theater, or over a railroad.
Pass (v. t.) To cause to pass the lips; to utter; to pronounce; hence, to promise; to pledge; as, to pass sentence.
Pass (v. t.) To go by, beyond, over, through, or the like; to proceed from one side to the other of; as, to pass a house, a stream, a boundary, etc.
Pass (v. t.) To go from one limit to the other of; to spend; to live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer.
Pass (v. t.) To go successfully through, as an examination, trail, test, etc.; to obtain the formal sanction of, as a legislative body; as, he passed his examination; the bill passed the senate.
Pass (v. t.) To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.
Passable (a.) Capable of being freely circulated or disseminated; acceptable; generally receivable; current.
Passable (a.) Capable of being passed, traveled, navigated, traversed, penetrated, or the like; as, the roads are not passable; the stream is passablein boats.
Passable (a.) Such as may be allowed to pass without serious objection; tolerable; admissable; moderate; mediocre.
Passacaglio (n.) An old Italian or Spanish dance tune, in slow three-four measure, with divisions on a ground bass, resembling a chaconne.
Passage (v. i.) A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series; as, the passage of time.
Passage (v. i.) A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.
Passage (v. i.) A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed.
Passage (v. i.) Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.
Passage (v. i.) Way; road; path; channel or course through or by which one passes; way of exit or entrance; way of access or transit. Hence, a common avenue to various apartments in a building; a hall; a corridor.
Passant (v. i.) Walking; -- said of any animal on an escutcheon, which is represented as walking with the dexter paw raised.
Passe partout (n.) A light picture frame or mat of cardboard, wood, or the like, usually put between the picture and the glass, and sometimes serving for several pictures.
Passegarde (n.) A ridge or projecting edge on a shoulder piece to turn the blow of a lance or other weapon from the joint of the armor.
Passenger (n.) A traveler by some established conveyance, as a coach, steamboat, railroad train, etc.
Passeres (n. pl.) An order, or suborder, of birds, including more that half of all the known species. It embraces all singing birds (Oscines), together with many other small perching birds.
Passiflora (n.) A genus of plants, including the passion flower. It is the type of the order Passifloreae, which includes about nineteen genera and two hundred and fifty species.
Passing (a.) Relating to the act of passing or going; going by, beyond, through, or away; departing.
Passion (n.) A suffering or enduring of imposed or inflicted pain; any suffering or distress (as, a cardiac passion); specifically, the suffering of Christ between the time of the last supper and his death, esp. in the garden upon the cross.
Passion (n.) Capacity of being affected by external agents; susceptibility of impressions from external agents.
Passion (n.) The state of being acted upon; subjection to an external agent or influence; a passive condition; -- opposed to action.
Passional (a.) Of or pertaining to passion or the passions; exciting, influenced by, or ministering to, the passions.
Passionate (a.) Capable or susceptible of passion, or of different passions; easily moved, excited or agitated; specifically, easily moved to anger; irascible; quick-tempered; as, a passionate nature.
Passionate (a.) Characterized by passion; expressing passion; ardent in feeling or desire; vehement; warm; as, a passionate friendship.
Passive (a.) Designating certain morbid conditions, as hemorrhage or dropsy, characterized by relaxation of the vessels and tissues, with deficient vitality and lack of reaction in the affected tissues.
Passive (a.) Inactive; inert; not showing strong affinity; as, red phosphorus is comparatively passive.
Passive (a.) Not active, but acted upon; suffering or receiving impressions or influences; as, they were passive spectators, not actors in the scene.
Passive (a.) Receiving or enduring without either active sympathy or active resistance; without emotion or excitement; patient; not opposing; unresisting; as, passive obedience; passive submission.
Passivity (n.) The quality or condition of any substance which has no inclination to chemical activity; inactivity.
Passivity (n.) The tendency of a body to remain in a given state, either of motion or rest, till disturbed by another body; inertia.
Passover (n.) A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the sparing of the Hebrews in Egypt, when God, smiting the firstborn of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the blood of a lamb.
Passport (n.) A document carried by neutral merchant vessels in time of war, to certify their nationality and protect them from belligerents; a sea letter.
Passport (n.) A license granted in time of war for the removal of persons and effects from a hostile country; a safe-conduct.
Passport (n.) Permission to pass; a document given by the competent officer of a state, permitting the person therein named to pass or travel from place to place, without molestation, by land or by water.
Past (v.) Of or pertaining to a former time or state; neither present nor future; gone by; elapsed; ended; spent; as, past troubles; past offences.
Paste (n.) A highly refractive vitreous composition, variously colored, used in making imitations of precious stones or gems. See Strass.
Paste (n.) A kind of cement made of flour and water, starch and water, or the like, -- used for uniting paper or other substances, as in bookbinding, etc., -- also used in calico printing as a vehicle for mordant or color.
Paste (n.) A soft composition, as of flour moistened with water or milk, or of earth moistened to the consistence of dough, as in making potter's ware.
Paste (n.) A soft confection made of the inspissated juice of fruit, licorice, or the like, with sugar, etc.
Paste (n.) Specifically, in cookery, a dough prepared for the crust of pies and the like; pastry dough.
Pasteboard (n.) A stiff thick kind of paper board, formed of several single sheets pasted one upon another, or of paper macerated and pressed into molds, etc.
Paster (n.) A slip of paper, usually bearing a name, intended to be pasted by the voter, as a substitute, over another name on a printed ballot.
Pastern (n.) The part of the foot of the horse, and allied animals, between the fetlock and the coffin joint. See Illust. of Horse.
Pasteurism (n.) A method of treatment, devised by Pasteur, for preventing certain diseases, as hydrophobia, by successive inoculations with an attenuated virus of gradually increasing strength.
Pasticcio (n.) A falsified work of art, as a vase or statue made up of parts of original works, with missing parts supplied.
Pasticcio (n.) A work of art imitating directly the work of another artist, or of more artists than one.
Pastille (n.) A small cone or mass made of paste of gum, benzoin, cinnamon, and other aromatics, -- used for fumigating or scenting the air of a room.
Pastime (n.) That which amuses, and serves to make time pass agreeably; sport; amusement; diversion.
Pastor (n.) A guardian; a keeper; specifically (Eccl.), a minister having the charge of a church and parish.
Pastor (n.) A species of starling (Pastor roseus), native of the plains of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Its head is crested and glossy greenish black, and its back is rosy. It feeds largely upon locusts.
Pastoral (a.) Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.
Pastoral (a.) Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.
Pastoral (n.) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
Pastoral (n.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot. Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.
Pastoral (n.) A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic.
Pasture (n.) Specifically: Grass growing for the food of cattle; the food of cattle taken by grazing.
Pasture (v. t.) To feed, esp. to feed on growing grass; to supply grass as food for; as, the farmer pastures fifty oxen; the land will pasture forty cows.
Pasty (n.) A pie consisting usually of meat wholly surrounded with a crust made of a sheet of paste, and often baked without a dish; a meat pie.
Patagium (n.) In bats, an expansion of the integument uniting the fore limb with the body and extending between the elongated fingers to form the wing; in birds, the similar fold of integument uniting the fore limb with the body.
Patagium (n.) One of a pair of small vesicular organs situated at the bases of the anterior wings of lepidopterous insects. See Illust. of Butterfly.
Patavinity (n.) The use of local or provincial words, as in the peculiar style or diction of Livy, the Roman historian; -- so called from Patavium, now Padua, the place of Livy's nativity.
Patch (n.) A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, esp. upon an old garment to cover a hole.
Patch (n.) A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.
Patch (n.) A small piece of black silk stuck on the face, or neck, to hide a defect, or to heighten beauty.
Patch (n.) Fig.: Anything regarded as a patch; a small piece of ground; a tract; a plot; as, scattered patches of trees or growing corn.
Patch (v. t.) To make of pieces or patches; to repair as with patches; to arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner; -- generally with up; as, to patch up a truce.
Patch (v. t.) To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like; as, to patch a coat.
Patch (v. t.) To mend with pieces; to repair with pieces festened on; to repair clumsily; as, to patch the roof of a house.
Patchouly (n.) A mintlike plant (Pogostemon Patchouli) of the East Indies, yielding an essential oil from which a highly valued perfume is made.
Patchwork (n.) Work composed of pieces sewed together, esp. pieces of various colors and figures; hence, anything put together of incongruous or ill-adapted parts; something irregularly clumsily composed; a thing putched up.
Pate (n.) A kind of platform with a parapet, usually of an oval form, and generally erected in marshy grounds to cover a gate of a fortified place.
Patella (n.) A genus of marine gastropods, including many species of limpets. The shell has the form of a flattened cone. The common European limpet (Patella vulgata) is largely used for food.
Patella (n.) A kind of apothecium in lichens, which is orbicular, flat, and sessile, and has a special rim not a part of the thallus.
Paten (n.) The place on which the consecrated bread is placed in the Eucharist, or on which the host is placed during the Mass. It is usually small, and formed as to fit the chalice, or cup, as a cover.
Patent (a.) A letter patent, or letters patent; an official document, issued by a sovereign power, conferring a right or privilege on some person or party.
Patent (a.) Appropriated or protected by letters patent; secured by official authority to the exclusive possession, control, and disposal of some person or party; patented; as, a patent right; patent medicines.
Patent (a.) Open to public perusal; -- said of a document conferring some right or privilege; as, letters patent. See Letters patent, under 3d Letter.
Patent (a.) The right or privilege conferred by such a document; hence, figuratively, a right, privilege, or license of the nature of a patent.
Patent (v. t.) To grant by patent; to make the subject of a patent; to secure or protect by patent; as, to patent an invention; to patent public lands.
Patent-hammered (a.) Having a surface dressed by cutting with a hammer the head of which consists of broad thin chisels clamped together.
Patera (n.) A circular ornament, resembling a dish, often worked in relief on friezes, and the like.
Patera (n.) A saucerlike vessel of earthenware or metal, used by the Greeks and Romans in libations and sacrificies.
Paterfamilias (n.) The head of a family; in a large sense, the proprietor of an estate; one who is his own master.
Paternal (a.) Of or pertaining to a father; fatherly; showing the disposition of a father; guiding or instructing as a father; as, paternal care.
Paternalism (n.) The theory or practice of paternal government. See Paternal government, under Paternal.
Paternity (n.) The relation of a father to his child; fathership; fatherhood; family headship; as, the divine paternity.
Path (n.) A way, course, or track, in which anything moves or has moved; route; passage; an established way; as, the path of a meteor, of a caravan, of a storm, of a pestilence. Also used figuratively, of a course of life or action.
Pathetic (a.) Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story.
Pathogene (n.) One of a class of virulent microorganisms or bacteria found in the tissues and fluids in infectious diseases, and supposed to be the cause of the disease; a pathogenic organism; a pathogenic bacterium; -- opposed to zymogene.
Pathogenic (a.) Of or pertaining to pathogeny; producting disease; as, a pathogenic organism; a pathogenic bacterium.
Pathogeny (n.) The generation, and method of development, of disease; as, the pathogeny of yellow fever is unsettled.
Pathognomonic (a.) Specially or decisively characteristic of a disease; indicating with certainty a disease; as, a pathognomonic symptom.
Pathognomy (n.) Expression of the passions; the science of the signs by which human passions are indicated.
Pathologist (n.) One skilled in pathology; an investigator in pathology; as, the pathologist of a hospital, whose duty it is to determine the causes of the diseases.
Patience (n.) A kind of dock (Rumex Patientia), less common in America than in Europe; monk's rhubarb.
Patience (n.) The act or power of calmly or contentedly waiting for something due or hoped for; forbearance.
Patience (n.) The state or quality of being patient; the power of suffering with fortitude; uncomplaining endurance of evils or wrongs, as toil, pain, poverty, insult, oppression, calamity, etc.
Patient (a.) Undergoing pains, trails, or the like, without murmuring or fretfulness; bearing up with equanimity against trouble; long-suffering.
Patina (n.) The color or incrustation which age gives to works of art; especially, the green rust which covers ancient bronzes, coins, and medals.
Patio (n.) A paved yard or floor where ores are cleaned and sorted, or where ore, salt, mercury, etc., are trampled by horses, to effect intermixture and amalgamation.
Patonce (a.) Having the arms growing broader and floriated toward the end; -- said of a cross. See Illust. 9 of Cross.
Patrial (a.) Derived from the name of a country, and designating an inhabitant of the country; gentile; -- said of a noun.
Patrial (n.) A patrial noun. Thus Romanus, a Roman, and Troas, a woman of Troy, are patrial nouns, or patrials.
Patriarch (n.) A dignitary superior to the order of archbishops; as, the patriarch of Constantinople, of Alexandria, or of Antioch.
Patriarchal (a.) Having an organization of society and government in which the head of the family exercises authority over all its generations.
Patriarchal (a.) Of or pertaining to a patriarch or to patriarchs; possessed by, or subject to, patriarchs; as, patriarchal authority or jurisdiction; a patriarchal see; a patriarchal church.
Patrimonial (a.) Of or pertaining to a patrimony; inherited from ancestors; as, a patrimonial estate.
Patrimony (n.) A right or estate inherited from one's father; or, in a larger sense, from any ancestor.
Patriotic (a.) Inspired by patriotism; actuated by love of one's country; zealously and unselfishly devoted to the service of one's country; as, a patriotic statesman, vigilance.
Patriotism (n.) Love of country; devotion to the welfare of one's country; the virtues and actions of a patriot; the passion which inspires one to serve one's country.
Patripassian (n.) One of a body of believers in the early church who denied the independent preexistent personality of Christ, and who, accordingly, held that the Father suffered in the Son; a monarchian.
Patristics (n.) That departnent of historical theology which treats of the lives and doctrines of the Fathers of the church.
Patrol (v. i.) A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts.
Patrol (v. i.) A movement, by a small body of troops beyond the line of outposts, to explore the country and gain intelligence of the enemy's whereabouts.
Patrol (v. i.) Any perambulation of a particular line or district to guard it; also, the men thus guarding; as, a customs patrol; a fire patrol.
Patrol (v. i.) The guard or men who go the rounds for observation; a detachment whose duty it is to patrol.
Patrol (v.) t To go the rounds of, as a sentry, guard, or policeman; as, to patrol a frontier; to patrol a beat.
Patrolman (n.) One who patrols; a watchman; especially, a policeman who patrols a particular precinct of a town or city.
Patron (n.) One who encourages or helps a person, a cause, or a work; a furtherer; a promoter; as, a patron of art.
Patronage (n.) Special countenance or support; favor, encouragement, or aid, afforded to a person or a work; as, the patronage of letters; patronage given to an author.
Patronage (n.) The right of nomination to political office; also, the offices, contracts, honors, etc., which a public officer may bestow by favor.
Patronize (v. t.) To assume the air of a patron, or of a superior and protector, toward; -- used in an unfavorable sense; as, to patronize one's equals.
Patronizing (a.) Showing condescending favor; assuming the manner of airs of a superior toward another.
Patronomayology (n.) That branch of knowledge which deals with personal names and their origin; the study of patronymics.
Patroon (n.) One of the proprietors of certain tracts of land with manorial privileges and right of entail, under the old Dutch governments of New York and New Jersey.
Pattee (a.) Narrow at the inner, and very broad at the other, end, or having its arms of that shape; -- said of a cross. See Illust. (8) of Cross.
Patten (n.) A clog or sole of wood, usually supported by an iron ring, worn to raise the feet from the wet or the mud.
Patter (v. i.) To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet.
Pattern (n.) A full-sized model around which a mold of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mold without injuring it.
Pattern (n.) A part showing the figure or quality of the whole; a specimen; a sample; an example; an instance.
Pattern (n.) Anything cut or formed to serve as a guide to cutting or forming objects; as, a dressmaker's pattern.
Pattern (n.) Anything proposed for imitation; an archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be, or is worthy to be, copied or imitated; as, a pattern of a machine.
Pattern (v. t.) To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate.
Patulous (a.) Open; expanded; slightly spreading; having the parts loose or dispersed; as, a patulous calyx; a patulous cluster of flowers.
Pauldron (n.) A piece of armor covering the shoulder at the junction of the body piece and arm piece.
Paulianist (n.) A follower of Paul of Samosata, a bishop of Antioch in the third century, who was deposed for denying the divinity of Christ.
Paulician (n.) One of a sect of Christian dualists originating in Armenia in the seventh century. They rejected the Old Testament and the part of the New.
Pauline (a.) Of or pertaining to the apostle Paul, or his writings; resembling, or conforming to, the writings of Paul; as, the Pauline epistles; Pauline doctrine.
Paulist (n.) A member of The Institute of the Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle, founded in 1858 by the Rev. I. T. Hecker of New York. The majority of the members were formerly Protestants.
Paulownia (n.) A genus of trees of the order Scrophulariaceae, consisting of one species, Paulownia imperialis.
Paunch (n.) The belly and its contents; the abdomen; also, the first stomach, or rumen, of ruminants. See Rumen.
Pauper (n.) A poor person; especially, one development on private or public charity. Also used adjectively; as, pouper immigrants, pouper labor.
Pauperism (n.) The state of being a pauper; the state of indigent persons requiring support from the community.
Pauropoda (n. pl.) An order of small myriapods having only nine pairs of legs and destitute of tracheae.
Pause (n.) A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
Pause (n.) In speaking or reading aloud, a brief arrest or suspension of voice, to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts.
Pause (n.) In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation point; as, teach the pupil to mind the pauses.
Pause (n.) To make a short stop; to cease for a time; to intermit speaking or acting; to stop; to wait; to rest.
Pavan (n.) A stately and formal Spanish dance for which full state costume is worn; -- so called from the resemblance of its movements to those of the peacock.
Pave (v. t.) Fig.: To make smooth, easy, and safe; to prepare, as a path or way; as, to pave the way to promotion; to pave the way for an enterprise.
Pavement (n.) That with which anythingis paved; a floor or covering of solid material, laid so as to make a hard and convenient surface for travel; a paved road or sidewalk; a decorative interior floor of tiles or colored bricks.
Pavesade (n.) A canvas screen, formerly sometimes extended along the side of a vessel in a naval engagement, to conceal from the enemy the operations on board.
Pavilion (n.) A single body or mass of building, contained within simple walls and a single roof, whether insulated, as in the park or garden of a larger edifice, or united with other parts, and forming an angle or central feature of a large pile.
Pavilion (n.) A temporary movable habitation; a large tent; a marquee; esp., a tent raised on posts.
Pavilion (n.) That part of a brilliant which lies between the girdle and collet. See Illust. of Brilliant.
Pavise (n.) A large shield covering the whole body, carried by a pavisor, who sometimes screened also an archer with it.
Pavonine (a.) Characteristic of a peacock; resembling the tail of a peacock, as in colors; iridescent.
Paw (v. t.) To pass the paw over; to stroke or handle with the paws; hence, to handle fondly or rudely.
Pawn (n.) Anything delivered or deposited as security, as for the payment of money borrowed, or of a debt; a pledge. See Pledge, n., 1.
Pawn (v. t.) To give or deposit in pledge, or as security for the payment of money borrowed; to put in pawn; to pledge; as, to pawn one's watch.
Pawnbroker (n.) One who makes a business of lending money on the security of personal property pledged or deposited in his keeping.
Pawnor (n.) One who pawns or pledges anything as security for the payment of borrowed money or of a debt.
Pax (n.) The kiss of peace; also, the embrace in the sanctuary now substituted for it at High Mass in Roman Catholic churches.
Paxillus (n.) One of a peculiar kind of spines covering the surface of certain starfishes. They are pillarlike, with a flattened summit which is covered with minute spinules or granules. See Illustration in Appendix.
Paxwax (n.) The strong ligament of the back of the neck in quadrupeds. It connects the back of the skull with dorsal spines of the cervical vertebrae, and helps to support the head. Called also paxywaxy and packwax.
Pay (n.) An equivalent or return for money due, goods purchased, or services performed; salary or wages for work or service; compensation; recompense; payment; hire; as, the pay of a clerk; the pay of a soldier.
Pay (v. i.) Hence, to make or secure suitable return for expense or trouble; to be remunerative or profitable; to be worth the effort or pains required; as, it will pay to ride; it will pay to wait; politeness always pays.
Pay (v. t.) Hence, figuratively: To compensate justly; to requite according to merit; to reward; to punish; to retort or retaliate upon.
Pay (v. t.) To cover, as bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc., with tar or pitch, or waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.
Pay (v. t.) To discharge or fulfill, as a duy; to perform or render duty, as that which has been promised.
Pay (v. t.) To discharge, as a debt, demand, or obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required; to deliver the amount or value of to the person to whom it is owing; to discharge a debt by delivering (money owed).
Payee (n.) The person to whom money is to be, or has been, paid; the person named in a bill or note, to whom, or to whose order, the amount is promised or directed to be paid. See Bill of exchange, under Bill.
Payer (n.) One who pays; specifically, the person by whom a bill or note has been, or should be, paid.
Paymaster (n.) One who pays; one who compensates, rewards, or requites; specifically, an officer or agent of a government, a corporation, or an employer, whose duty it is to pay salaries, wages, etc., and keep account of the same.
Payment (n.) That which is paid; the thing given in discharge of a debt, or an obligation, or in fulfillment of a promise; reward; recompense; requital; return.
Payndemain (n.) The finest and whitest bread made in the Middle Ages; -- called also paynemain, payman.
Paytine (n.) An alkaloid obtained from a white bark resembling that of the cinchona, first brought from Payta, in Peru.
Pea (n.) A name given, especially in the Southern States, to the seed of several leguminous plants (species of Dolichos, Cicer, Abrus, etc.) esp. those having a scar (hilum) of a different color from the rest of the seed.
Pea (n.) A plant, and its fruit, of the genus Pisum, of many varieties, much cultivated for food. It has a papilionaceous flower, and the pericarp is a legume, popularly called a pod.
Peabody bird () An American sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) having a conspicuous white throat. The name is imitative of its note. Called also White-throated sparrow.
Peace (v.) Exemption from, or subjection of, agitating passions; tranquillity of mind or conscience.
Peaceable (a.) Begin in or at peace; tranquil; quiet; free from, or not disposed to, war, disorder, or excitement; not quarrelsome.
Peaceful (a.) Not disposed or tending to war, tumult or agitation; pacific; mild; calm; peaceable; as, peaceful words.
Peaceful (a.) Possessing or enjoying peace; not disturbed by war, tumult, agitation, anxiety, or commotion; quiet; tranquil; as, a peaceful time; a peaceful country; a peaceful end.
Peach (n.) A well-known high-flavored juicy fruit, containing one or two seeds in a hard almond-like endocarp or stone; also, the tree which bears it (Prunus, / Amygdalus Persica). In the wild stock the fruit is hard and inedible.
Peacock (n.) The male of any pheasant of the genus Pavo, of which at least two species are known, native of Southern Asia and the East Indies.
Peak (n.) A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap.
Peak (n.) The top, or one of the tops, of a hill, mountain, or range, ending in a point; often, the whole hill or mountain, esp. when isolated; as, the Peak of Teneriffe.
Peak (n.) The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail; -- used in many combinations; as, peak-halyards, peak-brails, etc.
Peak (v. t.) To raise to a position perpendicular, or more nearly so; as, to peak oars, to hold them upright; to peak a gaff or yard, to set it nearer the perpendicular.
Peal (n.) A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, of a multitude, etc.
Peal (n.) A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale; also, the changes rung on a set of bells.
Peanut (n.) The fruit of a trailing leguminous plant (Arachis hypogaea); also, the plant itself, which is widely cultivated for its fruit.
Pear (n.) The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree (Pyrus communis), cultivated in many varieties in temperate climates; also, the tree which bears this fruit. See Pear family, below.
Pearl (n.) A capsule of gelatin or similar substance containing some liquid for medicinal application, as ether.
Pearlfish (n.) Any fish whose scales yield a pearl-like pigment used in manufacturing artificial pearls, as the bleak, and whitebait.
Pearlstone (n.) A glassy volcanic rock of a grayish color and pearly luster, often having a spherulitic concretionary structure due to the curved cracks produced by contraction in cooling. See Illust. under Perlitic.
Pearlwort (n.) A name given to several species of Sagina, low and inconspicuous herbs of the Chickweed family.
Pearly (a.) Resembling pearl or pearls; clear; pure; transparent; iridescent; as, the pearly dew or flood.
Pearmain (n.) The name of several kinds of apples; as, the blue pearmain, winter pearmain, and red pearmain.
Peart (a.) Active; lively; brisk; smart; -- often applied to convalescents; as, she is quite peart to-day.
Peasant (n.) A countryman; a rustic; especially, one of the lowest class of tillers of the soil in European countries.
Peba (n.) An armadillo (Tatusia novemcincta) which is found from Texas to Paraguay; -- called also tatouhou.
Pebble (n.) A small roundish stone or bowlder; especially, a stone worn and rounded by the action of water; a pebblestone.
Pebble (n.) Transparent and colorless rock crystal; as, Brazilian pebble; -- so called by opticians.
Pebble (v. t.) To grain (leather) so as to produce a surface covered with small rounded prominences.
Pebrine (n.) An epidemic disease of the silkworm, characterized by the presence of minute vibratory corpuscles in the blood.
Peccavi () I have sinned; -- used colloquially to express confession or acknowledgment of an offense.
Peck (v.) Hence: To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument; especially, to strike, pick, etc., with repeated quick movements.
Peck (v.) To seize and pick up with the beak, or as with the beak; to bite; to eat; -- often with up.
Pecopteris (n.) An extensive genus of fossil ferns; -- so named from the regular comblike arrangement of the leaflets.
Pecten (n.) A vascular pigmented membrane projecting into the vitreous humor within the globe of the eye in birds, and in many reptiles and fishes; -- also called marsupium.
Pecten (n.) Any species of bivalve mollusks of the genus Pecten, and numerous allied genera (family Pectinidae); a scallop. See Scallop.
Pectic (a.) Of or pertaining to pectin; specifically, designating an acid obtained from ordinary vegetable jelly (pectin) as an amorphous substance, tough and horny when dry, but gelatinous when moist.
Pectinated (a.) Having very narrow, close divisions, in arrangement and regularity resembling those of a comb; comblike; as, a pectinate leaf; pectinated muscles. See Illust. (e) of Antennae.
Pectinibranchiata (n. pl.) A division of Gastropoda, including those that have a comblike gill upon the neck.
Pectolite (n.) A whitish mineral occurring in radiated or fibrous crystalline masses. It is a hydrous silicate of lime and soda.
Pectoriloquy (n.) The distinct articulation of the sounds of a patient's voice, heard on applying the ear to the chest in auscultation. It usually indicates some morbid change in the lungs or pleural cavity.
Pectose (n.) An amorphous carbohydrate found in the vegetable kingdom, esp. in unripe fruits. It is associated with cellulose, and is converted into substances of the pectin group.
Pectosic (a.) Of, pertaining to, resembling, or derived from, pectose; specifically, designating an acid supposed to constitute largely ordinary pectin or vegetable jelly.
Peculate (v. i.) To appropriate to one's own use the property of the public; to steal public moneys intrusted to one's care; to embezzle.
Peculation (n.) The act or practice of peculating, or of defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement; embezzlement.
Peculiar (a.) One's own; belonging solely or especially to an individual; not possessed by others; of private, personal, or characteristic possession and use; not owned in common or in participation.
Peculiar (n.) That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.
Peculiarity (n.) That which is peculiar; a special and distinctive characteristic or habit; particularity.
Peculium (n.) The saving of a son or a slave with the father's or master's consent; a little property or stock of one's own; any exclusive personal or separate property.
Pedagogue (n.) A slave who led his master's children to school, and had the charge of them generally.
Pedagogue (n.) One who by teaching has become formal, positive, or pedantic in his ways; one who has the manner of a schoolmaster; a pedant.
Pedal (a.) A lever or key acted on by the foot, as in the pianoforte to raise the dampers, or in the organ to open and close certain pipes; a treadle, as in a lathe or a bicycle.
Pedal (a.) Of or pertaining to the foot, or to feet, literally or figuratively; specifically (Zool.), pertaining to the foot of a mollusk; as, the pedal ganglion.
Pedant (n.) One who puts on an air of learning; one who makes a vain display of learning; a pretender to superior knowledge.
Pedantical (a.) Of or pertaining to a pedant; characteristic of, or resembling, a pedant; ostentatious of learning; as, a pedantic writer; a pedantic description; a pedantical affectation.
Pedata (n. pl.) An order of holothurians, including those that have ambulacral suckers, or feet, and an internal gill.
Pedatifid (a.) Cleft in a pedate manner, but having the lobes distinctly connected at the base; -- said of a leaf.
Peddle (v. i.) To travel about with wares for sale; to go from place to place, or from house to house, for the purpose of retailing goods; as, to peddle without a license.
Peddle (v. t.) To sell from place to place; to retail by carrying around from customer to customer; to hawk; hence, to retail in very small quantities; as, to peddle vegetables or tinware.
Peddler (n.) One who peddles; a traveling trader; one who travels about, retailing small wares; a hawker.
Peddlery (n.) The trade, or the goods, of a peddler; hawking; small retail business, like that of a peddler.
Pedestal (n.) A casting secured to the frame of a truck and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.
Pedestal (n.) An iron socket, or support, for the foot of a brace at the end of a truss where it rests on a pier.
Pedestal (n.) The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like; the part on which an upright work stands. It consists of three parts, the base, the die or dado, and the cornice or surbase molding. See Illust. of Column.
Pedestrian (n.) A walker; one who journeys on foot; a foot traveler; specif., a professional walker or runner.
Pedestrianism (n.) The act, art, or practice of a pedestrian; walking or running; traveling or racing on foot.
Pedicel (n.) A slender stem by which certain of the lower animals or their eggs are attached. See Illust. of Aphis lion.
Pedicel (n.) A slender support of any special organ, as that of a capsule in mosses, an air vesicle in algae, or a sporangium in ferns.
Pedicel (n.) A stalk which supports one flower or fruit, whether solitary or one of many ultimate divisions of a common peduncle. See Peduncle, and Illust. of Flower.
Pedicel (n.) An outgrowth of the frontal bones, which supports the antlers or horns in deer and allied animals.
Pedicel (n.) The ventral part of each side of the neural arch connecting with the centrum of a vertebra.
Pedicellina (n.) A genus of Bryozoa, of the order Entoprocta, having a bell-shaped body supported on a slender pedicel. See Illust. under Entoprocta.
Pediculina (n. pl.) A division of parasitic hemipterous insects, including the true lice. See Illust. in Appendix.
Pediculus (n.) A genus of wingless parasitic Hemiptera, including the common lice of man. See Louse.
Pedigree (n.) A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors.
Pedimanous (a.) Having feet resembling hands, or with the first toe opposable, as the opossums and monkeys.
Pedipalpi (n pl.) A division of Arachnida, including the whip scorpions (Thelyphonus) and allied forms. Sometimes used in a wider sense to include also the true scorpions.
Pedipalpus (n.) One of the second pair of mouth organs of arachnids. In some they are leglike, but in others, as the scorpion, they terminate in a claw.
Peduncle (n.) A band of nervous or fibrous matter connecting different parts of the brain; as, the peduncles of the cerebellum; the peduncles of the pineal gland.
Peduncle (n.) A sort of stem by which certain shells and barnacles are attached to other objects. See Illust. of Barnacle.
Peduncle (n.) The stem or stalk that supports the flower or fruit of a plant, or a cluster of flowers or fruits.
Pedunculated (a.) Having a peduncle; growing on a peduncle; as, a pedunculate flower; a pedunculate eye, as in a lobster.
Peel (n.) A spadelike implement, variously used, as for removing loaves of bread from a baker's oven; also, a T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry. Also, the blade of an oar.
Peel (v. i.) To lose the skin, bark, or rind; to come off, as the skin, bark, or rind does; -- often used with an adverb; as, the bark peels easily or readily.
Peel (v. t.) To strip off the skin, bark, or rind of; to strip by drawing or tearing off the skin, bark, husks, etc.; to flay; to decorticate; as, to peel an orange.
Peel (v. t.) To strip or tear off; to remove by stripping, as the skin of an animal, the bark of a tree, etc.
Peele (n.) A graceful and swift South African antelope (Pelea capreola). The hair is woolly, and ash-gray on the back and sides. The horns are black, long, slender, straight, nearly smooth, and very sharp. Called also rheeboc, and rehboc.
Peen (n.) A round-edged, or hemispherical, end to the head of a hammer or sledge, used to stretch or bend metal by indentation.
Peepul tree () A sacred tree (Ficus religiosa) of the Buddhists, a kind of fig tree which attains great size and venerable age. See Bo tree.
Peer (n.) A nobleman; a member of one of the five degrees of the British nobility, namely, duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron; as, a peer of the realm.
Peevish (a.) Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer.
Peevish (a.) Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant.
Peg (n.) A small, pointed piece of wood, used in fastening boards together, in attaching the soles of boots or shoes, etc.; as, a shoe peg.
Peg (n.) A wooden pin, or nail, on which to hang things, as coats, etc. Hence, colloquially and figuratively: A support; a reason; a pretext; as, a peg to hang a claim upon.
Peg (v. i.) To work diligently, as one who pegs shoes; -- usually with on, at, or away; as, to peg away at a task.
Peg (v. t.) To put pegs into; to fasten the parts of with pegs; as, to peg shoes; to confine with pegs; to restrict or limit closely.
Pegasus (n.) A genus of small fishes, having large pectoral fins, and the body covered with hard, bony plates. Several species are known from the East Indies and China.
Pegasus (n.) A northen constellation near the vernal equinoctial point. Its three brightest stars, with the brightest star of Andromeda, form the square of Pegasus.
Pegmatitic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, pegmatite; as, the pegmatic structure of certain rocks resembling graphic granite.
Pehlevi (n.) An ancient Persian dialect in which words were partly represented by their Semitic equivalents. It was in use from the 3d century (and perhaps earlier) to the middle of the 7th century, and later in religious writings.
Peirameter (n.) A dynamometer for measuring the force required to draw wheel carriages on roads of different constructions.
Pelagian (n.) A follower of Pelagius, a British monk, born in the later part of the 4th century, who denied the doctrines of hereditary sin, of the connection between sin and death, and of conversion through grace.
Pelagic (a.) Of or pertaining to the ocean; -- applied especially to animals that live at the surface of the ocean, away from the coast.
Pelargonic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an organic acid (called also nonoic acid) found in the leaves of the geranium (Pelargonium) and allied plants.
Pelargonium (n.) A large genus of plants of the order Geraniaceae, differing from Geranium in having a spurred calyx and an irregular corolla.
Pelecoid (n.) A figure, somewhat hatched-shaped, bounded by a semicircle and two inverted quadrants, and equal in area to the square ABCD inclosed by the chords of the four quadrants.
Pelf (n.) Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural.
Pelican (n.) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.
Pelican (n.) Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known. They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored.
Pelicosauria (n. pl.) A suborder of Theromorpha, including terrestrial reptiles from the Permian formation.
Pelisse (n.) An outer garment for men or women, originally of fur, or lined with fur; a lady's outer garment, made of silk or other fabric.
Pellagra (n.) An erythematous affection of the skin, with severe constitutional and nervous symptoms, endemic in Northern Italy.
Pellitory (n.) The common name of the several species of the genus Parietaria, low, harmless weeds of the Nettle family; -- also called wall pellitory, and lichwort.
Pellitory (n.) The feverfew (Chrysanthemum Parthenium); -- so called because it resembles the above.
Pellucidness (n.) The quality or state of being pellucid; transparency; translucency; clearness; as, the pellucidity of the air.
Pelopium (n.) A supposed new metal found in columbite, afterwards shown to be identical with columbium, or niobium.
Peloria (n.) Abnormal regularity; the state of certain flowers, which, being naturally irregular, have become regular through a symmetrical repetition of the special irregularity.
Pelt (n.) The skin of a beast with the hair on; a raw or undressed hide; a skin preserved with the hairy or woolly covering on it. See 4th Fell.
Pelt (v. t.) To strike with something thrown or driven; to assail with pellets or missiles, as, to pelt with stones; pelted with hail.
Peltated (a.) Shield-shaped; scutiform; (Bot.) having the stem or support attached to the lower surface, instead of at the base or margin; -- said of a leaf or other organ.
Pelusiac (a.) Of or pertaining to Pelusium, an ancient city of Egypt; as, the Pelusiac (or former eastern) outlet of the Nile.
Pelvis (n.) The pelvic arch, or the pelvic arch together with the sacrum. See Pelvic arch, under Pelvic, and Sacrum.
Pemmican (n.) Among the North American Indians, meat cut in thin slices, divested of fat, and dried in the sun.
Pemphigus (n.) A somewhat rare skin disease, characterized by the development of blebs upon different part of the body.
Pen (n. & v.) To shut up, as in a pen or cage; to confine in a small inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to inclose.
Pen (n.) An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or other bird, but now also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also, originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving.
Penal (a.) Inflicted as punishment; used as a means of punishment; as, a penal colony or settlement.
Penal (a.) Of or pertaining to punishment, to penalties, or to crimes and offenses; pertaining to criminal jurisprudence
Penalty (n.) Penal retribution; punishment for crime or offense; the suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense, or trespass.
Penalty (n.) The suffering, or the sum to be forfeited, to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of nonfulfillment of stipulations; forfeiture; fine.
Penates (n. pl.) The household gods of the ancient Romans. They presided over the home and the family hearth. See Lar.
Pencil (n.) A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of intersection being called the pencil point.
Pencil (n.) A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, colored chalk, slate etc., or such a cylinder or strip inserted in a small wooden rod intended to be pointed, or in a case, which forms a handle, -- used for drawing or writing. See Graphite.
Pencil (n.) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
Pencil (n.) Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc.
Pendant (n.) A hanging ornament on roofs, ceilings, etc., much used in the later styles of Gothic architecture, where it is of stone, and an important part of the construction. There are imitations in plaster and wood, which are mere decorative features.
Pendant (n.) Something which hangs or depends; something suspended; a hanging appendage, especially one of an ornamental character; as to a chandelier or an eardrop; also, an appendix or addition, as to a book.
Pendency (n.) The quality or state of being undecided, or in continuance; suspense; as, the pendency of a suit.
Pendentive (n.) The part of a groined vault which is supported by, and springs from, one pier or corbel.
Pendentive (n.) The portion of a vault by means of which the square space in the middle of a building is brought to an octagon or circle to receive a cupola.
Pendragon (n.) A chief leader or a king; a head; a dictator; -- a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs.
Penduline (n.) A European titmouse (Parus, / Aegithalus, pendulinus). It is noted for its elegant pendulous purselike nest, made of the down of willow trees and lined with feathers.
Pendulous (a.) Inclined or hanging downwards, as a flower on a recurved stalk, or an ovule which hangs from the upper part of the ovary.
Pendulousness (n.) The quality or state of being pendulous; the state of hanging loosely; pendulosity.
Pendulum (n.) A body so suspended from a fixed point as to swing freely to and fro by the alternate action of gravity and momentum. It is used to regulate the movements of clockwork and other machinery.
Penetrability (n.) The quality of being penetrable; susceptibility of being penetrated, entered, or pierced.
Penetralia (n. pl.) Hidden things or secrets; privacy; sanctuary; as, the sacred penetralia of the home.
Penetralia (n. pl.) The recesses, or innermost parts, of any thing or place, especially of a temple or palace.
Penetrancy (n.) The quality or state of being penetrant; power of entering or piercing; penetrating power of quality; as, the penetrancy of subtile effluvia.
Penetrate (v. t.) To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to touch with feeling; to make sensible; to move deeply; as, to penetrate one's heart with pity.
Penetrate (v. t.) To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce; as, light penetrates darkness.
Penetrate (v. t.) To pierce into by the mind; to arrive at the inner contents or meaning of, as of a mysterious or difficult subject; to comprehend; to understand.
Penetrating (a.) Having the power of entering, piercing, or pervading; sharp; subtile; penetrative; as, a penetrating odor.
Penetration (n.) Acuteness; insight; sharp discoverment; sagacity; as, a person of singular penetration.
Penetration (n.) The act or process of penetrating, piercing, or entering; also, the act of mentally penetrating into, or comprehending, anything difficult.
Penetrative (a.) Having the power to affect or impress the mind or heart; impressive; as, penetrative shame.
Penguin (n.) The egg-shaped fleshy fruit of a West Indian plant (Bromelia Pinguin) of the Pineapple family; also, the plant itself, which has rigid, pointed, and spiny-toothed leaves, and is used for hedges.
Penicillate (a.) Having the form of a pencil; furnished with a pencil of fine hairs; ending in a tuft of hairs like a camel's-hair brush, as the stigmas of some grasses.
Peninsula (n.) A portion of land nearly surrounded by water, and connected with a larger body by a neck, or isthmus.
Peninsular (a.) Of or pertaining to a peninsula; as, a peninsular form; peninsular people; the peninsular war.
Penitence (n.) The quality or condition of being penitent; the disposition of a penitent; sorrow for sins or faults; repentance; contrition.
Penitent (a.) Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on amendment of life.
Penitential (a.) Of or pertaining to penitence, or to penance; expressing penitence; of the nature of penance; as, the penitential book; penitential tears.
Penitential (n.) A book formerly used by priests hearing confessions, containing rules for the imposition of penances; -- called also penitential book.
Penitentiary (n.) A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they are generally compelled to labor.
Penitentiary (n.) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary, appointed by the pope.
Penitentiary (n.) An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
Penman (n.) One who uses the pen; a writer; esp., one skilled in the use of the pen; a calligrapher; a writing master.
Penmanship (n.) The use of the pen in writing; the art of writing; style or manner of writing; chirography; as, good or bad penmanship.
Pennatula (n.) Any one of numerous species of Pennatula, Pteroides, and allied genera of Alcyonaria, having a featherlike form; a sea-pen. The zooids are situated along one edge of the side branches.
Penny (a.) Denoting pound weight for one thousand; -- used in combination, with respect to nails; as, tenpenny nails, nails of which one thousand weight ten pounds.
Penny (n.) An English coin, formerly of copper, now of bronze, the twelfth part of an English shilling in account value, and equal to four farthings, or about two cents; -- usually indicated by the abbreviation d. (the initial of denarius).
Penny-a-liner (n.) One who furnishes matter to public journals at so much a line; a poor writer for hire; a hack writer.
Pennyroyal (n.) An aromatic herb (Mentha Pulegium) of Europe; also, a North American plant (Hedeoma pulegioides) resembling it in flavor.
Pennyweight (n.) A troy weight containing twenty-four grains, or the twentieth part of an ounce; as, a pennyweight of gold or of arsenic. It was anciently the weight of a silver penny, whence the name.
Pennywort (n.) A European trailing herb (Linaria Cymbalaria) with roundish, reniform leaves. It is often cultivated in hanging baskets.
Pennyworth (n.) Hence: The full value of one's penny expended; due return for money laid out; a good bargain; a bargain.
Pension (v. t.) To grant a pension to; to pay a regular stipend to; in consideration of service already performed; -- sometimes followed by off; as, to pension off a servant.
Pensioner (n.) In the university of Cambridge, England, one who pays for his living in commons; -- corresponding to commoner at Oxford.
Pensive (a.) Thoughtful, sober, or sad; employed in serious reflection; given to, or favorable to, earnest or melancholy musing.
Penstock (n.) A close conduit or pipe for conducting water, as, to a water wheel, or for emptying a pond, or for domestic uses.
Penta- () Denoting the degree of five, either as regards quality, property, or composition; as, pentasulphide; pentoxide, etc. Also used adjectively.
Pentabasic (a.) Capable of uniting with five molecules of a monacid base; having five acid hydrogen atoms capable of substitution by a basic radical; -- said of certain acids.
Pentachenium (n.) A dry fruit composed of five carpels, which are covered by an epigynous calyx and separate at maturity.
Pentacid (a.) Capable of neutralizing, or combining with, five molecules of a monobasic acid; having five hydrogen atoms capable of substitution by acid residues; -- said of certain complex bases.
Pentacle (n.) A figure composed of two equilateral triangles intersecting so as to form a six-pointed star, -- used in early ornamental art, and also with superstitious import by the astrologers and mystics of the Middle Ages.
Pentacrinoid (n.) An immature comatula when it is still attached by a stem, and thus resembles a Pentacrinus.
Pentacrinus (n.) A genus of large, stalked crinoids, of which several species occur in deep water among the West Indies and elsewhere.
Pentacrostic (n.) A set of verses so disposed that the name forming the subject of the acrostic occurs five times -- the whole set of verses being divided into five different parts from top to bottom.
Pentad (n.) Any element, atom, or radical, having a valence of five, or which can be combined with, substituted for, or compared with, five atoms of hydrogen or other monad; as, nitrogen is a pentad in the ammonium compounds.
Pentadecane (n.) A hydrocarbon of the paraffin series, (C15H32) found in petroleum, tar oil, etc., and obtained as a colorless liquid; -- so called from the fifteen carbon atoms in the molecule.
Pentadecatoic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, pentadecane, or designating an acid related to it.
Pentadelphous (a.) Having the stamens arranged in five clusters, those of each cluster having their filaments more or less united, as the flowers of the linden.
Pentagon (n.) A plane figure having five angles, and, consequently, five sides; any figure having five angles.
Pentail (n.) A peculiar insectivore (Ptilocercus Lowii) of Borneo; -- so called from its very long, quill-shaped tail, which is scaly at the base and plumose at the tip.
Pentalpha (n.) A five-pointed star, resembling five alphas joined at their bases; -- used as a symbol.
Pentamera (n. pl.) An extensive division of Coleoptera, including those that normally have five-jointed tarsi. It embraces about half of all the known species of the Coleoptera.
Pentamerous (a.) Divided into, or consisting of, five parts; also, arranged in sets, with five parts in each set, as a flower with five sepals, five petals, five, or twice five, stamens, and five pistils.
Pentamerus (n.) A genus of extinct Paleozoic brachiopods, often very abundant in the Upper Silurian.
Pentamethylene (n.) A hypothetical hydrocarbon, C5H10, metameric with the amylenes, and the nucleus of a large number of derivatives; -- so named because regarded as composed of five methylene residues. Cf. Trimethylene, and Tetramethylene.
Pentane (n.) Any one of the three metameric hydrocarbons, C5H12, of the methane or paraffin series. They are colorless, volatile liquids, two of which occur in petroleum. So called because of the five carbon atoms in the molecule.
Pentaptych (n.) A picture, or combination of pictures, consisting of a centerpiece and double folding doors or wings, as for an altarpiece.
Pentastichous (a.) Having, or arranged in, five vertical ranks, as the leaves of an apple tree or a cherry tree.
Pentastyle (a.) Having five columns in front; -- said of a temple or portico in classical architecture.
Pentateuch (n.) The first five books of the Old Testament, collectively; -- called also the Law of Moses, Book of the Law of Moses, etc.
Pentathionic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid of sulphur obtained by leading hydrogen sulphide into a solution of sulphur dioxide; -- so called because it contains five atoms of sulphur.
Pentathlon (n.) A fivefold athletic performance peculiar to the great national games of the Greeks, including leaping, foot racing, wrestling, throwing the discus, and throwing the spear.
Pentecost (n.) A festival of the Roman Catholic and other churches in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles; which occurred on the day of Pentecost; -- called also Whitsunday.
Pentecostals (n. pl.) Offerings formerly made to the parish priest, or to the mother church, at Pentecost.
Pentelican (a.) Of or pertaining to Mount Pentelicus, near Athens, famous for its fine white marble quarries; obtained from Mount Pentelicus; as, the Pentelic marble of which the Parthenon is built.
Penthouse (n.) A shed or roof sloping from the main wall or building, as over a door or window; a lean-to. Also figuratively.
Pentoic (a.) Pertaining to, or desingating, an acid (called also valeric acid) derived from pentane.
Pentoxide (n.) An oxide containing five atoms of oxygen in each molecule; as, phosphorus pentoxide, P2O5.
Pentremites (n.) A genus of crinoids belonging to the Blastoidea. They have five petal-like ambulacra.
Pentyl (n.) The hypothetical radical, C5H11, of pentane and certain of its derivatives. Same as Amyl.
Penumbra (n.) The shadow cast, in an eclipse, where the light is partly, but not wholly, cut off by the intervening body; the space of partial illumination between the umbra, or perfect shadow, on all sides, and the full light.
Peon (n.) A day laborer; a servant; especially, in some of the Spanish American countries, debtor held by his creditor in a form of qualified servitude, to work out a debt.
Peony (n.) A plant, and its flower, of the ranunculaceous genus Paeonia. Of the four or five species, one is a shrub; the rest are perennial herbs with showy flowers, often double in cultivation.
People (n.) Persons, generally; an indefinite number of men and women; folks; population, or part of population; as, country people; -- sometimes used as an indefinite subject or verb, like on in French, and man in German; as, people in adversity.
People (n.) The body of persons who compose a community, tribe, nation, or race; an aggregate of individuals forming a whole; a community; a nation.
People (n.) The mass of comunity as distinguished from a special class; the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; as, nobles and people.
Pepper (n.) A well-known, pungently aromatic condiment, the dried berry, either whole or powdered, of the Piper nigrum.
Pepper (v. t.) Figuratively: To shower shot or other missiles, or blows, upon; to pelt; to fill with shot, or cover with bruises or wounds.
Peppergrass (n.) Any herb of the cruciferous genus Lepidium, especially the garden peppergrass, or garden cress, Lepidium sativum; -- called also pepperwort. All the species have a pungent flavor.
Pepperidge (n.) A North American tree (Nyssa multiflora) with very tough wood, handsome oval polished leaves, and very acid berries, -- the sour gum, or common tupelo. See Tupelo.
Peppermint (n.) A volatile oil (oil of peppermint) distilled from the fresh herb; also, a well-known essence or spirit (essence of peppermint) obtained from it.
Peppermint (n.) An aromatic and pungent plant of the genus Mentha (M. piperita), much used in medicine and confectionery.
Pepsinogen (n.) The antecedent of the ferment pepsin. A substance contained in the form of granules in the peptic cells of the gastric glands. It is readily convertible into pepsin. Also called propepsin.
Peptic (a.) Pertaining to pepsin; resembling pepsin in its power of digesting or dissolving albuminous matter; containing or yielding pepsin, or a body of like properties; as, the peptic glands.
Peptohydrochloric (a.) Designating a hypothetical acid (called peptohydrochloric acid, pepsinhydrochloric acid, and chloropeptic acid) which is supposed to be formed when pepsin and dilute (0.1-0.4 per cent) hydrochloric acid are mixed together.
Peptonize (v. t.) To convert into peptone; to digest or dissolve by means of a proteolytic ferment; as, peptonized food.
Peptotoxine (n.) A toxic alkaloid found occasionally associated with the peptones formed from fibrin by pepsinhydrochloric acid.
Per (prep.) Through; by means of; through the agency of; by; for; for each; as, per annum; per capita, by heads, or according to individuals; per curiam, by the court; per se, by itself, of itself. Per is also sometimes used with English words.
Peragration (n.) The act or state of passing through any space; as, the peragration of the moon in her monthly revolution.
Perambulate (v. t.) To walk through or over; especially, to travel over for the purpose of surveying or examining; to inspect by traversing; specifically, to inspect officially the boundaries of, as of a town or parish, by walking over the whole line.
Perambulator (n.) A surveyor's instrument for measuring distances. It consists of a wheel arranged to roll along over the ground, with an apparatus of clockwork, and a dial plate upon which the distance traveled is shown by an index. See Odometer.
Perameles (n.) Any marsupial of the genus Perameles, which includes numerous species found in Australia. They somewhat resemble rabbits in size and form. See Illust. under Bandicoot.
Perbromide (n.) A bromide having a higher proportion of bromine than any other bromide of the same substance or series.
Percale (n.) A fine cotton fabric, having a linen finish, and often printed on one side, -- used for women's and children's wear.
Perceive (v. t.) To take intellectual cognizance of; to apprehend by the mind; to be convinced of by direct intuition; to note; to remark; to discern; to see; to understand.
Percentage (n.) A certain rate per cent; the allowance, duty, rate of interest, discount, or commission, on a hundred.
Perceptibility (n.) The quality or state of being perceptible; as, the perceptibility of light or color.
Perception (n.) The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apperhension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apperhension; cognition.
Perception (n.) The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility.
Perceptive (a.) Of or pertaining to the act or power of perceiving; having the faculty or power of perceiving; used in perception.
Percesoces (n. pl.) An order of fishes including the gray mullets (Mugil), the barracudas, the silversides, and other related fishes. So called from their relation both to perches and to pikes.
Perch (n.) A pole; a long staff; a rod; esp., a pole or other support for fowls to roost on or to rest on; a roost; figuratively, any elevated resting place or seat.
Perch (n.) Any fresh-water fish of the genus Perca and of several other allied genera of the family Percidae, as the common American or yellow perch (Perca flavescens, / Americana), and the European perch (P. fluviatilis).
Perch (n.) Any one of numerous species of spiny-finned fishes belonging to the Percidae, Serranidae, and related families, and resembling, more or less, the true perches.
Perch (n.) In solid measure: A mass 16/ feet long, 1 foot in height, and 1/ feet in breadth, or 24/ cubic feet (in local use, from 22 to 25 cubic feet); -- used in measuring stonework.
Percher (v. i.) A Paris candle anciently used in England; also, a large wax candle formerly set upon the altar.
Percheron (n.) One of a breed of draught horses originating in Perche, an old district of France; -- called also Percheron-Norman.
Perchloric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, the highest oxygen acid (HClO4), of chlorine; -- called also hyperchloric.
Perchloride (n.) A chloride having a higher proportion of chlorine than any other chloride of the same substance or series.
Perchromic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a certain one of the highly oxidized compounds of chromium, which has a deep blue color, and is produced by the action of hydrogen peroxide.
Perciformes (n. pl.) An extensive tribe or suborder of fishes, including the true perches (Percidae); the pondfishes (Centrarchidae); the sciaenoids (Sciaenidae); the sparoids (Sparidae); the serranoids (Serranidae), and some other related families.
Percolate (v. i.) To pass through fine interstices; to filter; as, water percolates through porous stone.
Percolation (n.) The act or process of percolating, or filtering; filtration; straining. Specifically (Pharm.), the process of exhausting the virtues of a powdered drug by letting a liquid filter slowly through it.
Percuss (v. t.) To strike smartly; to strike upon or against; as, to percuss the chest in medical examination.
Percussion (n.) Hence: The effect of violent collision; vibratory shock; impression of sound on the ear.
Percussion (n.) The act of percussing, or striking one body against another; forcible collision, esp. such as gives a sound or report.
Perdition (n.) Entire loss; utter destruction; ruin; esp., the utter loss of the soul, or of final happiness in a future state; future misery or eternal death.
Perdix (n.) A genus of birds including the common European partridge. Formerly the word was used in a much wider sense to include many allied genera.
Peregrinate (v. i.) To travel from place to place, or from one country to another; hence, to sojourn in foreign countries.
Peregrination (n.) A traveling from one country to another; a wandering; sojourn in foreign countries.
Peremptory (a.) Precluding debate or expostulation; not admitting of question or appeal; positive; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final.
Perennial (n.) A perennial plant; a plant which lives or continues more than two years, whether it retains its leaves in winter or not.
Perennibranchiata (n. pl.) Those Batrachia which retain their gills through life, as the menobranchus.
Perennibranchiate (a.) Having branchae, or gills, through life; -- said especially of certain Amphibia, like the menobranchus. Opposed to caducibranchiate.
Perfect (a.) To make perfect; to finish or complete, so as to leave nothing wanting; to give to anything all that is requisite to its nature and kind.
Perfection (n.) A quality, endowment, or acquirement completely excellent; an ideal faultlessness; especially, the divine attribute of complete excellence.
Perfectionist (n.) One pretending to perfection; esp., one pretending to moral perfection; one who believes that persons may and do attain to moral perfection and sinlessness in this life.
Perfectionment (n.) The act of bringing to perfection, or the state of having attained to perfection.
Perfective (a.) Tending or conducing to make perfect, or to bring to perfection; -- usually followed by of.
Perfectly (adv.) In a perfect manner or degree; in or to perfection; completely; wholly; throughly; faultlessly.
Perfidious (a.) Guilty of perfidy; violating good faith or vows; false to trust or confidence reposed; teacherous; faithless; as, a perfidious friend.
Perfidy (n.) The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; treachery.
Perfoliate (a.) Having the basal part produced around the stem; -- said of leaves which the stem apparently passes directory through.
Perforata (n. pl.) A division of corals including those that have a porous texture, as Porites and Madrepora; -- opposed to Aporosa.
Perforate (v.) To bore through; to pierce through with a pointed instrument; to make a hole or holes through by boring or piercing; to pierce or penetrate the surface of.
Perforated (a.) Pierced with a hole or holes, or with pores; having transparent dots resembling holes.
Perform (v. i.) To do, execute, or accomplish something; to acquit one's self in any business; esp., to represent sometimes by action; to act a part; to play on a musical instrument; as, the players perform poorly; the musician performs on the organ.
Perform (v. t.) To carry through; to bring to completion; to achieve; to accomplish; to execute; to do.
Perform (v. t.) To discharge; to fulfill; to act up to; as, to perform a duty; to perform a promise or a vow.
Performance (n.) That which is performed or accomplished; a thing done or carried through; an achievement; a deed; an act; a feat; esp., an action of an elaborate or public character.
Performance (n.) The act of performing; the carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action; as, the performance of an undertaking of a duty.
Performer (n.) One who performs, accomplishes, or fulfills; as, a good promiser, but a bad performer; especially, one who shows skill and training in any art; as, a performer of the drama; a performer on the harp.
Perfume (v.) The scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor; fragrance; aroma.
Perfunctory (a.) Done merely to get rid of a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions.
Peri (n.) An imaginary being, male or female, like an elf or fairy, represented as a descendant of fallen angels, excluded from paradise till penance is accomplished.
Peri- () A prefix used to signify around, by, near, over, beyond, or to give an intensive sense; as, perimeter, the measure around; perigee, point near the earth; periergy, work beyond what is needed; perispherical, quite spherical.
Perianth (n.) A saclike involucre which incloses the young fruit in most hepatic mosses. See Illust. of Hepatica.
Perianth (n.) The leaves of a flower generally, especially when the calyx and corolla are not readily distinguished.
Periastron (n.) That point, in the real or apparent orbit of one star revolving around another, at which the former is nearest to the latter.
Periblast (a.) The protoplasmic matter which surrounds the entoblast, or cell nucleus, and undergoes segmentation.
Pericambium (n.) A layer of thin-walled young cells in a growing stem, in which layer certain new vessels originate.
Pericarp (n.) The ripened ovary; the walls of the fruit. See Illusts. of Capsule, Drupe, and Legume.
Perichondrium (n.) The membrane of fibrous connective tissue which closely invests cartilage, except where covering articular surfaces.
Periclasite (n.) A grayish or dark green mineral, consisting essentially of magnesia (magnesium oxide), occurring in granular forms or in isometric crystals.
Pericope (n.) A selection or extract from a book; especially (Theol.), a selection from the Bible, appointed to be read in the churches or used as a text for a sermon.
Periculum (n.) In a narrower, judicial sense: Accident or casus, as distinguished from dolus and culpa, and hence relieving one from the duty of performing an obligation.
Peridiastole (n.) The almost inappreciable time which elapses between the systole and the diastole of the heart.
Peridotite (n.) An eruptive rock characterized by the presence of chrysolite (peridot). It also usually contains pyroxene, enstatite, chromite, etc. It is often altered to serpentine.
Peridrome (n.) The space between the columns and the wall of the cella, in a Greek or a Roman temple.
Perigastric (a.) Surrounding the stomach; -- applied to the body cavity of Bryozoa and various other Invertebrata.
Perigenesis (n.) A theory which explains inheritance by the transmission of the type of growth force possessed by one generation to another.
Perigeum (n.) That point in the orbit of the moon which is nearest to the earth; -- opposed to apogee. It is sometimes, but rarely, used of the nearest points of other orbits, as of a comet, a planet, etc. Called also epigee, epigeum.
Perigynium (n.) Some unusual appendage about the pistil, as the bottle-shaped body in the sedges, and the bristles or scales in some other genera of the Sedge family, or Cyperaceae.
Perigynous (a.) Having the ovary free, but the petals and stamens borne on the calyx; -- said of flower such as that of the cherry or peach.
Perihelium (n.) That point of the orbit of a planet or comet which is nearest to the sun; -- opposed to aphelion.
Peril (n.) Danger; risk; hazard; jeopardy; exposure of person or property to injury, loss, or destruction.
Perilla (n.) A genus of labiate herbs, of which one species (Perilla ocimoides, or P. Nankinensis) is often cultivated for its purple or variegated foliage.
Perilous (a.) Full of, attended with, or involving, peril; dangerous; hazardous; as, a perilous undertaking.
Perilymph (n.) The fluid which surrounds the membranous labyrinth of the internal ear, and separates it from the walls of the chambers in which the labyrinth lies.
Perimetrical (a.) Of or pertaining to the perimeter, or to perimetry; as, a perimetric chart of the eye.
Perimysium (n.) The connective tissue sheath which surrounds a muscle, and sends partitions inwards between the bundles of muscular fibers.
Perineum (n.) The region which is included within the outlet of the pelvis, and is traversed by the urinogenital canal and the rectum.
Perineurium (n.) The connective tissue sheath which surrounds a bundle of nerve fibers. See Epineurium, and Neurilemma.
Perinuclear (a.) Of or pertaining to a nucleus; situated around a nucleus; as, the perinuclear protoplasm.
Period (n.) A complete sentence, from one full stop to another; esp., a well-proportioned, harmonious sentence.
Period (n.) A stated and recurring interval of time; more generally, an interval of time specified or left indefinite; a certain series of years, months, days, or the like; a time; a cycle; an age; an epoch; as, the period of the Roman republic.
Period (n.) One of several similar sets of figures or terms usually marked by points or commas placed at regular intervals, as in numeration, in the extraction of roots, and in circulating decimals.
Period (n.) One of the great divisions of geological time; as, the Tertiary period; the Glacial period. See the Chart of Geology.
Period (n.) The punctuation point [.] that marks the end of a complete sentence, or of an abbreviated word.
Period (n.) The termination or completion of a revolution, cycle, series of events, single event, or act; hence, a limit; a bound; an end; a conclusion.
Period (n.) The time of the exacerbation and remission of a disease, or of the paroxysm and intermission.
Periodic (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, the highest oxygen acid (HIO/) of iodine.
Periodical (a.) Happening, by revolution, at a stated time; returning regularly, after a certain period of time; acting, happening, or appearing, at fixed intervals; recurring; as, periodical epidemics.
Periodical (a.) Performed in a period, or regular revolution; proceeding in a series of successive circuits; as, the periodical motion of the planets round the sun.
Periodicity (n.) The quality or state of being periodical, or regularly recurrent; as, the periodicity in the vital phenomena of plants.
Periodide (n.) An iodide containing a higher proportion of iodine than any other iodide of the same substance or series.
Perioecians (n. pl.) Those who live on the same parallel of latitude but on opposite meridians, so that it is noon in one place when it is midnight in the other. Compare Antoeci.
Periosteum (n.) The membrane of fibrous connective tissue which closely invests all bones except at the articular surfaces.
Periostracum (n.) A chitinous membrane covering the exterior of many shells; -- called also epidermis.
Periotic (a.) Surrounding, or pertaining to the region surrounding, the internal ear; as, the periotic capsule.
Peripatetic (a.) Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers.
Peripateticism (n.) The doctrines or philosophical system of the peripatetics. See Peripatetic, n., 2.
Peripatus (n.) A genus of lowly organized arthropods, found in South Africa, Australia, and tropical America. It constitutes the order Malacopoda.
Periphrase (n.) The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a roundabout, or indirect, way of speaking; circumlocution.
Periphrastical (a.) Expressing, or expressed, in more words than are necessary; characterized by periphrase; circumlocutory.
Periscii (n. pl.) Those who live within a polar circle, whose shadows, during some summer days, will move entirely round, falling toward every point of the compass.
Perish (v. i.) To be destroyed; to pass away; to become nothing; to be lost; to die; hence, to wither; to waste away.
Perishable (a.) Liable to perish; subject to decay, destruction, or death; as, perishable goods; our perishable bodies.
Perisome (n.) The entire covering of an invertebrate animal, as echinoderm or coelenterate; the integument.
Perisperm (n.) The albumen of a seed, especially that portion which is formed outside of the embryo sac.
Perissad (a.) Odd; not even; -- said of elementary substances and of radicals whose valence is not divisible by two without a remainder. Contrasted with artiad.
Perissodactyla (n. pl.) A division of ungulate mammals, including those that have an odd number of toes, as the horse, tapir, and rhinoceros; -- opposed to Artiodactyla.
Peristaltic (a.) Applied to the peculiar wormlike wave motion of the intestines and other similar structures, produced by the successive contraction of the muscular fibers of their walls, forcing their contents onwards; as, peristaltic movement.
Peristeropodous (a.) Having pigeonlike feet; -- said of those gallinaceous birds that rest on all four toes, as the curassows and megapods.
Peristome (n.) The fringe of teeth around the orifice of the capsule of mosses. It consists of 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 teeth, and may be either single or double.
Perisystole (n.) The interval between the diastole and systole of the heart. It is perceptible only in the dying.
Perithecium (n.) An organ in certain fungi and lichens, surrounding and enveloping the masses of fructification.
Peritoneum (n.) The smooth serous membrane which lines the cavity of the abdomen, or the whole body cavity when there is no diaphragm, and, turning back, surrounds the viscera, forming a closed, or nearly closed, sac.
Peritricha (n. pl.) A division of ciliated Infusoria having a circle of cilia around the oral disk and sometimes another around the body. It includes the vorticellas. See Vorticella.
Peritrochium (n.) The wheel which, together with the axle, forms the axis in peritrochio, which see under Axis.
Peritropal (a.) Having the axis of the seed perpendicular to the axis of the pericarp to which it is attached.
Perivitelline (a.) Situated around the vitellus, or between the vitellus and zona pellucida of an ovum.
Periwig (n.) A headdress of false hair, usually covering the whole head, and representing the natural hair; a wig.
Periwinkle (n.) Any small marine gastropod shell of the genus Littorina. The common European species (Littorina littorea), in Europe extensively used as food, has recently become naturalized abundantly on the American coast. See Littorina.
Perjure (v. t.) To cause to violate an oath or a vow; to cause to make oath knowingly to what is untrue; to make guilty of perjury; to forswear; to corrupt; -- often used reflexively; as, he perjured himself.
Perjury (v.) At common law, a willfully false statement in a fact material to the issue, made by a witness under oath in a competent judicial proceeding. By statute the penalties of perjury are imposed on the making of willfully false affirmations.
Perk (v. t.) To make trim or smart; to straighten up; to erect; to make a jaunty or saucy display of; as, to perk the ears; to perk up one's head.
Perkinism (n.) A remedial treatment, by drawing the pointed extremities of two rods, each of a different metal, over the affected part; tractoration, -- first employed by Dr. Elisha Perkins of Norwich, Conn. See Metallotherapy.
Perlitic (a.) Relating to or resembling perlite, or pearlstone; as, the perlitic structure of certain rocks. See Pearlite.
Permanency (n.) The quality or state of being permanent; continuance in the same state or place; duration; fixedness; as, the permanence of institutions; the permanence of nature.
Permanent (a.) Continuing in the same state, or without any change that destroys form or character; remaining unaltered or unremoved; abiding; durable; fixed; stable; lasting; as, a permanent impression.
Permanganic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, one of the higher acids of manganese, HMnO4, which forms salts called permanganates.
Permeable (a.) Capable of being permeated, or passed through; yielding passage; passable; penetrable; -- used especially of substances which allow the passage of fluids; as, wood is permeable to oil; glass is permeable to light.
Permeate (v. t.) To pass through the pores or interstices of; to penetrate and pass through without causing rupture or displacement; -- applied especially to fluids which pass through substances of loose texture; as, water permeates sand.
Permeation (n.) The act of permeating, passing through, or spreading throughout, the pores or interstices of any substance.
Permian (a.) Belonging or relating to the period, and also to the formation, next following the Carboniferous, and regarded as closing the Carboniferous age and Paleozoic era.
Permiss (n.) A permitted choice; a rhetorical figure in which a thing is committed to the decision of one's opponent.
Permission (n.) The act of permitting or allowing; formal consent; authorization; leave; license or liberty granted.
Permit (n.) Warrant; license; leave; permission; specifically, a written license or permission given to a person or persons having authority; as, a permit to land goods subject to duty.
Permit (v. t.) To grant (one) express license or liberty to do an act; to authorize; to give leave; -- followed by an infinitive.
Permutation (n.) The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange.
Permutation (n.) The arrangement of any determinate number of things, as units, objects, letters, etc., in all possible orders, one after the other; -- called also alternation. Cf. Combination, n., 4.
Pernancy (n.) A taking or reception, as the receiving of rents or tithes in kind, the receiving of profits.
Pernicious (a.) Having the quality of injuring or killing; destructive; very mischievous; baleful; malicious; wicked.
Pernot furnace () A reverberatory furnace with a circular revolving hearth, -- used in making steel.
Pernyi moth () A silk-producing moth (Attacus Pernyi) which feeds upon the oak. It has been introduced into Europe and America from China.
Peronate (a.) A term applied to the stipes or stalks of certain fungi which are covered with a woolly substance which at length becomes powdery.
Peroration (n.) The concluding part of an oration; especially, a final summing up and enforcement of an argument.
Peroxide (n.) An oxide containing more oxygen than some other oxide of the same element. Formerly peroxides were regarded as the highest oxides. Cf. Per-, 2.
Perpender (n.) A large stone reaching through a wall so as to appear on both sides of it, and acting as a binder; -- called also perbend, perpend stone, and perpent stone.
Perpendicular (a.) At right angles to a given line or surface; as, the line ad is perpendicular to the line bc.
Perpendicular (a.) Exactly upright or vertical; pointing to the zenith; at right angles to the plane of the horizon; extending in a right line from any point toward the center of the earth.
Perpendicular (n.) A line at right angles to the plane of the horizon; a vertical line or direction.
Perpendicular (n.) A line or plane falling at right angles on another line or surface, or making equal angles with it on each side.
Perpetrate (v. t.) To do or perform; to carry through; to execute, commonly in a bad sense; to commit (as a crime, an offense); to be guilty of; as, to perpetrate a foul deed.
Perpetration (n.) The act of perpetrating; a doing; -- commonly used of doing something wrong, as a crime.
Perpetual (a.) Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time; unfailing; everlasting; continuous.
Perpetuate (v. t.) To make perpetual; to cause to endure, or to be continued, indefinitely; to preserve from extinction or oblivion; to eternize.
Perpetuation (n.) The act of making perpetual, or of preserving from extinction through an endless existence, or for an indefinite period of time; continuance.
Perpetuity (n.) The number of years in which the simple interest of any sum becomes equal to the principal.
Perpetuity (n.) The quality or condition of an estate by which it becomes inalienable, either perpetually or for a very long period; also, the estate itself so modified or perpetuated.
Perplex (a.) To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to bewilder; to confuse; to trouble with ambiguity, suspense, or anxiety.
Perplex (a.) To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts.
Perplexity (n.) The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt.
Perquisite (n.) Something gained from a place or employment over and above the ordinary salary or fixed wages for services rendered; especially, a fee allowed by law to an officer for a specific service.
Perquisite (n.) Things gotten by a man's own industry, or purchased with his own money, as opposed to things which come to him by descent.
Persalt (n.) A term formerly given to the salts supposed to be formed respectively by neutralizing acids with certain peroxides.
Persecute (v. t.) To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship.
Persecution (n.) The act or practice of persecuting; especially, the infliction of loss, pain, or death for adherence to a particular creed or mode of worship.
Perseid (n.) One of a group of shooting stars which appear yearly about the 10th of August, and cross the heavens in paths apparently radiating from the constellation Perseus. They are beleived to be fragments once connected with a comet visible in 1862.
Perseus (n.) A consellation of the northern hemisphere, near Taurus and Cassiopea. It contains a star cluster visible to the naked eye as a nebula.
Perseverance (n.) Continuance in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory; sometimes called final perseverance, and the perseverance of the saints. See Calvinism.
Perseverance (n.) The act of persevering; persistence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business, or enterprise begun.
Persevere (v. i.) To persist in any business or enterprise undertaken; to pursue steadily any project or course begun; to maintain a purpose in spite of counter influences, opposition, or discouragement; not to give or abandon what is undertaken.
Persiflage (n.) Frivolous or bantering talk; a frivolous manner of treating any subject, whether serious or otherwise; light raillery.
Persimmon (n.) An American tree (Diospyros Virginiana) and its fruit, found from New York southward. The fruit is like a plum in appearance, but is very harsh and astringent until it has been exposed to frost, when it becomes palatable and nutritious.
Persistency (n.) The continuance of an effect after the cause which first gave rise to it is removed
Persistency (n.) The quality or state of being persistent; staying or continuing quality; hence, in an unfavorable sense, doggedness; obstinacy.
Persistency (n.) Visual persistence, or persistence of the visual impression; auditory persistence, etc.
Persistent (a.) Remaining beyond the period when parts of the same kind sometimes fall off or are absorbed; permanent; as, persistent teeth or gills; a persistent calyx; -- opposed to deciduous, and caducous.
Person (n.) A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
Person (n.) A living, self-conscious being, as distinct from an animal or a thing; a moral agent; a human being; a man, woman, or child.
Person (n.) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
Person (n.) Among Trinitarians, one of the three subdivisions of the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost); an hypostasis.
Person (n.) One of three relations or conditions (that of speaking, that of being spoken to, and that of being spoken of) pertaining to a noun or a pronoun, and thence also to the verb of which it may be the subject.
Personable (a.) Having a well-formed body, or person; graceful; comely; of good appearance; presentable; as, a personable man or woman.
Personage (n.) A notable or distinguished person; a conspicious or peculiar character; as, an illustrious personage; a comely personage of stature tall.
Personage (n.) Form, appearance, or belongings of a person; the external appearance, stature, figure, air, and the like, of a person.
Personal (a.) Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals; peculiar or proper to private concerns; not public or general; as, personal comfort; personal desire.
Personal (a.) Relating to an individual, his character, conduct, motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive manner; as, personal reflections or remarks.
Personality (n.) Something said or written which refers to the person, conduct, etc., of some individual, especially something of a disparaging or offensive nature; personal remarks; as, indulgence in personalities.
Personality (n.) That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons.
Personally (adv.) In a personal manner; by bodily presence; in person; not by representative or substitute; as, to deliver a letter personally.
Personally (adv.) With respect to one's individuality; as regards one's self; as, personally I have no feeling in the matter.
Personate (a.) Having the throat of a bilabiate corolla nearly closed by a projection of the base of the lower lip; masked, as in the flower of the snapdragon.
Personate (v. t.) To assume the character of; to represent by a fictitious appearance; to act the part of; hence, to counterfeit; to feign; as, he tried to personate his brother; a personated devotion.
Personification (n.) A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstract idea is represented as animated, or endowed with personality; prosopop/ia; as, the floods clap their hands.
Personify (v. t.) To be the embodiment or personification of; to impersonate; as, he personifies the law.
Personnel (n.) The body of persons employed in some public service, as the army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished from materiel.
Perspective (a.) The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; -- called also linear perspective.
Perspectograph (n.) An instrument for obtaining, and transferring to a picture, the points and outlines of objects, so as to represent them in their proper geometrical relations as viewed from some one point.
Perspectography (n.) The science or art of delineating objects according to the laws of perspective; the theory of perspective.
Perspicacity (n.) The state of being perspicacious; acuteness of sight or of intelligence; acute discernment.
Perspicuity (n.) The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.
Perspicuous (a.) Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements.
Perspire (v. i.) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin; as, a fluid perspires.
Perspire (v. i.) To excrete matter through the skin; esp., to excrete fluids through the pores of the skin; to sweat.
Perspire (v. t.) To emit or evacuate through the pores of the skin; to sweat; to excrete through pores.
Persuade (v. t.) To convince by argument, or by reasons offered or suggested from reflection, etc.; to cause to believe.
Persuade (v. t.) To influence or gain over by argument, advice, entreaty, expostulation, etc.; to draw or incline to a determination by presenting sufficient motives.
Persuasion (n.) A creed or belief; a sect or party adhering to a certain creed or system of opinions; as, of the same persuasion; all persuasions are agreed.
Persuasion (n.) The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by anything that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.
Persuasion (n.) The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction, which has been induced.
Persulphide (n.) A sulphide containing more sulphur than some other compound of the same elements; as, iron pyrites is a persulphide; -- formerly called persulphuret.
Persulphocyanic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a yellow crystalline substance (called also perthiocyanic acid), analogous to sulphocyanic acid, but containing more sulphur.
Persulphocyanogen (n.) An orange-yellow substance, produced by the action of chlorine or boiling dilute nitric acid and sulphocyanate of potassium; -- called also pseudosulphocyanogen, perthiocyanogen, and formerly sulphocyanogen.
Pertain (v. i.) To belong; to have connection with, or dependence on, something, as an appurtenance, attribute, etc.; to appertain; as, saltness pertains to the ocean; flowers pertain to plant life.
Perthite (n.) A kind of feldspar consisting of a laminated intertexture of albite and orthoclase, usually of different colors.
Pertinacious (a.) Holding or adhering to any opinion, purpose, or design, with obstinacy; perversely persistent; obstinate; as, pertinacious plotters; a pertinacious beggar.
Pertinency (n.) The quality or state of being pertinent; justness of relation to the subject or matter in hand; fitness; appositeness; relevancy; suitableness.
Pertinent (a.) Belonging or related to the subject or matter in hand; fit or appropriate in any way; adapted to the end proposed; apposite; material; relevant; as, pertinent illustrations or arguments; pertinent evidence.
Perturbation (n.) A disturbance in the regular elliptic or other motion of a heavenly body, produced by some force additional to that which causes its regular motion; as, the perturbations of the planets are caused by their attraction on each other.
Perverse (a.) Turned aside; hence, specifically, turned away from the right; willfully erring; wicked; perverted.
Perversion (n.) The act of perverting, or the state of being perverted; a turning from truth or right; a diverting from the true intent or object; a change to something worse; a turning or applying to a wrong end or use.
Pervert (n.) One who has been perverted; one who has turned to error, especially in religion; -- opposed to convert. See the Synonym of Convert.
Pervert (v. t.) To turn from truth, rectitude, or propriety; to divert from a right use, end, or way; to lead astray; to corrupt; also, to misapply; to misinterpret designedly; as, to pervert one's words.
Pervious (a.) Admitting passage; capable of being penetrated by another body or substance; permeable; as, a pervious soil.
Pesade (n.) The motion of a horse when, raising his fore quarters, he keeps his hind feet on the ground without advancing; rearing.
Peseta (n.) A Spanish silver coin, and money of account, equal to about nineteen cents, and divided into 100 centesimos.
Peshitto (n.) The earliest Syriac version of the Old Testament, translated from Hebrew; also, the incomplete Syriac version of the New Testament.
Peso (n.) A Spanish dollar; also, an Argentine, Chilian, Colombian, etc., coin, equal to from 75 cents to a dollar; also, a pound weight.
Pessary (n.) A medicinal substance in the form of a bolus or mass, designed for introduction into the vagina; a vaginal suppository.
Pessary (n.) An instrument or device to be introduced into and worn in the vagina, to support the uterus, or remedy a malposition.
Pessimism (n.) The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature is ordered for or tends to the worst, or that the world is wholly evil; -- opposed to optimism.
Pessulus (n.) A delicate bar of cartilage connecting the dorsal and ventral extremities of the first pair of bronchial cartilages in the syrinx of birds.
Pest (n.) Anything which resembles a pest; one who, or that which, is troublesome, noxious, mischievous, or destructive; a nuisance.
Pestalozzian (a.) Belonging to, or characteristic of, a system of elementary education which combined manual training with other instruction, advocated and practiced by Jean Henri Pestalozzi (1746-1827), a Swiss teacher.
Pestiferous (a.) Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious; hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue.
Pestiferous (a.) Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies.
Pestilence (n.) Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.
Pestilence (n.) Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.
Pestle (v. t. & i.) To pound, pulverize, bray, or mix with a pestle, or as with a pestle; to use a pestle.
Pet (n.) Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a fondling; a darling; often, a favorite child.
Petal (n.) One of the leaves of the corolla, or the colored leaves of a flower. See Corolla, and Illust. of Flower.
Petaled (a.) Having petals; as, a petaled flower; -- opposed to apetalous, and much used in compounds; as, one-petaled, three-petaled, etc.
Petalite (n.) A rare mineral, occurring crystallized and in cleavable masses, usually white, or nearly so, in color. It is a silicate of aluminia and lithia.
Petalosticha (n. pl.) An order of Echini, including the irregular sea urchins, as the spatangoids. See Spatangoid.
Petard (n.) A case containing powder to be exploded, esp. a conical or cylindrical case of metal filled with powder and attached to a plank, to be exploded against and break down gates, barricades, drawbridges, etc. It has been superseded.
Petasus (n.) The winged cap of Mercury; also, a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat worn by Greeks and Romans.
Petaurist (n.) Any flying marsupial of the genera Petaurus, Phalangista, Acrobata, and allied genera. See Flying mouse, under Flying, and Phalangister.
Petechiae (n. pl.) Small crimson, purple, or livid spots, like flea-bites, due to extravasation of blood, which appear on the skin in malignant fevers, etc.
Peter (v. i.) To become exhausted; to run out; to fail; -- used generally with out; as, that mine has petered out.
Petersham (n.) A rough, knotted woolen cloth, used chiefly for men's overcoats; also, a coat of that material.
Petiolary (a.) Of or pertaining to petiole, or proceeding from it; as, a petiolar tendril; growing or supported upon a petiole; as, a petiolar gland; a petiolar bud.
Petiolated (a.) Having a stalk or petiole; as, a petioleate leaf; the petiolated abdomen of certain Hymenoptera.
Petiole (n.) A leafstalk; the footstalk of a leaf, connecting the blade with the stem. See Illust. of Leaf.
Petition (n.) A prayer; a supplication; an imploration; an entreaty; especially, a request of a solemn or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer.
Petition (v. t.) To make a prayer or request to; to ask from; to solicit; to entreat; especially, to make a formal written supplication, or application to, as to any branch of the government; as, to petition the court; to petition the governor.
Petrel (n.) Any one of numerous species of longwinged sea birds belonging to the family Procellaridae. The small petrels, or Mother Carey's chickens, belong to Oceanites, Oceanodroma, Procellaria, and several allied genera.
Petrifaction (n.) That which is petrified; popularly, a body incrusted with stony matter; an incrustation.
Petrifaction (n.) The process of petrifying, or changing into stone; conversion of any organic matter (animal or vegetable) into stone, or a substance of stony hardness.
Petrify (v. t.) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. Young.
Petrogale (n.) Any Australian kangaroo of the genus Petrogale, as the rock wallaby (P. penicillata).
Petrography (n.) The scientific description of rocks; that department of science which investigates the constitution of rocks; petrology.
Petrohyoid (a.) Pertaining to petrous, oe periotic, portion of the skull and the hyoid arch; as, the petrohyoid muscles of the frog.
Petroline (n.) A paraffin obtained from petroleum from Rangoon in India, and practically identical with ordinary paraffin.
Petrology (n.) The department of science which is concerned with the mineralogical and chemical composition of rocks, and with their classification: lithology.
Petrosal (a.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the petrous, or petrosal, bone, or the corresponding part of the temporal bone.
Pettifog (v. i.) To do a petty business as a lawyer; also, to do law business in a petty or tricky way.
Pettifogger (n.) A lawyer who deals in petty cases; an attorney whose methods are mean and tricky; an inferior lawyer.
Pettitoes (n. pl.) The toes or feet of a pig, -- often used as food; sometimes, in contempt, the human feet.
Petty (superl.) Little; trifling; inconsiderable; also, inferior; subordinate; as, a petty fault; a petty prince.
Pettychaps (n.) Any one of several species of small European singing birds of the subfamily Sylviinae, as the willow warbler, the chiff-chaff, and the golden warbler (Sylvia hortensis).
Petulancy (n.) The quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor.
Petworth marble () A kind of shell marble occurring in the Wealden clay at Petworth, in Sussex, England; -- called also Sussex marble.
Peucedanin (n.) A tasteless white crystalline substance, extracted from the roots of the sulphurwort (Peucedanum), masterwort (Imperatoria), and other related plants; -- called also imperatorin.
Pew (n.) Any structure shaped like a church pew, as a stall, formerly used by money lenders, etc.; a box in theater; a pen; a sheepfold.
Pew (n.) One of the compartments in a church which are separated by low partitions, and have long seats upon which several persons may sit; -- sometimes called slip. Pews were originally made square, but are now usually long and narrow.
Pewee (n.) A common American tyrant flycatcher (Sayornis phoebe, or S. fuscus). Called also pewit, and phoebe.
Pewter (n.) A hard, tough, but easily fusible, alloy, originally consisting of tin with a little lead, but afterwards modified by the addition of copper, antimony, or bismuth.
Pewter (n.) Utensils or vessels made of pewter, as dishes, porringers, drinking vessels, tankards, pots.
Peziza (n.) A genus of fungi embracing a great number of species, some of which are remarkable for their regular cuplike form and deep colors.
Pfennig (n.) A small copper coin of Germany. It is the hundredth part of a mark, or about a quarter of a cent in United States currency.
Phacellus (n.) One of the filaments on the inner surface of the gastric cavity of certain jellyfishes.
Phacops (n.) A genus of trilobites found in the Silurian and Devonian formations. Phacops bufo is one of the most common species.
Phaeacian (a.) Of or pertaining to the Phaeacians, a fabulous seafaring people fond of the feast, the lyre, and the dance, mentioned by Homer.
Phaenogamia (n. pl.) The class of flowering plants including all which have true flowers with distinct floral organs; phanerogamia.
Phaeospore (n.) A brownish zoospore, characteristic of an order (Phaeosporeae) of dark green or olive-colored algae.
Phaeton (n.) A four-wheeled carriage (with or without a top), open, or having no side pieces, in front of the seat. It is drawn by one or two horses.
Phaeton (n.) A handsome American butterfly (Euphydryas, / Melitaea, Phaeton). The upper side of the wings is black, with orange-red spots and marginal crescents, and several rows of cream-colored spots; -- called also Baltimore.
PhagedenicAL (a.) Of, like, or pertaining to, phagedena; used in the treatment of phagedena; as, a phagedenic ulcer or medicine.
Phagocyte (n.) A leucocyte which plays a part in retrogressive processes by taking up (eating), in the form of fine granules, the parts to be removed.
Phainopepla (n.) A small crested passerine bird (Phainopepla nitens), native of Mexico and the Southern United States. The adult male is of a uniform glossy blue-black; the female is brownish. Called also black flycatcher.
Phalaenid (n.) Any moth of the family Phalaenidae, of which the cankerworms are examples; a geometrid.
Phalanger (n.) Any marsupial belonging to Phalangista, Cuscus, Petaurus, and other genera of the family Phalangistidae. They are arboreal, and the species of Petaurus are furnished with lateral parachutes. See Flying phalanger, under Flying.
Phalangist (n.) Any arboreal marsupial of the genus Phalangista. The vulpine phalangist (P. vulpina) is the largest species, the full grown male being about two and a half feet long. It has a large bushy tail.
Phalanx (n.) A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep. There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men.
Phalanx (n.) Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of a union.
Phalanx (n.) One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode.
Phalarope (n.) Any species of Phalaropus and allied genera of small wading birds (Grallae), having lobate toes. They are often seen far from land, swimming in large flocks. Called also sea goose.
Phallus (n.) The emblem of the generative power in nature, carried in procession in the Bacchic orgies, or worshiped in various ways.
Phallus (n.) The penis or clitoris, or the embryonic or primitive organ from which either may be derived.
Phanerocodonic (a.) Having an umbrella-shaped or bell-shaped body, with a wide, open cavity beneath; -- said of certain jellyfishes.
Phanerogamia (n. pl.) That one of the two primary divisions of the vegetable kingdom which contains the phanerogamic, or flowering, plants.
Phanerogamous (a.) Having visible flowers containing distinct stamens and pistils; -- said of plants.
Phantascope (n.) An optical instrument or toy, resembling the phenakistoscope, and illustrating the same principle; -- called also phantasmascope.
Phantasm (n.) An image formed by the mind, and supposed to be real or material; a shadowy or airy appearance; sometimes, an optical illusion; a phantom; a dream.
Phantom (n.) That which has only an apparent existence; an apparition; a specter; a phantasm; a sprite; an airy spirit; an ideal image.
Pharisaical (a.) Addicted to external forms and ceremonies; making a show of religion without the spirit of it; ceremonial; formal; hypocritical; self-righteous.
Pharisaism (n.) Rigid observance of external forms of religion, without genuine piety; hypocrisy in religion; a censorious, self-righteous spirit in matters of morals or manners.
Pharisee (n.) One of a sect or party among the Jews, noted for a strict and formal observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.
Pharmaceutical (a.) Of or pertaining to the knowledge or art of pharmacy, or to the art of preparing medicines according to the rules or formulas of pharmacy; as, pharmaceutical preparations.
Pharmacodynamics (n.) That branch of pharmacology which considers the mode of action, and the effects, of medicines.
Pharmacognosis (n.) That branch of pharmacology which treats of unprepared medicines or simples; -- called also pharmacography, and pharmacomathy.
Pharmacolite (n.) A hydrous arsenate of lime, usually occurring in silky fibers of a white or grayish color.
Pharmacopoeia (n.) A book or treatise describing the drugs, preparations, etc., used in medicine; especially, one that is issued by official authority and considered as an authoritative standard.
Pharmacosiderite (n.) A hydrous arsenate of iron occurring in green or yellowish green cubic crystals; cube ore.
Pharmacy (n.) The art or practice of preparing and preserving drugs, and of compounding and dispensing medicines according to prescriptions of physicians; the occupation of an apothecary or a pharmaceutical chemist.
Pharyngobranchial (a.) Of or pertaining to the pharynx and the branchiae; -- applied especially to the dorsal elements in the branchial arches of fishes. See Pharyngeal.
Pharyngognathi (n. pl.) A division of fishes in which the lower pharyngeal bones are united. It includes the scaroid, labroid, and embioticoid fishes.
Pharyngotomy (n.) The operation of making an incision into the pharynx, to remove a tumor or anything that obstructs the passage.
Pharynx (n.) The part of the alimentary canal between the cavity of the mouth and the esophagus. It has one or two external openings through the nose in the higher vertebrates, and lateral branchial openings in fishes and some amphibias.
Phase (n.) A particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle of changes with respect to quantity of illumination or form of enlightened disk; as, the phases of the moon or planets. See Illust. under Moon.
Phase (n.) Any appearance or aspect of an object of mental apprehension or view; as, the problem has many phases.
Phase (n.) That which is exhibited to the eye; the appearance which anything manifests, especially any one among different and varying appearances of the same object.
Phaseolus (n.) A genus of leguminous plants, including the Lima bean, the kidney bean, the scarlet runner, etc. See Bean.
Pheasant (n.) Any one of numerous species of large gallinaceous birds of the genus Phasianus, and many other genera of the family Phasianidae, found chiefly in Asia.
Phenacite (n.) A glassy colorless mineral occurring in rhombohedral crystals, sometimes used as a gem. It is a silicate of glucina, and receives its name from its deceptive similarity to quartz.
Phenanthrene (n.) A complex hydrocarbon, C14H10, found in coal tar, and obtained as a white crystalline substance with a bluish fluorescence.
Phenanthridine (n.) A nitrogenous hydrocarbon base, C13H9N, analogous to phenanthrene and quinoline.
Phenanthroline (n.) Either of two metameric nitrogenous hydrocarbon bases, C12H8N2, analogous to phenanthridine, but more highly nitrogenized.
Phenicine (n.) A coloring matter produced by the action of a mixture of strong nitric and sulphuric acids on phenylic alcohol.
Phenicine (n.) A purple powder precipitated when a sulphuric solution of indigo is diluted with water.
Phenix (n.) A bird fabled to exist single, to be consumed by fire by its own act, and to rise again from its ashes. Hence, an emblem of immortality.
Phenol (n.) A white or pinkish crystalline substance, C6H5OH, produced by the destructive distillation of many organic bodies, as wood, coal, etc., and obtained from the heavy oil from coal tar.
Phenomenal (a.) Relating to, or of the nature of, a phenomenon; hence, extraordinary; wonderful; as, a phenomenal memory.
Phenomenalism (n.) That theory which limits positive or scientific knowledge to phenomena only, whether material or spiritual.
Phenomenon (n.) An appearance; anything visible; whatever, in matter or spirit, is apparent to, or is apprehended by, observation; as, the phenomena of heat, light, or electricity; phenomena of imagination or memory.
Phenomenon (n.) That which strikes one as strange, unusual, or unaccountable; an extraordinary or very remarkable person, thing, or occurrence; as, a musical phenomenon.
Phenose (n.) A sweet amorphous deliquescent substance obtained indirectly from benzene, and isometric with, and resembling, dextrose.
Phenyl (n.) A hydrocarbon radical (C6H5) regarded as the essential residue of benzene, and the basis of an immense number of aromatic derivatives.
Phenylamine (n.) Any one of certain class of organic bases regarded as formed from ammonia by the substitution of phenyl for hydrogen.
Phenylene (n.) A hypothetic radical (C6H4) occurring in certain derivatives of benzene; as, phenylene diamine.
Pheon (n.) A bearing representing the head of a dart or javelin, with long barbs which are engrailed on the inner edge.
Philadelphian (a.) Of or pertaining to Ptolemy Philadelphus, or to one of the cities named Philadelphia, esp. the modern city in Pennsylvania.
Philadelphian (n.) One of a society of mystics of the seventeenth century, -- called also the Family of Love.
Philanthropical (a.) Of or pertaining to philanthropy; characterized by philanthropy; loving or helping mankind; as, a philanthropic enterprise.
Philanthropinism (n.) A system of education on so-called natural principles, attempted in Germany in the last century by Basedow, of Dessau.
Philanthropist (n.) One who practices philanthropy; one who loves mankind, and seeks to promote the good of others.
Philanthropy (n.) Love to mankind; benevolence toward the whole human family; universal good will; desire and readiness to do good to all men; -- opposed to misanthropy.
Philhellenist (n.) A friend of Greece; one who supports the cause of the Greeks; particularly, one who supported them in their struggle for independence against the Turks; a philhellene.
Philippic (n.) Any one of the series of famous orations of Demosthenes, the Grecian orator, denouncing Philip, king of Macedon.
Philippium (n.) A rare and doubtful metallic element said to have been discovered in the mineral samarskite.
Philistine (n.) A native or an inhabitant of ancient Philistia, a coast region of southern Palestine.
Philistine (n.) A person deficient in liberal culture and refinement; one without appreciation of the nobler aspirations and sentiments of humanity; one whose scope is limited to selfish and material interests.
Philistinism (n.) The condition, character, aims, and habits of the class called Philistines. See Philistine, 3.
Phillipsite (n.) A hydrous silicate of aluminia, lime, and soda, a zeolitic mineral commonly occurring in complex twin crystals, often cruciform in shape; -- called also christianite.
Phillyrea (n.) A genus of evergreen plants growing along the shores of the Mediterranean, and breading a fruit resembling that of the olive.
Phillyrin (n.) A glucoside extracted from Phillyrea as a bitter white crystalline substance. It is sometimes used as a febrifuge.
Philo- () A combining form from Gr. fi`los loving, fond of, attached to; as, philosophy, philotechnic.
Philogynist (n.) A lover or friend of women; one who esteems woman as the higher type of humanity; -- opposed to misogynist.
Philology (n.) The study of language, especially in a philosophical manner and as a science; the investigation of the laws of human speech, the relation of different tongues to one another, and historical development of languages; linguistic science.
Philopena (n.) A present or gift which is made as a forfeit in a social game that is played in various ways; also, the game itself.
Philosopher (n.) One who reduces the principles of philosophy to practice in the conduct of life; one who lives according to the rules of practical wisdom; one who meets or regards all vicissitudes with calmness.
Philosophical (a.) Of or pertaining to philosophy; versed in, or imbued with, the principles of philosophy; hence, characterizing a philosopher; rational; wise; temperate; calm; cool.
Philosophize (v. i.) To reason like a philosopher; to search into the reason and nature of things; to investigate phenomena, and assign rational causes for their existence.
Philosophy (n.) A particular philosophical system or theory; the hypothesis by which particular phenomena are explained.
Philosophy (n.) Literally, the love of, including the search after, wisdom; in actual usage, the knowledge of phenomena as explained by, and resolved into, causes and reasons, powers and laws.
Philosophy (n.) Practical wisdom; calmness of temper and judgment; equanimity; fortitude; stoicism; as, to meet misfortune with philosophy.
Phimosis (n.) A condition of the penis in which the prepuce can not be drawn back so as to uncover the glans penis.
Phlebogram (n.) A tracing (with the sphygmograph) of the movements of a vein, or of the venous pulse.
Phlebotomy (n.) The act or practice of opening a vein for letting blood, in the treatment of disease; venesection; bloodletting.
Phlegm (a.) One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed. See Humor.
Phlegmatic (a.) Not easily excited to action or passion; cold; dull; sluggish; heavy; as, a phlegmatic person.
Phleum (n.) A genus of grasses, including the timothy (Phleum pratense), which is highly valued for hay; cat's-tail grass.
Phloem (n.) That portion of fibrovascular bundles which corresponds to the inner bark; the liber tissue; -- distinguished from xylem.
Phlogisticate (v. t.) To combine phlogiston with; -- usually in the form and sense of the p. p. or the adj.; as, highly phlogisticated substances.
Phlogiston (n.) The hypothetical principle of fire, or inflammability, regarded by Stahl as a chemical element.
Phloretic (a.) Pertaining to, or derived from, or designating, an organic acid obtained by the decomposition of phloretin.
Phloretin (n.) A bitter white crystalline substance obtained by the decomposition of phlorizin, and formerly used to some extent as a substitute for quinine.
Phlorizin (n.) A bitter white crystalline glucoside extracted from the root bark of the apple, pear, cherry, plum, etc.
Phloroglucin (n.) A sweet white crystalline substance, metameric with pyrogallol, and obtained by the decomposition of phloretin, and from certain gums, as catechu, kino, etc. It belongs to the class of phenols. [Called also phloroglucinol.]
Phlorol (n.) A liquid metameric with xylenol, belonging to the class of phenols, and obtained by distilling certain salts of phloretic acid.
Phlorone (n.) A yellow crystalline substance having a peculiar unpleasant odor, resembling the quinones, and obtained from beechwood tar and coal tar, as also by the oxidation of xylidine; -- called also xyloquinone.
Phlyctenular (a.) Characterized by the presence of small pustules, or whitish elevations resembling pustules; as, phlyctenular ophthalmia.
Phocenic (a.) Of or pertaining to dolphin oil or porpoise oil; -- said of an acid (called also delphinic acid) subsequently found to be identical with valeric acid.
Phocodontia (n. pl.) A group of extinct carnivorous whales. Their teeth had compressed and serrated crowns. It includes Squalodon and allied genera.
Pholas (n.) Any one of numerous species of marine bivalve mollusks of the genus Pholas, or family Pholadidae. They bore holes for themselves in clay, peat, and soft rocks.
Phonation (n.) The act or process by which articulate sounds are uttered; the utterance of articulate sounds; articulate speech.
Phonetic (a.) Representing sounds; as, phonetic characters; -- opposed to ideographic; as, a phonetic notation.
Phonography (n.) A description of the laws of the human voice, or sounds uttered by the organs of speech.
Phonography (n.) A representation of sounds by distinctive characters; commonly, a system of shorthand writing invented by Isaac Pitman, or a modification of his system, much used by reporters.
Phonolite (n.) A compact, feldspathic, igneous rock containing nephelite, hauynite, etc. Thin slabs give a ringing sound when struck; -- called also clinkstone.
Phonology (n.) The science or doctrine of the elementary sounds uttered by the human voice in speech, including the various distinctions, modifications, and combinations of tones; phonetics. Also, a treatise on sounds.
Phonometer (n.) An instrument for measuring sounds, as to their intensity, or the frequency of the vibrations.
Phonoscope (n.) An instrument for observing or exhibiting the motions or properties of sounding bodies; especially, an apparatus invented by Konig for testing the quality of musical strings.
Phonotypy (n.) A method of phonetic printing of the English language, as devised by Mr. Pitman, in which nearly all the ordinary letters and many new forms are employed in order to indicate each elementary sound by a separate character.
Phormium (n.) A genus of liliaceous plants, consisting of one species (Phormium tenax). See Flax-plant.
Phorone (n.) A yellow crystalline substance, having a geraniumlike odor, regarded as a complex derivative of acetone, and obtained from certain camphor compounds.
Phoronis (n.) A remarkable genus of marine worms having tentacles around the mouth. It is usually classed with the gephyreans. Its larva (Actinotrocha) undergoes a peculiar metamorphosis.
Phosgene (a.) Producing, or produced by, the action of light; -- formerly used specifically to designate a gas now called carbonyl chloride. See Carbonyl.
Phosgenite (n.) A rare mineral occurring in tetragonal crystals of a white, yellow, or grayish color and adamantine luster. It is a chlorocarbonate of lead.
Phospham (n.) An inert amorphous white powder, PN2H, obtained by passing ammonia over heated phosphorus.
Phosphatic (a.) Pertaining to, or containing, phosphorus, phosphoric acid, or phosphates; as, phosphatic nodules.
Phosphene (n.) A luminous impression produced through excitation of the retina by some cause other than the impingement upon it of rays of light, as by pressure upon the eyeball when the lids are closed. Cf. After-image.
Phosphine (n.) A colorless gas, PH3, analogous to ammonia, and having a disagreeable odor resembling that of garlic. Called also hydrogen phosphide, and formerly, phosphureted hydrogen.
Phosphinic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, certain acids analogous to the phosphonic acids, but containing two hydrocarbon radicals, and derived from the secondary phosphines by oxidation.
Phosphonic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, certain derivatives of phosphorous acid containing a hydrocarbon radical, and analogous to the sulphonic acid.
Phosphonium (n.) The hypothetical radical PH4, analogous to ammonium, and regarded as the nucleus of certain derivatives of phosphine.
Phosphor-bronze (n.) A variety of bronze possessing great hardness, elasticity, and toughness, obtained by melting copper with tin phosphide. It contains one or two per cent of phosphorus and from five to fifteen per cent of tin.
Phosphorate (v. t.) To impregnate, or combine, with phosphorus or its compounds; as, phosphorated oil.
Phosphoric (a.) Of or pertaining to phosphorus; resembling, or containing, from us; specifically, designating those compounds in which phosphorus has a higher valence as contrasted with the phosphorous compounds.
Phosphoroscope (n.) An apparatus for observing the phosphorescence produced in different bodies by the action of light, and for measuring its duration.
Phosphorous (a.) Of or pertaining to phosphorus; resembling or containing phosphorus; specifically, designating those compounds in which phosphorus has a lower valence as contrasted with phosphoric compounds; as, phosphorous acid, H3PO3.
Phosphorus (n.) Hence, any substance which shines in the dark like phosphorus, as certain phosphorescent bodies.
Photics (n.) The science of light; -- a general term sometimes employed when optics is restricted to light as a producing vision.
Photo-electric (a.) Acting by the operation of both light and electricity; -- said of apparatus for producing pictures by electric light.
Photo-electrotype (n.) An electrotype plate formed in a mold made by photographing on prepared gelatine, etc.
Photo-engraving (n.) The process of obtaining an etched or engraved plate from the photographic image, to be used in printing; also, a picture produced by such a process.
Photo-epinasty (n.) A disproportionately rapid growth of the upper surface of dorsiventral organs, such as leaves, through the stimulus of exposure to light.
Photobiotic (a.) Requiring light to live; incapable of living without light; as, photobiotic plant cells.
Photochemical (a.) Of or pertaining to chemical action of light, or produced by it; as, the photochemical changes of the visual purple of the retina.
Photochemistry (n.) The branch of chemistry which relates to the effect of light in producing chemical changes, as in photography.
Photogen (n.) A light hydrocarbon oil resembling kerosene. It is obtained by distilling coal, paraffin, etc., and is used as a lubricant, illuminant, etc.
Photograph (v. t.) To take a picture or likeness of by means of photography; as, to photograph a view; to photograph a group.
Photographical (a.) Of or pertaining to photography; obtained by photography; used ib photography; as a photographic picture; a photographic camera.
Photographometer (n.) An instrument for determining the sensibility of the plates employed in photographic processes to luminous rays.
Photography (n.) The science which relates to the action of light on sensitive bodies in the production of pictures, the fixation of images, and the like.
Photolithograph (n.) A lithographic picture or copy from a stone prepared by the aid of photography.
Photomechanical (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, any photographic process in which a printing surface is obtained without the intervention of hand engraving.
Photometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the intensity of light, or, more especially, for comparing the relative intensities of different lights, or their relative illuminating power.
Photomicrograph (n.) An enlarged or macroscopic photograph of a microscopic object. See Microphotograph.
Photopsia (n.) An affection of the eye, in which the patient perceives luminous rays, flashes, coruscations, etc. See phosphene.
Photorelief (n.) A printing surface in relief, obtained by photographic means and subsequent manipulations.
Photosculpture (n.) A process in which, by means of a number of photographs simultaneously taken from different points of view on the same level, rough models of the figure or bust of a person or animal may be made with great expedition.
Phototype (n.) A plate or block with a printing surface (usually in relief) obtained from a photograph; also, any one of the many methods of processes by which such a printing surface is obtained.
Photoxylography (n.) The process of producing a representation of an object on wood, by photography, for the use of the wood engraver.
Photozincography (n.) A process, analogous to photolithography, for reproducing photographed impressions transferred to zinc plate.
Phrase (n.) A brief expression, sometimes a single word, but usually two or more words forming an expression by themselves, or being a portion of a sentence; as, an adverbial phrase.
Phrase (n.) A mode or form of speech; the manner or style in which any one expreses himself; diction; expression.
Phrase (n.) A short, pithy expression; especially, one which is often employed; a peculiar or idiomatic turn of speech; as, to err is human.
Phrenitis (n.) Inflammation of the brain, or of the meninges of the brain, attended with acute fever and delirium; -- called also cephalitis.
Phrenograph (n.) An instrument for registering the movements of the diaphragm, or midriff, in respiration.
Phrenology (n.) In popular usage, the physiological hypothesis of Gall, that the mental faculties, and traits of character, are shown on the surface of the head or skull; craniology.
Phrenology (n.) The science of the special functions of the several parts of the brain, or of the supposed connection between the various faculties of the mind and particular organs in the brain.
Phrenomagnetism (n.) The power of exciting the organs of the brain by magnetic or mesmeric influence.
Phryganeides (n. pl.) A tribe of neuropterous insects which includes the caddice flies; -- called also Trichoptera. See Trichoptera.
Phthalein (n.) One of a series of artificial organic dyes made as condensation products of the phenols with phthalic acid, and well represented by phenol phthalein. Their alkaline solutions are fluorescent.
Phthalic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a dibasic acid obtained by the oxidation of naphthalene and allied substances.
Phthalide (n.) A lactone obtained by reduction of phthalyl chloride, as a white crystalline substance; hence, by extension, any one of the series of which phthalide proper is the type.
Phthalimide (n.) An imido derivative of phthalic acid, obtained as a white crystalline substance, C6H4.(CO)2NH, which has itself (like succinimide) acid properties, and forms a series of salts. Cf. Imido acid, under Imido.
Phthalin (n.) A colorless crystalline substance obtained by reduction from phthalein, into which it is easily converted by oxidation; hence, any one of the series of which phthalin proper is the type.
Phthiriasis (n.) A disease (morbus pediculous) consisting in the excessive multiplication of lice on the human body.
Phthisis (n.) A wasting or consumption of the tissues. The term was formerly applied to many wasting diseases, but is now usually restricted to pulmonary phthisis, or consumption. See Consumption.
Phthongal (a.) Formed into, or characterized by, voice; vocalized; -- said of all the vowels and the semivowels, also of the vocal or sonant consonants g, d, b, l, r, v, z, etc.
Phylactery (n.) Among the primitive Christians, a case in which the relics of the dead were inclosed.
Phylactocarp (n.) A branch of a plumularian hydroid specially modified in structure for the protection of the gonothecae.
Phylactolaemata (n. pl.) An order of fresh-water Bryozoa in which the tentacles are arranged on a horseshoe-shaped lophophore, and the mouth is covered by an epistome. Called also Lophopoda, and hippocrepians.
Phyllocladium (n.) A flattened stem or branch which more or less resembles a leaf, and performs the function of a leaf as regards respiration and assimilation.
Phyllodium (n.) A petiole dilated into the form of a blade, and usually with vertical edges, as in the Australian acacias.
Phyllome (n.) A foliar part of a plant; any organ homologous with a leaf, or produced by metamorphosis of a leaf.
Phyllopoda (n. pl.) An order of Entomostraca including a large number of species, most of which live in fresh water. They have flattened or leaflike legs, often very numerous, which they use in swimming. Called also Branchiopoda.
Phyllorhine (a.) Of or pertaining to Phyllorhina and other related genera of bats that have a leaflike membrane around the nostrils.
Phyllosoma (n.) The larva of the spiny lobsters (Palinurus and allied genera). Its body is remarkably thin, flat, and transparent; the legs are very long. Called also glass-crab, and glass-shrimp.
Phyllostome (n.) Any bat of the genus Phyllostoma, or allied genera, having large membranes around the mouth and nose; a nose-leaf bat.
Phyllotaxis (n.) The order or arrangement of leaves on the stem; the science of the relative position of leaves.
Phyllous (a.) Homologous with a leaf; as, the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils are phyllous organs.
Phylloxera (n.) A small hemipterous insect (Phylloxera vastatrix) allied to the aphids. It attacks the roots and leaves of the grapevine, doing great damage, especially in Europe.
Physa (n.) A genus of fresh-water Pulmonifera, having reversed spiral shells. See Pond snail, under Pond.
Physemaria (n. pl.) A group of simple marine organisms, usually classed as the lowest of the sponges. They have inflated hollow bodies.
Physianthropy (n.) The philosophy of human life, or the doctrine of the constitution and diseases of man, and their remedies.
Physic (n.) A specific internal application for the cure or relief of sickness; a remedy for disease; a medicine.
Physic (n.) The art of healing diseases; the science of medicine; the theory or practice of medicine.
Physic (v. t.) To treat with physic or medicine; to administer medicine to, esp. a cathartic; to operate on as a cathartic; to purge.
Physical (a.) Of or pertaining to physic, or the art of medicine; medicinal; curative; healing; also, cathartic; purgative.
Physical (a.) Of or pertaining to physics, or natural philosophy; treating of, or relating to, the causes and connections of natural phenomena; as, physical science; physical laws.
Physical (a.) Perceptible through a bodily or material organization; cognizable by the senses; external; as, the physical, opposed to chemical, characters of a mineral.
Physically (adv.) In a physical manner; according to the laws of nature or physics; by physical force; not morally.
Physician (n.) A person skilled in physic, or the art of healing; one duty authorized to prescribe remedies for, and treat, diseases; a doctor of medicine.
Physician (n.) Hence, figuratively, one who ministers to moral diseases; as, a physician of the soul.
Physicism (n.) The tendency of the mind toward, or its preoccupation with, physical phenomena; materialism in philosophy and religion.
Physicist (n.) A believer in the theory that the fundamental phenomena of life are to be explained upon purely chemical and physical principles; -- opposed to vitalist.
Physico- () A combining form, denoting relation to, or dependence upon, natural causes, or the science of physics.
Physico-theology (n.) Theology or divinity illustrated or enforced by physics or natural philosophy.
Physicochemical (a.) Involving the principles of both physics and chemistry; dependent on, or produced by, the joint action of physical and chemical agencies.
Physiocrat (n.) One of the followers of Quesnay of France, who, in the 18th century, founded a system of political economy based upon the supremacy of natural order.
Physiogeny (n.) The germ history of the functions, or the history of the development of vital activities, in the individual, being one of the branches of ontogeny. See Morphogeny.
Physiognomy (n.) The art and science of discovering the predominant temper, and other characteristic qualities of the mind, by the outward appearance, especially by the features of the face.
Physiognomy (n.) The face or countenance, with respect to the temper of the mind; particular configuration, cast, or expression of countenance, as denoting character.
Physiognomy (n.) The general appearance or aspect of a thing, without reference to its scientific characteristics; as, the physiognomy of a plant, or of a meteor.
Physiolatry (n.) The worship of the powers or agencies of nature; materialism in religion; nature worship.
Physiological (a.) Of or pertaining to physiology; relating to the science of the functions of living organism; as, physiological botany or chemistry.
Physiologist (n.) One who is versed in the science of physiology; a student of the properties and functions of animal and vegetable organs and tissues.
Physiology (n.) The science which treats of the phenomena of living organisms; the study of the processes incidental to, and characteristic of, life.
Physiophyly (n.) The tribal history of the functions, or the history of the paleontological development of vital activities, -- being a branch of phylogeny. See Morphophyly.
Physophorae (n. pl.) An order of Siphonophora, furnished with an air sac, or float, and a series of nectocalyces. See Illust. under Nectocalyx.
Physostigmine (n.) An alkaloid found in the Calabar bean (the seed of Physostigma venenosum), and extracted as a white, tasteless, substance, amorphous or crystalline; -- formerly called eserine, with which it was regarded as identical.
Physostomi (n. pl.) An order of fishes in which the air bladder is provided with a duct, and the ventral fins, when present, are abdominal. It includes the salmons, herrings, carps, catfishes, and others.
Phytelephas (n.) A genus of South American palm trees, the seeds of which furnish the substance called vegetable ivory.
Phytography (n.) The science of describing plants in a systematic manner; also, a description of plants.
Phytolacca (n.) A genus of herbaceous plants, some of them having berries which abound in intensely red juice; poke, or pokeweed.
Phytolithology (n.) The branch of science which treats of fossil plants; -- usually called paleobotany, sometimes paleophytology.
Phyton (n.) One of the parts which by their repetition make up a flowering plant, each being a single joint of a stem with its leaf or leaves; a phytomer.
Pi (v. t.) To put into a mixed and disordered condition, as type; to mix and disarrange the type of; as, to pi a form.
Pia mater () The delicate and highly vascular membrane immediately investing the brain and spinal cord.
Piano (a. & adv.) Soft; -- a direction to the performer to execute a certain passage softly, and with diminished volume of tone. (Abbrev. p.)
Pianoforte (a.) A well-known musical instrument somewhat resembling the harpsichord, and consisting of a series of wires of graduated length, thickness, and tension, struck by hammers moved by keys.
Piarist (n.) One of a religious order who are the regular clerks of the Scuole Pie (religious schools), an institute of secondary education, founded at Rome in the last years of the 16th century.
Piassava (n.) A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees (Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia Piassaba), -- used in making brooms, and for other purposes. Called also piacaba and piasaba.
Piazza (n.) An open square in a European town, especially an Italian town; hence (Arch.), an arcaded and roofed gallery; a portico. In the United States the word is popularly applied to a veranda.
Pibroch (n.) A Highland air, suited to the particular passion which the musician would either excite or assuage; generally applied to those airs that are played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they go out to battle.
Pica (n.) A vitiated appetite that craves what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.; chthonophagia.
Picador (n.) A horseman armed with a lance, who in a bullfight receives the first attack of the bull, and excites him by picking him without attempting to kill him.
Picamar (n.) An oily liquid hydrocarbon extracted from the creosote of beechwood tar. It consists essentially of certain derivatives of pyrogallol.
Picard (n.) One of a sect of Adamites in the fifteenth century; -- so called from one Picard of Flanders. See Adamite.
Picaresque (a.) Applied to that class of literature in which the principal personage is the Spanish picaro, meaning a rascal, a knave, a rogue, an adventurer.
Picariae (n. pl.) An extensive division of birds which includes the woodpeckers, toucans, trogons, hornbills, kingfishers, motmots, rollers, and goatsuckers. By some writers it is made to include also the cuckoos, swifts, and humming birds.
Picaroon (n.) One who plunders; especially, a plunderer of wrecks; a pirate; a corsair; a marauder; a sharper.
Piccadilly (n.) A high, stiff collar for the neck; also, a hem or band about the skirt of a garment, -- worn by men in the 17th century.
Piccalilli (n.) A pickle of various vegetables with pungent species, -- originally made in the East Indies.
Piccolo (n.) A small, shrill flute, the pitch of which is an octave higher than the ordinary flute; an octave flute.
Picene (n.) A hydrocarbon (C/H/) extracted from the pitchy residue of coal tar and petroleum as a bluish fluorescent crystalline substance.
Pichiciago (n.) A small, burrowing, South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus), allied to the armadillos. The shell is attached only along the back.
Pichurim bean () The seed of a Brazilian lauraceous tree (Nectandra Puchury) of a taste and smell between those of nutmeg and of sassafras, -- sometimes used medicinally. Called also sassafras nut.
Piciformes (n. pl.) A group of birds including the woodpeckers, toucans, barbets, colies, kingfishes, hornbills, and some other related groups.
Pick (n.) A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, -- used by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.
Pick (n.) A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet.
Pick (n.) A sharp-pointed tool for picking; -- often used in composition; as, a toothpick; a picklock.
Pick (n.) The blow which drives the shuttle, -- the rate of speed of a loom being reckoned as so many picks per minute; hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread; as, so many picks to an inch.
Pick (v. i.) To do anything nicely or carefully, or by attending to small things; to select something with care.
Pick (v.) To choose; to select; to separate as choice or desirable; to cull; as, to pick one's company; to pick one's way; -- often with out.
Pick (v.) To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.
Pick (v.) To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck; to gather, as fruit from a tree, flowers from the stalk, feathers from a fowl, etc.
Pick (v.) To remove something from with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth; as, to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket.
Pick (v.) To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.
Pick (v.) To take up; esp., to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together; as, to pick rags; -- often with up; as, to pick up a ball or stones; to pick up information.
Pickaxe (n.) A pick with a point at one end, a transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the middle; a hammer with a flattened end for driving wedges and a pointed end for piercing as it strikes.
Pickeer (v. i.) To make a raid for booty; to maraud; also, to skirmish in advance of an army. See Picaroon.
Picker (n.) A machine for picking fibrous materials to pieces so as to loosen and separate the fiber.
Picker (n.) One who, or that which, picks, in any sense, -- as, one who uses a pick; one who gathers; a thief; a pick; a pickax; as, a cotton picker.
Picker (n.) The piece in a loom which strikes the end of the shuttle, and impels it through the warp.
Pickerel (n.) Any one of several species of freshwater fishes of the genus Esox, esp. the smaller species.
Picket (n.) A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket.
Picket (n.) A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
Picket (n.) A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.
Picket (n.) By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept outsiders, and prevent them from working for employers with whom the organization is at variance.
Pickle (v. t.) A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their color.
Pickle (v. t.) A solution of salt and water, in which fish, meat, etc., may be preserved or corned; brine.
Pickle (v. t.) To give an antique appearance to; -- said of copies or imitations of paintings by the old masters.
Pickle (v. t.) To preserve or season in pickle; to treat with some kind of pickle; as, to pickle herrings or cucumbers.
Pickthank (n.) One who strives to put another under obligation; an officious person; hence, a flatterer. Used also adjectively.
Picnic (v.) Formerly, an entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table; now, an excursion or pleasure party in which the members partake of a collation or repast (usually in the open air, and from food carried by themselves).
Picoline (n.) Any one of three isometric bases (C6H7N) related to pyridine, and obtained from bone oil, acrolein ammonia, and coal-tar naphtha, as colorless mobile liquids of strong odor; -- called also methyl pyridine.
Picotine (n.) A variety of carnation having petals of a light color variously dotted and spotted at the edges.
Picric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a strong organic acid (called picric acid), intensely bitter.
Picrite (n.) A dark green igneous rock, consisting largely of chrysolite, with hornblende, augite, biotite, etc.
Picrotoxin (n.) A bitter white crystalline substance found in the cocculus indicus. It is a peculiar poisonous neurotic and intoxicant, and consists of a mixture of several neutral substances.
Pictorial (a.) Of or pertaining to pictures; illustrated by pictures; forming pictures; representing with the clearness of a picture; as, a pictorial dictionary; a pictorial imagination.
Picture (n.) A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, produced by means of painting, drawing, engraving, photography, etc.; a representation in colors. By extension, a figure; a model.
Picture (n.) An image or resemblance; a representation, either to the eye or to the mind; that which, by its likeness, brings vividly to mind some other thing; as, a child is the picture of his father; the man is the picture of grief.
Picture (v. t.) To draw or paint a resemblance of; to delineate; to represent; to form or present an ideal likeness of; to bring before the mind.
Picul (n.) A commercial weight varying in different countries and for different commodities. In Borneo it is 135/ lbs.; in China and Sumatra, 133/ lbs.; in Japan, 133/ lbs.; but sometimes 130 lbs., etc. Called also, by the Chinese, tan.
Piculet (n.) Any species of very small woodpeckers of the genus Picumnus and allied genera. Their tail feathers are not stiff and sharp at the tips, as in ordinary woodpeckers.
Piddle (v. i.) To deal in trifles; to concern one's self with trivial matters rather than with those that are important.
Pie (n.) An article of food consisting of paste baked with something in it or under it; as, chicken pie; venison pie; mince pie; apple pie; pumpkin pie.
Piece (n.) A coin; as, a sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English gold coin worth 22 shillings.
Piece (n.) A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper.
Piece (n.) A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; as, a piece of sugar; to break in pieces.
Piece (n.) An individual; -- applied to a person as being of a certain nature or quality; often, but not always, used slightingly or in contempt.
Piece (n.) Any one thing conceived of as apart from other things of the same kind; an individual article; a distinct single effort of a series; a definite performance
Piece (v. t.) To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; as, to piece a garment; -- often with out.
Piecework (n.) Work done by the piece or job; work paid for at a rate based on the amount of work done, rather than on the time employed.
Piedouche (n.) A pedestal of small size, used to support small objects, as busts, vases, and the like.
Pieplant (n.) A plant (Rheum Rhaponticum) the leafstalks of which are acid, and are used in making pies; the garden rhubarb.
Piepowder (n.) An ancient court of record in England, formerly incident to every fair and market, of which the steward of him who owned or had the toll was the judge.
Pier (n.) Any detached mass of masonry, whether insulated or supporting one side of an arch or lintel, as of a bridge; the piece of wall between two openings.
Pierce (v. i.) To enter; to penetrate; to make a way into or through something, as a pointed instrument does; -- used literally and figuratively.
Pierce (v. t.) To penetrate; to enter; to force a way into or through; to pass into or through; as, to pierce the enemy's line; a shot pierced the ship.
Piercing (a.) Forcibly entering, or adapted to enter, at or by a point; perforating; penetrating; keen; -- used also figuratively; as, a piercing instrument, or thrust.
Pierid (n.) Any butterfly of the genus Pieris and related genera. See Cabbage butterfly, under Cabbage.
Pieta (n.) A representation of the dead Christ, attended by the Virgin Mary or by holy women and angels.
Pietistical (a.) Of or pertaining to the Pietists; hence, in contempt, affectedly or demonstratively religious.
Piety (n.) Duty; dutifulness; filial reverence and devotion; affectionate reverence and service shown toward parents, relatives, benefactors, country, etc.
Piety (n.) Veneration or reverence of the Supreme Being, and love of his character; loving obedience to the will of God, and earnest devotion to his service.
Pig-headed (a.) Having a head like a pig; hence, figuratively: stupidity obstinate; perverse; stubborn.
Pig-jawed (a.) Having the upper jaw projecting beyond the lower, with the upper incisors in advance of the lower; -- said of dogs.
Pigeon (n.) Any bird of the order Columbae, of which numerous species occur in nearly all parts of the world.
Pigeon-breasted (a.) Having a breast like a pigeon, -- the sternum being so prominent as to constitute a deformity; chicken-breasted.
Pigeonhole (n.) A small compartment in a desk or case for the keeping of letters, documents, etc.; -- so called from the resemblance of a row of them to the compartments in a dovecote.
Pigeonhole (v. t.) To place in the pigeonhole of a case or cabinet; hence, to put away; to lay aside indefinitely; as, to pigeonhole a letter or a report.
Pigfoot (n.) A marine fish (Scorpaena porcus), native of Europe. It is reddish brown, mottled with dark brown and black.
Piggin (n.) A small wooden pail or tub with an upright stave for a handle, -- often used as a dipper.
Pigment (n.) Any material from which a dye, a paint, or the like, may be prepared; particularly, the refined and purified coloring matter ready for mixing with an appropriate vehicle.
Pigment (n.) Any one of the colored substances found in animal and vegetable tissues and fluids, as bilirubin, urobilin, chlorophyll, etc.
Pigmentation (n.) A deposition, esp. an excessive deposition, of coloring matter; as, pigmentation of the liver.
Pigmented (a.) Colored; specifically (Biol.), filled or imbued with pigment; as, pigmented epithelial cells; pigmented granules.
Pignut (n.) The bitter-flavored nut of a species of hickory (Carya glabra, / porcina); also, the tree itself.
Pigpecker (n.) The European garden warbler (Sylvia, / Currica, hortensis); -- called also beccafico and greater pettychaps.
Pigskin (n.) The skin of a pig, -- used chiefly for making saddles; hence, a colloquial or slang term for a saddle.
Pigwidgeon (n.) A cant word for anything petty or small. It is used by Drayton as the name of a fairy.
Pika (n.) Any one of several species of rodents of the genus Lagomys, resembling small tailless rabbits. They inhabit the high mountains of Asia and America. Called also calling hare, and crying hare. See Chief hare.
Pike (n. & v.) A foot soldier's weapon, consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a pointed steel head. It is now superseded by the bayonet.
Pike (sing. & pl.) A large fresh-water fish (Esox lucius), found in Europe and America, highly valued as a food fish; -- called also pickerel, gedd, luce, and jack.
Pilchard (n.) A small European food fish (Clupea pilchardus) resembling the herring, but thicker and rounder. It is sometimes taken in great numbers on the coast of England.
Pile (n.) A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet.
Pile (n.) 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, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.
Pile (n.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
Pile (v. t.) To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; -- often with up; as, to pile up wood.
Pilentum (n.) An easy chariot or carriage, used by Roman ladies, and in which the vessels, etc., for sacred rites were carried.
Piles (n. pl.) The small, troublesome tumors or swellings about the anus and lower part of the rectum which are technically called hemorrhoids. See Hemorrhoids. [The singular pile is sometimes used.]
Pilewort (n.) A plant (Ranunculus Ficaria of Linnaeus) whose tuberous roots have been used in poultices as a specific for the piles.
Pilgrim (n.) One who travels far, or in strange lands, to visit some holy place or shrine as a devotee; as, a pilgrim to Loretto; Canterbury pilgrims. See Palmer.
Pilgrimage (n.) The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life.
Pilidium (n.) The free-swimming, hat-shaped larva of certain nemertean worms. It has no resemblance to its parent, and the young worm develops in its interior.
Pillage (n.) That which is taken from another or others by open force, particularly and chiefly from enemies in war; plunder; spoil; booty.
Pillage (v. i.) To strip of money or goods by open violence; to plunder; to spoil; to lay waste; as, to pillage the camp of an enemy.
Pillar (n.) A portable ornamental column, formerly carried before a cardinal, as emblematic of his support to the church.
Pillar (n.) Figuratively, that which resembles such a pillar in appearance, character, or office; a supporter or mainstay; as, the Pillars of Hercules; a pillar of the state.
Pillar (n.) The general and popular term for a firm, upright, insulated support for a superstructure; a pier, column, or post; also, a column or shaft not supporting a superstructure, as one erected for a monument or an ornament.
Pillion (n.) A panel or cushion saddle; the under pad or cushion of saddle; esp., a pad or cushion put on behind a man's saddle, on which a woman may ride.
Pillory (n.) A frame of adjustable boards erected on a post, and having holes through which the head and hands of an offender were thrust so as to be exposed in front of it.
Pillow (n.) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
Pillow (n.) Anything used to support the head of a person when reposing; especially, a sack or case filled with feathers, down, hair, or other soft material.
Pillworm (n.) Any myriapod of the genus Iulus and allied genera which rolls up spirally; a galleyworm. See Illust. under Myriapod.
Pillwort (n.) Any plant of the genus Pilularia; minute aquatic cryptograms, with small pill-shaped fruit; -- sometimes called peppergrass.
Pilocarpine (n.) An alkaloid extracted from jaborandi (Pilocarpus pennatifolius) as a white amorphous or crystalline substance which has a peculiar effect on the vasomotor system.
Pilot (n.) Specifically, a person duly qualified, and licensed by authority, to conduct vessels into and out of a port, or in certain waters, for a fixed rate of fees.
Pimaric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid found in galipot, and isomeric with abietic acid.
Pimelic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a substance obtained from certain fatty substances, and subsequently shown to be a mixture of suberic and adipic acids.
Pimelite (n.) An apple-green mineral having a greasy feel. It is a hydrous silicate of nickel, magnesia, aluminia, and iron.
Pimpernel (n.) A plant of the genus Anagallis, of which one species (A. arvensis) has small flowers, usually scarlet, but sometimes purple, blue, or white, which speedily close at the approach of bad weather.
Pin (n.) A piece of wood, metal, etc., generally cylindrical, used for fastening separate articles together, or as a support by which one article may be suspended from another; a peg; a bolt.
Pin (n.) Especially, a small, pointed and headed piece of brass or other wire (commonly tinned), largely used for fastening clothes, attaching papers, etc.
Pin (n.) One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each man should drink.
Pin-eyed (a.) Having the stigma visible at the throad of a gamopetalous corolla, while the stamens are concealed in the tube; -- said of dimorphous flowers. The opposite of thrum-eyed.
Pinacolin (n.) A colorless oily liquid related to the ketones, and obtained by the decomposition of pinacone; hence, by extension, any one of the series of which pinacolin proper is the type.
Pinacone (n.) A white crystalline substance related to the glycols, and made from acetone; hence, by extension, any one of a series of substances of which pinacone proper is the type.
Pinch (n.) A lever having a projection at one end, acting as a fulcrum, -- used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, etc. Called also pinch bar.
Pinch (n.) As much as may be taken between the finger and thumb; any very small quantity; as, a pinch of snuff.
Pinch (v. t.) Figuratively: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money.
Pinch (v. t.) To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, between teeth or claws, or between the jaws of an instrument; to squeeze or compress, as between any two hard bodies.
Pinchbeck (n.) An alloy of copper and zinc, resembling gold; a yellow metal, composed of about three ounces of zinc to a pound of copper. It is much used as an imitation of gold in the manufacture of cheap jewelry.
Pinchers (n. pl.) An instrument having two handles and two grasping jaws working on a pivot; -- used for griping things to be held fast, drawing nails, etc.
Pindaric (a.) Of or pertaining to Pindar, the Greek lyric poet; after the style and manner of Pindar; as, Pindaric odes.
Pine (v. i.) To languish with desire; to waste away with longing for something; -- usually followed by for.
Pine (v. i.) To languish; to lose flesh or wear away, under any distress or anexiety of mind; to droop; -- often used with away.
Pineapple (n.) A tropical plant (Ananassa sativa); also, its fruit; -- so called from the resemblance of the latter, in shape and external appearance, to the cone of the pine tree. Its origin is unknown, though conjectured to be American.
Pinedrops (n.) A reddish herb (Pterospora andromedea) of the United States, found parasitic on the roots of pine trees.
Pinefinch (n.) A small American bird (Spinus, / Chrysomitris, spinus); -- called also pine siskin, and American siskin.
Pinenchyma (n.) Tabular parenchyma, a form of cellular tissue in which the cells are broad and flat, as in some kinds of epidermis.
Pinesap (n.) A reddish fleshy herb of the genus Monotropa (M. hypopitys), formerly thought to be parasitic on the roots of pine trees, but more probably saprophytic.
Pinetum (n.) A plantation of pine trees; esp., a collection of living pine trees made for ornamental or scientific purposes.
Pineweed (n.) A low, bushy, nearly leafless herb (Hypericum Sarothra), common in sandy soil in the Eastern United States.
Piney (a.) A term used in designating an East Indian tree (the Vateria Indica or piney tree, of the order Dipterocarpeae, which grows in Malabar, etc.) or its products.
Pinfeather (n.) A feather not fully developed; esp., a rudimentary feather just emerging through the skin.
Pinic (a.) Of or pertaining to the pine; obtained from the pine; formerly, designating an acid which is the chief constituent of common resin, -- now called abietic, or sylvic, acid.
Pinion (n.) A cogwheel with a small number of teeth, or leaves, adapted to engage with a larger wheel, or rack (see Rack); esp., such a wheel having its leaves formed of the substance of the arbor or spindle which is its axis.
Pinion (n.) A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
Pinion (v. t.) To disable or restrain, as a person, by binding the arms, esp. by binding the arms to the body.
Pinite (n.) A compact granular cryptocrystalline mineral of a dull grayish or greenish white color. It is a hydrous alkaline silicate, and is derived from the alteration of other minerals, as iolite.
Pinite (n.) A sweet white crystalline substance extracted from the gum of a species of pine (Pinus Lambertina). It is isomeric with, and resembles, quercite.
Pink (a.) Resembling the garden pink in color; of the color called pink (see 6th Pink, 2); as, a pink dress; pink ribbons.
Pink (v. t.) A color resulting from the combination of a pure vivid red with more or less white; -- so called from the common color of the flower.
Pink (v. t.) To pierce with small holes; to cut the edge of, as cloth or paper, in small scallops or angles.
Pinking (n.) The act or method of decorating fabrics or garments with a pinking iron; also, the style of decoration; scallops made with a pinking iron.
Pinkroot (n.) A perennial North American herb (Spigelia Marilandica), sometimes cultivated for its showy red blossoms. Called also Carolina pink, Maryland pinkroot, and worm grass.
Pinkroot (n.) The root of Spigelia Marilandica, used as a powerful vermifuge; also, that of S. Anthelmia. See definition 2 (below).
Pinna (n.) Any species of Pinna, a genus of large bivalve mollusks found in all warm seas. The byssus consists of a large number of long, silky fibers, which have been used in manufacturing woven fabrics, as a curiosity.
Pinnace (n.) A small vessel propelled by sails or oars, formerly employed as a tender, or for coast defence; -- called originally, spynace or spyne.
Pinnated (a.) Consisting of several leaflets, or separate portions, arranged on each side of a common petiole, as the leaves of a rosebush, a hickory, or an ash. See Abruptly pinnate, and Illust., under Abruptly.
Pinnipedia (n. pl.) A suborder of aquatic carnivorous mammals including the seals and walruses; -- opposed to Fissipedia.
Pinnule (n.) Any one of a series of small, slender organs, or parts, when arranged in rows so as to have a plumelike appearance; as, a pinnule of a gorgonia; the pinnules of a crinoid.
Pinnule (n.) One of the small divisions of a decompound frond or leaf. See Illust. of Bipinnate leaf, under Bipinnate.
Pinnywinkles (n. pl.) An instrument of torture, consisting of a board with holes into which the fingers were pressed, and fastened with pegs.
Pinocle (n.) A game at cards, played with forty-eight cards, being all the cards above the eight spots in two packs.
Pinole (n.) Parched maize, ground, and mixed with sugar, etc. Mixed with water, it makes a nutritious beverage.
Pint (n.) A measure of capacity, equal to half a quart, or four gills, -- used in liquid and dry measures. See Quart.
Pintado (n.) Any bird of the genus Numida. Several species are found in Africa. The common pintado, or Guinea fowl, the helmeted, and the crested pintados, are the best known. See Guinea fowl, under Guinea.
Pintail (n.) A northern duck (Dafila acuta), native of both continents. The adult male has a long, tapering tail. Called also gray duck, piketail, piket-tail, spike-tail, split-tail, springtail, sea pheasant, and gray widgeon.
Pintail (n.) The sharp-tailed grouse of the great plains and Rocky Mountains (Pediocaetes phasianellus); -- called also pintailed grouse, pintailed chicken, springtail, and sharptail.
Pintos (n. pl.) A mountain tribe of Mexican Indians living near Acapulco. They are remarkable for having the dark skin of the face irregularly spotted with white. Called also speckled Indians.
Pinweed (n.) Any plant of the genus Lechea, low North American herbs with branching stems, and very small and abundant leaves and flowers.
Pinworm (n.) A small nematoid worm (Oxyurus vermicularis), which is parasitic chiefly in the rectum of man. It is most common in children and aged persons.
Pinxit () A word appended to the artist's name or initials on a painting, or engraved copy of a painting; as, Rubens pinxit, Rubens painted (this).
Pioneer (n.) A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances.
Pioneer (n.) One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow; as, pioneers of civilization; pioneers of reform.
Pious (a.) Of or pertaining to piety; exhibiting piety; reverential; dutiful; religious; devout; godly.
Pious (a.) Practiced under the pretext of religion; prompted by mistaken piety; as, pious errors; pious frauds.
Pipage (n.) Transportation, as of petroleum oil, by means of a pipe conduit; also, the charge for such transportation.
Pipe (n.) A cask usually containing two hogsheads, or 126 wine gallons; also, the quantity which it contains.
Pipe (n.) A passageway for the air in speaking and breathing; the windpipe, or one of its divisions.
Pipe (n.) A roll formerly used in the English exchequer, otherwise called the Great Roll, on which were taken down the accounts of debts to the king; -- so called because put together like a pipe.
Pipe (n.) A small bowl with a hollow steam, -- used in smoking tobacco, and, sometimes, other substances.
Pipe (n.) A wind instrument of music, consisting of a tube or tubes of straw, reed, wood, or metal; any tube which produces musical sounds; as, a shepherd's pipe; the pipe of an organ.
Pipe (n.) Any long tube or hollow body of wood, metal, earthenware, or the like: especially, one used as a conductor of water, steam, gas, etc.
Pipe (v. i.) To call, convey orders, etc., by means of signals on a pipe or whistle carried by a boatswain.
Pipe (v. t.) To perform, as a tune, by playing on a pipe, flute, fife, etc.; to utter in the shrill tone of a pipe.
Pipe clay () A plastic, unctuous clay of a grayish white color, -- used in making tobacco pipes and various kinds of earthenware, in scouring cloth, and in cleansing soldiers' equipments.
Pipe laying () The act or method of making combinations for personal advantage secretly or slyly; -- in this sense, usually written as one word.
Piper (n.) A common European gurnard (Trigla lyra), having a large head, with prominent nasal projection, and with large, sharp, opercular spines.
Piper (n.) A sea urchin (Goniocidaris hystrix) having very long spines, native of both the American and European coasts.
Piperaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to the order of plants (Piperaceae) of which the pepper (Piper nigrum) is the type. There are about a dozen genera and a thousand species, mostly tropical plants with pungent and aromatic qualities.
Piperic (a.) Pertaining to, or derived from, or designating, a complex organic acid found in the products of different members of the Pepper family, and extracted as a yellowish crystalline substance.
Piperidine (n.) An oily liquid alkaloid, C5H11N, having a hot, peppery, ammoniacal odor. It is related to pyridine, and is obtained by the decomposition of piperine.
Piperine (n.) A white crystalline compound of piperidine and piperic acid. It is obtained from the black pepper (Piper nigrum) and other species.
Piperonal (n.) A white crystalline substance obtained by oxidation of piperic acid, and regarded as a complex aldehyde.
Pipette (n.) A small glass tube, often with an enlargement or bulb in the middle, and usually graduated, -- used for transferring or delivering measured quantities.
Pipewort (n.) Any plant of a genus (Eriocaulon) of aquatic or marsh herbs with soft grass-like leaves.
Piping (v.) Peaceful; favorable to, or characterized by, the music of the pipe rather than of the drum and fife.
Pippin (n.) A name given to apples of several different kinds, as Newtown pippin, summer pippin, fall pippin, golden pippin.
Pipra (n.) Any one of numerous species of small clamatorial birds belonging to Pipra and allied genera, of the family Pipridae. The male is usually glossy black, varied with scarlet, yellow, or sky blue. They chiefly inhabit South America.
Pipsissewa (n.) A low evergreen plant (Chimaphila umbellata), with narrow, wedge-lanceolate leaves, and an umbel of pretty nodding fragrant blossoms. It has been used in nephritic diseases. Called also prince's pine.
Pique (n.) A cotton fabric, figured in the loom, -- used as a dress goods for women and children, and for vestings, etc.
Pique (n.) A feeling of hurt, vexation, or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; irritation of the feelings, as through wounded pride; stinging vexation.
Pique (n.) In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
Pique (v. t.) To excite to action by causing resentment or jealousy; to stimulate; to prick; as, to pique ambition, or curiosity.
Pique (v. t.) To wound the pride of; to sting; to nettle; to irritate; to fret; to offend; to excite to anger.
Piquet (n.) A game at cards played between two persons, with thirty-two cards, all the deuces, threes, fours, fives, and sixes, being set aside.
Piracy (n.) Robbery on the high seas; the taking of property from others on the open sea by open violence; without lawful authority, and with intent to steal; -- a crime answering to robbery on land.
Pirate (n.) A robber on the high seas; one who by open violence takes the property of another on the high seas; especially, one who makes it his business to cruise for robbery or plunder; a freebooter on the seas; also, one who steals in a harbor.
Pirate (n.) An armed ship or vessel which sails without a legal commission, for the purpose of plundering other vessels on the high seas.
Pirate (n.) One who infringes the law of copyright, or publishes the work of an author without permission.
Piratical (a.) Of or pertaining to a pirate; acquired by, or practicing, piracy; as, a piratical undertaking.
Piraya (n.) A large voracious fresh-water fish (Serrasalmo piraya) of South America, having lancet-shaped teeth.
Pirn (n.) A quill or reed on which thread or yarn is wound; a bobbin; also, the wound yarn on a weaver's shuttle; also, the reel of a fishing rod.
Pisces (n. pl.) A zodiacal constellation, including the first point of Aries, which is the vernal equinoctial point; the Fish.
Pisces (n. pl.) The class of Vertebrata that includes the fishes. The principal divisions are Elasmobranchii, Ganoidei, and Teleostei.
Piscina (n.) A niche near the altar in a church, containing a small basin for rinsing altar vessels.
Pise (n.) A species of wall made of stiff earth or clay rammed in between molds which are carried up as the wall rises; -- called also pise work.
Pisiform (n.) A small bone on the ulnar side of the carpus in man and many mammals. See Illust. of Artiodactyla.
Pisolite (n.) A variety of calcite, or calcium carbonate, consisting of aggregated globular concretions about the size of a pea; -- called also peastone, peagrit.
Pissasphalt (n.) Earth pitch; a soft, black bitumen of the consistence of tar, and of a strong smell. It is inflammable, and intermediate between petroleum and asphalt.
Pistacia (n.) The name of a genus of trees, including the tree which bears the pistachio, the Mediterranean mastic tree (Pistacia Lentiscus), and the species (P. Terebinthus) which yields Chian or Cyprus turpentine.
Pistillate (a.) Having a pistil or pistils; -- usually said of flowers having pistils but no stamens.
Pistol (n.) The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, -- now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names. See Illust. of Revolver.
Pit (n.) A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
Pit (n.) A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation
Pit (n.) A large hole in the ground from which material is dug or quarried; as, a stone pit; a gravel pit; or in which material is made by burning; as, a lime pit; a charcoal pit.
Pit (n.) An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
Pit (n.) The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc.
Pit (v. t.) To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest; as, to pit one dog against another.
Pita (n.) A fiber obtained from the Agave Americana and other related species, -- used for making cordage and paper. Called also pita fiber, and pita thread.
Pitahaya (n.) A cactaceous shrub (Cereus Pitajaya) of tropical America, which yields a delicious fruit.
Pitch (n.) A point or peak; the extreme point or degree of elevation or depression; hence, a limit or bound.
Pitch (n.) A thick, black, lustrous, and sticky substance obtained by boiling down tar. It is used in calking the seams of ships; also in coating rope, canvas, wood, ironwork, etc., to preserve them.
Pitch (n.) The distance from center to center of any two adjacent teeth of gearing, measured on the pitch line; -- called also circular pitch.
Pitch (n.) The length, measured along the axis, of a complete turn of the thread of a screw, or of the helical lines of the blades of a screw propeller.
Pitch (n.) The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant; as, a steep pitch in the road; the pitch of a roof.
Pitch (n.) The relative acuteness or gravity of a tone, determined by the number of vibrations which produce it; the place of any tone upon a scale of high and low.
Pitch (v. i.) To plunge or fall; esp., to fall forward; to decline or slope; as, to pitch from a precipice; the vessel pitches in a heavy sea; the field pitches toward the east.
Pitch (v. t.) To throw, generally with a definite aim or purpose; to cast; to hurl; to toss; as, to pitch quoits; to pitch hay; to pitch a ball.
Pitch (v. t.) To thrust or plant in the ground, as stakes or poles; hence, to fix firmly, as by means of poles; to establish; to arrange; as, to pitch a tent; to pitch a camp.
Pitch-faced (a.) Having the arris defined by a line beyond which the rock is cut away, so as to give nearly true edges; -- said of squared stones that are otherwise quarry-faced.
Pitchblende (n.) A pitch-black mineral consisting chiefly of the oxide of uranium; uraninite. See Uraninite.
Pitcher (n.) A wide-mouthed, deep vessel for holding liquids, with a spout or protruding lip and a handle; a water jug or jar with a large ear or handle.
Pitcher (n.) One who pitches anything, as hay, quoits, a ball, etc.; specifically (Baseball), the player who delivers the ball to the batsman.
Piteous (a.) Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case.
Pith (n.) Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith.
Pith (n.) The soft spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees, especially those of the dicotyledonous or exogenous classes. It consists of cellular tissue.
Pith (v. t.) To destroy the central nervous system of (an animal, as a frog), as by passing a stout wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal.
Pitheci (n. pl.) A division of mammals including the apes and monkeys. Sometimes used in the sense of Primates.
Pithecoid (a.) Of or pertaining to the anthropoid apes in particular, or to the higher apes of the Old World, collectively.
Pithecoid (a.) Of or pertaining to the genus Pithecia, or subfamily Pithecinae, which includes the saki, ouakari, and other allied South American monkeys.
Pithy (superl.) Consisting wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a pithy fruit.
Pitiable (a.) Deserving pity; wworthy of, or exciting, compassion; miserable; lamentable; piteous; as, pitiable persons; a pitiable condition; pitiable wretchedness.
Pitot's tube () A bent tube used to determine the velocity of running water, by placing the curved end under water, and observing the height to which the fluid rises in the tube; a kind of current meter.
Pitpan (n.) A long, flat-bottomed canoe, used for the navigation of rivers and lagoons in Central America.
Pittacal (n.) A dark blue substance obtained from wood tar. It consists of hydrocarbons which when oxidized form the orange-yellow eupittonic compounds, the salts of which are dark blue.
Pittance (n.) An allowance of food bestowed in charity; a mess of victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole.
Pitted (v. t.) Having minute thin spots; as, pitted ducts in the vascular parts of vegetable tissue.
Pituitary (a.) Secreting mucus or phlegm; as, the pituitary membrane, or the mucous membrane which lines the nasal cavities.
Pity (n.) A feeling for the sufferings or distresses of another or others; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion; fellow-feeling; commiseration.
Pity (v. t.) To feel pity or compassion for; to have sympathy with; to compassionate; to commiserate; to have tender feelings toward (any one), awakened by a knowledge of suffering.
Pityriasis (n.) A superficial affection of the skin, characterized by irregular patches of thin scales which are shed in branlike particles.
Pivot (n.) Hence, figuratively: A turning point or condition; that on which important results depend; as, the pivot of an enterprise.
Pivot (n.) The end of a shaft or arbor which rests and turns in a support; as, the pivot of an arbor in a watch.
Pivot (n.) The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place whike the company or line moves around him in wheeling; -- called also pivot man.
Pivotal (a.) Of or pertaining to a pivot or turning point; belonging to, or constituting, a pivot; of the nature of a pivot; as, the pivotalopportunity of a career; the pivotal position in a battle.
Pixie (n.) A low creeping evergreen plant (Pyxidanthera barbulata), with mosslike leaves and little white blossoms, found in New Jersey and southward, where it flowers in earliest spring.
Pizzicato () A direction to violinists to pluck the string with the finger, instead of using the bow. (Abrev. pizz.)
Placable (a.) Capable of being appeased or pacified; ready or willing to be pacified; willing to forgive or condone.
Placard (n.) A kind of stomacher, often adorned with jewels, worn in the fifteenth century and later.
Placard (n.) A written or printed paper, as an advertisement or a declaration, posted, or to be posted, in a public place; a poster.
Place (n.) A broad way in a city; an open space; an area; a court or short part of a street open only at one end.
Place (n.) A position which is occupied and held; a dwelling; a mansion; a village, town, or city; a fortified town or post; a stronghold; a region or country.
Place (n.) Any portion of space regarded as measured off or distinct from all other space, or appropriated to some definite object or use; position; ground; site; spot; rarely, unbounded space.
Place (n.) Position in the heavens, as of a heavenly body; -- usually defined by its right ascension and declination, or by its latitude and longitude.
Place (n.) Rank; degree; grade; order of priority, advancement, dignity, or importance; especially, social rank or position; condition; also, official station; occupation; calling.
Place (n.) To assign a place to; to put in a particular spot or place, or in a certain relative position; to direct to a particular place; to fix; to settle; to locate; as, to place a book on a shelf; to place balls in tennis.
Place (n.) To put or set in a particular rank, office, or position; to surround with particular circumstances or relations in life; to appoint to certain station or condition of life; as, in whatever sphere one is placed.
Place (n.) Vacated or relinquished space; room; stead (the departure or removal of another being or thing being implied).
Placenta (n.) The vascular appendage which connects the fetus with the parent, and is cast off in parturition with the afterbirth.
Placental (a.) Of or pertaining to the placenta; having, or characterized by having, a placenta; as, a placental mammal.
Placentalia (n. pl.) A division of Mammalia including those that have a placenta, or all the orders above the marsupials.
Placentation (n.) The mode in which the placenta is arranged or composed; as, axile placentation; parietal placentation.
Placentation (n.) The mode of formation of the placenta in different animals; as, the placentation of mammals.
Placentiform (a.) Having the shape of a placenta, or circular thickened disk somewhat thinner about the middle.
Placer (n.) A deposit of earth, sand, or gravel, containing valuable mineral in particles, especially by the side of a river, or in the bed of a mountain torrent.
Placet (n.) A vote of assent, as of the governing body of a university, of an ecclesiastical council, etc.
Placitum (n.) A public court or assembly in the Middle Ages, over which the sovereign president when a consultation was held upon affairs of state.
Placket (n.) The opening or slit left in a petticoat or skirt for convenience in putting it on; -- called also placket hole.
Placodermi (n. pl.) An extinct group of fishes, supposed to be ganoids. The body and head were covered with large bony plates. See Illust. under Pterichthys, and Coccosteus.
Placoganoidei (n. pl.) A division of ganoid fishes including those that have large external bony plates and a cartilaginous skeleton.
Placoid (a.) Platelike; having irregular, platelike, bony scales, often bearing spines; pertaining to the placoids.
Placoides (n. pl.) A group of fishes including the sharks and rays; the Elasmobranchii; -- called also Placoidei.
Placophora (n. pl.) A division of gastropod Mollusca, including the chitons. The back is covered by eight shelly plates. Called also Polyplacophora. See Illust. under Chiton, and Isopleura.
Plagal (a.) Having a scale running from the dominant to its octave; -- said of certain old church modes or tunes, as opposed to those called authentic, which ran from the tonic to its octave.
Plagiarist (n.) One who plagiarizes; or purloins the words, writings, or ideas of another, and passes them off as his own; a literary thief; a plagiary.
Plagiarize (v. t.) To steal or purloin from the writings of another; to appropriate without due acknowledgement (the ideas or expressions of another).
Plagiary (n.) One who purloins another's expressions or ideas, and offers them as his own; a plagiarist.
Plagihedral (a.) Having an oblique spiral arrangement of planes, as levogyrate and dextrogyrate crystals.
Plagiostomi (n. pl.) An order of fishes including the sharks and rays; -- called also Plagiostomata.
Plague (n.) An acute malignant contagious fever, that often prevails in Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, and has at times visited the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality; hence, any pestilence; as, the great London plague.
Plague (n.) That which smites, wounds, or troubles; a blow; a calamity; any afflictive evil or torment; a great trail or vexation.
Plaguy (a.) Vexatious; troublesome; tormenting; as, a plaguy horse. [Colloq.] Also used adverbially; as, "He is so plaguy proud."
Plaice (n.) A European food fish (Pleuronectes platessa), allied to the flounder, and growing to the weight of eight or ten pounds or more.
Plaice (n.) A large American flounder (Paralichthys dentatus; called also brail, puckermouth, and summer flounder. The name is sometimes applied to other allied species.
Plaid (a.) Having a pattern or colors which resemble a Scotch plaid; checkered or marked with bars or stripes at right angles to one another; as, plaid muslin.
Plaid (n.) A rectangular garment or piece of cloth, usually made of the checkered material called tartan, but sometimes of plain gray, or gray with black stripes. It is worn by both sexes in Scotland.
Plaid (n.) Goods of any quality or material of the pattern of a plaid or tartan; a checkered cloth or pattern.
Plain (a.) Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains, or prairies.
Plain (superl.) Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common.
Plain (superl.) Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple.
Plain-laid (a.) Consisting of strands twisted together in the ordinary way; as, a plain-laid rope. See Illust. of Cordage.
Plain-spoken (a.) Speaking with plain, unreserved sincerity; also, spoken sincerely; as, plain-spoken words.
Plaint (n.) A private memorial tendered to a court, in which a person sets forth his cause of action; the exhibiting of an action in writing.
Plaintiff (n.) One who commences a personal action or suit to obtain a remedy for an injury to his rights; -- opposed to defendant.
Plait (v. t.) To interweave the strands or locks of; to braid; to plat; as, to plait hair; to plait rope.
Plan (a.) A scheme devised; a method of action or procedure expressed or described in language; a project; as, the plan of a constitution; the plan of an expedition.
Plan (v. t.) To scheme; to devise; to contrive; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country.
Planaria (n.) Any species of turbellarian worms belonging to Planaria, and many allied genera. The body is usually flat, thin, and smooth. Some species, in warm countries, are terrestrial.
Plane (a.) A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface, used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate.
Plane (a.) A surface, real or imaginary, in which, if any two points are taken, the straight line which joins them lies wholly in that surface; or a surface, any section of which by a like surface is a straight line; a surface without curvature.
Plane (a.) An ideal surface, conceived as coinciding with, or containing, some designated astronomical line, circle, or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of the ecliptic, or of the equator.
Plane (a.) To make smooth; to level; to pare off the inequalities of the surface of, as of a board or other piece of wood, by the use of a plane; as, to plane a plank.
Plane (a.) Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface.
Planer (n.) One who, or that which, planes; a planing machine; esp., a machine for planing wood or metals.
Planer tree () A small-leaved North American tree (Planera aquatica) related to the elm, but having a wingless, nutlike fruit.
Planet (n.) A celestial body which revolves about the sun in an orbit of a moderate degree of eccentricity. It is distinguished from a comet by the absence of a coma, and by having a less eccentric orbit. See Solar system.
Planetary (a.) Of or pertaining to the planets; as, planetary inhabitants; planetary motions; planetary year.
Planimeter (n.) An instrument for measuring the area of any plane figure, however irregular, by passing a tracer around the bounding line; a platometer.
Planimetry (n.) The mensuration of plane surfaces; -- distinguished from stereometry, or the mensuration of volumes.
Planipennia (n. pl.) A suborder of Neuroptera, including those that have broad, flat wings, as the ant-lion, lacewing, etc. Called also Planipennes.
Planish (v.) To make smooth or plane, as a metallic surface; to condense, toughen, and polish by light blows with a hammer.
Plank (n.) One of the separate articles in a declaration of the principles of a party or cause; as, a plank in the national platform.
Plank (v. t.) To lay down, as on a plank or table; to stake or pay cash; as, to plank money in a wager.
Planking (n.) The act of laying planks; also, planks, collectively; a series of planks in place, as the wooden covering of the frame of a vessel.
Plano- (a.) Combining forms signifying flat, level, plane; as planifolious, planimetry, plano-concave.
Plano-concave (a.) Plane or flat on one side, and concave on the other; as, a plano-concave lens. See Lens.
Plano-convex (a.) Plane or flat on one side, and convex on the other; as, a plano-convex lens. See Convex, and Lens.
Planometer (n.) An instrument for gauging or testing a plane surface. See Surface gauge, under Surface.
Planorbis (n.) Any fresh-water air-breathing mollusk belonging to Planorbis and other allied genera, having shells of a discoidal form.
Plant (n.) To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish; as, to plant a colony.
Plant (n.) To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of; as, to plant Christianity among the heathen.
Plant (n.) To set firmly; to fix; to set and direct, or point; as, to plant cannon against a fort; to plant a standard in any place; to plant one's feet on solid ground; to plant one's fist in another's face.
Plant-cane (n.) A stalk or shoot of sugar cane of the first growth from the cutting. The growth of the second and following years is of inferior quality, and is called rattoon.
Plantage (n.) A word used once by Shakespeare to designate plants in general, or anything that is planted.
Plantain (n.) A treelike perennial herb (Musa paradisiaca) of tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits called plantains. See Musa.
Planted (a.) Fixed in place, as a projecting member wrought on a separate piece of stuff; as, a planted molding.
Plantership (n.) The occupation or position of a planter, or the management of a plantation, as in the United States or the West Indies.
Plantigrada (n. pl.) A subdivision of Carnivora having plantigrade feet. It includes the bears, raccoons, and allied species.
Plantigrade (a.) Having the foot so formed that the heel touches the ground when the leg is upright.
Plantigrade (n.) A plantigrade animal, or one that walks or steps on the sole of the foot, as man, and the bears.
Planting (n.) The act or operation of setting in the ground for propagation, as seeds, trees, shrubs, etc.; the forming of plantations, as of trees; the carrying on of plantations, as of sugar, coffee, etc.
Planula (n.) The very young, free-swimming larva of the coelenterates. It usually has a flattened oval or oblong form, and is entirely covered with cilia.
Plaque (n.) Any flat, thin piece of metal, clay, ivory, or the like, used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a slab, plate, dish, or the like, hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn on the person, as a brooch.
Plash (n.) The branch of a tree partly cut or bent, and bound to, or intertwined with, other branches.
Plash (v. t.) To splash or sprinkle with coloring matter; as, to plash a wall in imitation of granite.
Plashing (n.) The dashing or sprinkling of coloring matter on the walls of buildings, to imitate granite, etc.
Plasma (n.) A variety of quartz, of a color between grass green and leek green, which is found associated with common chalcedony. It was much esteemed by the ancients for making engraved ornaments.
Plasma (n.) The viscous material of an animal or vegetable cell, out of which the various tissues are formed by a process of differentiation; protoplasm.
Plasmatical (a.) Of or pertaining to plasma; having the character of plasma; containing, or conveying, plasma.
Plasmin (n.) A proteid body, separated by some physiologists from blood plasma. It is probably identical with fibrinogen.
Plasmodial (a.) Of or pertaining to, or like, a plasmodium; as, the plasmodial form of a life cycle.
Plasmodium (n.) A jellylike mass of free protoplasm, without any union of amoeboid cells, and endowed with life and power of motion.
Plasmodium (n.) A naked mobile mass of protoplasm, formed by the union of several amoebalike young, and constituting one of the stages in the life cycle of Mycetozoa and other low organisms.
Plasmogen (n.) The important living portion of protoplasm, considered a chemical substance of the highest elaboration. Germ plasm and idioplasm are forms of plasmogen.
Plaster (n.) A composition of lime, water, and sand, with or without hair as a bond, for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions of houses. See Mortar.
Plaster (n.) Calcined gypsum, or plaster of Paris, especially when ground, as used for making ornaments, figures, moldings, etc.; or calcined gypsum used as a fertilizer.
Plaster (v. t.) Fig.: To smooth over; to cover or conceal the defects of; to hide, as with a covering of plaster.
Plastic (a.) Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, as clay or plaster; -- used also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.
Plastic (a.) Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator.
Plastic (a.) Pertaining or appropriate to, or characteristic of, molding or modeling; produced by, or appearing as if produced by, molding or modeling; -- said of sculpture and the kindred arts, in distinction from painting and the graphic arts.
plastic (n.) a substance composed predominantly of a synthetic organic high polymer capable of being cast or molded; many varieties of plastic are used to produce articles of commerce (after 1900). [MW10 gives origin of word as 1905]
Plastide (n.) A formative particle of albuminous matter; a monad; a cytode. See the Note under Morphon.
Plastide (n.) One of the many minute granules found in the protoplasm of vegetable cells. They are divided by their colors into three classes, chloroplastids, chromoplastids, and leucoplastids.
Plastin (n.) A substance associated with nuclein in cell nuclei, and by some considered as the fundamental substance of the nucleus.
Plastron (n.) A trimming for the front of a woman's dress, made of a different material, and narrowing from the shoulders to the waist.
Plat (n.) A small piece or plot of ground laid out with some design, or for a special use; usually, a portion of flat, even ground.
Platband (n.) A flat molding, or group of moldings, the width of which much exceeds its projection, as the face of an architrave.
Plate (n.) A flat, or nearly flat, piece of metal, the thickness of which is small in comparison with the other dimensions; a thick sheet of metal; as, a steel plate.
Plate (n.) A page of stereotype, electrotype, or the like, for printing from; as, publisher's plates.
Plate (n.) A piece of metal on which anything is engraved for the purpose of being printed; hence, an impression from the engraved metal; as, a book illustrated with plates; a fashion plate.
Plate (n.) A small, shallow, and usually circular, vessel of metal or wood, or of earth glazed and baked, from which food is eaten at table.
Plate (n.) Domestic vessels and utensils, as flagons, dishes, cups, etc., wrought in gold or silver.
Plate (n.) That part of an artificial set of teeth which fits to the mouth, and holds the teeth in place. It may be of gold, platinum, silver, rubber, celluloid, etc.
Plate (v. t.) To cover or overlay with gold, silver, or other metals, either by a mechanical process, as hammering, or by a chemical process, as electrotyping.
Platen (n.) Hence, an analogous part of a typewriter, on which the paper rests to receive an impression.
Platen (n.) The movable table of a machine tool, as a planer, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool; -- also called table.
Platen (n.) The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.
Platform (n.) A declaration of the principles upon which a person, a sect, or a party proposes to stand; a declared policy or system; as, the Saybrook platform; a political platform.
Platform (n.) A light deck, usually placed in a section of the hold or over the floor of the magazine. See Orlop.
Plating (n.) The art or process of covering anything with a plate or plates, or with metal, particularly of overlaying a base or dull metal with a thin plate of precious or bright metal, as by mechanical means or by electro-magnetic deposition.
Platinic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, platinum; -- used specifically to designate those compounds in which the element has a higher valence, as contrasted with the platinous compounds; as, platinic chloride (PtCl4).
Platinichloric (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an acid consisting of platinic chloride and hydrochloric acid, and obtained as a brownish red crystalline substance, called platinichloric, or chloroplatinic, acid.
Platiniridium (n.) A natural alloy of platinum and iridium occurring in grayish metallic rounded or cubical grains with platinum.
Platinochloric (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, an acid consisting of platinous chloride and hydrochloric acid, called platinochloric, / chloroplatinous, acid.
Platinochloride (n.) A double chloride of platinum and some other metal or radical; a salt of platinochloric acid.
Platinocyanic (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, an acid compound of platinous cyanide and hydrocyanic acid. It is obtained as a cinnaber-red crystalline substance.
Platinocyanide (n.) A double cyanide of platinum and some other metal or radical; a salt of platinocyanic acid.
Platinoid (n.) An alloy of German silver containing tungsten; -- used for forming electrical resistance coils and standards.
Platinous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, platinum; -- used specifically to designate those compounds in which the element has a lower valence, as contrasted with the platinic compounds; as, platinous chloride (PtCl2).
Platitude (n.) The quality or state of being flat, thin, or insipid; flat commonness; triteness; staleness of ideas of language.
Platonism (n.) An elevated rational and ethical conception of the laws and forces of the universe; sometimes, imaginative or fantastic philosophical notions.
Platoon (n.) Formerly, a body of men who fired together; also, a small square body of soldiers to strengthen the angles of a hollow square.
Plattdeutsch (n.) The modern dialects spoken in the north of Germany, taken collectively; modern Low German. See Low German, under German.
Platycoelian (a.) Flat at the anterior and concave at the posterior end; -- said of the centra of the vertebrae of some extinct dinouaurs.
Platyelminthes (n. pl.) A class of helminthes including the cestodes, or tapeworms, the trematodes, and the turbellarians. Called also flatworms.
Platymeter (n.) An apparatus for measuring the capacity of condensers, or the inductive capacity of dielectrics.
Platyptera (n. pl.) A division of Pseudoneuroptera including the species which have four broad, flat wings, as the termites, or white-ants, and the stone flies (Perla).
Platyrhini (n. pl.) A division of monkeys, including the American species, which have a broad nasal septum, thirty-six teeth, and usually a prehensile tail. See Monkey.
Plausible (a.) Obtaining approbation; specifically pleasing; apparently right; specious; as, a plausible pretext; plausible manners; a plausible delusion.
Play (n.) A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action.
Play (n.) Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth.
Play (n.) Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston; hence, also, room for motion; free and easy action.
Play (n.) The act or practice of contending for victory, amusement, or a prize, as at dice, cards, or billiards; gaming; as, to lose a fortune in play.
Play (n.) To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes.
Play (n.) To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot.
Play (n.) To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate; to act; as, the fountain plays.
Play (v. t.) To act or perform (a play); to represent in music action; as, to play a comedy; also, to act in the character of; to represent by acting; to simulate; to behave like; as, to play King Lear; to play the woman.
Play (v. t.) To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks.
Play (v. t.) To engage in, or go together with, as a contest for amusement or for a wager or prize; as, to play a game at baseball.
Playa (n.) A beach; a strand; in the plains and deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, a broad, level spot, on which subsequently becomes dry by evaporation.
Playful (a.) Sportive; gamboling; frolicsome; indulging a sportive fancy; humorous; merry; as, a playful child; a playful writer.
Plead (v. t.) To allege or adduce in proof, support, or vendication; to offer in excuse; as, the law of nations may be pleaded in favor of the rights of ambassadors.
Plead (v. t.) To allege or cite in a legal plea or defense, or for repelling a demand in law; to answer to an indictment; as, to plead usury; to plead statute of limitations; to plead not guilty.
Plead (v. t.) To discuss, defend, and attempt to maintain by arguments or reasons presented to a tribunal or person having uthority to determine; to argue at the bar; as, to plead a cause before a court or jury.
Pleadable (a.) Capable of being pleaded; capable of being alleged in proof, defense, or vindication; as, a right or privilege pleadable at law.
Pleader (n.) One who draws up or forms pleas; the draughtsman of pleas or pleadings in the widest sense; as, a special pleader.
Pleasant (a.) Cheerful; enlivening; gay; sprightly; humorous; sportive; as, pleasant company; a pleasant fellow.
Pleasant (a.) Pleasing; grateful to the mind or to the senses; agreeable; as, a pleasant journey; pleasant weather.
Pleasantry (n.) That which denotes or promotes pleasure or good humor; cheerfulness; gayety; merriment; especially, an agreeable playfulness in conversation; a jocose or humorous remark; badinage.
Please (v. i.) To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent.
Please (v. t.) To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy.
Pleasing (a.) Giving pleasure or satisfaction; causing agreeable emotion; agreeable; delightful; as, a pleasing prospect; pleasing manners.
Pleasurable (a.) Capable of affording pleasure or satisfaction; gratifying; abounding in pleasantness or pleasantry.
Pleasure (n.) Amusement; sport; diversion; self-indulgence; frivolous or dissipating enjoyment; hence, sensual gratification; -- opposed to labor, service, duty, self-denial, etc.
Pleasure (n.) What the will dictates or prefers as gratifying or satisfying; hence, will; choice; wish; purpose.
Plebeian (a.) Of or pertaining to the common people; vulgar; common; as, plebeian sports; a plebeian throng.
Plebiscite (n.) A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791.
Plebiscitum (n.) A law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate.
Plectognathi (n. pl.) An order of fishes generally having the maxillary bone united with the premaxillary, and the articular united with the dentary.
Plectospondyli (n. pl.) An extensive suborder of fresh-water physostomous fishes having the anterior vertebrae united and much modified; the Eventognathi.
Plectrum (n.) A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments.
Pledge (n.) A person who undertook, or became responsible, for another; a bail; a surety; a hostage.
Pledge (n.) Anything given or considered as a security for the performance of an act; a guarantee; as, mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties.
Pledge (n.) To bind or engage by promise or declaration; to engage solemnly; as, to pledge one's self.
Pledge (n.) To deposit, as a chattel, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.
Pledge (n.) To give or pass as a security; to guarantee; to engage; to plight; as, to pledge one's word and honor.
Pledge (n.) To invite another to drink, by drinking of the cup first, and then handing it to him, as a pledge of good will; hence, to drink the health of; to toast.
Pledget (n.) A compress, or small flat tent of lint, laid over a wound, ulcer, or the like, to exclude air, retain dressings, or absorb the matter discharged.
Pleiades (n. pl.) The seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.
Pleiophyllous (a.) Having several leaves; -- used especially when several leaves or leaflets appear where normally there should be only one.
Pleistocene (a.) Of or pertaining to the epoch, or the deposits, following the Tertiary, and immediately preceding man.
Plenipotentiary (a.) Containing or conferring full power; invested with full power; as, plenipotentiary license; plenipotentiary ministers.
Plenipotentiary (n.) A person invested with full power to transact any business; especially, an ambassador or envoy to a foreign court, with full power to negotiate a treaty, or to transact other business.
Plenitude (n.) The quality or state of being full or complete; fullness; completeness; abundance; as, the plenitude of space or power.
Plenteous (a.) Containing plenty; abundant; copious; plentiful; sufficient for every purpose; as, a plenteous supply.
Plentiful (a.) Containing plenty; copious; abundant; ample; as, a plentiful harvest; a plentiful supply of water.
Plenty (a.) Full or adequate supply; enough and to spare; sufficiency; specifically, abundant productiveness of the earth; ample supply for human wants; abundance; copiousness.
Plenum (n.) That state in which every part of space is supposed to be full of matter; -- opposed to vacuum.
Pleochroism (n.) The property possessed by some crystals, of showing different colors when viewed in the direction of different axes.
Pleomorphism (n.) The property of crystallizing under two or more distinct fundamental forms, including dimorphism and trimorphism.
Pleonasm (n.) Redundancy of language in speaking or writing; the use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; as, I saw it with my own eyes.
Plesimorphism (n.) The property possessed by some substances of crystallizing in closely similar forms while unlike in chemical composition.
Plesiosauria (n. pl.) An extinct order of Mesozoic marine reptiles including the genera Plesiosaurus, and allied forms; -- called also Sauropterygia.
Plesiosaurus (n.) A genus of large extinct marine reptiles, having a very long neck, a small head, and paddles for swimming. It lived in the Mesozoic age.
Plethora (n.) Overfullness; especially, excessive fullness of the blood vessels; repletion; that state of the blood vessels or of the system when the blood exceeds a healthy standard in quantity; hyperaemia; -- opposed to anaemia.
Plethoric (a.) Haeving a full habit of body; characterized by plethora or excess of blood; as, a plethoric constitution; -- used also metaphorically.
Plethrum (n.) A long measure of 100 Greek, or 101 English, feet; also, a square measure of 10,000 Greek feet.
Plethysmograph (n.) An instrument for determining and registering the variations in the size or volume of a limb, as the arm or leg, and hence the variations in the amount of blood in the limb.
Plethysmography (n.) The study, by means of the plethysmograph, of the variations in size of a limb, and hence of its blood supply.
Pleura (n. fem.) The closed sac formed by the pleural membrane about each lung, or the fold of membrane connecting each lung with the body wall.
Pleura (n. fem.) The smooth serous membrane which closely covers the lungs and the adjacent surfaces of the thorax; the pleural membrane.
Pleurapophysis (n.) One of the ventral processes of a vertebra, or the dorsal element in each half of a hemal arch, forming, or corresponding to, a vertebral rib.
Pleurenchyma (n.) A tissue consisting of long and slender tubular cells, of which wood is mainly composed.
Pleurisy (n.) An inflammation of the pleura, usually accompanied with fever, pain, difficult respiration, and cough, and with exudation into the pleural cavity.
Pleuro- () A combining form denoting relation to a side; specif., connection with, or situation in or near, the pleura; as, pleuroperitoneum.
Pleurocarpous (a.) Side-fruited; -- said of those true mosses in which the pedicels or the capsules are from lateral archegonia; -- opposed to acrocarpous.
Pleurocentrum (n.) One of the lateral elements in the centra of the vertebrae in some fossil batrachians.
Pleuroperitoneal (a.) Of or pertaining to the pleural and peritoneal membranes or cavities, or to the pleuroperitoneum.
Pleuroperitoneum (n.) The pleural and peritoneal membranes, or the membrane lining the body cavity and covering the surface of the inclosed viscera; the peritoneum; -- used especially in the case of those animals in which the body cavity is not divided.
Pleuropneumonia (n.) Inflammation of the pleura and lungs; a combination of pleurisy and pneumonia, esp. a kind of contagions and fatal lung plague of cattle.
Pleurosigma (n.) A genus of diatoms of elongated elliptical shape, but having the sides slightly curved in the form of a letter S. Pleurosigma angulatum has very fine striations, and is a favorite object for testing the high powers of microscopes.
Pleurotoma (n.) Any marine gastropod belonging to Pleurotoma, and ether allied genera of the family Pleurotmidae. The species are very numerous, especially in tropical seas. The outer lip has usually a posterior notch or slit.
Pleximeter (n.) A small, hard, elastic plate, as of ivory, bone, or rubber, placed in contact with body to receive the blow, in examination by mediate percussion.
Plexus (n.) The system of equations required for the complete expression of the relations which exist between a set of quantities.
Pliable (v.) Capable of being plied, turned, or bent; easy to be bent; flexible; pliant; supple; limber; yielding; as, willow is a pliable plant.
Pliable (v.) Flexible in disposition; readily yielding to influence, arguments, persuasion, or discipline; easy to be persuaded; -- sometimes in a bad sense; as, a pliable youth.
Plica (v.) A disease of the hair (Plica polonica), in which it becomes twisted and matted together. The disease is of Polish origin, and is hence called also Polish plait.
Plica (v.) A diseased state in plants in which there is an excessive development of small entangled twigs, instead of ordinary branches.
Plicidentine (n.) A form of dentine which shows sinuous lines of structure in a transverse section of the tooth.
Pliers (n. pl.) A kind of small pinchers with long jaws, -- used for bending or cutting metal rods or wire, for handling small objects such as the parts of a watch, etc.
Plight (n.) Condition; state; -- risk, or exposure to danger, often being implied; as, a luckless plight.
Plight (n.) That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
Plight (n.) To pledge; to give as a pledge for the performance of some act; as, to plight faith, honor, word; -- never applied to property or goods.
Pliohippus (n.) An extinct genus of horses from the Pliocene deposits. Each foot had a single toe (or hoof), as in the common horse.
Pliosaurus (n.) An extinct genus of marine reptiles allied to Plesiosaurus, but having a much shorter neck.
Ploce (n.) A figure in which a word is separated or repeated by way of emphasis, so as not only to signify the individual thing denoted by it, but also its peculiar attribute or quality; as, "His wife's a wife indeed."
Plodding (a.) Progressing in a slow, toilsome manner; characterized by laborious diligence; as, a plodding peddler; a plodding student; a man of plodding habits.
Plonge (v. t.) To cleanse, as open drains which are entered by the tide, by stirring up the sediment when the tide ebbs.
Plongee (n.) A slope or sloping toward the front; as, the plongee of a parapet; the plongee of a shell in its course.
Plot (n.) Any scheme, stratagem, secret design, or plan, of a complicated nature, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a treacherous and mischievous one; a conspiracy; an intrigue; as, the Rye-house Plot.
Plot (n.) In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
Plot (v. i.) To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire.
Plotinist (n.) A disciple of Plotinus, a celebrated Platonic philosopher of the third century, who taught that the human soul emanates from the divine Being, to whom it reunited at death.
Plough (n.) A well-known implement, drawn by horses, mules, oxen, or other power, for turning up the soil to prepare it for bearing crops; also used to furrow or break up the soil for other purposes; as, the subsoil plow; the draining plow.
Plough (n.) To cut a groove in, as in a plank, or the edge of a board; especially, a rectangular groove to receive the end of a shelf or tread, the edge of a panel, a tongue, etc.
Plough (v. i.) To labor with, or as with, a plow; to till or turn up the soil with a plow; to prepare the soil or bed for anything.
Plough (v. t.) To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plow. See Plow, n., 5.
Plough (v. t.) To turn up, break up, or trench, with a plow; to till with, or as with, a plow; as, to plow the ground; to plow a field.
Ploughbote (n.) Wood or timber allowed to a tenant for the repair of instruments of husbandry. See Bote.
Ploughfoot (n.) An adjustable staff formerly attached to the plow beam to determine the depth of the furrow.
Ploughshare (n.) The share of a plow, or that part which cuts the slice of earth or sod at the bottom of the furrow.
Plover (n.) Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers.
Plover (n.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds belonging to the family Charadridae, and especially those belonging to the subfamily Charadrinsae. They are prized as game birds.
Ploy (v. i.) To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deploy.
Ployment (n.) The act or movement of forming a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deployment.
Pluck (v. i.) To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at; as, to pluck at one's gown.
Pluck (v. t.) Especially, to pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off or out from something, with a twitch; to twitch; also, to gather, to pick; as, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes.
Plucky (superl.) Having pluck or courage; characterized by pluck; displaying pluck; courageous; spirited; as, a plucky race.
Pluff (n.) A puff, as of smoke from a pipe, or of dust from a puffball; a slight explosion, as of a small quantity of gunpowder.
Plum (n.) The edible drupaceous fruit of the Prunus domestica, and of several other species of Prunus; also, the tree itself, usually called plum tree.
Plumb (a.) Perpendicular; vertical; conforming the direction of a line attached to a plumb; as, the wall is plumb.
Plumb (n.) A little mass or weight of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction; a plummet; a plumb bob. See Plumb line, below.
Plumb (v. t.) To adjust by a plumb line; to cause to be perpendicular; as, to plumb a building or a wall.
Plumb (v. t.) To sound with a plumb or plummet, as the depth of water; hence, to examine by test; to ascertain the depth, quality, dimension, etc.; to sound; to fathom; to test.
Plumbagin (n.) A crystalline substance said to be found in the root of a certain plant of the Leadwort (Plumbago) family.
Plumbagineous (a.) Pertaining to natural order (Plumbagineae) of gamopetalous herbs, of which Plumbago is the type. The order includes also the marsh rosemary, the thrift, and a few other genera.
Plumbaginous (a.) Resembling plumbago; consisting of, or containing, plumbago; as, a plumbaginous slate.
Plumbago (n.) A genus of herbaceous plants with pretty salver-shaped corollas, usually blue or violet; leadwort.
Plumber (n.) One who works in lead; esp., one who furnishes, fits, and repairs lead, iron, or glass pipes, and other apparatus for the conveyance of water, gas, or drainage in buildings.
Plumbic (a.) Of, pertaining to, resembling, or containing, lead; -- used specifically to designate those compounds in which it has a higher valence as contrasted with plumbous compounds; as, plumbic oxide.
Plumbing (n.) The art of casting and working in lead, and applying it to building purposes; especially, the business of furnishing, fitting, and repairing pipes for conducting water, sewage, etc.
Plumbing (n.) The lead or iron pipes, and other apparatus, used in conveying water, sewage, etc., in a building.
Plumbous (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, lead; -- used specifically to designate those compounds in which it has a lower valence as contrasted with plumbic compounds.
Plume (v. t.) To pride; to vaunt; to boast; -- used reflexively; as, he plumes himself on his skill.
Plume (v.) A feather, or group of feathers, worn as an ornament; a waving ornament of hair, or other material resembling feathers.
Plume (v.) A large and flexible panicle of inflorescence resembling a feather, such as is seen in certain large ornamental grasses.
Plumming (n.) 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.
Plumous (a.) Having hairs, or other parts, arranged along an axis like a feather; feathery; plumelike; as, a plumose leaf; plumose tentacles.
Plump (v. t.) To cast or let drop all at once, suddenly and heavily; as, to plump a stone into water.
Plumper (n.) A vote given to one candidate only, when two or more are to be elected, thus giving him the advantage over the others. A person who gives his vote thus is said to plump, or to plump his vote.
Plumper (n.) One who, or that which, plumps or swells out something else; hence, something carried in the mouth to distend the cheeks.
Plumularia (n.) Any hydroid belonging to Plumularia and other genera of the family Plumularidae. They generally grow in plumelike forms.
Plumule (n.) The first bud, or gemmule, of a young plant; the bud, or growing point, of the embryo, above the cotyledons. See Illust. of Radicle.
Plunder (n.) That which is taken by open force from an enemy; pillage; spoil; booty; also, that which is taken by theft or fraud.
Plunder (v. t.) To take by pillage; to appropriate forcibly; as, the enemy plundered all the goods they found.
Plunder (v. t.) To take the goods of by force, or without right; to pillage; to spoil; to sack; to strip; to rob; as, to plunder travelers.
Plunge (n.) Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties.
Plunge (n.) The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.
Plunge (n.) The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge.
Plunge (v. i.) To bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations.
Plunge (v. i.) To thrust or cast one's self into water or other fluid; to submerge one's self; to dive, or to rush in; as, he plunged into the river. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge into debt.
Pluperfect (a.) More than perfect; past perfect; -- said of the tense which denotes that an action or event was completed at or before the time of another past action or event.
Plural (n.) The plural number; that form of a word which expresses or denotes more than one; a word in the plural form.
Pluralism (n.) The state of a pluralist; the holding of more than one ecclesiastical living at a time.
Plurality (n.) The state of being plural, or consisting of more than one; a number consisting of two or more of the same kind; as, a plurality of worlds; the plurality of a verb.
Pluralize (v. t.) To make plural by using the plural termination; to attribute plurality to; to express in the plural form.
Plurilocular (a.) having several divisions containing seeds; as, the lemon and the orange are plurilocular fruits.
Pluroderes (n. pl.) A group of fresh-water turtles in which the neck can not be retracted, but is bent to one side, for protection. The matamata is an example.
Plus (a.) More, required to be added; positive, as distinguished from negative; -- opposed to minus.
Plush (n.) A textile fabric with a nap or shag on one side, longer and softer than the nap of velvet.
Pluteus (n.) The free-swimming larva of sea urchins and ophiurans, having several long stiff processes inclosing calcareous rods.
Pluto (n.) The son of Saturn and Rhea, brother of Jupiter and Neptune; the dark and gloomy god of the Lower World.
Plutocracy (n.) A form of government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the wealthy classes; government by the rich; also, a controlling or influential class of rich men.
Plutonic (a.) Of or pertaining to Pluto; Plutonian; hence, pertaining to the interior of the earth; subterranean.
Plutonic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the system of the Plutonists; igneous; as, the Plutonic theory.
Plutonism (n.) The theory, early advanced in geology, that the successive rocks of the earth's crust were formed by igneous fusion; -- opposed to the Neptunian theory.
Plutus (n.) The son of Jason and Ceres, and the god of wealth. He was represented as bearing a cornucopia, and as blind, because his gifts were bestowed without discrimination of merit.
Pluviometer (n.) An instrument for ascertaining the amount of rainfall at any place in a given time; a rain gauge.
Pluviose (n.) The fifth month of the French republican calendar adopted in 1793. It began January 20, and ended February 18. See Vendemiaire.
Ply (v. i.) To act, go, or work diligently and steadily; especially, to do something by repeated actions; to go back and forth; as, a steamer plies between certain ports.
Ply (v. t.) To lay on closely, or in folds; to work upon steadily, or with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge importunately; as, to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink.
Plyer (n.) A kind of balance used in raising and letting down a drawbridge. It consists of timbers joined in the form of a St. Andrew's cross.
Pneumatical (a.) Consisting of, or resembling, air; having the properties of an elastic fluid; gaseous; opposed to dense or solid.
Pneumatical (a.) Fitted to contain air; Having cavities filled with air; as, pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones.
Pneumatical (a.) Moved or worked by pressure or flow of air; as, a pneumatic instrument; a pneumatic engine.
Pneumatical (a.) Of or pertaining to air, or to elastic fluids or their properties; pertaining to pneumatics; as, pneumatic experiments.
Pneumaticity (n.) The state of being pneumatic, or of having a cavity or cavities filled with air; as, the pneumaticity of the bones of birds.
Pneumatics (n.) That branch of science which treats of the mechanical properties of air and other elastic fluids, as of their weight, pressure, elasticity, etc. See Mechanics.
Pneumatics (n.) The scientific study or knowledge of spiritual beings and their relations to God, angels, and men.
Pneumato- () A combining form from Gr. pney^ma, pney`matos, wind, air, breath, respiration; as, pneumatograph, pneumatology.
Pneumatocyst (n.) A cyst or sac of a siphonophore, containing air, and serving as a float, as in Physalia.
Pneumatogarm (n.) A tracing of the respiratory movements, obtained by a pneumatograph or stethograph.
Pneumatograph (n.) An instrument for recording the movements of the thorax or chest wall during respiration; -- also called stethograph.
Pneumatology (n.) The doctrine of, or a treatise on, air and other elastic fluids. See Pneumatics, 1.
Pneumatometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the amount of force exerted by the lungs in respiration.
Pneumococcus (n.) A form of micrococcus found in the sputum (and elsewhere) of persons suffering with pneumonia, and thought to be the cause of this disease.
Pneumonophora (n. pl.) The division of Siphonophora which includes the Physalia and allied genera; -- called also Pneumatophorae.
Pneumothorax (n.) A condition in which air or other gas is present in the cavity of the chest; -- called also pneumatothorax.
Poa (n.) A genus of grasses, including a great number of species, as the kinds called meadow grass, Kentucky blue grass, June grass, and spear grass (which see).
Poach (v. & n.) To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel.
Poach (v. i.) To steal or pocket game, or to carry it away privately, as in a bag; to kill or destroy game contrary to law, especially by night; to hunt or fish unlawfully; as, to poach for rabbits or for salmon.
Poachard (n.) A common European duck (Aythya ferina); -- called also goldhead, poker, and fresh-water, / red-headed, widgeon.
Pock-pudding (n.) A bag pudding; a name of reproach or ridicule formerly applied by the Scotch to the English.
Pocket (n.) A bag or pouch; especially; a small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles, particularly money; hence, figuratively, money; wealth.
Pocket (n.) A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
Pocket (n.) A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
Pocket (n.) A strip of canvas, sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.
Pocketbook (n.) A small book or case for carrying papers, money, etc., in the pocket; also, a notebook for the pocket.
Pocketknife (n.) A knife with one or more blades, which fold into the handle so as to admit of being carried in the pocket.
Poco (adv.) A little; -- used chiefly in phrases indicating the time or movement; as, poco piu allegro, a little faster; poco largo, rather slow.
Pod (n.) A capsule of plant, especially a legume; a dry dehiscent fruit. See Illust. of Angiospermous.
Podetium (n.) A stalk which bears the fructification in some lichens, as in the so-called reindeer moss.
Podium (n.) The dwarf wall surrounding the arena of an amphitheater, from the top of which the seats began.
Podium (n.) The masonry under the stylobate of a temple, sometimes a mere foundation, sometimes containing chambers.
Podo- () A combining form or prefix from Gr. poy`s, podo`s, foot; as, podocarp, podocephalous, podology.
Podophthalmia (n. pl.) The stalk-eyed Crustacea, -- an order of Crustacea having the eyes supported on movable stalks. It includes the crabs, lobsters, and prawns. Called also Podophthalmata, and Decapoda.
Podophyllin (n.) A brown bitter gum extracted from the rootstalk of the May apple (Podophyllum peltatum). It is a complex mixture of several substances.
Podophyllous (a.) Pertaining to, or composing, the layer of tissue, made up of laminae, beneath a horse's hoof.
Podophyllum (n.) A genus of herbs of the Barberry family, having large palmately lobed peltate leaves and solitary flower. There are two species, the American Podohyllum peltatum, or May apple, the Himalayan P. Emodi.
Podophyllum (n.) The rhizome and rootlet of the May apple (Podophyllum peltatum), -- used as a cathartic drug.
Podura (n.) Any small leaping thysanurous insect of the genus Podura and related genera; a springtail.
Poecilitic (a.) Specifically: Of or pertaining to, or characterizing, Triassic and Permian sandstones of red and other colors.
Poecilopoda (n. pl.) Originally, an artificial group including many parasitic Entomostraca, together with the horseshoe crabs (Limuloidea).
Poem (n.) A composition, not in verse, of which the language is highly imaginative or impassioned; as, a prose poem; the poems of Ossian.
Poem (n.) A metrical composition; a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; -- contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton.
Poenamu (n.) A variety of jade or nephrite, -- used in New Zealand for the manufacture of axes and weapons.
Poet (n.) One skilled in making poetry; one who has a particular genius for metrical composition; the author of a poem; an imaginative thinker or writer.
Poetical (a.) Expressed in metrical form; exhibiting the imaginative or the rhythmical quality of poetry; as, a poetical composition; poetical prose.
Poetical (a.) Of or pertaining to poetry; suitable for poetry, or for writing poetry; as, poetic talent, theme, work, sentiments.
Poetry (n.) Imaginative language or composition, whether expressed rhythmically or in prose. Specifically: Metrical composition; verse; rhyme; poems collectively; as, heroic poetry; dramatic poetry; lyric or Pindaric poetry.
Poetry (n.) The art of apprehending and interpreting ideas by the faculty of imagination; the art of idealizing in thought and in expression.
Poi (n.) A national food of the Hawaiians, made by baking and pounding the kalo (or taro) root, and reducing it to a thin paste, which is allowed to ferment.
Poignancy (n.) The quality or state of being poignant; as, the poignancy of satire; the poignancy of grief.
Poikilocyte (n.) An irregular form of corpuscle found in the blood in cases of profound anaemia, probably a degenerated red blood corpuscle.
Poinciana (n.) A prickly tropical shrub (Caesalpinia, formerly Poinciana, pulcherrima), with bipinnate leaves, and racemes of showy orange-red flowers with long crimson filaments.
Poinsettia (n.) A Mexican shrub (Euphorbia pulcherrima) with very large and conspicuous vermilion bracts below the yellowish flowers.
Point (n.) A dot or mark distinguishing or characterizing certain tones or styles; as, points of perfection, of augmentation, etc.; hence, a note; a tune.
Point (n.) A dot placed at the right hand of a note, to raise its value, or prolong its time, by one half, as to make a whole note equal to three half notes, a half note equal to three quarter notes.
Point (n.) A fielder who is stationed on the off side, about twelve or fifteen yards from, and a little in advance of, the batsman.
Point (n.) A standard unit of measure for the size of type bodies, being one twelfth of the thickness of pica type. See Point system of type, under Type.
Point (n.) An instrument which pricks or pierces, as a sort of needle used by engravers, etchers, lace workers, and others; also, a pointed cutting tool, as a stone cutter's point; -- called also pointer.
Point (n.) Anything which tapers to a sharp, well-defined termination. Specifically: A small promontory or cape; a tract of land extending into the water beyond the common shore line.
Point (n.) Hence, the most prominent or important feature, as of an argument, discourse, etc.; the essential matter; esp., the proposition to be established; as, the point of an anecdote.
Point (n.) One of the points of the compass (see Points of the compass, below); also, the difference between two points of the compass; as, to fall off a point.
Point (n.) That which arrests attention, or indicates qualities or character; a salient feature; a characteristic; a peculiarity; hence, a particular; an item; a detail; as, the good or bad points of a man, a horse, a book, a story, etc.
Point (n.) That which pricks or pierces; the sharp end of anything, esp. the sharp end of a piercing instrument, as a needle or a pin.
Point (n.) The attitude assumed by a pointer dog when he finds game; as, the dog came to a point. See Pointer.
Point (n.) To fill up and finish the joints of (a wall), by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface.
Point (n.) To give a point to; to sharpen; to cut, forge, grind, or file to an acute end; as, to point a dart, or a pencil. Used also figuratively; as, to point a moral.
Point (n.) To give particular prominence to; to designate in a special manner; to indicate, as if by pointing; as, the error was pointed out.
Point (v. i.) To direct the point of something, as of a finger, for the purpose of designating an object, and attracting attention to it; -- with at.
Point (v. i.) To indicate the presence of game by fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
Point-blank (a.) Hence, direct; plain; unqualified; -- said of language; as, a point-blank assertion.
Point-blank (n.) With all small arms, the second point in which the natural line of sight, when horizontal, cuts the trajectory.
Point-blank (n.) With artillery, the point where the projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on which the gun stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal.
Pointed (a.) Characterized by sharpness, directness, or pithiness of expression; terse; epigrammatic; especially, directed to a particular person or thing.
Pointer (n.) One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen.
Pointer (n.) The two stars (Merak and Dubhe) in the Great Bear, the line between which points nearly in the direction of the north star.
Pointing (n.) The act of designating, as a position or direction, by means of something pointed, as a finger or a rod.
Pointing (n.) The act of filling and finishing the joints in masonry with mortar, cement, etc.; also, the material so used.
Pointing (n.) The act or process of measuring, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.
Pointless (a.) Having no point; blunt; wanting keenness; obtuse; as, a pointless sword; a pointless remark.
Poise (v. i.) To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.
Poise (v.) The state of being balanced by equal weight or power; equipoise; balance; equilibrium; rest.
Poison (n.) Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.
Poison (n.) That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.
Poison (n.) To put poison upon or into; to infect with poison; as, to poison an arrow; to poison food or drink.
Poison (n.) To taint; to corrupt; to vitiate; as, vice poisons happiness; slander poisoned his mind.
Poke (n.) A contrivance to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences. It consists of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.
Poke (v. t.) To thrust or push against or into with anything pointed; hence, to stir up; to excite; as, to poke a fire.
Poker (n.) A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about 1835 in the Southwestern United States.
Poker (n.) That which pokes or is used in poking, especially a metal bar or rod used in stirring a fire of coals.
Polacca (n.) A vessel with two or three masts, used in the Mediterranean. The masts are usually of one piece, and without tops, caps, or crosstrees.
Polar (a.) Of or pertaining to one of the poles of the earth, or of a sphere; situated near, or proceeding from, one of the poles; as, polar regions; polar seas; polar winds.
Polar (a.) Of or pertaining to the magnetic pole, or to the point to which the magnetic needle is directed.
Polarimeter (n.) An instrument for determining the amount of polarization of light, or the proportion of polarized light, in a partially polarized ray.
Polariscope (n.) An instrument consisting essentially of a polarizer and an analyzer, used for polarizing light, and analyzing its properties.
Polariscopic (a.) Of or pertaining to the polariscope; obtained by the use of a polariscope; as, polariscopic observations.
Polaristic (a.) Pertaining to, or exhibiting, poles; having a polar arrangement or disposition; arising from, or dependent upon, the possession of poles or polar characteristics; as, polaristic antagonism.
Polarity (n.) A property of the conic sections by virtue of which a given point determines a corresponding right line and a given right line determines a corresponding point. See Polar, n.
Polarization (n.) A peculiar affection or condition of the rays of light or heat, in consequence of which they exhibit different properties in different directions.
Polarizer (n.) That which polarizes; especially, the part of a polariscope which receives and polarizes the light. It is usually a reflecting plate, or a plate of some crystal, as tourmaline, or a doubly refracting crystal.
Polatouche (n.) A flying squirrel (Sciuropterus volans) native of Northern Europe and Siberia; -- called also minene.
Pole (n.) A measuring stick; also, a measure of length equal to 5/ yards, or a square measure equal to 30/ square yards; a rod; a perch.
Pole (n.) Either extremity of an axis of a sphere; especially, one of the extremities of the earth's axis; as, the north pole.
Pole (n.) One of the opposite or contrasted parts or directions in which a polar force is manifested; a point of maximum intensity of a force which has two such points, or which has polarity; as, the poles of a magnet; the north pole of a needle.
Poleaxe (n.) Anciently, a kind of battle-ax with a long handle; later, an ax or hatchet with a short handle, and a head variously patterned; -- used by soldiers, and also by sailors in boarding a vessel.
Polecat (n.) A small European carnivore of the Weasel family (Putorius foetidus). Its scent glands secrete a substance of an exceedingly disagreeable odor. Called also fitchet, foulmart, and European ferret.
Polemarch (n.) In Athens, originally, the military commanderin-chief; but, afterward, a civil magistrate who had jurisdiction in respect of strangers and sojourners. In other Grecian cities, a high military and civil officer.
Polemic (a.) Engaged in, or addicted to, polemics, or to controversy; disputations; as, a polemic writer.
Polemic (a.) Of or pertaining to controversy; maintaining, or involving, controversy; controversial; disputative; as, a polemic discourse or essay; polemic theology.
Polemic (n.) One who writes in support of one opinion, doctrine, or system, in opposition to another; one skilled in polemics; a controversialist; a disputant.
Polemics (n.) The art or practice of disputation or controversy, especially on religious subjects; that branch of theological science which pertains to the history or conduct of ecclesiastical controversy.
Polemoniaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (Polemoniaceae), which includes Polemonium, Phlox, Gilia, and a few other genera.
Polemonium (n.) A genus of gamopetalous perennial herbs, including the Jacob's ladder and the Greek valerian.
Polemoscope (n.) An opera glass or field glass with an oblique mirror arranged for seeing objects do not lie directly before the eye; -- called also diagonal, / side, opera glass.
Police (n.) Military police, the body of soldiers detailed to preserve civil order and attend to sanitary arrangements in a camp or garrison.
Police (n.) The organized body of civil officers in a city, town, or district, whose particular duties are the preservation of good order, the prevention and detection of crime, and the enforcement of the laws.
Policed (a.) Regulated by laws for the maintenance of peace and order, enforced by organized administration.
Policy (n.) A method of gambling by betting as to what numbers will be drawn in a lottery; as, to play policy.
Policy (n.) Management or administration based on temporal or material interest, rather than on principles of equity or honor; hence, worldly wisdom; dexterity of management; cunning; stratagem.
Policy (n.) Prudence or wisdom in the management of public and private affairs; wisdom; sagacity; wit.
Policy (n.) The settled method by which the government and affairs of a nation are, or may be, administered; a system of public or official administration, as designed to promote the external or internal prosperity of a state.
Poling (n.) One of the poles or planks used in upholding the side earth in excavating a tunnel, ditch, etc.
Poling (n.) The act of supporting or of propelling by means of a pole or poles; as, the poling of beans; the poling of a boat.
Polish (v. i.) To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface; as, steel polishes well.
Polish (v. t.) Hence, to refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite; as, to polish life or manners.
Polish (v. t.) To make smooth and glossy, usually by friction; to burnish; to overspread with luster; as, to polish glass, marble, metals, etc.
Polished (a.) Made smooth and glossy, as by friction; hence, highly finished; refined; polite; as, polished plate; polished manners; polished verse.
Polite (v.) Smooth and refined in behavior or manners; well bred; courteous; complaisant; obliging; civil.
Politeness (n.) The quality or state of being polite; refinement of manners; urbanity; courteous behavior; complaisance; obliging attentions.
Politic (a.) Of or pertaining to polity, or civil government; political; as, the body politic. See under Body.
Politic (a.) Pertaining to, or promoting, a policy, especially a national policy; well-devised; adapted to its end, whether right or wrong; -- said of things; as, a politic treaty.
Political (a.) Of or pertaining to a party, or to parties, in the state; as, his political relations were with the Whigs.
Political (a.) Of or pertaining to public policy, or to politics; relating to affairs of state or administration; as, a political writer.
Politician (n.) One versed or experienced in the science of government; one devoted to politics; a statesman.
Polity (n.) Hence: The form or constitution by which any institution is organized; the recognized principles which lie at the foundation of any human institution.
Polity (n.) The form or constitution of the civil government of a nation or state; the framework or organization by which the various departments of government are combined into a systematic whole.
Politzerization (n.) The act of inflating the middle ear by blowing air up the nose during the act of swallowing; -- so called from Prof. Politzer of Vienna, who first practiced it.
Polka (n.) A dance of Polish origin, but now common everywhere. It is performed by two persons in common time.
Poll (v. t.) To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop; -- sometimes with off; as, to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass.
Poll (v. t.) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation; as, a polled deed. See Dee/ poll.
Poll (v. t.) To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
Poll (v. t.) To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters; as, he polled a hundred votes more than his opponent.
Poll (v. t.) To remove the poll or head of; hence, to remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop; to shear; as, to poll the head; to poll a tree.
Pollack (n.) A marine gadoid food fish of Europe (Pollachius virens). Called also greenfish, greenling, lait, leet, lob, lythe, and whiting pollack.
Pollan (n.) A lake whitefish (Coregonus pollan), native of Ireland. In appearance it resembles a herring.
Pollard (n.) A tree having its top cut off at some height above the ground, that may throw out branches.
Pollen (n.) The fecundating dustlike cells of the anthers of flowers. See Flower, and Illust. of Filament.
Poller (n.) One who polls; specifically: (a) One who polls or lops trees. (b) One who polls or cuts hair; a barber. [R.] (c) One who extorts or plunders. [Obs.] Baex. (d) One who registplws votplws, or one who enters his name as a voter.
Pollex (n.) The first, or preaxial, digit of the fore limb, corresponding to the hallux in the hind limb; the thumb. In birds, the pollex is the joint which bears the bastard wing.
Pollicate (a.) Having a curved projection or spine on the inner side of a leg joint; -- said of insects.
Pollicitation (n.) A promise without mutuality; a promise which has not been accepted by the person to whom it is made.
Pollock (n.) A marine gadoid fish (Pollachius carbonarius), native both of the European and American coasts. It is allied to the cod, and like it is salted and dried. In England it is called coalfish, lob, podley, podling, pollack, etc.
Pollucite (n.) A colorless transparent mineral, resembling quartz, occurring with castor or castorite on the island of Elba. It is a silicate of alumina and caesia. Called also pollux.
Pollute (v. t.) To make foul, impure, or unclean; to defile; to taint; to soil; to desecrate; -- used of physical or moral defilement.
Pollute (v. t.) To render ceremonially unclean; to disqualify or unfit for sacred use or service, or for social intercourse.
Pollution (n.) The act of polluting, or the state of being polluted (in any sense of the verb); defilement; uncleanness; impurity.
Polonaise (n.) A stately Polish dance tune, in 3-4 measure, beginning always on the beat with a quaver followed by a crotchet, and closing on the beat after a strong accent on the second beat; also, a dance adapted to such music; a polacca.
Poluria (n.) A persistently excessive flow of watery urine, with low specific gravity and without the presence of either albumin or sugar. It is generally accompanied with more or less thirst.
Polverine (n.) Glassmaker's ashes; a kind of potash or pearlash, brought from the Levant and Syria, -- used in the manufacture of fine glass.
Poly (n.) A whitish woolly plant (Teucrium Polium) of the order Labiatae, found throughout the Mediterranean region. The name, with sundry prefixes, is sometimes given to other related species of the same genus.
Poly- (a.) A combining form or prefix from Gr. poly`s, many; as, polygon, a figure of many angles; polyatomic, having many atoms; polychord, polyconic.
Poly-mountain (n.) The closely related Teucrium montanum, formerly called Polium montanum, a plant of Southern Europe.
Polyactinia (n. pl.) An old name for those Anthozoa which, like the actinias, have numerous simple tentacles.
Polyadelphia (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants having stamens united in three or more bodies or bundles by the filaments.
Polyadelphous (a.) Belonging to the class Polyadelphia; having stamens united in three or more bundles.
Polyandria (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of monoclinous or hermaphrodite plants, having many stamens, or any number above twenty, inserted in the receptacle.
Polyandrous (a.) Belonging to the class Polyandria; having many stamens, or any number above twenty, inserted in the receptacle.
Polyandry (n.) The possession by a woman of more than one husband at the same time; -- contrasted with monandry.
Polyanthus (n.) The oxlip. So called because the peduncle bears a many-flowered umbel. See Oxlip. (b) A bulbous flowering plant of the genus Narcissus (N. Tazetta, or N. polyanthus of some authors). See Illust. of Narcissus.
Polyautography (n.) The act or practice of multiplying copies of one's own handwriting, or of manuscripts, by printing from stone, -- a species of lithography.
Polybasic (a.) Capable of neutralizing, or of combining with, several molecules of a monacid base; having several hydrogen atoms capable of being replaced by basic radicals; -- said of certain acids; as, sulphuric acid is polybasic.
Polybasite (n.) An iron-black ore of silver, consisting of silver, sulphur, and antimony, with some copper and arsenic.
Polybranchia (n. pl.) A division of Nudibranchiata including those which have numerous branchiae on the back.
Polychaeta (n. pl.) One of the two principal groups of Chaetopoda. It includes those that have prominent parapodia and fascicles of setae. See Illust. under Parapodia.
Polychord (n.) An apparatus for coupling two octave notes, capable of being attached to a keyed instrument.
Polychroite (n.) The coloring matter of saffron; -- formerly so called because of the change of color on treatment with certain acids; -- called also crocin, and safranin.
Polychromate (n.) A compound which exhibits, or from which may be prepared, a variety of colors, as certain solutions derived from vegetables, which display colors by fluorescence.
Polychromic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, any one of several acids (known only in their salts) which contain more than one atom of chromium.
Polychromy (n.) The art or practice of combining different colors, especially brilliant ones, in an artistic way.
Polyclinic (n.) A clinic in which diseases of many sorts are treated; especially, an institution in which clinical instruction is given in all kinds of disease.
Polycotyledonary (a.) Having the villi of the placenta collected into definite patches, or cotyledons.
Polycrotic (a.) Of or pertaining to polycrotism; manifesting polycrotism; as, a polycrotic pulse; a polycrotic pulse curve.
Polycrotism (n.) That state or condition of the pulse in which the pulse curve, or sphygmogram, shows several secondary crests or elevations; -- contrasted with monocrotism and dicrotism.
Polycystidea (n. pl.) A division of Gregarinae including those that have two or more internal divisions of the body.
Polycystina (n. pl.) A division of Radiolaria including numerous minute marine species. The skeleton is composed of silica, and is often very elegant in form and sculpture. Many have been found in the fossil state.
Polyeidic (a.) Passing through several distinct larval forms; -- having several distinct kinds of young.
Polyembryony (n.) The production of two or more embryos in one seed, due either to the existence and fertilization of more than one embryonic sac or to the origination of embryos outside of the embryonic sac.
Polygala (n.) A genus of bitter herbs or shrubs having eight stamens and a two-celled ovary (as the Seneca snakeroot, the flowering wintergreen, etc.); milkwort.
Polygalaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (Polygalaceae) of which Polygala is the type.
Polygalic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, Polygala; specifically, designating an acrid glucoside (called polygalic acid, senegin, etc.), resembling, or possibly identical with, saponin.
Polygamia (n. pl.) A Linnaean class of plants, characterized by having both hermaphrodite and unisexual flowers on the same plant.
Polygamous (a.) Belonging to the Polygamia; bearing both hermaphrodite and unisexual flowers on the same plant.
Polygamous (a.) Of or pertaining to polygamy; characterized by, or involving, polygamy; having a plurality of wives; as, polygamous marriages; -- opposed to monogamous.
Polygastric (a.) Having several bellies; -- applied to muscles which are made up of several bellies separated by short tendons.
Polygenism (n.) The doctrine that animals of the same species have sprung from more than one original pair.
Polygenist (n.) One who maintains that animals of the same species have sprung from more than one original pair; -- opposed to monogenist.
Polygeny (n.) The theory that living organisms originate in cells or embryos of different kinds, instead of coming from a single cell; -- opposed to monogenesis.
Polyglot (n.) A book containing several versions of the same text, or containing the same subject matter in several languages; esp., the Scriptures in several languages.
Polygon (n.) A plane figure having many angles, and consequently many sides; esp., one whose perimeter consists of more than four sides; any figure having many angles.
Polygonometry (n.) The doctrine of polygons; an extension of some of the principles of trigonometry to the case of polygons.
Polygonum (n.) A genus of plants embracing a large number of species, including bistort, knotweed, smartweed, etc.
Polygordius (n.) A genus of marine annelids, believed to be an ancient or ancestral type. It is remarkable for its simplicity of structure and want of parapodia. It is the type of the order Archiannelida, or Gymnotoma. See Loeven's larva.
Polygraph (n.) An instrument for multiplying copies of a writing; a manifold writer; a copying machine.
Polygyny (n.) The state or practice of having several wives at the same time; marriage to several wives.
Polyhalite (n.) A mineral usually occurring in fibrous masses, of a brick-red color, being tinged with iron, and consisting chiefly of the sulphates of lime, magnesia, and soda.
Polymer (n.) Any one of two or more substances related to each other by polymerism; specifically, a substance produced from another substance by chemical polymerization.
Polymerization (n.) The act or process of changing to a polymeric form; the condition resulting from such change.
Polymerize (v. i.) To change into another substance having the same atomic proportions, but a higher molecular weight; to undergo polymerization; thus, aldehyde polymerizes in forming paraldehyde.
Polymerize (v. t.) To cause polymerization of; to produce polymers from; to increase the molecular weight of, without changing the atomic proportions; thus, certain acids polymerize aldehyde.
Polymnite (n.) A stone marked with dendrites and black lines, and so disposed as to represent rivers, marshes, etc.
Polymorph (n.) A substance capable of crystallizing in several distinct forms; also, any one of these forms. Cf. Allomorph.
Polymorphism (n.) Existence in many forms; the coexistence, in the same locality, of two or more distinct forms independent of sex, not connected by intermediate gradations, but produced from common parents.
Polymorphism (n.) The capability of assuming different forms; the capability of widely varying in form.
Polymorphosis (n.) The assumption of several structural forms without a corresponding difference in function; -- said of sponges, etc.
Polymorphous (a.) Having, or assuming, a variety of forms, characters, or styles; as, a polymorphous author.
Polyneme (n.) Any one of numerous species of tropical food fishes of the family Polynemidae. They have several slender filaments, often very long, below the pectoral fin. Some of them yield isinglass of good quality. Called also threadfish.
Polynesian (a.) Of or pertaining to Polynesia (the islands of the eastern and central Pacific), or to the Polynesians.
Polynomial (a.) Consisting of two or more words; having names consisting of two or more words; as, a polynomial name; polynomial nomenclature.
Polynomial (n.) An expression composed of two or more terms, connected by the signs plus or minus; as, a2 - 2ab + b2.
Polypetalous (a.) Consisting of, or having, several or many separate petals; as, a polypetalous corolla, flower, or plant.
Polyphone (n.) A character or vocal sign representing more than one sound, as read, which is pronounced red.
Polyphonic (a.) Consisting of several tone series, or melodic parts, progressing simultaneously according to the laws of counterpoint; contrapuntal; as, a polyphonic composition; -- opposed to homophonic, or monodic.
Polyphyletic (a.) Pertaining to, or characterized by, descent from more than one root form, or from many different root forms; polygenetic; -- opposed to monophyletic.
Polypidom (n.) A coral, or corallum; also, one of the coral-like structure made by bryozoans and hydroids.
Polypite (n.) One of the feeding zooids, or polyps, of a coral, hydroid, or siphonophore; a hydranth. See Illust. of Campanularian.
Polyplastic (a.) Assuming, or having the power of assuming, many forms; as, a polyplastic element which does not preserve its original shape.
Polypodium (n.) A genus of plants of the order Filices or ferns. The fructifications are in uncovered roundish points, called sori, scattered over the inferior surface of the frond or leaf. There are numerous species.
Polyporus (n.) A genus of fungi having the under surface full of minute pores; also, any fungus of this genus.
Polypous (a.) Of the nature of a polypus; having many feet or roots, like the polypus; affected with polypus.
Polyprotodonta (n. pl.) A division of marsupials in which there are more fore incisor teeth in each jaw.
Polypteroidei (n. pl.) A suborder of existing ganoid fishes having numerous fins along the back. The bichir, or Polypterus, is the type. See Illust. under Crossopterygian.
Polyptoton (n.) A figure by which a word is repeated in different forms, cases, numbers, genders, etc., as in Tennyson's line, -- "My own heart's heart, and ownest own, farewell."
Polypus (n.) A tumor, usually with a narrow base, somewhat resembling a pear, -- found in the nose, uterus, etc., and produced by hypertrophy of some portion of the mucous membrane.
Polysilicic (a.) Of or pertaining to compounds formed by the condensation of two or more molecules of silicic acid.
Polyspast (n.) A machine consisting of many pulleys; specifically, an apparatus formerly used for reducing luxations.
Polyspermy (n.) Fullness of sperm, or seed; the passage of more than one spermatozoon into the vitellus in the impregnation of the ovum.
Polystomata (n. pl.) A division of trematode worms having more two suckers. Called also Polystomea and Polystoma.
Polystyle (a.) Having many columns; -- said of a building, especially of an interior part or court; as, a polystyle hall.
Polysulphide (n.) A sulphide having more than one atom of sulphur in the molecule; -- contrasted with monosulphide.
Polysyllabical (a.) Pertaining to a polysyllable; containing, or characterized by, polysyllables; consisting of more than three syllables.
Polysyllable (n.) A word of many syllables, or consisting of more syllables than three; -- words of less than four syllables being called monosyllables, dissyllables, and trisyllables.
Polysyndeton (n.) A figure by which the conjunction is often repeated, as in the sentence, "We have ships and men and money and stores." Opposed to asyndeton.
Polysynthesis (n.) The formation of a word by the combination of several simple words, as in the aboriginal languages of America; agglutination.
Polythalamous (a.) Many-chambered; -- applied to shells of Foraminifera and cephalopods. See Illust. of Nautilus.
Polytheistical (a.) Of or pertaining to polytheism; characterized by polytheism; professing or advocating polytheism; as, polytheistic worship; a polytheistic author, or nation.
Polytomous (a.) Subdivided into many distinct subordinate parts, which, however, not being jointed to the petiole, are not true leaflets; -- said of leaves.
Polytype (n.) A cast, or facsimile copy, of an engraved block, matter in type, etc. (see citation); as, a polytype in relief.
Pomacentroid (a.) Pertaining to the Pomacentridae, a family of bright-colored tropical fishes having spiny opercula; -- often called coral fishes.
Pomaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to a suborder (Pomeae) of rosaceous plants, which includes the true thorn trees, the quinces, service berries, medlars, and loquats, as well as the apples, pears, crabs, etc.
Pomade (n.) Perfumed ointment; esp., a fragrant unguent for the hair; pomatum; -- originally made from apples.
Pomander (n.) A box to contain such perfume, formerly carried by ladies, as at the end of a chain; -- more properly pomander box.
Pome (n.) A ball of silver or other metal, which is filled with hot water, and used by the priest in cold weather to warm his hands during the service.
Pome (n.) A fruit composed of several cartilaginous or bony carpels inclosed in an adherent fleshy mass, which is partly receptacle and partly calyx, as an apple, quince, or pear.
Pomfret (n.) One of two or more species of marine food fishes of the genus Stromateus (S. niger, S. argenteus) native of Southern Europe and Asia.
Pomme (a.) Having the ends terminating in rounded protuberances or single balls; -- said of a cross.
Pommel (v. t.) To beat soundly, as with the pommel of a sword, or with something knoblike; hence, to beat with the fists.
Pomology (n.) The science of fruits; a treatise on fruits; the cultivation of fruits and fruit trees.
Pompano (n.) Any one of several species of marine fishes of the genus Trachynotus, of which four species are found on the Atlantic coast of the United States; -- called also palometa.
Pompholyx (n.) A skin disease in which there is an eruption of bullae, without inflammation or fever.
Pompon (n.) A tuft or ball of wool, or the like, sometimes worn by soldiers on the front of the hat, instead of a feather.
Pompous (a.) Ostentatious; pretentious; boastful; vainlorious; as, pompous manners; a pompous style.
Poncho (n.) A kind of cloak worn by the Spanish Americans, having the form of a blanket, with a slit in the middle for the head to pass through. A kind of poncho made of rubber or painted cloth is used by the mounted troops in the United States service.
Pond (n.) A body of water, naturally or artificially confined, and usually of less extent than a lake.
Ponder (v. t.) To weigh in the mind; to view with deliberation; to examine carefully; to consider attentively.
Ponderal (a.) Estimated or ascertained by weight; -- distinguished from numeral; as, a ponderal drachma.
Ponderosity (n.) The quality or state of being ponderous; weight; gravity; heaviness, ponderousness; as, the ponderosity of gold.
Ponderous (a.) Very heavy; weighty; as, a ponderous shield; a ponderous load; the ponderous elephant.
Pondfish (n.) Any one of numerous species of American fresh-water fishes belonging to the family Centrarchidae; -- called also pond perch, and sunfish.
Pondweed (n.) Any aquatic plant of the genus Potamogeton, of which many species are found in ponds or slow-moving rivers.
Pontee (n.) An iron rod used by glass makers for manipulating the hot glass; -- called also, puntil, puntel, punty, and ponty. See Fascet.
Pontiff (n.) One of the sacred college, in ancient Rome, which had the supreme jurisdiction over all matters of religion, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus.
Pontifical (a.) Of or pertaining to a pontiff, or high priest; as, pontifical authority; hence, belonging to the pope; papal.
Pontoon (n.) A low, flat vessel, resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, and other machinery, used in careening ships, raising weights, drawing piles, etc., chiefly in the Mediterranean; a lighter.
Pontoon (n.) A wooden flat-bottomed boat, a metallic cylinder, or a frame covered with canvas, India rubber, etc., forming a portable float, used in building bridges quickly for the passage of troops.
Ponvolant (n.) A kind of light bridge, used in sieges, for surprising a post or outwork which has but a narrow moat; a flying bridge.
Pood (n.) A Russian weight, equal to forty Russian pounds or about thirty-six English pounds avoirdupois.
Poodle (n.) A breed of dogs having curly hair, and often showing remarkable intelligence in the performance of tricks.
Pool (n.) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
Pool (n.) A small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water; as, the pools of Solomon.
Pool (n.) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.
Pool (n.) In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.
Pool (n.) The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a snare; also, the receptacle for the stakes.
Pool (v. i.) To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.
Pool (v. t.) To put together; to contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of; as, the companies pooled their traffic.
Pooling (n.) The act of uniting, or an agreement to unite, an aggregation of properties belonging to different persons, with a view to common liabilities or profits.
Poon (n.) A name for several East Indian, or their wood, used for the masts and spars of vessels, as Calophyllum angustifolium, C. inophullum, and Sterculia foetida; -- called also peon.
Poonga oil () A kind of oil used in India for lamps, and for boiling with dammar for pitching vessels. It is pressed from the seeds of a leguminous tree (Pongamia glabra).
Poop (n.) A deck raised above the after part of a vessel; the hindmost or after part of a vessel's hull; also, a cabin covered by such a deck. See Poop deck, under Deck. See also Roundhouse.
Poor (superl.) Of little value or worth; not good; inferior; shabby; mean; as, poor clothes; poor lodgings.
Poor (superl.) So completely destitute of property as to be entitled to maintenance from the public.
Poor (superl.) Wanting in fat, plumpness, or fleshiness; lean; emaciated; meager; as, a poor horse, ox, dog, etc.
Poor (superl.) Without prosperous conditions or good results; unfavorable; unfortunate; unconformable; as, a poor business; the sick man had a poor night.
Poor (superl.) Worthy of pity or sympathy; -- used also sometimes as a term of endearment, or as an expression of modesty, and sometimes as a word of contempt.
Poor-will (n.) A bird of the Western United States (Phalaenoptilus Nutalli) allied to the whip-poor-will.
Poorhouse (n.) A dwelling for a number of paupers maintained at public expense; an almshouse; a workhouse.
Poorly (adv.) In a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort; as, to live poorly.
Poorly (adv.) With little or no success; indifferently; with little profit or advantage; as, to do poorly in business.
Pop (n.) An unintoxicating beverage which expels the cork with a pop from the bottle containing it; as, ginger pop; lemon pop, etc.
Pop (v. i.) To enter, or issue forth, with a quick, sudden movement; to move from place to place suddenly; to dart; -- with in, out, upon, off, etc.
Pop (v. t.) To cause to pop; to cause to burst open by heat, as grains of Indian corn; as, to pop corn or chestnuts.
Pop (v. t.) To thrust or push suddenly; to offer suddenly; to bring suddenly and unexpectedly to notice; as, to pop one's head in at the door.
Popelote (n.) A word variously explained as "a little puppet," "a little doll," or "a young butterfly." Cf. Popet.
Popery (n.) The religion of the Roman Catholic Church, comprehending doctrines and practices; -- generally used in an opprobrious sense.
Popgun (n.) A child's gun; a tube and rammer for shooting pellets, with a popping noise, by compression of air.
Popish (a.) Of or pertaining to the pope; taught or ordained by the pope; hence, of or pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church; -- often used opprobriously.
Poplar (n.) Any tree of the genus Populus; also, the timber, which is soft, and capable of many uses.
Poplin (n.) A fabric of many varieties, usually made of silk and worsted, -- used especially for women's dresses.
Popliteal (a.) Of or pertaining to the ham; in the region of the ham, or behind the knee joint; as, the popliteal space.
Poppet (n.) One of certain upright timbers on the bilge ways, used to support a vessel in launching.
Popple (v. i.) To move quickly up and down; to bob up and down, as a cork on rough water; also, to bubble.
Poppyhead (n.) A raised ornament frequently having the form of a final. It is generally used on the tops of the upright ends or elbows which terminate seats, etc., in Gothic churches.
Populace (n.) The common people; the vulgar; the multitude, -- comprehending all persons not distinguished by rank, office, education, or profession.
Popular (a.) Adapted to the means of the common people; possessed or obtainable by the many; hence, cheap; common; ordinary; inferior; as, popular prices; popular amusements.
Popular (a.) Beloved or approved by the people; pleasing to people in general, or to many people; as, a popular preacher; a popular law; a popular administration.
Popular (a.) Of or pertaining to the common people, or to the whole body of the people, as distinguished from a select portion; as, the popular voice; popular elections.
Popularity (n.) Something which obtains, or is intended to obtain, the favor of the vulgar; claptrap.
Popularity (n.) The quality or state of being adapted or pleasing to common, poor, or vulgar people; hence, cheapness; inferiority; vulgarity.
Popularity (n.) The quality or state of being popular; especially, the state of being esteemed by, or of being in favor with, the people at large; good will or favor proceeding from the people; as, the popularity of a law, statesman, or a book.
Popularize (v. t.) To make popular; to make suitable or acceptable to the common people; to make generally known; as, to popularize philosophy.
Popularly (adv.) In a popular manner; so as to be generally favored or accepted by the people; commonly; currently; as, the story was popularity reported.
Populate (v. t.) To furnish with inhabitants, either by natural increase or by immigration or colonization; to cause to be inhabited; to people.
Population (n.) The whole number of people, or inhabitants, in a country, or portion of a country; as, a population of ten millions.
Populin (n.) A glycoside, related to salicin, found in the bark of certain species of the poplar (Populus), and extracted as a sweet white crystalline substance.
Populous (a.) Abounding in people; full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country.
Porbeagle (n.) A species of shark (Lamna cornubica), about eight feet long, having a pointed nose and a crescent-shaped tail; -- called also mackerel shark.
Porcelain (n.) A fine translucent or semitransculent kind of earthenware, made first in China and Japan, but now also in Europe and America; -- called also China, or China ware.
Porcelainized (a.) Baked like potter's lay; -- applied to clay shales that have been converted by heat into a substance resembling porcelain.
Porcelanite (n.) A semivitrified clay or shale, somewhat resembling jasper; -- called also porcelain jasper.
Porcupine (n.) Any Old Word rodent of the genus Hystrix, having the back covered with long, sharp, erectile spines or quills, sometimes a foot long. The common species of Europe and Asia (Hystrix cristata) is the best known.
Porcupine (n.) Any species of Erethizon and related genera, native of America. They are related to the true porcupines, but have shorter spines, and are arboreal in their habits. The Canada porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus) is a well known species.
Pore (v. i.) To look or gaze steadily in reading or studying; to fix the attention; to be absorbed; -- often with on or upon, and now usually with over.
Pore (v.) A minute opening or passageway; an interstice between the constituent particles or molecules of a body; as, the pores of stones.
Pore (v.) One of the minute orifices in an animal or vegetable membrane, for transpiration, absorption, etc.
Porgy (n.) Any one of several species of embiotocoids, or surf fishes, of the Pacific coast. The name is also given locally to several other fishes, as the bur fish.
Porifera (n. pl.) A grand division of the Invertebrata, including the sponges; -- called also Spongiae, Spongida, and Spongiozoa. The principal divisions are Calcispongiae, Keratosa or Fibrospongiae, and Silicea.
Porism (n.) A proposition affirming the possibility of finding such conditions as will render a certain determinate problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions.
Porites (n.) An important genus of reef-building corals having small twelve-rayed calicles, and a very porous coral. Some species are branched, others grow in large massive or globular forms.
Porkwood (n.) The coarse-grained brownish yellow wood of a small tree (Pisonia obtusata) of Florida and the West Indies. Also called pigeon wood, beefwood, and corkwood.
Pornographic (a.) Of or pertaining to pornography; lascivious; licentious; as, pornographic writing.
Pornography (n.) Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies.
Porous (n.) Full of pores; having interstices in the skin or in the substance of the body; having spiracles or passages for fluids; permeable by liquids; as, a porous skin; porous wood.
Porphyritic (a.) Relating to, or resembling, porphyry, that is, characterized by the presence of distinct crystals, as of feldspar, quartz, or augite, in a relatively fine-grained base, often aphanitic or cryptocrystalline.
Porphyrogenitism (n.) The principle of succession in royal families, especially among the Eastern Roman emperors, by which a younger son, if born after the accession of his father to the throne, was preferred to an elder son who was not so born.
Porporino (n.) A composition of quicksilver, tin, and sulphur, forming a yellow powder, sometimes used by mediaeval artists, for the sake of economy, instead of gold.
Porridge (n.) A food made by boiling some leguminous or farinaceous substance, or the meal of it, in water or in milk, making of broth or thin pudding; as, barley porridge, milk porridge, bean porridge, etc.
Porringer (n.) A porridge dish; esp., a bowl or cup from which children eat or are fed; as, a silver porringer.
Port (n.) A dark red or purple astringent wine made in Portugal. It contains a large percentage of alcohol.
Port (n.) A passageway in a machine, through which a fluid, as steam, water, etc., may pass, as from a valve to the interior of the cylinder of a steam engine; an opening in a valve seat, or valve face.
Port (n.) An opening in the side of a vessel; an embrasure through which cannon may be discharged; a porthole; also, the shutters which close such an opening.
Port (n.) The larboard or left side of a ship (looking from the stern toward the bow); as, a vessel heels to port. See Note under Larboard. Also used adjectively.
Port (n.) The manner in which a person bears himself; deportment; carriage; bearing; demeanor; hence, manner or style of living; as, a proud port.
Port (v. t.) To throw, as a musket, diagonally across the body, with the lock in front, the right hand grasping the small of the stock, and the barrel sloping upward and crossing the point of the left shoulder; as, to port arms.
Port (v. t.) To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship; -- said of the helm, and used chiefly in the imperative, as a command; as, port your helm.
Port (v.) A place where ships may ride secure from storms; a sheltered inlet, bay, or cove; a harbor; a haven. Used also figuratively.
Port (v.) In law and commercial usage, a harbor where vessels are admitted to discharge and receive cargoes, from whence they depart and where they finish their voyages.
Port-royalist (n.) One of the dwellers in the Cistercian convent of Port Royal des Champs, near Paris, when it was the home of the Jansenists in the 17th century, among them being Arnauld, Pascal, and other famous scholars. Cf. Jansenist.
Portable (a.) Capable of being borne or carried; easily transported; conveyed without difficulty; as, a portable bed, desk, engine.
Portague (n.) A Portuguese gold coin formerly current, and variously estimated to be worth from three and one half to four and one half pounds sterling.
Portal (a.) Of or pertaining to a porta, especially the porta of the liver; as, the portal vein, which enters the liver at the porta, and divides into capillaries after the manner of an artery.
Portal (n.) A door or gate; hence, a way of entrance or exit, especially one that is grand and imposing.
Portal (n.) By analogy with the French portail, used by recent writers for the whole architectural composition which surrounds and includes the doorways and porches of a church.
Portal (n.) Formerly, a small square corner in a room separated from the rest of the apartment by wainscoting, forming a short passage to another apartment.
Portal (n.) The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces.
Portamento (n.) In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.
Portative (a.) Capable of holding up or carrying; as, the portative force of a magnet, of atmospheric pressure, or of capillarity.
Portcullis (n.) A grating of iron or of timbers pointed with iron, hung over the gateway of a fortress, to be let down to prevent the entrance of an enemy.
Portcullis (n.) An English coin of the reign of Elizabeth, struck for the use of the East India Company; -- so called from its bearing the figure of a portcullis on the reverse.
Porte (n.) The Ottoman court; the government of the Turkish empire, officially called the Sublime Porte, from the gate (port) of the sultan's palace at which justice was administered.
Porte-cochere (n.) A large doorway allowing vehicles to drive into or through a building. It is common to have the entrance door open upon the passage of the porte-cochere. Also, a porch over a driveway before an entrance door.
Portend (v. t.) To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs.
Portent (n.) That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign.
Portentous (a.) Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous.
Porter (n.) A malt liquor, of a dark color and moderately bitter taste, possessing tonic and intoxicating qualities.
Porter (n.) A man who has charge of a door or gate; a doorkeeper; one who waits at the door to receive messages.
Portfire (n.) A case of strong paper filled with a composition of niter, sulphur, and mealed powder, -- used principally to ignite the priming in proving guns, and as an incendiary material in shells.
Portfolio (n.) Hence: The office and functions of a minister of state or member of the cabinet; as, to receive the portfolio of war; to resign the portfolio.
Portico (n.) A colonnade or covered ambulatory, especially in classical styles of architecture; usually, a colonnade at the entrance of a building.
Portion (n.) That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
Portion (n.) 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; an inheritance.
Portionist (n.) A scholar at Merton College, Oxford, who has a certain academical allowance or portion; -- corrupted into postmaster.
Portland stone () A yellowish-white calcareous freestone from the Isle of Portland in England, much used in building.
Portland vase () A celebrated cinerary urn or vase found in the tomb of the Emperor Alexander Severus. It is owned by the Duke of Portland, and kept in the British Museum.
Portliness (n.) The quality or state of being portly; dignity of mien or of personal appearance; stateliness.
Portmanteau (n.) A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys.
Portrait (n.) Hence, any graphic or vivid delineation or description of a person; as, a portrait in words.
Portrait (n.) The likeness of a person, painted, drawn, or engraved; commonly, a representation of the human face painted from real life.
Portraiture (n.) A portrait; a likeness; a painted resemblance; hence, that which is copied from some example or model.
Portulacaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (Portulacaceae), of which Portulaca is the type, and which includes also the spring beauty (Claytonia) and other genera.
Pose (a.) Standing still, with all the feet on the ground; -- said of the attitude of a lion, horse, or other beast.
Pose (v. i.) To assume and maintain a studied attitude, with studied arrangement of drapery; to strike an attitude; to attitudinize; figuratively, to assume or affect a certain character; as, she poses as a prude.
Pose (v. t.) To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect; to arrange the posture and drapery of (a person) in a studied manner; as, to pose a model for a picture; to pose a sitter for a portrait.
Pose (v. t.) To question with a view to puzzling; to embarrass by questioning or scrutiny; to bring to a stand.
Posit (v. t.) To dispose or set firmly or fixedly; to place or dispose in relation to other objects.
Position (n.) A method of solving a problem by one or two suppositions; -- called also the rule of trial and error.
Position (n.) Relative place or standing; social or official rank; as, a person of position; hence, office; post; as, to lose one's position.
Position (n.) The spot where a person or thing is placed or takes a place; site; place; station; situation; as, the position of man in creation; the fleet changed its position.
Position (n.) The state of being posited, or placed; the manner in which anything is placed; attitude; condition; as, a firm, an inclined, or an upright position.
Positive (a.) Corresponding with the original in respect to the position of lights and shades, instead of having the lights and shades reversed; as, a positive picture.
Positive (a.) Definitely laid down; explicitly stated; clearly expressed; -- opposed to implied; as, a positive declaration or promise.
Positive (a.) Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations; absolute; -- opposed to relative; as, the idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes individuals.
Positive (a.) Fully assured; confident; certain; sometimes, overconfident; dogmatic; overbearing; -- said of persons.
Positive (a.) Having a real position, existence, or energy; existing in fact; real; actual; -- opposed to negative.
Positive (a.) Hence, basic; metallic; not acid; -- opposed to negative, and said of metals, bases, and basic radicals.
Positive (a.) Prescribed by express enactment or institution; settled by arbitrary appointment; said of laws.
Positive (n.) A picture in which the lights and shades correspond in position with those of the original, instead of being reversed, as in a negative.
Positively (adv.) In a positive manner; absolutely; really; expressly; with certainty; indubitably; peremptorily; dogmatically; -- opposed to negatively.
Positiveness (n.) The quality or state of being positive; reality; actualness; certainty; confidence; peremptoriness; dogmatism. See Positive, a.
Pospolite (n.) A kind of militia in Poland, consisting of the gentry, which, in case of invasion, was summoned to the defense of the country.
Posse comitatus () The power of the county, or the citizens who may be summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed.
Possess (v. t.) To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc.
Possess (v. t.) To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book.
Possess (v. t.) To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.
Possess (v. t.) To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively.
Possession (n.) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful.
Possession (n.) The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession.
Possession (n.) The thing possessed; that which any one occupies, owns, or controls; in the plural, property in the aggregate; wealth; dominion; as, foreign possessions.
Possessioner (n.) An invidious name for a member of any religious community endowed with property in lands, buildings, etc., as contrasted with mendicant friars.
Possessor (n.) One who possesses; one who occupies, holds, owns, or controls; one who has actual participation or enjoyment, generally of that which is desirable; a proprietor.
Possessory (a.) Of or pertaining to possession, either as a fact or a right; of the nature of possession; as, a possessory interest; a possessory lord.
Posset (n.) A beverage composed of hot milk curdled by some strong infusion, as by wine, etc., -- much in favor formerly.
Possibility (n.) That which is possible; a contingency; a thing or event that may not happen; a contingent interest, as in real or personal estate.
Possibility (n.) The quality or state of being possible; the power of happening, being, or existing.
Possibly (adv.) In a possible manner; by possible means; especially, by extreme, remote, or improbable intervention, change, or exercise of power; by a chance; perhaps; as, possibly he may recover.
Post (n.) A messenger who goes from station; an express; especially, one who is employed by the government to carry letters and parcels regularly from one place to another; a letter carrier; a postman.
Post (n.) A military station; the place at which a soldier or a body of troops is stationed; also, the troops at such a station.
Post (n.) A piece of timber, metal, or other solid substance, fixed, or to be fixed, firmly in an upright position, especially when intended as a stay or support to something else; a pillar; as, a hitching post; a fence post; the posts of a house.
Post (n.) A station, office, or position of service, trust, or emolument; as, the post of duty; the post of danger.
Post (n.) A station, or one of a series of stations, established for the refreshment and accommodation of travelers on some recognized route; as, a stage or railway post.
Post (n.) The doorpost of a victualer's shop or inn, on which were chalked the scores of customers; hence, a score; a debt.
Post (v. i.) To rise and sink in the saddle, in accordance with the motion of the horse, esp. in trotting.
Post (v. t.) To attach to a post, a wall, or other usual place of affixing public notices; to placard; as, to post a notice; to post playbills.
Post (v. t.) To carry, as an account, from the journal to the ledger; as, to post an account; to transfer, as accounts, to the ledger.
Post (v. t.) To hold up to public blame or reproach; to advertise opprobriously; to denounce by public proclamation; as, to post one for cowardice.
Post (v. t.) To inform; to give the news to; to make (one) acquainted with the details of a subject; -- often with up.
Post note () A note issued by a bank, payable at some future specified time, as distinguished from a note payable on demand.
Post-abdomen (n.) That part of a crustacean behind the cephalothorax; -- more commonly called abdomen.
Post-disseizin (n.) A subsequent disseizin committed by one of lands which the disseizee had before recovered of the same disseizor; a writ founded on such subsequent disseizin, now abolished.
Post-disseizor (n.) A person who disseizes another of lands which the disseizee had before recovered of the same disseizor.
Post-fine (n.) A duty paid to the king by the cognizee in a fine of lands, when the same was fully passed; -- called also the king's silver.
Post-obit bond () A bond in which the obligor, in consideration of having received a certain sum of money, binds himself to pay a larger sum, on unusual interest, on the death of some specified individual from whom he has expectations.
Post-temporal (a.) Situated back of the temporal bone or the temporal region of the skull; -- applied especially to a bone which usually connects the supraclavicle with the skull in the pectoral arch of fishes.
Postage (n.) The price established by law to be paid for the conveyance of a letter or other mailable matter by a public post.
Postal (a.) Belonging to the post office or mail service; as, postal arrangements; postal authorities.
Postaxial (a.) Situated behind any transverse axis in the body of an animal; caudal; posterior; especially, behind, or on the caudal or posterior (that is, ulnar or fibular) side of, the axis of a vertebrate limb.
Postclavicle (n.) A bone in the pectoral girdle of many fishes projecting backward from the clavicle.
Postcommissure (n.) A transverse commisure in the posterior part of the roof of the third ventricle of the brain; the posterior cerebral commisure.
Postdate (n.) A date put to a bill of exchange or other paper, later than that when it was actually made.
Postdate (v. t.) To date after the real time; as, to postdate a contract, that is, to date it later than the time when it was in fact made.
Postea (n.) The return of the judge before whom a cause was tried, after a verdict, of what was done in the cause, which is indorsed on the nisi prius record.
Postentry (n.) A second or subsequent, at the customhouse, of goods which had been omitted by mistake.
Posterior (a.) At or toward the caudal extremity; caudal; -- in human anatomy often used for dorsal.
Posterior (a.) Later in time; hence, later in the order of proceeding or moving; coming after; -- opposed to prior.
Posteriority (n.) The state of being later or subsequent; as, posteriority of time, or of an event; -- opposed to priority.
Posterity (n.) The race that proceeds from a progenitor; offspring to the furthest generation; the aggregate number of persons who are descended from an ancestor of a generation; descendants; -- contrasted with ancestry; as, the posterity of Abraham.
Postern (n.) A subterraneous passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
Postero () - (/). A combining form meaning posterior, back; as, postero-inferior, situated back and below; postero-lateral, situated back and at the side.
Postfix (v. t.) To annex; specifically (Gram.), to add or annex, as a letter, syllable, or word, to the end of another or principal word; to suffix.
Postfrontal (a.) Situated behind the frontal bone or the frontal region of the skull; -- applied especially to a bone back of and below the frontal in many animals.
Postgeniture (n.) The condition of being born after another in the same family; -- distinguished from primogeniture.
Posthouse (n.) A house established for the convenience of the post, where relays of horses can be obtained.
Posthumous (a.) Born after the death of the father, or taken from the dead body of the mother; as, a posthumous son or daughter.
Posthumous (a.) Published after the death of the author; as, posthumous works; a posthumous edition.
Postil (n.) A short homily or commentary on a passage of Scripture; as, the first postils were composed by order of Charlemagne.
Postil (n.) Originally, an explanatory note in the margin of the Bible, so called because written after the text; hence, a marginal note; a comment.
Postiler (n.) One who writers marginal notes; one who illustrates the text of a book by notes in the margin.
Postilion (n.) One who rides and guides the first pair of horses of a coach or post chaise; also, one who rides one of the horses when one pair only is used.
Postliminy (n.) The return to his own country, and his former privileges, of a person who had gone to sojourn in a foreign country, or had been banished, or taken by an enemy.
Postliminy (n.) The right by virtue of which persons and things taken by an enemy in war are restored to their former state when coming again under the power of the nation to which they belonged.
Postman (n.) One of the two most experienced barristers in the Court of Exchequer, who have precedence in motions; -- so called from the place where he sits. The other of the two is called the tubman.
Postmark (n.) The mark, or stamp, of a post office on a letter, giving the place and date of mailing or of arrival.
Postmaster (n.) One who has charge of a station for the accommodation of travelers; one who supplies post horses.
Postmaster-general (n.) The chief officer of the post-office department of a government. In the United States the postmaster-general is a member of the cabinet.
Postmeridian (a.) Coming after the sun has passed the meridian; being in, or belonging to, the afternoon. (Abbrev. P. M.)
Postpliocene (a.) Of or pertaining to the period immediately following the Pliocene; Pleistocene. Also used as a noun. See Quaternary.
Postpone (v. t.) To defer to a future or later time; to put off; also, to cause to be deferred or put off; to delay; to adjourn; as, to postpone the consideration of a bill to the following day, or indefinitely.
Postpone (v. t.) To place after, behind, or below something, in respect to precedence, preference, value, or importance.
Postponement (n.) The act of postponing; a deferring, or putting off, to a future time; a temporary delay.
Postposition (n.) A word or particle placed after, or at the end of, another word; -- distinguished from preposition.
Postscutellum (n.) The hindermost dorsal piece of a thoracic somite of an insect; the plate behind the scutellum.
Postulate (n.) Something demanded or asserted; especially, a position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident; a truth to which assent may be demanded or challenged, without argument or evidence.
Postulate (n.) The enunciation of a self-evident problem, in distinction from an axiom, which is the enunciation of a self-evident theorem.
Postulation (n.) The act of postulating, or that which is postulated; assumption; solicitation; suit; cause.
Posture (n.) State or condition, whether of external circumstances, or of internal feeling and will; disposition; mood; as, a posture of defense; the posture of affairs.
Posture (v. i.) To assume a particular posture or attitude; to contort the body into artificial attitudes, as an acrobat or contortionist; also, to pose.
Posture (v. t.) To place in a particular position or attitude; to dispose the parts of, with reference to a particular purpose; as, to posture one's self; to posture a model.
Posy (n.) A brief poetical sentiment; hence, any brief sentiment, motto, or legend; especially, one inscribed on a ring.
Pot (n.) A metallic or earthen vessel, appropriated to any of a great variety of uses, as for boiling meat or vegetables, for holding liquids, for plants, etc.; as, a quart pot; a flower pot; a bean pot.
Pot (v. t.) To drain; as, to pot sugar, by taking it from the cooler, and placing it in hogsheads, etc., having perforated heads, through which the molasses drains off.
Pot-walloper (n.) A voter in certain boroughs of England, where, before the passage of the reform bill of 1832, the qualification for suffrage was to have boiled (walloped) his own pot in the parish for six months.
Potamian (n.) A river tortoise; one of a group of tortoises (Potamites, or Trionychoidea) having a soft shell, webbed feet, and a sharp beak. See Trionyx.
Potash (n.) The hydroxide of potassium hydrate, a hard white brittle substance, KOH, having strong caustic and alkaline properties; -- hence called also caustic potash.
Potash (n.) The impure potassium carbonate obtained by leaching wood ashes, either as a strong solution (lye), or as a white crystalline (pearlash).
Potassium (n.) An Alkali element, occurring abundantly but always combined, as in the chloride, sulphate, carbonate, or silicate, in the minerals sylvite, kainite, orthoclase, muscovite, etc. Atomic weight 39.0. Symbol K (Kalium).
Potassoxyl (n.) The radical KO, derived from, and supposed to exist in, potassium hydroxide and other compounds.
Potato (n.) A plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the Nightshade family, and its esculent farinaceous tuber, of which there are numerous varieties used for food. It is native of South America, but a form of the species is found native as far north as New Mexico.
Potboiler (n.) A term applied derisively to any literary or artistic work, and esp. a painting, done simply for money and the means of living.
Potency (n.) The quality or state of being potent; physical or moral power; inherent strength; energy; ability to effect a purpose; capability; efficacy; influence.
Potent (a.) Having great authority, control, or dominion; puissant; mighty; influential; as, a potent prince.
Potent (a.) Powerful, in an intellectual or moral sense; having great influence; as, potent interest; a potent argument.
Potent (a.) Producing great physical effects; forcible; powerful' efficacious; as, a potent medicine.
Potent (n.) One of the furs; a surface composed of patches which are supposed to represent crutch heads; they are always alternately argent and azure, unless otherwise specially mentioned.
Potentate (a.) One who is potent; one who possesses great power or sway; a prince, sovereign, or monarch.
Potential (n.) The energy of an electrical charge measured by its power to do work; hence, the degree of electrification as referred to some standard, as that of the earth; electro-motive force.
Potentiality (n.) The quality or state of being potential; possibility, not actuality; inherent capability or disposition, not actually exhibited.
Potentiometer (n.) An instrument for measuring or comparing electrial potentials or electro-motive forces.
Pothole (n.) A circular hole formed in the rocky beds of rivers by the grinding action of stones or gravel whirled round by the water in what was at first a natural depression of the rock.
Potichomanie (n.) The art or process of coating the inside of glass vessels with engravings or paintings, so as to give them the appearance of painted ware.
Potoroo (n.) Any small kangaroo belonging to Hypsiprymnus, Bettongia, and allied genera, native of Australia and Tasmania. Called also kangaroo rat.
Potpourri (n.) A literary production composed of parts brought together without order or bond of connection.
Potsdam group () A subdivision of the Primordial or Cambrian period in American geology; -- so named from the sandstone of Potsdam, New York. See Chart of Geology.
Pott's disease () Caries of the vertebrae, frequently resulting in curvature of the spine and paralysis of the lower extremities; -- so named from Percival Pott, an English surgeon.
Pottage (n.) A kind of food made by boiling vegetables or meat, or both together, in water, until soft; a thick soup or porridge.
Potter (v. i.) To busy one's self with trifles; to labor with little purpose, energy, of effect; to trifle; to pother.
Potting (n.) The act of placing in a pot; as, the potting of plants; the potting of meats for preservation.
Potto (n.) A nocturnal mammal (Perodictius potto) of the Lemur family, found in West Africa. It has rudimentary forefingers. Called also aposoro, and bush dog.
Pouch (n.) A sac or bag for carrying food or young; as, the cheek pouches of certain rodents, and the pouch of marsupials.
Pouch (n.) A small bag; usually, a leathern bag; as, a pouch for money; a shot pouch; a mail pouch, etc.
Poultice (n.) A soft composition, as of bread, bran, or a mucilaginous substance, to be applied to sores, inflamed parts of the body, etc.; a cataplasm.
Poultry (n.) Domestic fowls reared for the table, or for their eggs or feathers, such as cocks and hens, capons, turkeys, ducks, and geese.
Pounce (n.) A fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, -- formerly used to prevent ink from spreading on manuscript.
Pounce (n.) Charcoal dust, or some other colored powder for making patterns through perforated designs, -- used by embroiderers, lace makers, etc.
Pounce (v. i.) To fall suddenly and seize with the claws; -- with on or upon; as, a hawk pounces upon a chicken. Also used figuratively.
Pound (n.) A British denomination of money of account, equivalent to twenty shillings sterling, and equal in value to about $4.86. There is no coin known by this name, but the gold sovereign is of the same value.
Pound (n.) A certain specified weight; especially, a legal standard consisting of an established number of ounces.
Pound (n.) A kind of net, having a large inclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
Pound (n.) An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which cattle or other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going at large in violation of law; a pinfold.
Pound (v. t.) To comminute and pulverize by beating; to bruise or break into fine particles with a pestle or other heavy instrument; as, to pound spice or salt.
Poundage (n.) A subsidy of twelve pence in the pound, formerly granted to the crown on all goods exported or imported, and if by aliens, more.
Poundage (n.) The sum allowed to a sheriff or other officer upon the amount realized by an execution; -- estimated in England, and formerly in the United States, at so much of the pound.
Poundcake (n.) A kind of rich, sweet cake; -- so called from the ingredients being used by pounds, or in equal quantities.
Pounder (n.) A person or thing, so called with reference to a certain number of pounds in value, weight, capacity, etc.; as, a cannon carrying a twelve-pound ball is called a twelve pounder.
Poupart's ligament () A ligament, of fascia, extending, in most mammals, from the ventral side of the ilium to near the symphysis of the pubic bones.
Pour (v. i.) To flow, pass, or issue in a stream, or as a stream; to fall continuously and abundantly; as, the rain pours; the people poured out of the theater.
Pour (v. t.) To cause to flow in a stream, as a liquid or anything flowing like a liquid, either out of a vessel or into it; as, to pour water from a pail; to pour wine into a decanter; to pour oil upon the waters; to pour out sand or dust.
Pourpoint (n.) A quilted military doublet or gambeson worn in the 14th and 15th centuries; also, a name for the doublet of the 16th and 17th centuries worn by civilians.
Pouter (n.) A variety of the domestic pigeon remarkable for the extent to which it is able to dilate its throat and breast.
Poverty (n.) Any deficiency of elements or resources that are needed or desired, or that constitute richness; as, poverty of soil; poverty of the blood; poverty of ideas.
Poverty (n.) The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need.
Powder (n.) The fine particles to which any dry substance is reduced by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or into which it falls by decay; dust.
Powder (v. t.) To reduce to fine particles; to pound, grind, or rub into a powder; to comminute; to pulverize; to triturate.
Powen (n.) A small British lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeoides, or C. ferus); -- called also gwyniad and lake herring.
Power (n.) A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power.
Power (n.) A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc.
Power (n.) Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm.
Power (n.) An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment.
Power (n.) Applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the other end.
Power (n.) Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive power; as, great power of endurance.
Power (n.) Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power.
Power (n.) Mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc.
Power (n.) The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity.
Power (n.) The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government.
Power (n.) The product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number.
Power (n.) The rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power.
Powerful (a.) Full of power; capable of producing great effects of any kind; potent; mighty; efficacious; intense; as, a powerful man or beast; a powerful engine; a powerful argument; a powerful light; a powerful vessel.
Powerless (a.) Destitute of power, force, or energy; weak; impotent; not able to produce any effect.
Powpow (n.) Conjuration attended with great noise and confusion, and often with feasting, dancing, etc., performed by Indians for the cure of diseases, to procure success in hunting or in war, and for other purposes.
Powwow (v. i.) To use conjuration, with noise and confusion, for the cure of disease, etc., as among the North American Indians.
Pox (n.) Strictly, a disease by pustules or eruptions of any kind, but chiefly or wholly restricted to three or four diseases, -- the smallpox, the chicken pox, and the vaccine and the venereal diseases.
Pozzolana (n.) Volcanic ashes from Pozzuoli, in Italy, used in the manufacture of a kind of mortar which hardens under water.
Praam (n.) A flat-bottomed boat or lighter, -- used in Holland and the Baltic, and sometimes armed in case of war.
Practicable (a.) That may be practiced or performed; capable of being done or accomplished with available means or resources; feasible; as, a practicable method; a practicable aim; a practicable good.
Practical (a.) Capable of being turned to use or account; useful, in distinction from ideal or theoretical; as, practical chemistry.
Practical (a.) Evincing practice or skill; capable of applying knowledge to some useful end; as, a practical man; a practical mind.
Practically (adv.) By means of practice or use; by experience or experiment; as, practically wise or skillful; practically acquainted with a subject.
Practically (adv.) In a practical way; not theoretically; really; as, to look at things practically; practically worthless.
Practically (adv.) In practice or use; as, a medicine practically safe; theoretically wrong, but practically right.
Practice (n.) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.
Practice (n.) Application of science to the wants of men; the exercise of any profession; professional business; as, the practice of medicine or law; a large or lucrative practice.
Practice (n.) Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense.
Practice (n.) Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline; as, the troops are called out for practice; she neglected practice in music.
Practice (n.) The form, manner, and order of conducting and carrying on suits and prosecutions through their various stages, according to the principles of law and the rules laid down by the courts.
Practice (v. i.) To apply theoretical science or knowledge, esp. by way of experiment; to exercise or pursue an employment or profession, esp. that of medicine or of law.
Practice (v. i.) To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement; as, to practice with the broadsword or with the rifle; to practice on the piano.
Practice (v. t.) To do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of; as, to practice gaming.
Practice (v. t.) To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement, or to acquire discipline or dexterity; as, to practice gunnery; to practice music.
Practice (v. t.) To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc., as, to practice law or medicine.
Practitioner (n.) One who is engaged in the actual use or exercise of any art or profession, particularly that of law or medicine.
Praecipe (n.) A paper containing the particulars of a writ, lodged in the office out of which the writ is to be issued.
Praecoces (n. pl.) A division of birds including those whose young are able to run about when first hatched.
Praecognita (n. pl.) This previously known, or which should be known in order to understand something else.
Praecommissure (n.) A transverse commissure in the anterior part of the third ventricle of the brain; the anterior cerebral commissure.
Praemunire (n.) The offense of introducing foreign authority into England, the penalties for which were originally intended to depress the civil power of the pope in the kingdom.
Praenomen (n.) The first name of a person, by which individuals of the same family were distinguished, answering to our Christian name, as Caius, Lucius, Marcus, etc.
Praetexta (n.) A white robe with a purple border, worn by a Roman boy before he was entitled to wear the toga virilis, or until about the completion of his fourteenth year, and by girls until their marriage. It was also worn by magistrates and priests.
Pragmatical (a.) Busy; specifically, busy in an objectionable way; officious; fussy and positive; meddlesome.
Pragmatical (a.) Of or pertaining to business or to affairs; of the nature of business; practical; material; businesslike in habit or manner.
Pragmatical (a.) Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; -- said of literature.
Pragmatism (n.) The quality or state of being pragmatic; in literature, the pragmatic, or philosophical, method.
Prairial (n.) The ninth month of the French Republican calendar, which dated from September 22, 1792. It began May, 20, and ended June 18. See Vendemiaire.
Prairie (n.) An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains.
Praise (v.) Commendation for worth; approval expressed; honor rendered because of excellence or worth; laudation; approbation.
Praise (v.) To commend; to applaud; to express approbation of; to laud; -- applied to a person or his acts.
Praise (v.) To extol in words or song; to magnify; to glorify on account of perfections or excellent works; to do honor to; to display the excellence of; -- applied especially to the Divine Being.
Praiseworthy (a.) Worthy of praise or applause; commendable; as, praiseworthy action; he was praiseworthy.
Prakrit (n.) Any one of the popular dialects descended from, or akin to, Sanskrit; -- in distinction from the Sanskrit, which was used as a literary and learned language when no longer spoken by the people. Pali is one of the Prakrit dialects.
Prank (v. t.) To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously; -- often followed by up; as, to prank up the body. See Prink.
Praseodymium (n.) An elementary substance, one of the constituents of didymium; -- so called from the green color of its salts. Symbol Ps. Atomic weight 143.6.
Pratincole (n.) Any bird of the Old World genus Glareola, or family Glareolidae, allied to the plovers. They have long, pointed wings and a forked tail.
Pratique (n.) Primarily, liberty of converse; intercourse; hence, a certificate, given after compliance with quarantine regulations, permitting a ship to land passengers and crew; -- a term used particularly in the south of Europe.
Prattle (v. i.) To talk much and idly; to prate; hence, to talk lightly and artlessly, like a child; to utter child's talk.
Pravity (n.) Deterioration; degeneracy; corruption; especially, moral crookedness; moral perversion; perverseness; depravity; as, the pravity of human nature.
Praxinoscope (n.) An instrument, similar to the phenakistoscope, for presenting to view, or projecting upon a screen, images the natural motions of real objects.
Prayer (v. i.) The act of addressing supplication to a divinity, especially to the true God; the offering of adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving to the Supreme Being; as, public prayer; secret prayer.
Prayer (v. i.) The act of praying, or of asking a favor; earnest request or entreaty; hence, a petition or memorial addressed to a court or a legislative body.
Prayer (v. i.) The form of words used in praying; a formula of supplication; an expressed petition; especially, a supplication addressed to God; as, a written or extemporaneous prayer; to repeat one's prayers.
Pre- () A prefix denoting priority (of time, place, or rank); as, precede, to go before; precursor, a forerunner; prefix, to fix or place before; preeminent eminent before or above others. Pre- is sometimes used intensively, as in prepotent, very potent.
Preach (v. i.) To give serious advice on morals or religion; to discourse in the manner of a preacher.
Preach (v. i.) To proclaim or publish tidings; specifically, to proclaim the gospel; to discourse publicly on a religious subject, or from a text of Scripture; to deliver a sermon.
Preach (v. t.) To proclaim by public discourse; to utter in a sermon or a formal religious harangue.
Preaching (n.) The act of delivering a religious discourse; the art of sermonizing; also, a sermon; a public religious discourse; serious, earnest advice.
Preamble (n.) A introductory portion; an introduction or preface, as to a book, document, etc.; specifically, the introductory part of a statute, which states the reasons and intent of the law.
Preambulary (a.) Of or pertaining to a preamble; introductory; contained or provided for in a preamble.
Preantenultimate (a.) Being or indicating the fourth syllable from the end of a word, or that before the antepenult.
Preataxic (a.) Occurring before the symptom ataxia has developed; -- applied to the early symptoms of locomotor ataxia.
Preaxial (a.) Situated in front of any transverse axis in the body of an animal; anterior; cephalic; esp., in front, or on the anterior, or cephalic (that is, radial or tibial) side of the axis of a limb.
Prebend (n.) A payment or stipend; esp., the stipend or maintenance granted to a prebendary out of the estate of a cathedral or collegiate church with which he is connected. See Note under Benefice.
Prebendary (n.) A clergyman attached to a collegiate or cathedral church who enjoys a prebend in consideration of his officiating at stated times in the church. See Note under Benefice, n., 3.
Prebronchial (a.) Situated in front of the bronchus; -- applied especially to an air sac on either side of the esophagus of birds.
Precarious (a.) Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another; as, precarious privileges.
Precarious (a.) Held by a doubtful tenure; depending on unknown causes or events; exposed to constant risk; not to be depended on for certainty or stability; uncertain; as, a precarious state of health; precarious fortunes.
Precaution (n.) A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act; as, to take precautions against accident.
Precaution (n.) Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent mischief or secure good; as, his life was saved by precaution.
Precede (v. t.) To cause to be preceded; to preface; to introduce; -- used with by or with before the instrumental object.
Precedency (n.) The act or state of going or being before in rank or dignity, or the place of honor; right to a more honorable place; superior rank; as, barons have precedence of commoners.
Precedency (n.) The act or state of preceding or going before in order of time; priority; as, one event has precedence of another.
Precedent (n.) A judicial decision which serves as a rule for future determinations in similar or analogous cases; an authority to be followed in courts of justice; forms of proceeding to be followed in similar cases.
Precedent (n.) A preceding circumstance or condition; an antecedent; hence, a prognostic; a token; a sign.
Precedent (n.) Something done or said that may serve as an example to authorize a subsequent act of the same kind; an authoritative example.
Precedential (a.) Of the nature of a precedent; having force as an example for imitation; as, precedential transactions.
Precent (n.) Any commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action; esp., a command respecting moral conduct; an injunction; a rule.
Precentor (n.) The leader of the choir in a cathedral; -- called also the chanter or master of the choir.
Preceptive (a.) Containing or giving precepts; of the nature of precepts; didactic; as, the preceptive parts of the Scriptures.
Preceptor (n.) One who gives commands, or makes rules; specifically, the master or principal of a school; a teacher; an instructor.
Preceptory (n.) A religious house of the Knights Templars, subordinate to the temple or principal house of the order in London. See Commandery, n., 2.
Precinct (n.) A district within certain boundaries; a minor territorial or jurisdictional division; as, an election precinct; a school precinct.
Precinct (n.) The limit or exterior line encompassing a place; a boundary; a confine; limit of jurisdiction or authority; -- often in the plural; as, the precincts of a state.
Precious (a.) Of great value or worth; very valuable; highly esteemed; dear; beloved; as, precious recollections.
Precipice (n.) A headlong steep; a very steep, perpendicular, or overhanging place; an abrupt declivity; a cliff.
Precipitable (a.) Capable of being precipitated, or cast to the bottom, as a substance in solution. See Precipitate, n. (Chem.)
Precipitancy (n.) The quality or state of being precipitant, or precipitate; headlong hurry; excessive or rash haste in resolving, forming an opinion, or executing a purpose; precipitation; as, the precipitancy of youth.
Precipitant (a.) Falling or rushing headlong; rushing swiftly, violently, or recklessly; moving precipitately.
Precipitant (a.) Unexpectedly or foolishly brought on or hastened; rashly hurried; hasty; sudden; reckless.
Precipitate (a.) Lacking due deliberation or care; hurried; said or done before the time; as, a precipitate measure.
Precipitate (v. t.) To separate from a solution, or other medium, in the form of a precipitate; as, water precipitates camphor when in solution with alcohol.
Precipitate (v. t.) To urge or press on with eager haste or violence; to cause to happen, or come to a crisis, suddenly or too soon; as, precipitate a journey, or a conflict.
Precipitation (n.) The act of precipitating, or the state of being precipitated, or thrown headlong.
Precise (a.) Having determinate limitations; exactly or sharply defined or stated; definite; exact; nice; not vague or equivocal; as, precise rules of morality.
Precise (a.) Strictly adhering or conforming to rule; very nice or exact; punctilious in conduct or ceremony; formal; ceremonious.
Precisian (n.) An overprecise person; one rigidly or ceremoniously exact in the observance of rules; a formalist; -- formerly applied to the English Puritans.
Precision (n.) The quality or state of being precise; exact limitation; exactness; accuracy; strict conformity to a rule or a standard; definiteness.
Precisive (a.) Cutting off; (Logic) exactly limiting by cutting off all that is not absolutely relative to the purpose; as, precisive censure; precisive abstraction.
Preclude (v.) To shut out by anticipative action; to prevent or hinder by necessary consequence or implication; to deter action of, access to, employment of, etc.; to render ineffectual; to obviate by anticipation.
Precocious (a.) Developed more than is natural or usual at a given age; exceeding what is to be expected of one's years; too forward; -- used especially of mental forwardness; as, a precocious child; precocious talents.
Precocious (a.) Ripe or mature before the proper or natural time; early or prematurely ripe or developed; as, precocious trees.
Precocity (n.) The quality or state of being precocious; untimely ripeness; premature development, especially of the mental powers; forwardness.
Preconceive (v. t.) To conceive, or form an opinion of, beforehand; to form a previous notion or idea of.
Preconization (n.) A formal approbation by the pope of a person nominated to an ecclesiastical dignity.
Precontract (n.) a contract of marriage which, according to the ancient law, rendered void a subsequent marriage solemnized in violation of it.
Precoracoid (n.) The anterior part of the coracoid (often closely united with the clavicle) in the shoulder girdle of many reptiles and amphibians.
Precursor (n.) One who, or that which, precedes an event, and indicates its approach; a forerunner; a harbinger.
Precursory (a.) Preceding as a precursor or harbinger; indicating something to follow; as, precursory symptoms of a fever.
Predate (v. t.) To date anticipation; to affix to (a document) an earlier than the actual date; to antedate; as, a predated deed or letter.
Predatory (a.) Characterized by plundering; practicing rapine; plundering; pillaging; as, a predatory excursion; a predatory party.
Predecessor (n.) One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.
Predella (n.) The step, or raised secondary part, of an altar; a superaltar; hence, in Italian painting, a band or frieze of several pictures running along the front of a superaltar, or forming a border or frame at the foot of an altarpiece.
Predesignate (a.) A term used by Sir William Hamilton to define propositions having their quantity indicated by a verbal sign; as, all, none, etc.; -- contrasted with preindesignate, defining propositions of which the quantity is not so indicated.
Predestinate (v. t.) To predetermine or foreordain; to appoint or ordain beforehand by an unchangeable purpose or decree; to preelect.
Predestination (n.) The purpose of Good from eternity respecting all events; especially, the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery. See Calvinism.
Predetermination (n.) The act of previous determination; a purpose formed beforehand; as, the predetermination of God's will.
Predicability (n.) The quality or state of being predicable, or affirmable of something, or attributed to something.
Predicable (n.) Anything affirmable of another; especially, a general attribute or notion as affirmable of, or applicable to, many individuals.
Predicable (n.) One of the five most general relations of attributes involved in logical arrangements, namely, genus, species, difference, property, and accident.
Predicament (n.) A class or kind described by any definite marks; hence, condition; particular situation or state; especially, an unfortunate or trying position or condition.
Predicant (n.) One who predicates, affirms, or proclaims; specifically, a preaching friar; a Dominican.
Predicate (v. t.) That which is affirmed or denied of the subject. In these propositions, "Paper is white," "Ink is not white," whiteness is the predicate affirmed of paper and denied of ink.
Predicate (v. t.) To assert to belong to something; to affirm (one thing of another); as, to predicate whiteness of snow.
Predication (n.) The act of predicating, or of affirming one thing of another; affirmation; assertion.
Predicative (a.) Expressing affirmation or predication; affirming; predicating, as, a predicative term.
Predicrotic (a.) A term applied to the pulse wave sometimes seen in a pulse curve or sphygmogram, between the apex of the curve and the dicrotic wave.
Predict (v. t.) To tell or declare beforehand; to foretell; to prophesy; to presage; as, to predict misfortune; to predict the return of a comet.
Predilection (n.) A previous liking; a prepossession of mind in favor of something; predisposition to choose or like; partiality.
Predispose (v. t.) To dispose or incline beforehand; to give a predisposition or bias to; as, to predispose the mind to friendship.
Predispose (v. t.) To make fit or susceptible beforehand; to give a tendency to; as, debility predisposes the body to disease.
Predisposition (n.) Previous fitness or adaptation to any change, impression, or purpose; susceptibility; -- applied to material things; as, the predisposition of the body to disease.
Predisposition (n.) The act of predisposing, or the state of being predisposed; previous inclination, tendency, or propensity; predilection; -- applied to the mind; as, a predisposition to anger.
Predominance (n.) The quality or state of being predominant; superiority; ascendency; prevalence; predomination.
Predominant (a.) Having the ascendency over others; superior in strength, influence, or authority; prevailing; as, a predominant color; predominant excellence.
Predominate (v. i.) To be superior in number, strength, influence, or authority; to have controlling power or influence; to prevail; to rule; to have the mastery; as, love predominated in her heart.
Predorsal (a.) Situated in front of the back; immediately in front, or on the ventral side the dorsal part of the vertebral column.
Preeminence (n.) The quality or state of being preeminent; superiority in prominence or in excellence; distinction above others in quality, rank, etc.; rarely, in a bad sense, superiority or notoriety in evil; as, preeminence in honor.
Preeminent (a.) Eminent above others; prominent among those who are eminent; superior in excellence; surpassing, or taking precedence of, others; rarely, surpassing others in evil, or in bad qualities; as, preeminent in guilt.
Preempt (v. t. & i.) To settle upon (public land) with a right of preemption, as under the laws of the United States; to take by preemption.
Preemption (n.) The privilege or prerogative formerly enjoyed by the king of buying provisions for his household in preference to others.
Preemption (n.) The right of an actual settler upon public lands (particularly those of the United States) to purchase a certain portion at a fixed price in preference to all other applicants.
Preen (n.) To dress with, or as with, a preen; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers; -- said of birds.
Preengagement (n.) Prior engagement, obligation, or attachment, as by contract, promise, or affection.
Preexistence (n.) Existence of the soul before its union with the body; -- a doctrine held by certain philosophers.
Preexistentism (n.) The theory of a preexistence of souls before their association with human bodies.
Preface (n.) Something spoken as introductory to a discourse, or written as introductory to a book or essay; a proem; an introduction, or series of preliminary remarks.
Prefatory (a.) Pertaining to, or of the nature of, a preface; introductory to a book, essay, or discourse; as, prefatory remarks.
Prefect (n.) A superintendent of a department who has control of its police establishment, together with extensive powers of municipal regulation.
Prefect (n.) In the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, a title of certain dignitaries below the rank of bishop.
Prefecundation (n.) A term collectively applied to the changes or conditions preceding fecundation, especially to the changes which the ovum undergoes before fecundation.
Prefer (v. t.) To carry or bring (something) forward, or before one; hence, to bring for consideration, acceptance, judgment, etc.; to offer; to present; to proffer; to address; -- said especially of a request, prayer, petition, claim, charge, etc.
Prefer (v. t.) To cause to go before; hence, to advance before others, as to an office or dignity; to raise; to exalt; to promote; as, to prefer an officer to the rank of general.
Prefer (v. t.) To set above or before something else in estimation, favor, or liking; to regard or honor before another; to hold in greater favor; to choose rather; -- often followed by to, before, or above.
Preferable (a.) Worthy to be preferred or chosen before something else; more desirable; as, a preferable scheme.
Preference (n.) That which is preferred; the object of choice or superior favor; as, which is your preference?
Preference (n.) The act of Preferring, or the state of being preferred; the setting of one thing before another; precedence; higher estimation; predilection; choice; also, the power or opportunity of choosing; as, to give him his preference.
Preferential (a.) Giving, indicating, or having a preference or precedence; as, a preferential claim; preferential shares.
Preferment (n.) The act of preferring, or advancing in dignity or office; the state of being advanced; promotion.
Prefigure (v. t.) To show, suggest, or announce, by antecedent types and similitudes; to foreshadow.
Prefix (n.) That which is prefixed; esp., one or more letters or syllables combined or united with the beginning of a word to modify its signification; as, pre- in prefix, con- in conjure.
Prefix (v. t.) To put or fix before, or at the beginning of, another thing; as, to prefix a syllable to a word, or a condition to an agreement.
Prefrontal (a.) Situated in front of the frontal bone, or the frontal region of the skull; ectethmoid, as a certain bone in the nasal capsule of many animals, and certain scales of reptiles and fishes.
Pregnancy (n.) Figuratively: The quality of being heavy with important contents, issue, significance, etc.; unusual consequence or capacity; fertility.
Pregnant (a.) Being with young, as a female; having conceived; great with young; breeding; teeming; gravid; preparing to bring forth.
Pregnant (a.) Heavy with important contents, significance, or issue; full of consequence or results; weighty; as, pregnant replies.
Prehistoric (a.) Of or pertaining to a period before written history begins; as, the prehistoric ages; prehistoric man.
Prehnite (n.) A pale green mineral occurring in crystalline aggregates having a botryoidal or mammillary structure, and rarely in distinct crystals. It is a hydrous silicate of alumina and lime.
Prehnitic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a tetrabasic acid of benzene obtained as a white crystalline substance; -- probably so called from the resemblance of the wartlike crystals to the mammillae on the surface of prehnite.
Prejudge (v. t.) To judge before hearing, or before full and sufficient examination; to decide or sentence by anticipation; to condemn beforehand.
Prejudical (a.) Of or pertaining to the determination of some matter not previously decided; as, a prejudical inquiry or action at law.
Prejudication (n.) A preliminary inquiry and determination about something which belongs to a matter in dispute.
Prejudication (n.) The act of prejudicating, or of judging without due examination of facts and evidence; prejudgment.
Prejudice (n.) A bias on the part of judge, juror, or witness which interferes with fairness of judgment.
Prejudice (n.) To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or by previous bias of the mind; hence, generally, to hurt; to damage; to injure; to impair; as, to prejudice a good cause.
Prelate (n.) A clergyman of a superior order, as an archbishop or a bishop, having authority over the lower clergy; a dignitary of the church.
Prelatist (n.) One who supports of advocates prelacy, or the government of the church by prelates; hence, a high-churchman.
Prelibation (n.) A tasting beforehand, or by anticipation; a foretaste; as, a prelibation of heavenly bliss.
Preliminary (a.) Introductory; previous; preceding the main discourse or business; prefatory; as, preliminary observations to a discourse or book; preliminary articles to a treaty; preliminary measures; preliminary examinations.
Preliminary (n.) That which precedes the main discourse, work, design, or business; something introductory or preparatory; as, the preliminaries to a negotiation or duel; to take one's preliminaries the year before entering college.
Prelude (v. i.) To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance; to serve as prelude.
Prelude (v. t.) To introduce with a previous performance; to play or perform a prelude to; as, to prelude a concert with a lively air.
Prelumbar (a.) Situated immediately in front of the loins; -- applied to the dorsal part of the abdomen.
Prelusive (a.) Of the nature of a prelude; introductory; indicating that something of a like kind is to follow.
Premature (a.) Happening, arriving, existing, or performed before the proper or usual time; adopted too soon; too early; untimely; as, a premature fall of snow; a premature birth; a premature opinion; premature decay.
Prematurity (n.) The quality or state of being premature; early, or untimely, ripeness; as, the prematurity of genius.
Premaxilla (n.) A bone on either side of the middle line between the nose and mouth, forming the anterior part of each half of the upper jawbone; the intermaxilla. In man the premaxillae become united and form the incisor part of the maxillary bone.
Premaxillary (a.) Situated in front of the maxillary bones; pertaining to the premaxillae; intermaxillary.
Premeditate (v. t.) To think on, and revolve in the mind, beforehand; to contrive and design previously; as, to premeditate robbery.
Premeditation (n.) The act of meditating or contriving beforehand; previous deliberation; forethought.
Premise (n.) A piece of real estate; a building and its adjuncts; as, to lease premises; to trespass on another's premises.
Premise (n.) A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition.
Premise (n.) Either of the first two propositions of a syllogism, from which the conclusion is drawn.
Premise (n.) To send before the time, or beforehand; hence, to cause to be before something else; to employ previously.
Premium (n.) A reward or recompense; a prize to be won by being before another, or others, in a competition; reward or prize to be adjudged; a bounty; as, a premium for good behavior or scholarship, for discoveries, etc.
Premium (n.) A sum in advance of, or in addition to, the nominal or par value of anything; as, gold was at a premium; he sold his stock at a premium.
Premium (n.) A sum of money paid to underwriters for insurance, or for undertaking to indemnify for losses of any kind.
Premium (n.) Something offered or given for the loan of money; bonus; -- sometimes synonymous with interest, but generally signifying a sum in addition to the capital.
Premonition (n.) Previous warning, notice, or information; forewarning; as, a premonition of danger.
Premonstratensian (n.) One of a religious order of regular canons founded by St. Norbert at Premontre, in France, in 1119. The members of the order are called also White Canons, Norbertines, and Premonstrants.
Prenotion (n.) A notice or notion which precedes something else in time; previous notion or thought; foreknowledge.
Preoccupancy (n.) The act or right of taking possession before another; as, the preoccupancy of wild land.
Preoccupation (n.) The act of preoccupying, or taking possession of beforehand; the state of being preoccupied; prepossession.
Preoccupy (v. t.) To prepossess; to engage, occupy, or engross the attention of, beforehand; hence, to prejudice.
Preparation (n.) That which makes ready, prepares the way, or introduces; a preparatory act or measure.
Preparation (n.) The state of being prepared or made ready; preparedness; readiness; fitness; as, a nation in good preparation for war.
Preparative (a.) Tending to prepare or make ready; having the power of preparing, qualifying, or fitting; preparatory.
Preparative (n.) That which has the power of preparing, or previously fitting for a purpose; that which prepares.
Preparator (n.) One who prepares beforehand, as subjects for dissection, specimens for preservation in collections, etc.
Preparatory (a.) Preparing the way for anything by previous measures of adaptation; antecedent and adapted to what follows; introductory; preparative; as, a preparatory school; a preparatory condition.
Prepare (v. i.) To make all things ready; to put things in order; as, to prepare for a hostile invasion.
Prepare (v. i.) To make one's self ready; to get ready; to take the necessary previous measures; as, to prepare for death.
Prepare (v. t.) To fit, adapt, or qualify for a particular purpose or condition; to make ready; to put into a state for use or application; as, to prepare ground for seed; to prepare a lesson.
Prepare (v. t.) To procure as suitable or necessary; to get ready; to provide; as, to prepare ammunition and provisions for troops; to prepare ships for defence; to prepare an entertainment.
Prepense (v. t.) Devised, contrived, or planned beforehand; preconceived; premeditated; aforethought; -- usually placed after the word it qualifies; as, malice prepense.
Prepollency (n.) The quality or state of being prepollent; superiority of power; predominance; prevalence.
Preponderancy (n.) The excess of weight of that part of a canon behind the trunnions over that in front of them.
Preponderancy (n.) The quality or state of being preponderant; superiority or excess of weight, influence, or power, etc.; an outweighing.
Preponderant (a.) Preponderating; outweighing; overbalancing; -- used literally and figuratively; as, a preponderant weight; of preponderant importance.
Preponderate (v. i.) To exceed in weight; hence, to incline or descend, as the scale of a balance; figuratively, to exceed in influence, power, etc.; hence; to incline to one side; as, the affirmative side preponderated.
Preponderation (n.) The act or state of preponderating; preponderance; as, a preponderation of reasons.
Prepossess (v. t.) To preoccupy, as the mind or heart, so as to preclude other things; hence, to bias or prejudice; to give a previous inclination to, for or against anything; esp., to induce a favorable opinion beforehand, or at the outset.
Prepossessing (a.) Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive; as, a prepossessing manner.
Prepossession (n.) Preoccupation of the mind by an opinion, or impression, already formed; preconceived opinion; previous impression; bias; -- generally, but not always, used in a favorable sense; as, the prepossessions of childhood.
Preposterous (a.) Contrary to nature or reason; not adapted to the end; utterly and glaringly foolish; unreasonably absurd; perverted.
Prepotency (n.) The capacity, on the part of one of the parents, as compared with the other, to transmit more than his or her own share of characteristics to their offspring.
Prepubis (n.) A bone or cartilage, of some animals, situated in the middle line in front of the pubic bones.
Preraphaelite (a.) Of or pertaining to the style called preraphaelitism; as, a preraphaelite figure; a preraphaelite landscape.
Preraphaelite (n.) One who favors or practices art as it was before Raphael; one who favors or advocates preraphaelitism.
Prerequisite (a.) Previously required; necessary as a preliminary to any proposed effect or end; as, prerequisite conditions of success.
Presage (v. t.) Power to look the future, or the exercise of that power; foreknowledge; presentiment.
Presage (v. t.) Something which foreshows or portends a future event; a prognostic; an omen; an augury.
Presbyterian (a.) Of or pertaining to a presbyter, or to ecclesiastical government by presbyters; relating to those who uphold church government by presbyters; also, to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of a communion so governed.
Presbyterian (n.) One who maintains the validity of ordination and government by presbyters; a member of the Presbyterian church.
Presbyterianism (n.) That form of church government which invests presbyters with all spiritual power, and admits no prelates over them; also, the faith and polity of the Presbyterian churches, taken collectively.
Prescribe (v. i.) To claim by prescription; to claim a title to a thing on the ground of immemorial use and enjoyment, that is, by a custom having the force of law.
Prescribe (v. i.) To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
Prescribe (v. t.) To direct, as a remedy to be used by a patient; as, the doctor prescribed quinine.
Prescribe (v. t.) To lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action; to impose as a peremptory order; to dictate; to appoint; to direct.
Prescription (n.) A direction of a remedy or of remedies for a disease, and the manner of using them; a medical recipe; also, a prescribed remedy.
Prescription (n.) A prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue immemorial use and enjoyment; the right or title acquired by possession had during the time and in the manner fixed by law.
Prescription (n.) The act of prescribing, directing, or dictating; direction; precept; also, that which is prescribed.
Prescriptive (a.) Consisting in, or acquired by, immemorial or long-continued use and enjoyment; as, a prescriptive right of title; pleading the continuance and authority of long custom.
Prescutum (n.) The first of the four pieces composing the dorsal part, or tergum, of a thoracic segment of an insect. It is usually small and inconspicuous.
Presence (n.) Specifically, neighborhood to the person of one of superior of exalted rank; also, presence chamber.
Presence (n.) The place in which one is present; the part of space within one's ken, call, influence, etc.; neighborhood without the intervention of anything that forbids intercourse.
Presence (n.) The state of being present, or of being within sight or call, or at hand; -- opposed to absence.
Presence (n.) The whole of the personal qualities of an individual; person; personality; especially, the person of a superior, as a sovereign.
Present (a.) Being at hand, within reach or call, within certain contemplated limits; -- opposed to absent.
Present (a.) Hence: To endow; to bestow a gift upon; to favor, as with a donation; also, to court by gifts.
Present (a.) Now existing, or in process; begun but not ended; now in view, or under consideration; being at this time; not past or future; as, the present session of Congress; the present state of affairs; the present instance.
Present (a.) Present time; the time being; time in progress now, or at the moment contemplated; as, at this present.
Present (a.) To aim, point, or direct, as a weapon; as, to present a pistol or the point of a sword to the breast of another.
Present (a.) To bring or introduce into the presence of some one, especially of a superior; to introduce formally; to offer for acquaintance; as, to present an envoy to the king; (with the reciprocal pronoun) to come into the presence of a superior.
Present (a.) To exhibit or offer to view or notice; to lay before one's perception or cognizance; to set forth; to present a fine appearance.
Present (a.) To lay before a court as an object of inquiry; to give notice officially of, as a crime of offence; to find or represent judicially; as, a grand jury present certain offenses or nuisances, or whatever they think to be public injuries.
Present (a.) To lay before a public body, or an official, for consideration, as before a legislature, a court of judicature, a corporation, etc.; as, to present a memorial, petition, remonstrance, or indictment.
Present (a.) To make a gift of; to bestow; to give, generally in a formal or ceremonious manner; to grant; to confer.
Present (a.) To nominate to an ecclesiastical benefice; to offer to the bishop or ordinary as a candidate for institution.
Present (a.) To pass over, esp. in a ceremonious manner; to give in charge or possession; to deliver; to make over.
Present (v. i.) To appear at the mouth of the uterus so as to be perceptible to the finger in vaginal examination; -- said of a part of an infant during labor.
Presentation (n.) That which is presented or given; a present; a gift, as, the picture was a presentation.
Presentation (n.) The act of offering a clergyman to the bishop or ordinary for institution in a benefice; the right of presenting a clergyman.
Presentation (n.) The act of presenting, or the state of being presented; a setting forth; an offering; bestowal.
Presentation (n.) The particular position of the child during labor relatively to the passage though which it is to be brought forth; -- specifically designated by the part which first appears at the mouth of the uterus; as, a breech presentation.
Presentative (a.) Capable of being directly known by, or presented to, the mind; intuitive; directly apprehensible, as objects; capable of apprehending, as faculties.
Presentative (a.) Having the right of presentation, or offering a clergyman to the bishop for institution; as, advowsons are presentative, collative, or donative.
Presentee (v. t.) One to whom something is presented; also, one who is presented; specifically (Eccl.), one presented to benefice.
Presentiment (n.) Previous sentiment, conception, or opinion; previous apprehension; especially, an antecedent impression or conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil; foreboding.
Presentive (a.) Bringing a conception or notion directly before the mind; presenting an object to the memory of imagination; -- distinguished from symbolic.
Presently (adv.) At once; without delay; forthwith; also, less definitely, soon; shortly; before long; after a little while; by and by.
Presentment (n.) The official notice (formerly required to be given in court) of the surrender of a copyhold estate.
Preservation (n.) The act or process of preserving, or keeping safe; the state of being preserved, or kept from injury, destruction, or decay; security; safety; as, preservation of life, fruit, game, etc.; a picture in good preservation.
Preservative (a.) Having the power or quality of preserving; tending to preserve, or to keep from injury, decay, etc.
Preservatory (n.) A room, or apparatus, in which perishable things, as fruit, vegetables, etc., can be preserved without decay.
Preserve (n.) That which is preserved; fruit, etc., seasoned and kept by suitable preparation; esp., fruit cooked with sugar; -- commonly in the plural.
Preserve (v. t.) To keep or save from injury or destruction; to guard or defend from evil, harm, danger, etc.; to protect.
Preserve (v. t.) To maintain throughout; to keep intact; as, to preserve appearances; to preserve silence.
Preserve (v. t.) To save from decay by the use of some preservative substance, as sugar, salt, etc.; to season and prepare for remaining in a good state, as fruits, meat, etc.; as, to preserve peaches or grapes.
Preserver (n.) One who, or that which, preserves, saves, or defends, from destruction, injury, or decay; esp., one who saves the life or character of another.
Preside (v. i.) To be set, or to sit, in the place of authority; to occupy the place of president, chairman, moderator, director, etc.; to direct, control, and regulate, as chief officer; as, to preside at a public meeting; to preside over the senate.
Presidency (n.) One of the three great divisions of British India, the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Presidencies, each of which had a council of which its governor was president.
Presidency (n.) The term during which a president holds his office; as, during the presidency of Madison.
President (n.) One who is elected or appointed to preside; a presiding officer, as of a legislative body.
President (n.) The chief executive officer of the government in certain republics; as, the president of the United States.
Presidential (a.) Of or pertaining to a president; as, the presidential chair; a presidential election.
Presphenoid (a.) Situated in front of the sphenoid bone; of or pertaining to the anterior part of the sphenoid bone (i. e., the presphenoid bone).
Press (n.) An apparatus or machine by which any substance or body is pressed, squeezed, stamped, or shaped, or by which an impression of a body is taken; sometimes, the place or building containing a press or presses.
Press (n.) An East Indian insectivore (Tupaia ferruginea). It is arboreal in its habits, and has a bushy tail. The fur is soft, and varies from rusty red to maroon and to brownish black.
Press (n.) The art or business of printing and publishing; hence, printed publications, taken collectively, more especially newspapers or the persons employed in writing for them; as, a free press is a blessing, a licentious press is a curse.
Press (v. i.) To move on with urging and crowding; to make one's way with violence or effort; to bear onward forcibly; to crowd; to throng; to encroach.
Press (v. i.) To urge with vehemence or importunity; to exert a strong or compelling influence; as, an argument presses upon the judgment.
Press (v.) To drive with violence; to hurry; to urge on; to ply hard; as, to press a horse in a race.
Press (v.) To exercise very powerful or irresistible influence upon or over; to constrain; to force; to compel.
Press (v.) To squeeze in or with suitable instruments or apparatus, in order to compact, make dense, or smooth; as, to press cotton bales, paper, etc.; to smooth by ironing; as, to press clothes.
Press (v.) To squeeze, in order to extract the juice or contents of; to squeeze out, or express, from something.
Press (v.) To try to force (something upon some one); to urge or inculcate with earnestness or importunity; to enforce; as, to press divine truth on an audience.
Pressiroster (n.) One of a tribe of wading birds (Pressirostres) including those which have a compressed beak, as the plovers.
Pressman (n.) One of a press gang, who aids in forcing men into the naval service; also, one forced into the service.
Pressurage (n.) The juice of the grape extracted by the press; also, a fee paid for the use of a wine press.
Pressure (n.) A contrasting force or impulse of any kind; as, the pressure of poverty; the pressure of taxes; the pressure of motives on the mind; the pressure of civilization.
Pressure (n.) The act of pressing, or the condition of being pressed; compression; a squeezing; a crushing; as, a pressure of the hand.
Pressure (n.) The action of a force against some obstacle or opposing force; a force in the nature of a thrust, distributed over a surface, often estimated with reference to the upon a unit's area.
Presswork (n.) The art of printing from the surface of type, plates, or engravings in relief, by means of a press; the work so done.
Prest (n.) A duty in money formerly paid by the sheriff on his account in the exchequer, or for money left or remaining in his hands.
Prester (n.) A meteor or exhalation formerly supposed to be thrown from the clouds with such violence that by collision it is set on fire.
Prestige (v.) Weight or influence derived from past success; expectation of future achievements founded on those already accomplished; force or charm derived from acknowledged character or reputation.
Prestimony (n.) A fund for the support of a priest, without the title of a benefice. The patron in the collator.
Presto (a.) Quickly; rapidly; -- a direction for a quick, lively movement or performance; quicker than allegro, or any rate of time except prestissimo.
Presumable (a.) Such as may be presumed or supposed to be true; that seems entitled to belief without direct evidence.
Presume (v. i.) To suppose or assume something to be, or to be true, on grounds deemed valid, though not amounting to proof; to believe by anticipation; to infer; as, we may presume too far.
Presume (v. t.) To assume or take beforehand; esp., to do or undertake without leave or authority previously obtained.
Presume (v. t.) To take or suppose to be true, or entitled to belief, without examination or proof, or on the strength of probability; to take for granted; to infer; to suppose.
Presumption (n.) Ground for presuming; evidence probable, but not conclusive; strong probability; reasonable supposition; as, the presumption is that an event has taken place.
Presumption (n.) That which is presumed or assumed; that which is supposed or believed to be real or true, on evidence that is probable but not conclusive.
Presumption (n.) The act of presuming, or believing upon probable evidence; the act of assuming or taking for granted; belief upon incomplete proof.
Presumption (n.) The act of venturing beyond due beyond due bounds; an overstepping of the bounds of reverence, respect, or courtesy; forward, overconfident, or arrogant opinion or conduct; presumptuousness; arrogance; effrontery.
Presumptive (a.) Based on presumption or probability; grounded on probable evidence; probable; as, presumptive proof.
Presumptuous (a.) Full of presumption; presuming; overconfident or venturesome; audacious; rash; taking liberties unduly; arrogant; insolent; as, a presumptuous commander; presumptuous conduct.
Presuppose (v. t.) To suppose beforehand; to imply as antecedent; to take for granted; to assume; as, creation presupposes a creator.
Presystolic (a.) Preceding the systole or contraction of the heart; as, the presystolic friction sound.
Pretence (n.) That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
Pretend (v. i.) To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep.
Pretend (v. i.) To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to.
Pretend (v. t.) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
Pretend (v. t.) To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.
Pretender (n.) The pretender (Eng. Hist.), the son or the grandson of James II., the heir of the royal family of Stuart, who laid claim to the throne of Great Britain, from which the house was excluded by law.
Pretension (n.) A claim made, whether true or false; a right alleged or assumed; a holding out the appearance of possessing a certain character; as, pretensions to scholarship.
Pretentious (a.) Full of pretension; disposed to lay claim to more than is one's; presuming; assuming.
Preter- () A prefix signifying past, by, beyond, more than; as, preter- mission, a permitting to go by; preternatural, beyond or more than is natural.
Preterist (n.) One whose chief interest is in the past; one who regards the past with most pleasure or favor.
Preterition (n.) A figure by which, in pretending to pass over anything, a summary mention of it is made; as, "I will not say, he is valiant, he is learned, he is just." Called also paraleipsis.
Pretext (n.) Ostensible reason or motive assigned or assumed as a color or cover for the real reason or motive; pretense; disguise.
Pretorian (a.) Of or pertaining to a pretor or magistrate; judicial; exercised by, or belonging to, a pretor; as, pretorian power or authority.
Pretorium (n.) The general's tent in a Roman camp; hence, a council of war, because held in the general's tent.
Pretorium (n.) The official residence of a governor of a province; hence, a place; a splendid country seat.
Pretty (adv.) In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; -- less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather.
Pretty (superl.) Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.
Prevail (v. i.) To be in force; to have effect, power, or influence; to be predominant; to have currency or prevalence; to obtain; as, the practice prevails this day.
Prevail (v. i.) To overcome; to gain the victory or superiority; to gain the advantage; to have the upper hand, or the mastery; to succeed; -- sometimes with over or against.
Prevailing (a.) Predominant; prevalent; most general; as, the prevailing disease of a climate; a prevailing opinion.
Prevalence (n.) The quality or condition of being prevalent; superior strength, force, or influence; general existence, reception, or practice; wide extension; as, the prevalence of virtue, of a fashion, or of a disease; the prevalence of a rumor.
Prevalent (a.) Gaining advantage or superiority; having superior force, influence, or efficacy; prevailing; predominant; successful; victorious.
Prevalent (a.) Most generally received or current; most widely adopted or practiced; also, generally or extensively existing; widespread; prevailing; as, a prevalent observance; prevalent disease.
Prevaricate (v. i.) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
Prevaricate (v. i.) To shift or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course, or from truth; to speak with equivocation; to shuffle; to quibble; as, he prevaricates in his statement.
Prevaricate (v. i.) To undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
Prevarication (n.) A false or deceitful seeming to undertake a thing for the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
Prevarication (n.) The act of prevaricating, shuffling, or quibbling, to evade the truth or the disclosure of truth; a deviation from the truth and fair dealing.
Prevarication (n.) The collusion of an informer with the defendant, for the purpose of making a sham prosecution.
Prevenancy (n.) The act of anticipating another's wishes, desires, etc., in the way of favor or courtesy; hence, civility; obligingness.
Preventer (n.) One who prevents or obstructs; a hinderer; that which hinders; as, a preventer of evils or of disease.
Prevention (n.) Anticipation; esp., anticipation of needs or wishes; hence, precaution; forethought.
Prevention (n.) The act of preventing or hindering; obstruction of action, access, or approach; thwarting.
Preventive (a.) Tending to defeat or hinder; obviating; preventing the access of; as, a medicine preventive of disease.
Preventive (n.) That which prevents, hinders, or obstructs; that which intercepts access; in medicine, something to prevent disease; a prophylactic.
Prevertebral (a.) Situated immediately in front, or on the ventral side, of the vertebral column; prespinal.
Previous (a.) Going before in time; being or happening before something else; antecedent; prior; as, previous arrangements; a previous illness.
Prey (n.) Anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder.
Prey (n.) That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured; hence, a person given up as a victim.
Prian (n.) A fine, white, somewhat friable clay; also, the ore contained in a mixture of clay and pebbles.
Priapism (n.) More or less permanent erection and rigidity of the penis, with or without sexual desire.
Priapulacea (n. pl.) A suborder of Gephyraea, having a cylindrical body with a terminal anal opening, and usually with one or two caudal gills.
Prick (n.) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off.
Prick (n.) To mark the outline of by puncturing; to trace or form by pricking; to mark by punctured dots; as, to prick a pattern for embroidery; to prick the notes of a musical composition.
Prick (n.) To pierce slightly with a sharp-pointed instrument or substance; to make a puncture in, or to make by puncturing; to drive a fine point into; as, to prick one with a pin, needle, etc.; to prick a card; to prick holes in paper.
Prick (n.) To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite; to urge on; -- sometimes with on, or off.
Prick (v. i.) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture; as, a sore finger pricks.
Prick (v.) That which pricks, penetrates, or punctures; a sharp and slender thing; a pointed instrument; a goad; a spur, etc.; a point; a skewer.
Prick (v.) The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse.
Pricking (n.) The mark or trace left by a hare's foot; a prick; also, the act of tracing a hare by its footmarks.
Pricking-up (n.) The first coating of plaster in work of three coats upon laths. Its surface is scratched once to form a better key for the next coat. In the United States called scratch coat.
Prickle (n.) A little prick; a small, sharp point; a fine, sharp process or projection, as from the skin of an animal, the bark of a plant, etc.; a spine.
Prickmadam (n.) A name given to several species of stonecrop, used as ingredients of vermifuge medicines. See Stonecrop.
Pricksong (v. t.) Music written, or noted, with dots or points; -- so called from the points or dots with which it is noted down.
Prickwood (n.) A shrub (Euonymus Europaeus); -- so named from the use of its wood for goads, skewers, and shoe pegs. Called also spindle tree.
Pride (n.) A sense of one's own worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of one; lofty self-respect; noble self-esteem; elevation of character; dignified bearing; proud delight; -- in a good sense.
Pride (n.) Consciousness of power; fullness of animal spirits; mettle; wantonness; hence, lust; sexual desire; esp., an excitement of sexual appetite in a female beast.
Pride (n.) Highest pitch; elevation reached; loftiness; prime; glory; as, to be in the pride of one's life.
Pride (n.) Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing and conduct; insolent exultation; disdain.
Pride (n.) That of which one is proud; that which excites boasting or self-gratulation; the occasion or ground of self-esteem, or of arrogant and presumptuous confidence, as beauty, ornament, noble character, children, etc.
Pride (n.) The quality or state of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank, etc., which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.
Priest (n.) A presbyter; one who belongs to the intermediate order between bishop and deacon. He is authorized to perform all ministerial services except those of ordination and confirmation.
Priest (n.) One who is authorized to consecrate the host and to say Mass; but especially, one of the lowest order possessing this power.
Priest (n.) One who officiates at the altar, or performs the rites of sacrifice; one who acts as a mediator between men and the divinity or the gods in any form of religion; as, Buddhist priests.
Priestcraft (n.) Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or credulity of others.
Priesthood (n.) Priests, taken collectively; the order of men set apart for sacred offices; the order of priests.
Priestly (a.) Of or pertaining to a priest or the priesthood; sacerdotal; befitting or becoming a priest; as, the priestly office; a priestly farewell.
Prigidity (n.) Want of ardor, animation, vivacity, etc.; coldness of affection or of manner; dullness; stiffness and formality; as, frigidity of a reception, of a bow, etc.
Primacy (a.) The office, rank, or character of a primate; the chief ecclesiastical station or dignity in a national church; the office or dignity of an archbishop; as, the primacy of England.
Primacy (a.) The state or condition of being prime or first, as in time, place, rank, etc., hence, excellency; supremacy.
Primarily (adv.) In a primary manner; in the first place; in the first place; in the first intention; originally.
Primary (a.) First in dignity or importance; chief; principal; as, primary planets; a matter of primary importance.
Primary (a.) First in order of time or development or in intention; primitive; fundamental; original.
Primary (a.) First in order, as being preparatory to something higher; as, primary assemblies; primary schools.
Primary (a.) Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by, some quality or property in the first degree; having undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
Primary (n.) One of the large feathers on the distal joint of a bird's wing. See Plumage, and Illust. of Bird.
Primate (a.) The chief ecclesiastic in a national church; one who presides over other bishops in a province; an archbishop.
Primates (n. pl.) The highest order of mammals. It includes man, together with the apes and monkeys. Cf. Pitheci.
Prime (a.) An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system; -- denoted by [']. See 2d Inch, n., 1.
Prime (a.) Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; -- so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1.
Prime (a.) To apply priming to, as a musket or a cannon; to apply a primer to, as a metallic cartridge.
Prime (a.) To lay the first color, coating, or preparation upon (a surface), as in painting; as, to prime a canvas, a wall.
Prime (a.) To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to post; to coach; as, to prime a witness; the boys are primed for mischief.
Prime (n.) The first part; the earliest stage; the beginning or opening, as of the day, the year, etc.; hence, the dawn; the spring.
Prime (v. i.) To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed; -- said of a steam boiler.
Primer (n.) A kind of type, of which there are two species; one, called long primer, intermediate in size between bourgeois and small pica [see Long primer]; the other, called great primer, larger than pica.
Primer (n.) A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading or spelling book for a beginner.
Primer (n.) an instrument or device for priming; esp., a cap, tube, or water containing percussion powder or other compound for igniting a charge of gunpowder.
Primer (n.) Originally, a small prayer book for church service, containing the little office of the Virgin Mary; also, a work of elementary religious instruction.
Primeval (a.) Belonging to the first ages; pristine; original; primitive; primary; as, the primeval innocence of man.
Priming (n.) The first coating of color, size, or the like, laid on canvas, or on a building, or other surface.
Priming (n.) The powder or other combustible used to communicate fire to a charge of gunpowder, as in a firearm.
Primitive (a.) Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress.
Primitive (a.) Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church.
Primitive (n.) An original or primary word; a word not derived from another; -- opposed to derivative.
Primitiveness (n.) The quality or state of being primitive; conformity to primitive style or practice.
Primness (n.) The quality or state of being prim; affected formality or niceness; preciseness; stiffness.
Primogenial (a.) First born, made, or generated; original; primary; elemental; as, primogenial light.
Primogeniture (a.) The state of being the firstborn of the same parents; seniority by birth among children of the same family.
Primordial (a.) Of or pertaining to the lowest beds of the Silurian age, corresponding to the Acadian and Potsdam periods in American geology. It is called also Cambrian, and by many geologists is separated from the Silurian.
Primordial (a.) Originally or earliest formed in the growth of an individual or organ; as, a primordial leaf; a primordial cell.
Primrose (a.) An early flowering plant of the genus Primula (P. vulgaris) closely allied to the cowslip. There are several varieties, as the white-, the red-, the yellow-flowered, etc. Formerly called also primerole, primerolles.
Primulaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to an order of herbaceous plants (Primulaceae), of which the primrose is the type, and the pimpernel, the cyclamen, and the water violet are other examples.
Primus (n.) One of the bishops of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, who presides at the meetings of the bishops, and has certain privileges but no metropolitan authority.
Prince (a.) The chief of any body of men; one at the head of a class or profession; one who is preeminent; as, a merchant prince; a prince of players.
Prince (a.) The one of highest rank; one holding the highest place and authority; a sovereign; a monarch; -- originally applied to either sex, but now rarely applied to a female.
Princely (a.) Of or relating to a prince; regal; royal; of highest rank or authority; as, princely birth, character, fortune, etc.
Princely (a.) Suitable for, or becoming to, a prince; grand; august; munificent; magnificent; as, princely virtues; a princely fortune.
Princesse (a.) A term applied to a lady's long, close-fitting dress made with waist and skirt in one.
Princewood (n.) The wood of two small tropical American trees (Hamelia ventricosa, and Cordia gerascanthoides). It is brownish, veined with lighter color.
Principal (n.) A capital sum of money, placed out at interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; -- so called in distinction from interest or profit.
Principal (n.) A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous.
Principal (n.) In English organs the chief open metallic stop, an octave above the open diapason. On the manual it is four feet long, on the pedal eight feet. In Germany this term corresponds to the English open diapason.
Principal (n.) One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned.
Principal (n.) The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory.
Principal (n.) The construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, -- generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. Also, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
Principality (n.) Sovereignty; supreme power; hence, superiority; predominance; high, or the highest, station.
Principality (n.) The territory or jurisdiction of a prince; or the country which gives title to a prince; as, the principality of Wales.
Principle (n.) A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.
Principle (n.) A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
Principle (n.) Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc.
Principle (v. t.) To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill.
Print (n.) A mark made by impression; a line, character, figure, or indentation, made by the pressure of one thing on another; as, the print of teeth or nails in flesh; the print of the foot in sand or snow.
Print (n.) A photographic copy, or positive picture, on prepared paper, as from a negative, or from a drawing on transparent paper.
Print (n.) A stamp or die for molding or impressing an ornamental design upon an object; as, a butter print.
Print (n.) Printed letters; the impression taken from type, as to excellence, form, size, etc.; as, small print; large print; this line is in print.
Print (v. i.) To use or practice the art of typography; to take impressions of letters, figures, or electrotypes, engraved plates, or the like.
Print (v. t.) To stamp something in or upon; to make an impression or mark upon by pressure, or as by pressure.
Print (v. t.) To take (a copy, a positive picture, etc.), from a negative, a transparent drawing, or the like, by the action of light upon a sensitized surface.
Printer (n.) One who prints; especially, one who prints books, newspapers, engravings, etc., a compositor; a typesetter; a pressman.
Prior (a.) Preceding in the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; previous; as, a prior discovery; prior obligation; -- used elliptically in cases like the following: he lived alone [in the time] prior to his marriage.
Priority (a.) The quality or state of being prior or antecedent in time, or of preceding something else; as, priority of application.
Priory (n.) A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2.
Prisage (n.) A right belonging to the crown of England, of taking two tuns of wine from every ship importing twenty tuns or more, -- one before and one behind the mast. By charter of Edward I. butlerage was substituted for this.
Prisage (n.) The share of merchandise taken as lawful prize at sea which belongs to the king or admiral.
Priscillianist (n.) A follower of Priscillian, bishop of Avila in Spain, in the fourth century, who mixed various elements of Gnosticism and Manicheism with Christianity.
Prism (n.) A solid whose bases or ends are any similar, equal, and parallel plane figures, and whose sides are parallelograms.
Prism (n.) A transparent body, with usually three rectangular plane faces or sides, and two equal and parallel triangular ends or bases; -- used in experiments on refraction, dispersion, etc.
Prison (n.) A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o/ confinement, restraint, or safe custody.
Prison (n.) Specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority.
Prison (v. t.) To imprison; to shut up in, or as in, a prison; to confine; to restrain from liberty.
Prisoner (n.) A person under arrest, or in custody, whether in prison or not; a person held in involuntary restraint; a captive; as, a prisoner at the bar of a court.
Pristine (a.) Belonging to the earliest period or state; original; primitive; primeval; as, the pristine state of innocence; the pristine manners of a people; pristine vigor.
Pritchel (n.) A tool employed by blacksmiths for punching or enlarging the nail holes in a horseshoe.
Private (a.) Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or employment; as, a private citizen; private life.
Private (a.) Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.
Private (a.) Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary; as, a private room or apartment; private prayer.
Privateer (n.) An armed private vessel which bears the commission of the sovereign power to cruise against the enemy. See Letters of marque, under Marque.
Privately (adv.) In a manner affecting an individual; personally not officially; as, he is not privately benefited.
Privation (n.) The act of depriving, or taking away; hence, the depriving of rank or office; degradation in rank; deprivation.
Privation (n.) The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations.
Privative (a.) Implying privation or negation; giving a negative force to a word; as, alpha privative; privative particles; -- applied to such prefixes and suffixes as a- (Gr. /), un-, non-, -less.
Privative (n.) A term indicating the absence of any quality which might be naturally or rationally expected; -- called also privative term.
Privet (n.) An ornamental European shrub (Ligustrum vulgare), much used in hedges; -- called also prim.
Privilege (n.) A peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity not enjoyed by others or by all; special enjoyment of a good, or exemption from an evil or burden; a prerogative; advantage; franchise.
Privilege (v. t.) To bring or put into a condition of privilege or exemption from evil or danger; to exempt; to deliver.
Privilege (v. t.) To grant some particular right or exemption to; to invest with a peculiar right or immunity; to authorize; as, to privilege representatives from arrest.
Privity (a.) A connection, or bond of union, between parties, as to some particular transaction; mutual or successive relationship to the same rights of property.
Privity (a.) Private knowledge; joint knowledge with another of a private concern; cognizance implying consent or concurrence.
Privy (a.) Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse.
Prize (n.) An honor or reward striven for in a competitive contest; anything offered to be competed for, or as an inducement to, or reward of, effort.
Prize (n.) Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; esp., property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.
Prize (n.) That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
Prizing (n.) The application of a lever to move any weighty body, as a cask, anchor, cannon, car, etc. See Prize, n., 5.
Pro thyalosoma (n.) The investing portion, or spherical envelope, surrounding the eccentric germinal spot of the germinal vesicle.
Probabiliorist (n.) One who holds, in opposition to the probabilists, that a man is bound to do that which is most probably right.
Probabilist (n.) One who maintains that a man may do that which has a probability of being right, or which is inculcated by teachers of authority, although other opinions may seem to him still more probable.
Probabilist (n.) One who maintains that certainty is impossible, and that probability alone is to govern our faith and actions.
Probability (n.) Likelihood of the occurrence of any event in the doctrine of chances, or the ratio of the number of favorable chances to the whole number of chances, favorable and unfavorable. See 1st Chance, n., 5.
Probability (n.) That which is or appears probable; anything that has the appearance of reality or truth.
Probability (n.) The quality or state of being probable; appearance of reality or truth; reasonable ground of presumption; likelihood.
Probable (a.) Having more evidence for than against; supported by evidence which inclines the mind to believe, but leaves some room for doubt; likely.
Probable (a.) Rendering probable; supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating; as, probable evidence; probable presumption.
Probang (n.) A slender elastic rod, as of whalebone, with a sponge on the end, for removing obstructions from the esophagus, etc.
Probate (v. t.) To obtain the official approval of, as of an instrument purporting to be the last will and testament; as, the executor has probated the will.
Probation (n.) Any proceeding designed to ascertain truth, to determine character, qualification, etc.; examination; trial; as, to engage a person on probation.
Probation (n.) Moral trial; the state of man in the present life, in which he has the opportunity of proving his character, and becoming qualified for a happier state.
Probation (n.) The novitiate which a person must pass in a convent, to probe his or her virtue and ability to bear the severities of the rule.
Probation (n.) The trial of a ministerial candidate's qualifications prior to his ordination, or to his settlement as a pastor.
Probationer (n.) A student in divinity, who, having received certificates of good morals and qualifications from his university, is admitted to several trials by a presbytery, and, on acquitting himself well, is licensed to preach.
Probative (a.) Serving for trial or proof; probationary; as, probative judgments; probative evidence.
Probator (n.) One who, when indicted for crime, confessed it, and accused others, his accomplices, in order to obtain pardon; a state's evidence.
Probe (n.) An instrument for examining the depth or other circumstances of a wound, ulcer, or cavity, or the direction of a sinus, of for exploring for bullets, for stones in the bladder, etc.
Problem (n.) A question proposed for solution; a matter stated for examination or proof; hence, a matter difficult of solution or settlement; a doubtful case; a question involving doubt.
Problem (n.) Anything which is required to be done; as, in geometry, to bisect a line, to draw a perpendicular; or, in algebra, to find an unknown quantity.
Problematical (a.) Having the nature of a problem; not shown in fact; questionable; uncertain; unsettled; doubtful.
Proboscidifera (n. pl.) A subdivision of the taenioglossate gastropods, including the fig-shells (Pyrula), the helmet shells (Cassis), the tritons, and allied genera.
Proboscidifera (n. pl.) An extensive division of pectinibranchiate gastropods, including those that have a long retractile proboscis, with the mouth at the end, as the cones, whelks, tritons, and cowries. See Illust. of Gastropoda, and of Winkle.
Proboscis (n.) A hollow organ or tube attached to the head, or connected with the mouth, of various animals, and generally used in taking food or drink; a snout; a trunk.
Proboscis (n.) By extension, applied to various tubelike mouth organs of the lower animals that can be everted or protruded.
Procambium (n.) The young tissue of a fibrovascular bundle before its component cells have begun to be differentiated.
Procedendo (n.) A writ by which a cause which has been removed on insufficient grounds from an inferior to a superior court by certiorari, or otherwise, is sent down again to the same court, to be proceeded in there.
Procedendo (n.) A writ by which the commission of the justice of the peace is revived, after having been suspended.
Procedendo (n.) In English practice, a writ issuing out of chancery in cases where the judges of subordinate courts delay giving judgment, commanding them to proceed to judgment.
Procedure (n.) A step taken; an act performed; a proceeding; the steps taken in an action or other legal proceeding.
Procedure (n.) The act or manner of proceeding or moving forward; progress; process; operation; conduct.
Proceed (v. i.) To go on in an orderly or regulated manner; to begin and carry on a series of acts or measures; to act by method; to prosecute a design.
Proceed (v. i.) To issue or come forth as from a source or origin; to come from; as, light proceeds from the sun.
Proceed (v. i.) To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to continue or renew motion begun; as, to proceed on a journey.
Proceed (v. i.) To pass from one point, topic, or stage, to another; as, to proceed with a story or argument.
Proceeds (n. pl.) That which comes forth or results; effect; yield; issue; product; sum accruing from a sale, etc.
Proceleusmatic (a.) Consisting of four short syllables; composed of feet of four short syllables each.
Procellarian (n.) One of a family of oceanic birds (Procellaridae) including the petrels, fulmars, and shearwaters. They are often seen in great abundance in stormy weather.
Procession (n.) An orderly and ceremonial progress of persons, either from the sacristy to the choir, or from the choir around the church, within or without.
Procession (n.) That which is moving onward in an orderly, stately, or solemn manner; a train of persons advancing in order; a ceremonious train; a retinue; as, a procession of mourners; the Lord Mayor's procession.
Procession (n.) The act of proceeding, moving on, advancing, or issuing; regular, orderly, or ceremonious progress; continuous course.
Processional (n.) A hymn, or other selection, sung during a church procession; as, the processional was the 202d hymn.
Processionary (a.) Pertaining to a procession; consisting in processions; as, processionary service.
Processioning (n.) A proceeding prescribed by statute for ascertaining and fixing the boundaries of land. See 2d Procession.
Prochordal (a.) Situated in front of the notochord; -- applied especially to parts of the cartilaginous rudiments in the base of the skull.
Prochronism (n.) The dating of an event before the time it happened; an antedating; -- opposed to metachronism.
Proclaim (v. t.) To make known by public announcement; to give wide publicity to; to publish abroad; to promulgate; to declare; as, to proclaim war or peace.
Proclamation (n.) That which is proclaimed, publicly announced, or officially declared; a published ordinance; as, the proclamation of a king; a Thanksgiving proclamation.
Proclitic (a.) Leaning forward; -- said of certain monosyllabic words which are so closely attached to the following word as not to have a separate accent.
Procoelia (n. pl.) A division of Crocodilia, including the true crocodiles and alligators, in which the dorsal vertebrae are concave in front.
Procoelian (a.) Concave in front; as, procoelian vertebrae, which have the anterior end of the centra concave and the posterior convex.
Proconsul (n.) An officer who discharged the duties of a consul without being himself consul; a governor of, or a military commander in, a province. He was usually one who had previously been consul.
Procrastinate (v. t.) To put off till to-morrow, or from day to day; to defer; to postpone; to delay; as, to procrastinate repentance.
Procrastination (n.) The act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off to a future time; delay; dilatoriness.
Procris (n.) Any species of small moths of the genus Procris. The larvae of some species injure the grapevine by feeding in groups upon the leaves.
Procrustean (a.) Of or pertaining to Procrustes, or the mode of torture practiced by him; producing conformity by violent means; as, the Procrustean treatment; a Procrustean limit. See Procrustes.
Procrustes (n.) A celebrated legendary highwayman of Attica, who tied his victims upon an iron bed, and, as the case required, either stretched or cut of their legs to adapt them to its length; -- whence the metaphorical phrase, the bed of Procrustes.
Proctocele (n.) Inversion and prolapse of the mucous coat of the rectum, from relaxation of the sphincter, with more or less swelling; prolapsus ani.
Proctor (n.) A person appointed to collect alms for those who could not go out to beg for themselves, as lepers, the bedridden, etc.; hence a beggar.
Proctor (n.) An officer employed in admiralty and ecclesiastical causes. He answers to an attorney at common law, or to a solicitor in equity.
Proctor (n.) An officer in a university or college whose duty it is to enforce obedience to the laws of the institution.
Proctorage (n.) Management by a proctor, or as by a proctor; hence, control; superintendence; -- in contempt.
Proctucha (n. pl.) A division of Turbellaria including those that have an intestine terminating posteriorly.
Procumbent (a.) Lying on the ground, but without putting forth roots; trailing; prostrate; as, a procumbent stem.
Procuration (n.) A sum of money paid formerly to the bishop or archdeacon, now to the ecclesiastical commissioners, by an incumbent, as a commutation for entertainment at the time of visitation; -- called also proxy.
Procuration (n.) The instrument by which a person is empowered to transact the affairs of another; a proxy.
Procurator (n.) A governor of a province under the emperors; also, one who had charge of the imperial revenues in a province; as, the procurator of Judea.
Procurator (n.) One who manages another's affairs, either generally or in a special matter; an agent; a proctor.
Procure (v. t.) To bring into possession; to cause to accrue to, or to come into possession of; to acquire or provide for one's self or for another; to gain; to get; to obtain by any means, as by purchase or loan.
Procurer (n.) One who procures, or obtains; one who, or that which, brings on, or causes to be done, esp. by corrupt means.
Prod (v. t.) To thrust some pointed instrument into; to prick with something sharp; as, to prod a soldier with a bayonet; to prod oxen; hence, to goad, to incite, to worry; as, to prod a student.
Prodigal (a.) Given to extravagant expenditure; expending money or other things without necessity; recklessly or viciously profuse; lavish; wasteful; not frugal or economical; as, a prodigal man; the prodigal son; prodigal giving; prodigal expenses.
Prodigal (n.) One who expends money extravagantly, viciously, or without necessity; one that is profuse or lavish in any expenditure; a waster; a spendthrift.
Prodigality (n.) Extravagance in expenditure, particularly of money; excessive liberality; profusion; waste; -- opposed to frugality, economy, and parsimony.
Prodigally (adv.) In a prodigal manner; with profusion of expense; extravagantly; wasteful; profusely; lavishly; as, an estate prodigally dissipated.
Prodigious (a.) Extraordinary in bulk, extent, quantity, or degree; very great; vast; huge; immense; as, a prodigious mountain; a prodigious creature; a prodigious blunder.
Prodigiousness (n.) The quality or state of being prodigious; the state of having qualities that excite wonder or astonishment; enormousness; vastness.
Prodigy (n.) Anything so extraordinary as to excite wonder or astonishment; a marvel; as, a prodigy of learning.
Prodigy (n.) Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies.
Produce (n.) That which is produced, brought forth, or yielded; product; yield; proceeds; result of labor, especially of agricultural labors
Produce (v. i.) To yield or furnish appropriate offspring, crops, effects, consequences, or results.
Produce (v. t.) To bring forth, as young, or as a natural product or growth; to give birth to; to bear; to generate; to propagate; to yield; to furnish; as, the earth produces grass; trees produce fruit; the clouds produce rain.
Produce (v. t.) To bring forward; to lead forth; to offer to view or notice; to exhibit; to show; as, to produce a witness or evidence in court.
Produce (v. t.) To cause to be or to happen; to originate, as an effect or result; to bring about; as, disease produces pain; vice produces misery.
Produce (v. t.) To draw out; to extend; to lengthen; to prolong; as, to produce a man's life to threescore.
Produce (v. t.) To extend; -- applied to a line, surface, or solid; as, to produce a side of a triangle.
Produce (v. t.) To give being or form to; to manufacture; to make; as, a manufacturer produces excellent wares.
Produce (v. t.) To yield or furnish; to gain; as, money at interest produces an income; capital produces profit.
Producer (n.) One who grows agricultural products, or manufactures crude materials into articles of use.
Producible (a.) Capable of being produced, brought forward, brought forth, generated, made, or extended.
Product (n.) Anything that is produced, whether as the result of generation, growth, labor, or thought, or by the operation of involuntary causes; as, the products of the season, or of the farm; the products of manufactures; the products of the brain.
Production (n.) That which is produced, yielded, or made, whether naturally, or by the application of intelligence and labor; as, the productions of the earth; the productions of handicraft; the productions of intellect or genius.
Production (n.) The act or process or producing, bringing forth, or exhibiting to view; as, the production of commodities, of a witness.
Productive (a.) Bringing into being; causing to exist; producing; originative; as, an age productive of great men; a spirit productive of heroic achievements.
Productive (a.) Having the quality or power of producing; yielding or furnishing results; as, productive soil; productive enterprises; productive labor, that which increases the number or amount of products.
Proembryo (n.) The primary growth from the spore in certain cryptogamous plants; as, the proembryo, or protonema, of mosses.
Proembryo (n.) The series of cells formed in the ovule of a flowering plant after fertilization, but before the formation of the embryo.
Profanation (v. t.) The act of treating with abuse or disrespect, or with undue publicity, or lack of delicacy.
Profane (a.) Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue.
Profane (a.) Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity; unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other than sacred; secular; -- opposed to sacred, religious, or inspired; as, a profane place.
Profane (a.) To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile.
Profane (a.) To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God.
Profane (a.) Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; irreverent; impious.
Profaner (n.) One who treats sacred things with irreverence, or defiles what is holy; one who uses profane language.
Profanity (n.) The quality or state of being profane; profaneness; irreverence; esp., the use of profane language; blasphemy.
Profert (n.) The exhibition or production of a record or paper in open court, or an allegation that it is in court.
Profess (v. t.) To make open declaration of, as of one's knowledge, belief, action, etc.; to avow or acknowledge; to confess publicly; to own or admit freely.
Profess (v. t.) To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put on or present an appearance of.
Profession (v.) That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere.
Profession (v.) The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith.
Profession (v.) The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him.
Professional (a.) Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession; as, professional knowledge; professional conduct.
Professional (n.) A person who prosecutes anything professionally, or for a livelihood, and not in the character of an amateur; a professional worker.
Professionalism (n.) The following of a profession, sport, etc., as an occupation; -- opposed to amateurism.
Professionally (adv.) In a professional manner or capacity; by profession or calling; in the exercise of one's profession; one employed professionally.
Professor (n.) One who professed, or makes open declaration of, his sentiments or opinions; especially, one who makes a public avowal of his belief in the Scriptures and his faith in Christ, and thus unites himself to the visible church.
Professorial (a.) Of or pertaining to a professor; as, the professional chair; professional interest.
Proffer (n.) An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender; as, proffers of peace or friendship.
Proffer (v. t.) To offer for acceptance; to propose to give; to make a tender of; as, to proffer a gift; to proffer services; to proffer friendship.
Proficiency (n.) The quality of state of being proficient; advance in the acquisition of any art, science, or knowledge; progression in knowledge; improvement; adeptness; as, to acquire proficiency in music.
Proficient (a.) Well advanced in any branch of knowledge or skill; possessed of considerable acquirements; well-skilled; versed; adept,
Proficient (n.) One who has made considerable advances in any business, art, science, or branch of learning; an expert; an adept; as, proficient in a trade; a proficient in mathematics, music, etc.
Profile (n.) A drawing exhibiting a vertical section of the ground along a surveyed line, or graded work, as of a railway, showing elevations, depressions, grades, etc.
Profile (n.) A section of any member, made at right angles with its main lines, showing the exact shape of moldings and the like.
Profiling (n.) In the construction of fieldworks, the erection at proper intervals of wooden profiles, to show to the workmen the sectional form of the parapets at those points.
Profit (n.) Accession of good; valuable results; useful consequences; benefit; avail; gain; as, an office of profit,
Profit (n.) Acquisition beyond expenditure; excess of value received for producing, keeping, or selling, over cost; hence, pecuniary gain in any transaction or occupation; emolument; as, a profit on the sale of goods.
Profit (n.) To be of service to; to be good to; to help on; to benefit; to advantage; to avail; to aid; as, truth profits all men.
Profitable (a.) Yielding or bringing profit or gain; gainful; lucrative; useful; helpful; advantageous; beneficial; as, a profitable trade; profitable business; a profitable study or profession.
Profligacy (a.) The quality of state of being profligate; a profligate or very vicious course of life; a state of being abandoned in moral principle and in vice; dissoluteness.
Profligate (a.) Broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious; dissolute; as, profligate man or wretch.
Profound (a.) Bending low, exhibiting or expressing deep humility; lowly; submissive; as, a profound bow.
Profound (a.) Characterized by intensity; deeply felt; pervading; overmastering; far-reaching; strongly impressed; as, a profound sleep.
Profound (a.) Intellectually deep; entering far into subjects; reaching to the bottom of a matter, or of a branch of learning; thorough; as, a profound investigation or treatise; a profound scholar; profound wisdom.
Profuse (a.) Pouring forth with fullness or exuberance; bountiful; exceedingly liberal; giving without stint; as, a profuse government; profuse hospitality.
Prog (v. i.) To wander about and beg; to seek food or other supplies by low arts; to seek for advantage by mean shift or tricks.
Progeny (n.) Descendants of the human kind, or offspring of other animals; children; offspring; race, lineage.
Proglottis (n.) One of the free, or nearly free, segments of a tapeworm. It contains both male and female reproductive organs, and is capable of a brief independent existence.
Prognathous (a.) Having the jaws projecting beyond the upper part of the face; -- opposed to orthognathous. See Gnathic index, under Gnathic.
Progne (n.) An American butterfly (Polygonia, / Vanessa, Progne). It is orange and black above, grayish beneath, with an L-shaped silver mark on the hind wings. Called also gray comma.
Prognosis (n.) The act or art of foretelling the course and termination of a disease; also, the outlook afforded by this act of judgment; as, the prognosis of hydrophobia is bad.
Prognostic (a.) Indicating something future by signs or symptoms; foreshowing; aiding in prognosis; as, the prognostic symptoms of a disease; prognostic signs.
Prognostic (a.) That which prognosticates; a sign by which a future event may be known or foretold; an indication; a sign or omen; hence, a foretelling; a prediction.
Prognosticate (v. t.) To indicate as future; to foretell from signs or symptoms; to prophesy; to foreshow; to predict; as, to prognosticate evil.
Prognostication (n.) The act of foreshowing or foretelling something future by present signs; prediction.
Prognosticator (n.) One who prognosticates; a foreknower or foreteller of a future course or event by present signs.
Programma (n.) An edict published for public information; an official bulletin; a public proclamation.
Programma (n.) Any law, which, after it had passed the Athenian senate, was fixed on a tablet for public inspection previously to its being proposed to the general assembly of the people.
Progress (n.) A journey of state; a circuit; especially, one made by a sovereign through parts of his own dominions.
Progress (n.) Toward ideal completeness or perfection in respect of quality or condition; -- applied to individuals, communities, or the race; as, social, moral, religious, or political progress.
Progress (v. i.) To make progress; to move forward in space; to continue onward in course; to proceed; to advance; to go on; as, railroads are progressing.
Progression (n.) A regular succession of tones or chords; the movement of the parts in harmony; the order of the modulations in a piece from key to key.
Progression (n.) Regular or proportional advance in increase or decrease of numbers; continued proportion, arithmetical, geometrical, or harmonic.
Progressionist (n.) One who maintains the doctrine of progression in organic forms; -- opposed to uniformitarian.
Progressive (a.) Moving forward; proceeding onward; advancing; evincing progress; increasing; as, progressive motion or course; -- opposed to retrograde.
Prohibition (n.) The act of prohibiting; a declaration or injunction forbidding some action; interdict.
Prohibitionist (n.) One who favors prohibitory duties on foreign goods in commerce; a protectionist.
Prohibitionist (n.) One who favors the prohibition of the sale (or of the sale and manufacture) of alcoholic liquors as beverages.
Prohibitory (a.) Tending to prohibit, forbid, or exclude; implying prohibition; forbidding; as, a prohibitory law; a prohibitory price.
Project (n.) That which is projected or designed; something intended or devised; a scheme; a design; a plan.
Project (v. i.) To shoot forward; to extend beyond something else; to be prominent; to jut; as, the cornice projects; branches project from the tree.
Project (v. t.) To cast forward or revolve in the mind; to contrive; to devise; to scheme; as, to project a plan.
Project (v. t.) To draw or exhibit, as the form of anything; to delineate; as, to project a sphere, a map, an ellipse, and the like; -- sometimes with on, upon, into, etc.; as, to project a line or point upon a plane. See Projection, 4.
Projectile (a.) Caused or imparted by impulse or projection; impelled forward; as, projectile motion.
Projectile (n.) A body projected, or impelled forward, by force; especially, a missile adapted to be shot from a firearm.
Projectile (n.) A part of mechanics which treats of the motion, range, time of flight, etc., of bodies thrown or driven through the air by an impelling force.
Projection (n.) A jutting out; also, a part jutting out, as of a building; an extension beyond something else.
Projection (n.) The act of scheming or planning; also, that which is planned; contrivance; design; plan.
Projector (n.) One who projects a scheme or design; hence, one who forms fanciful or chimerical schemes.
Prolapse (n.) The falling down of a part through the orifice with which it is naturally connected, especially of the uterus or the rectum.
Prolate (a.) Stretched out; extended; especially, elongated in the direction of a line joining the poles; as, a prolate spheroid; -- opposed to oblate.
Prolation (n.) A mediaeval method of determining of the proportionate duration of semibreves and minims.
Proleg (n.) One of the fleshy legs found on the abdominal segments of the larvae of Lepidoptera, sawflies, and some other insects. Those of Lepidoptera have a circle of hooks. Called also proped, propleg, and falseleg.
Prolegomenon (n.) A preliminary remark or observation; an introductory discourse prefixed to a book or treatise.
Prolepsis (n.) The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation, or to denote the result, of the action of the verb; as, to strike one dumb.
Proleptical (a.) Anticipating the usual time; -- applied to a periodical disease whose paroxysms return at an earlier hour at every repetition.
Proletaire (n.) One of the common people; a low person; also, the common people as a class or estate in a country.
Proletarian (a.) Of or pertaining to the proletaries; belonging to the commonalty; hence, mean; vile; vulgar.
Proletary (n.) A citizen of the lowest class, who served the state, not with property, but only by having children; hence, a common person.
Proliferation (n.) The production of numerous zooids by budding, especially when buds arise from other buds in succession.
Proliferous (a.) Bearing offspring; -- applied to a flower from within which another is produced, or to a branch or frond from which another rises, or to a plant which is reproduced by buds or gemmae.
Prolific (a.) Serving to produce; fruitful of results; active; as, a prolific brain; a controversy prolific of evil.
Prolification (n.) Reproduction by the growth of a plant, or part of a plant, directly from an older one, or by gemmae.
Prolix (a.) Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; minute in narration or argument; excessively particular in detail; -- rarely used except with reference to discourse written or spoken; as, a prolix oration; a prolix poem; a prolix sermon.
Prolix (a.) Indulging in protracted discourse; tedious; wearisome; -- applied to a speaker or writer.
Prolixity (n.) The quality or state of being prolix; great length; minute detail; as, prolixity in discourses and writings.
Prologue (n.) The preface or introduction to a discourse, poem, or performance; as, the prologue of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales;" esp., a discourse or poem spoken before a dramatic performance
Prolong (a.) To lengthen in time; to extend the duration of; to draw out; to continue; as, to prolong one's days.
Prolonge (n.) A rope with a hook and a toggle, sometimes used to drag a gun carriage or to lash it to the limber, and for various other purposes.
Prolusion (n.) A trial before the principal performance; a prelude; hence, an introductory essay or exercise.
Promerops (n.) Any one of several species of very brilliant birds belonging to Promerops, Epimarchus, and allied genera, closely related to the paradise birds, and mostly native of New Guinea. They have a long curved beak and a long graduated tail.
Promethea (n.) A large American bombycid moth (Callosamia promethea). Its larva feeds on the sassafras, wild cherry, and other trees, and suspends its cocoon from a branch by a silken band.
Prominency (n.) The quality or state of being prominent; a standing out from something; conspicuousness.
Prominent (a.) Hence; Distinctly manifest; likely to attract attention from its size or position; conspicuous; as, a prominent feature of the face; a prominent building.
Prominent (a.) Standing out, or projecting, beyond the line surface of something; jutting; protuberant; in high relief; as, a prominent figure on a vase.
Promiscuous (a.) Consisting of individuals united in a body or mass without order; mingled; confused; undistinguished; as, a promiscuous crowd or mass.
Promiscuous (a.) Distributed or applied without order or discrimination; not restricted to an individual; common; indiscriminate; as, promiscuous love or intercourse.
Promise (a.) That which causes hope, expectation, or assurance; especially, that which affords expectation of future distinction; as, a youth of great promise.
Promise (v. i.) To afford hopes or expectation; to give ground to expect good; rarely, to give reason to expect evil.
Promise (v. t.) To afford reason to expect; to cause hope or assurance of; as, the clouds promise rain.
Promise (v. t.) To engage to do, give, make, or to refrain from doing, giving, or making, or the like; to covenant; to engage; as, to promise a visit; to promise a cessation of hostilities; to promise the payment of money.
Promise (v. t.) To make declaration of or give assurance of, as some benefit to be conferred; to pledge or engage to bestow; as, the proprietors promised large tracts of land; the city promised a reward.
Promising (a.) Making a promise or promises; affording hope or assurance; as, promising person; a promising day.
Promontory (n.) A high point of land or rock projecting into the sea beyond the line of coast; a headland; a high cape.
Promontory (n.) A projecting part. Especially: (a) The projecting angle of the ventral side of the sacrum where it joins the last lumbar vertebra. (b) A prominence on the inner wall of the tympanum of the ear.
Promorphology (n.) Crystallography of organic forms; -- a division of morphology created by Haeckel. It is essentially stereometric, and relates to a mathematical conception of organic forms. See Tectology.
Promote (v. t.) To contribute to the growth, enlargement, or prosperity of (any process or thing that is in course); to forward; to further; to encourage; to advance; to excite; as, to promote learning; to promote disorder; to promote a business venture.
Promote (v. t.) To exalt in station, rank, or honor; to elevate; to raise; to prefer; to advance; as, to promote an officer.
Promoter (n.) One who, or that which, forwards, advances, or promotes; an encourager; as, a promoter of charity or philosophy.
Promoter (n.) Specifically, one who sets on foot, and takes the preliminary steps in, a scheme for the organization of a corporation, a joint-stock company, or the like.
Promottion (n.) The act of promoting, advancing, or encouraging; the act of exalting in rank or honor; also, the condition of being advanced, encouraged, or exalted in honor; preferment.
Prompt (n.) A limit of time given for payment of an account for produce purchased, this limit varying with different goods. See Prompt-note.
Prompt-note (n.) A memorandum of a sale, and time when payment is due, given to the purchaser at a sale of goods.
Prompter (n.) One who reminds another, as an actor or an orator, of the words to be spoken next; specifically, one employed for this purpose in a theater.
Promptitude (a.) The quality of being prompt; quickness of decision and action when occasion demands; alacrity; as, promptitude in obedience.
Promt (superl.) Done or rendered quickly, readily, or immediately; given without delay or hesitation; -- said of conduct; as, prompt assistance.
Promt (superl.) Ready and quick to act as occasion demands; meeting requirements readily; not slow, dilatory, or hesitating in decision or action; responding on the instant; immediate; as, prompt in obedience or compliance; -- said of persons.
Promulgate (v. t.) To make known by open declaration, as laws, decrees, or tidings; to publish; as, to promulgate the secrets of a council.
Promulgation (n.) The act of promulgating; publication; open declaration; as, the promulgation of the gospel.
Prone (a.) Inclined; propense; disposed; -- applied to the mind or affections, usually in an ill sense. Followed by to.
Proneness (n.) Inclination of mind, heart, or temper; propension; disposition; as, proneness to self-gratification.
Proneness (n.) The quality or state of being prone, or of bending downward; as, the proneness of beasts is opposed to the erectness of man.
Pronominalize (v. t.) To give the effect of a pronoun to; as, to pronominalize the substantives person, people, etc.
Pronoun (n.) A word used instead of a noun or name, to avoid the repetition of it. The personal pronouns in English are I, thou or you, he, she, it, we, ye, and they.
Pronounce (v. t.) To declare or affirm; as, he pronounced the book to be a libel; he pronounced the act to be a fraud.
Pronounce (v. t.) To speak or utter rhetorically; to deliver; to recite; as, to pronounce an oration.
Pronounce (v. t.) To utter articulately; to speak out or distinctly; to utter, as words or syllables; to speak with the proper sound and accent as, adults rarely learn to pronounce a foreign language correctly.
Pronounce (v. t.) To utter officially or solemnly; to deliver, as a decree or sentence; as, to pronounce sentence of death.
Pronucleus (n.) One of the two bodies or nuclei (called male and female pronuclei) which unite to form the first segmentation nucleus of an impregnated ovum.
Pronunciation (n.) The act of uttering with articulation; the act of giving the proper sound and accent; utterance; as, the pronunciation of syllables of words; distinct or indistinct pronunciation.
Pronunciation (n.) The art of manner of uttering a discourse publicly with propriety and gracefulness; -- now called delivery.
Proof (n.) A trial impression, as from type, taken for correction or examination; -- called also proof sheet.
Proof (n.) Any effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
Proof (n.) That degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief; a test by facts or arguments that induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration.
Proof (n.) The quality or state of having been proved or tried; firmness or hardness that resists impression, or does not yield to force; impenetrability of physical bodies.
Proof (v. t.) Armor of excellent or tried quality, and deemed impenetrable; properly, armor of proof.
Proostracum (n.) The anterior prolongation of the guard of the phragmocone of belemnites and allied fossil cephalopods, whether horny or calcareous. See Illust. of Phragmocone.
Prootic (a.) In front of the auditory capsule; -- applied especially to a bone, or center of ossification, in the periotic capsule.
Prop (v. t.) To support, or prevent from falling, by placing something under or against; as, to prop up a fence or an old building; (Fig.) to sustain; to maintain; as, to prop a declining state.
Prop (v.) That which sustains an incumbent weight; that on which anything rests or leans for support; a support; a stay; as, a prop for a building.
Propaedeutical (a.) Of, pertaining to, or conveying, preliminary instruction; introductory to any art or science; instructing beforehand.
Propaedeutics (n.) The preliminary learning connected with any art or science; preparatory instruction.
Propagable (a.) Capable of being propagated, or of being continued or multiplied by natural generation or production.
Propagable (a.) Capable of being spread or extended by any means; -- said of tenets, doctrines, or principles.
Propaganda (n.) A congregation of cardinals, established in 1622, charged with the management of missions.
Propaganda (n.) Hence, any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles.
Propaganda (n.) The college of the Propaganda, instituted by Urban VIII. (1623-1644) to educate priests for missions in all parts of the world.
Propagandism (n.) The art or practice of propagating tenets or principles; zeal in propagating one's opinions.
Propagate (v. i.) To have young or issue; to be produced or multiplied by generation, or by new shoots or plants; as, rabbits propagate rapidly.
Propagate (v. t.) To cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production; -- applied to animals and plants; as, to propagate a breed of horses or sheep; to propagate a species of fruit tree.
Propagate (v. t.) To cause to spread to extend; to impel or continue forward in space; as, to propagate sound or light.
Propagate (v. t.) To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate; as, to propagate a story or report; to propagate the Christian religion.
Propagation (n.) The act of propagating; continuance or multiplication of the kind by generation or successive production; as, the propagation of animals or plants.
Propagation (n.) The spreading abroad, or extension, of anything; diffusion; dissemination; as, the propagation of sound; the propagation of the gospel.
Propane (n.) A heavy gaseous hydrocarbon, C3H8, of the paraffin series, occurring naturally dissolved in crude petroleum, and also made artificially; -- called also propyl hydride.
Propel (v. t.) To drive forward; to urge or press onward by force; to move, or cause to move; as, the wind or steam propels ships; balls are propelled by gunpowder.
Propeller (n.) A contrivance for propelling a steam vessel, usually consisting of a screw placed in the stern under water, and made to revolve by an engine; a propeller wheel.
Propense (a.) Leaning toward, in a moral sense; inclined; disposed; prone; as, women propense to holiness.
Propensity (n.) The quality or state of being propense; natural inclination; disposition to do good or evil; bias; bent; tendency.
Propenyl (n.) A hypothetical hydrocarbon radical, C3H5, isomeric with allyl and glyceryl, and regarded as the essential residue of glycerin. Cf. Allyl, and Glyceryl.
Propeptone (n.) A product of gastric digestion intermediate between albumin and peptone, identical with hemialbumose.
Proper (a.) Befitting one's nature, qualities, etc.; suitable in all respect; appropriate; right; fit; decent; as, water is the proper element for fish; a proper dress.
Proper (a.) Belonging to the natural or essential constitution; peculiar; not common; particular; as, every animal has his proper instincts and appetites.
Proper (a.) Pertaining to one of a species, but not common to the whole; not appellative; -- opposed to common; as, a proper name; Dublin is the proper name of a city.
Properly (adv.) In a proper manner; suitably; fitly; strictly; rightly; as, a word properly applied; a dress properly adjusted.
Property (a.) All the adjuncts of a play except the scenery and the dresses of the actors; stage requisites.
Property (a.) An acquired or artificial quality; that which is given by art, or bestowed by man; as, the poem has the properties which constitute excellence.
Property (a.) That to which a person has a legal title, whether in his possession or not; thing owned; an estate, whether in lands, goods, or money; as, a man of large property, or small property.
Property (a.) That which is proper to anything; a peculiar quality of a thing; that which is inherent in a subject, or naturally essential to it; an attribute; as, sweetness is a property of sugar.
Property (a.) The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a thing; ownership; title.
Prophecy (n.) A declaration of something to come; a foretelling; a prediction; esp., an inspired foretelling.
Prophesy (v. i.) To give instruction in religious matters; to interpret or explain Scripture or religious subjects; to preach; to exhort; to expound.
Prophet (n.) One inspired or instructed by God to speak in his name, or announce future events, as, Moses, Elijah, etc.
Prophetical (a.) Containing, or pertaining to, prophecy; foretelling events; as, prophetic writings; prophetic dreams; -- used with of before the thing foretold.
Prophragma (n.) An internal dorsal chitinous process between the first two divisions of the thorax of insects.
Prophylaxis (n.) The art of preserving from, or of preventing, disease; the observance of the rules necessary for the preservation of health; preservative or preventive treatment.
Propidene (n.) The unsymmetrical hypothetical hydrocarbon radical, CH3.CH2.CH, analogous to ethylidene, and regarded as the type of certain derivatives of propane; -- called also propylidene.
Propine (v. t.) To pledge; to offer as a toast or a health in the manner of drinking, that is, by drinking first and passing the cup.
Propinyl (n.) A hydrocarbon radical regarded as an essential residue of propine and allied compounds.
Propiolic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an organic acid (called also propargylic acid) of the acetylene or tetrolic series, analogous to propionic acid, and obtained as a white crystalline substance.
Propionyl (n.) The hypothetical radical C3H5O, regarded as the essential residue of propionic acid and certain related compounds.
Propitiation (n.) That which propitiates; atonement or atoning sacrifice; specifically, the influence or effects of the death of Christ in appeasing the divine justice, and conciliating the divine favor.
Propitiation (n.) The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious.
Propitiatory (a.) Having the power to make propitious; pertaining to, or employed in, propitiation; expiatory; as, a propitiatory sacrifice.
Propitious (a.) Convenient; auspicious; favorable; kind; as, a propitious season; a propitious breeze.
Propodiale (n.) The bone of either the upper arm or the thing, the propodialia being the humerus and femur.
Proportion (n.) Harmonic relation between parts, or between different things of the same kind; symmetrical arrangement or adjustment; symmetry; as, to be out of proportion.
Proportion (n.) The portion one receives when a whole is distributed by a rule or principle; equal or proper share; lot.
Proportion (n.) The relation or adaptation of one portion to another, or to the whole, as respect magnitude, quantity, or degree; comparative relation; ratio; as, the proportion of the parts of a building, or of the body.
Proportion (n.) The rule of three, in arithmetic, in which the three given terms, together with the one sought, are proportional.
Proportion (v.) To adjust in a suitable proportion, as one thing or one part to another; as, to proportion the size of a building to its height; to proportion our expenditures to our income.
Proportionable (a.) Capable of being proportioned, or made proportional; also, proportional; proportionate.
Proportional (a.) Constituting a proportion; having the same, or a constant, ratio; as, proportional quantities; momentum is proportional to quantity of matter.
Proportional (a.) Having a due proportion, or comparative relation; being in suitable proportion or degree; as, the parts of an edifice are proportional.
Proportionally (adv.) In proportion; in due degree; adapted relatively; as, all parts of the building are proportionally large.
Proportionate (v.) To make proportional; to adjust according to a settled rate, or to due comparative relation; to proportion; as, to proportionate punishment to crimes.
Proposal (n.) The offer by a party of what he has in view as to an intended business transaction, which, with acceptance, constitutes a contract.
Propose (v. i.) To form or declare a purpose or intention; to lay a scheme; to design; as, man proposes, but God disposes.
Propose (v.) To offer for consideration, discussion, acceptance, or adoption; as, to propose terms of peace; to propose a question for discussion; to propose an alliance; to propose a person for office.
Proposition (n.) A statement in terms of a truth to be demonstrated, or of an operation to be performed.
Proposition (n.) A statement of religious doctrine; an article of faith; creed; as, the propositions of Wyclif and Huss.
Proposition (n.) That which is offered or affirmed as the subject of the discourse; anything stated or affirmed for discussion or illustration.
Proposition (n.) That which is proposed; that which is offered, as for consideration, acceptance, or adoption; a proposal; as, the enemy made propositions of peace; his proposition was not accepted.
Propositional (a.) Pertaining to, or in the nature of, a proposition; considered as a proposition; as, a propositional sense.
Propound (v. t.) To offer for consideration; to exhibit; to propose; as, to propound a question; to propound an argument.
Propretor (n.) A magistrate who, having been pretor at home, was appointed to the government of a province.
Proprietary (a.) Belonging, or pertaining, to a proprietor; considered as property; owned; as, proprietary medicine.
Proprietary (n.) A monk who had reserved goods and effects to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession.
Proprietary (n.) A proprietor or owner; one who has exclusive title to a thing; one who possesses, or holds the title to, a thing in his own right.
Proprietor (n.) One who has the legal right or exclusive title to anything, whether in possession or not; an owner; as, the proprietor of farm or of a mill.
Propriety (n.) The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc.
Props (n. pl.) A game of chance, in which four sea shells, each called a prop, are used instead of dice.
Propulsion (n.) The act driving forward or away; the act or process of propelling; as, steam propulsion.
Propyl (n.) The hypothetical radical C3H7, regarded as the essential residue of propane and related compounds.
Propylene (n.) A colorless gaseous hydrocarbon (C3H6) of the ethylene series, having a garlic odor. It occurs in coal gas, and is produced artificially in various ways. Called also propene.
Prorogation (n.) The act of proroguing; the ending of the session of Parliament, and postponing of its business, by the command of the sovereign.
Prorogue (v. t.) To end the session of a parliament by an order of the sovereign, thus deferring its business.
Prosaical (a.) Of or pertaining to prose; resembling prose; in the form of prose; unpoetical; writing or using prose; as, a prosaic composition.
Proscenium (n.) The part of the stage in front of the curtain; sometimes, the curtain and its framework.
Proscribe (v. t.) To denounce and condemn; to interdict; to prohibit; as, the Puritans proscribed theaters.
Proscribe (v. t.) To doom to destruction; to put out of the protection of law; to outlaw; to exile; as, Sylla and Marius proscribed each other's adherents.
Proscriptive (a.) Of or pertaining to proscription; consisting in, or of the nature of, proscription; proscribing.
Prose (a.) Possessing or exhibiting unpoetical characteristics; plain; dull; prosaic; as, the prose duties of life.
Prose (n.) Hence, language which evinces little imagination or animation; dull and commonplace discourse.
Prose (n.) The ordinary language of men in speaking or writing; language not cast in poetical measure or rhythm; -- contradistinguished from verse, or metrical composition.
Prosector (n.) One who makes dissections for anatomical illustration; usually, the assistant of a professional anatomist.
Prosecute (v. i.) To institute and carry on a legal prosecution; as, to prosecute for public offenses.
Prosecute (v. t.) To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute, or accomplish; to endeavor to obtain or complete; to carry on; to continue; as, to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim.
Prosecute (v. t.) To pursue with the intention of punishing; to accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; to proceed against judicially; as, to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot.
Prosecute (v. t.) To seek to obtain by legal process; as, to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law.
Prosecution (n.) The act or process of prosecuting, or of endeavoring to gain or accomplish something; pursuit by efforts of body or mind; as, the prosecution of a scheme, plan, design, or undertaking; the prosecution of war.
Prosecution (n.) The institution and carrying on of a suit in a court of law or equity, to obtain some right, or to redress and punish some wrong; the carrying on of a judicial proceeding in behalf of a complaining party, as distinguished from defense.
Prosecutor (n.) The person who institutes and carries on a criminal suit against another in the name of the government.
Proselyte (n.) A new convert especially a convert to some religion or religious sect, or to some particular opinion, system, or party; thus, a Gentile converted to Judaism, or a pagan converted to Christianity, is a proselyte.
Proselytism (n.) The act or practice of proselyting; the making of converts to a religion or a religious sect, or to any opinion, system, or party.
Proselytize (v. t.) To convert to some religion, system, opinion, or the like; to bring, or cause to come, over; to proselyte.
Prosencephalon (n.) The anterior segment of the brain, including the cerebrum and olfactory lobes; the forebrain.
Prosenchyma (n.) A general term applied to the tissues formed of elongated cells, especially those with pointed or oblique extremities, as the principal cells of ordinary wood.
Prosiphon (n.) A minute tube found in the protoconch of ammonites, and not connected with the true siphon.
Prosobranchiata (n. pl.) The highest division, or subclass, of gastropod mollusks, including those that have the gills situated anteriorly, or forward of the heart, and the sexes separate.
Prosody (n.) That part of grammar which treats of the quantity of syllables, of accent, and of the laws of versification or metrical composition.
Prosopolepsy (n.) Respect of persons; especially, a premature opinion or prejudice against a person, formed from his external appearance.
Prosopulmonata (n. pl.) A division of pulmonate mollusks having the breathing organ situated on the neck, as in the common snail.
Prospect (v. i.) To make a search; to seek; to explore, as for mines or the like; as, to prospect for gold.
Prospect (v. t.) To look over; to explore or examine for something; as, to prospect a district for gold.
Prospect (v.) Especially, a picturesque or widely extended view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
Prospect (v.) Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
Prospect (v.) That which is embraced by eye in vision; the region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
Prospect (v.) That which is hoped for; ground for hope or expectation; expectation; probable result; as, the prospect of success.
Prospect (v.) The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation; as, a prospect of the future state.
Prospective (n.) Being within view or consideration, as a future event or contingency; relating to the future: expected; as, a prospective benefit.
Prospector (n.) One who prospects; especially, one who explores a region for minerals and precious metals.
Prospectus (n.) A summary, plan, or scheme of something proposed, affording a prospect of its nature; especially, an exposition of the scheme of an unpublished literary work.
Prosper (v. i.) To be successful; to succeed; to be fortunate or prosperous; to thrive; to make gain.
Prosperity (n.) The state of being prosperous; advance or gain in anything good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; attainment of the object desired; good fortune; success; as, commercial prosperity; national prosperity.
Prosperous (a.) Being prospered; advancing in the pursuit of anything desirable; making gain, or increase; thriving; successful; as, a prosperous voyage; a prosperous undertaking; a prosperous man or nation.
Prosphysis (n.) A growing together of parts; specifically, a morbid adhesion of the eyelids to each other or to the eyeball.
Prostate (a.) Standing before; -- applied to a gland which is found in the males of most mammals, and is situated at the neck of the bladder where this joins the urethra.
Prosthesis (n.) The addition to the human body of some artificial part, to replace one that is wanting, as a log or an eye; -- called also prothesis.
Prostitute (n.) A base hireling; a mercenary; one who offers himself to infamous employments for hire.
Prostitute (v. t.) To devote to base or unworthy purposes; to give up to low or indiscriminate use; as, to prostitute talents; to prostitute official powers.
Prostitution (n.) The act of setting one's self to sale, or of devoting to infamous purposes what is in one's power; as, the prostitution of abilities; the prostitution of the press.
Prostitution (n.) The act or practice of prostituting or offering the body to an indiscriminate intercourse with men; common lewdness of a woman.
Prostitutor (n.) One who prostitutes; one who submits himself, of or offers another, to vile purposes.
Prostrate (a.) Lying at length, or with the body extended on the ground or other surface; stretched out; as, to sleep prostrate.
Prostrate (v. t.) To cause to sink totally; to deprive of strength; to reduce; as, a person prostrated by fever.
Prostrate (v. t.) To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants.
Prostrate (v. t.) to overthrow; to demolish; to destroy; to deprive of efficiency; to ruin; as, to prostrate a village; to prostrate a government; to prostrate law or justice.
Prostrate (v. t.) To throw down, or cause to fall in humility or adoration; to cause to bow in humble reverence; used reflexively; as, he prostrated himself.
Prostration (n.) A latent, not an exhausted, state of the vital energies; great oppression of natural strength and vigor.
Prostration (n.) The act of falling down, or of bowing in humility or adoration; primarily, the act of falling on the face, but usually applied to kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship.
Prostration (n.) The act of prostrating, throwing down, or laying fiat; as, the prostration of the body.
Prostration (n.) The condition of being prostrate; great depression; lowness; dejection; as, a postration of spirits.
Prosylogism (n.) A syllogism preliminary or logically essential to another syllogism; the conclusion of such a syllogism, which becomes a premise of the following syllogism.
Protactic (a.) Giving a previous narrative or explanation, as of the plot or personages of a play; introductory.
Protagon (n.) A nitrogenous phosphorized principle found in brain tissue. By decomposition it yields neurine, fatty acids, and other bodies.
Protagonist (n.) One who takes the leading part in a drama; hence, one who takes lead in some great scene, enterprise, conflict, or the like.
Protamin (n.) An amorphous nitrogenous substance found in the spermatic fluid of salmon. It is soluble in water, which an alkaline reaction, and unites with acids and metallic bases.
Protasis (n.) The first part of a drama, of a poem, or the like; the introduction; opposed to epitasis.
Protasis (n.) The introductory or subordinate member of a sentence, generally of a conditional sentence; -- opposed to apodosis. See Apodosis.
Proteaceous (a.) Of or pertaining to the Proteaceae, an order of apetalous evergreen shrubs, mostly natives of the Cape of Good Hope or of Australia.
Protean (a.) Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms; as, an amoeba is a protean animalcule.
Protect (v. t.) To cover or shield from danger or injury; to defend; to guard; to preserve in safety; as, a father protects his children.
Protection (n.) A writing that protects or secures from molestation or arrest; a pass; a safe-conduct; a passport.
Protection (n.) The act of protecting, or the state of being protected; preservation from loss, injury, or annoyance; defense; shelter; as, the weak need protection.
Protector (n.) A cardinal, from one of the more considerable Roman Catholic nations, who looks after the interests of his people at Rome; also, a cardinal who has the same relation to a college, religious order, etc.
Protector (n.) One who, or that which, defends or shields from injury, evil, oppression, etc.; a defender; a guardian; a patron.
Protectorate (n.) Government by a protector; -- applied especially to the government of England by Oliver Cromwell.
Protectorate (n.) The authority assumed by a superior power over an inferior or a dependent one, whereby the former protects the latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs.
Proteidea (n. pl.) An order of aquatic amphibians having prominent external gills and four legs. It includes Proteus and Menobranchus (Necturus). Called also Proteoidea, and Proteida.
Protein (n.) A body now known as alkali albumin, but originally considered to be the basis of all albuminous substances, whence its name.
Proteles (n.) A South Africa genus of Carnivora, allied to the hyenas, but smaller and having weaker jaws and teeth. It includes the aard-wolf.
Proteolytic (a.) Converting proteid or albuminous matter into soluble and diffusible products, as peptones.
Proterandrous (a.) Having the stamens come to maturity before the pistil; -- opposed to proterogynous.
Proteroglypha (n. pl.) A suborder of serpents including those that have permanently erect grooved poison fangs, with ordinary teeth behind them in the jaws. It includes the cobras, the asps, and the sea snakes. Called also Proteroglyphia.
Proterogynous (a.) Having the pistil come to maturity before the stamens; protogynous; -- opposed to proterandrous.
Protest (v. i.) To affirm in a public or formal manner; to bear witness; to declare solemnly; to avow.
Protest (v. i.) To make a solemn declaration (often a written one) expressive of opposition; -- with against; as, he protest against your votes.
Protest (v. t.) To call as a witness in affirming or denying, or to prove an affirmation; to appeal to.
Protest (v. t.) To make a solemn declaration or affirmation of; to proclaim; to display; as, to protest one's loyalty.
Protest (v.) A solemn declaration of opinion, commonly a formal objection against some act; especially, a formal and solemn declaration, in writing, of dissent from the proceedings of a legislative body; as, the protest of lords in Parliament.
Protestant (a.) Of or pertaining to the faith and practice of those Christians who reject the authority of the Roman Catholic Church; as, Protestant writers.
Protestantism (n.) The quality or state of being protestant, especially against the Roman Catholic Church; the principles or religion of the Protestants.
Protestation (n.) Formerly, a declaration in common-law pleading, by which the party interposes an oblique allegation or denial of some fact, protesting that it does or does not exist, and at the same time avoiding a direct affirmation or denial.
Protestation (n.) The act of making a protest; a public avowal; a solemn declaration, especially of dissent.
Proteus (n.) A genus of aquatic eel-shaped amphibians found in caves in Austria. They have permanent external gills as well as lungs. The eyes are small and the legs are weak.
Proteus (n.) A sea god in the service of Neptune who assumed different shapes at will. Hence, one who easily changes his appearance or principles.
Prothallus (n.) The minute primary growth from the spore of ferns and other Pteridophyta, which bears the true sexual organs; the oophoric generation of ferns, etc.
Prothorax (n.) The first or anterior segment of the thorax in insects. See Illusts. of Butterfly and Coleoptera.
Protista (n. pl.) A provisional group in which are placed a number of low microscopic organisms of doubtful nature. Some are probably plants, others animals.
Proto- () A combining form prefix signifying first, primary, primordial; as, protomartyr, the first martyr; protomorphic, primitive in form; protoplast, a primordial organism; prototype, protozoan.
Proto- () Denoting the first or lowest of a series, or the one having the smallest amount of the element to the name of which it is prefixed; as protoxide, protochloride, etc.
Proto- () Sometimes used as equivalent to mono-, as indicating that the compound has but one atom of the element to the name of which it is prefixed. Also used adjectively.
Proto-Doric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, architecture, in which the beginnings of the Doric style are supposed to be found.
Protocanonical (a.) Of or pertaining to the first canon, or that which contains the authorized collection of the books of Scripture; -- opposed to deutero-canonical.
Protocatechuic (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, an organic acid which is obtained as a white crystalline substance from catechin, asafetida, oil of cloves, etc., and by distillation itself yields pyrocatechin.
Protocercal (a.) Having a caudal fin extending around the end of the vertebral column, like that which is first formed in the embryo of fishes; diphycercal.
Protococcus (n.) A genus of minute unicellular algae including the red snow plant (Protococcus nivalis).
Protocol (n.) An agreement of diplomatists indicating the results reached by them at a particular stage of a negotiation.
Protocol (n.) The original copy of any writing, as of a deed, treaty, dispatch, or other instrument.
Protohippus (n.) A genus of fossil horses from the Lower Pliocene. They had three toes on each foot, the lateral ones being small.
Protomartyr (n.) The first martyr; the first who suffers, or is sacrificed, in any cause; -- applied esp. to Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Protomorphic (a.) Having the most primitive character; in the earliest form; as, a protomorphic layer of tissue.
Protonema (n.) The primary growth from the spore of a moss, usually consisting of branching confervoid filaments, on any part of which stem and leaf buds may be developed.
Protonotary (n.) Formerly, a chief clerk in the Court of King's Bench and in the Court of Common Pleas, now superseded by the master.
Protoorganism (n.) An organism whose nature is so difficult to determine that it might be referred to either the animal or the vegetable kingdom.
Protophyte (n.) Any unicellular plant, or plant forming only a plasmodium, having reproduction only by fission, gemmation, or cell division.
Protopine (n.) An alkaloid found in opium in small quantities, and extracted as a white crystalline substance.
Protoplast (n.) A first-formed organized body; the first individual, or pair of individuals, of a species.
Protoplast (n.) The thing first formed; that of which there are subsequent copies or reproductions; the original.
Protoplasta (n. pl.) A division of fresh-water rhizopods including those that have a soft body and delicate branched pseudopodia. The genus Gromia is one of the best-known.
Protopodite (n.) The basal portion, or two proximal and more or less consolidated segments, of an appendage of a crustacean.
Protopope (n.) One of the clergy of first rank in the lower order of secular clergy; an archpriest; -- called also protopapas.
Protosilicate (n.) A silicate formed with the lowest proportion of silicic acid, or having but one atom of silicon in the molecule.
Protosulphide (n.) That one of a series of sulphides of any element which has the lowest proportion of sulphur; a sulphide with but one atom of sulphur in the molecule.
Prototype (n.) An original or model after which anything is copied; the pattern of anything to be engraved, or otherwise copied, cast, or the like; a primary form; exemplar; archetype.
Protovertebra (n.) One of the primitive masses, or segments, into which the mesoblast of the vertebrate embryo breaks up on either side of the anterior part of the notochord; a mesoblastic, or protovertebral, somite. See Illust. of Ectoderm.
Protoxide (n.) That one of a series of oxides having the lowest proportion of oxygen. See Proto-, 2 (b).
Protoxidize (v. t.) To combine with oxygen, as any elementary substance, in such proportion as to form a protoxide.
Protozoic (a.) Containing remains of the earliest discovered life of the globe, which included mollusks, radiates and protozoans.
Protract (v. t.) To draw out or lengthen in time or (rarely) in space; to continue; to prolong; as, to protract an argument; to protract a war.
Protract (v. t.) To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot.
Protract (v. t.) To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer; as, to protract a decision or duty.
Protraction (n.) A drawing out, or continuing; the act of delaying the termination of a thing; prolongation; continuance; delay; as, the protraction of a debate.
Protractor (n.) A mathematical instrument for laying down and measuring angles on paper, used in drawing or in plotting. It is of various forms, semicircular, rectangular, or circular.
Protrude (v. t.) To thrust out, as through a narrow orifice or from confinement; to cause to come forth.
Protuberance (n.) That which is protuberant swelled or pushed beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; a swelling or tumor on the body; a prominence; a bunch or knob; an elevation.
Protuberant (a.) Prominent, or excessively prominent; bulging beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; swelling; as, a protuberant joint; a protuberant eye.
Protyle (n.) The hypothetical homogeneous cosmic material of the original universe, supposed to have been differentiated into what are recognized as distinct chemical elements.
Proud (superl.) Giving reason or occasion for pride or self-gratulation; worthy of admiration; grand; splendid; magnificent; admirable; ostentatious.
Proud (superl.) Having a feeling of high self-respect or self-esteem; exulting (in); elated; -- often with of; as, proud of one's country.
Proud (superl.) Possessing or showing too great self-esteem; overrating one's excellences; hence, arrogant; haughty; lordly; presumptuous.
Proustite (n.) A sulphide of arsenic and silver of a beautiful cochineal-red color, occurring in rhombohedral crystals, and also massive; ruby silver.
Prove (v. i.) To be found by experience, trial, or result; to turn out to be; as, a medicine proves salutary; the report proves false.
Prove (v. t.) To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify; as, to prove a will.
Prove (v. t.) To evince, establish, or ascertain, as truth, reality, or fact, by argument, testimony, or other evidence.
Prove (v. t.) To gain experience of the good or evil of; to know by trial; to experience; to suffer.
Prove (v. t.) To try or to ascertain by an experiment, or by a test or standard; to test; as, to prove the strength of gunpowder or of ordnance; to prove the contents of a vessel by a standard measure.
Provection (n.) A carrying forward, as of a final letter, to a following word; as, for example, a nickname for an ekename.
Proveditor (n.) One employed to procure supplies, as for an army, a steamer, etc.; a purveyor; one who provides for another.
Provender (n.) Dry food for domestic animals, as hay, straw, corn, oats, or a mixture of ground grain; feed.
Proverb (n.) An old and common saying; a phrase which is often repeated; especially, a sentence which briefly and forcibly expresses some practical truth, or the result of experience and observation; a maxim; a saw; an adage.
Proverbial (a.) Mentioned or comprised in a proverb; used as a proverb; hence, commonly known; as, a proverbial expression; his meanness was proverbial.
Proverbialist (n.) One who makes much use of proverbs in speech or writing; one who composes, collects, or studies proverbs.
Proverbially (adv.) In a proverbial manner; by way of proverb; hence, commonly; universally; as, it is proverbially said; the bee is proverbially busy.
Provessel (a.) Openly declared, avowed, acknowledged, or claimed; as, a professed foe; a professed tyrant; a professed Christian.
Provide (v. i.) To stipulate previously; to condition; as, the agreement provides for an early completion of the work.
Provide (v. t.) To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate; as, the contract provides that the work be well done.
Provide (v. t.) To look out for in advance; to procure beforehand; to get, collect, or make ready for future use; to prepare.
Provided (conj.) On condition; by stipulation; with the understanding; if; -- usually followed by that; as, provided that nothing in this act shall prejudice the rights of any person whatever.
Providence (n.) A manifestation of the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures; an event ordained by divine direction.
Providence (n.) Foresight; care; especially, the foresight and care which God manifests for his creatures; hence, God himself, regarded as exercising a constant wise prescience.
Providence (n.) The act of providing or preparing for future use or application; a making ready; preparation.
Provident (a.) Foreseeing wants and making provision to supply them; prudent in preparing for future exigencies; cautious; economical; -- sometimes followed by of; as, aprovident man; an animal provident of the future.
Providential (a.) Effected by, or referable to, divine direction or superintendence; as, the providential contrivance of thing; a providential escape.
Province (n.) A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital.
Province (n.) A country or region, more or less remote from the city of Rome, brought under the Roman government; a conquered country beyond the limits of Italy.
Province (n.) Specif.: Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.
Province (n.) The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere.
Provincial (a.) Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province; not cosmopolitan; countrified; not polished; rude; hence, narrow; illiberal.
Provincial (a.) Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical; as, a provincial synod.
Provincial (a.) Of or pertaining to province; constituting a province; as, a provincial government; a provincial dialect.
Provincial (n.) A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a province of the order.
Provincialism (n.) A word, or a manner of speaking, peculiar to a province or a district remote from the mother country or from the metropolis; a provincial characteristic; hence, narrowness; illiberality.
Provinciality (n.) The quality or state of being provincial; peculiarity of language characteristic of a province.
Provision (n.) A canonical term for regular induction into a benefice, comprehending nomination, collation, and installation.
Provision (n.) A nomination by the pope to a benefice before it became vacant, depriving the patron of his right of presentation.
Provision (n.) Especially, a stock of food; any kind of eatables collected or stored; -- often in the plural.
Provision (n.) That which is provided or prepared; that which is brought together or arranged in advance; measures taken beforehand; preparation.
Provision (n.) That which is stipulated in advance; a condition; a previous agreement; a proviso; as, the provisions of a contract; the statute has many provisions.
Provisional (a.) Of the nature of a provision; serving as a provision for the time being; -- used of partial or temporary arrangements; as, a provisional government; a provisional treaty.
Provisorily (adv.) In a provisory manner; conditionally; subject to a proviso; as, to admit a doctrine provisorily.
Provisory (a.) Of the nature of a proviso; containing a proviso or condition; conditional; as, a provisory clause.
Provocation (n.) Such prior insult or injury as may be supposed, under the circumstances, to create hot blood, and to excuse an assault made in retort or redress.
Provocation (n.) That which provokes, or excites anger; the cause of resentment; as, to give provocation.
Provokement (n.) The act that which, provokes; one who excites anger or other passion, or incites to action; as, a provoker of sedition.
Provoking (a.) Having the power or quality of exciting resentment; tending to awaken passion or vexation; as, provoking words or treatment.
Prowess (a.) Distinguished bravery; valor; especially, military bravery and skill; gallantry; intrepidity; fearlessness.
Prowl (v. i.) To rove or wander stealthily, esp. for prey, as a wild beast; hence, to prey; to plunder.
Prowl (v. t.) To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; esp., to search in, as for prey or booty.
Proxene (n.) An officer who had the charge of showing hospitality to those who came from a friendly city or state.
Proximal (a.) Of or pertaining to that which is proximal; as, the proximal bones of a limb. Opposed to distal.
Proximity (n.) The quality or state of being next in time, place, causation, influence, etc.; immediate nearness, either in place, blood, or alliance.
Proximo () In the next month after the present; -- often contracted to prox.; as, on the 3d proximo.
Proxy (n.) A writing by which one person authorizes another to vote in his stead, as in a corporation meeting.
Proxy (n.) The agency for another who acts through the agent; authority to act for another, esp. to vote in a legislative or corporate capacity.
Prude (a.) A woman of affected modesty, reserve, or coyness; one who is overscrupulous or sensitive; one who affects extraordinary prudence in conduct and speech.
Prudence (n.) The quality or state of being prudent; wisdom in the way of caution and provision; discretion; carefulness; hence, also, economy; frugality.
Prudent (a.) Frugal; economical; not extravagant; as, a prudent woman; prudent expenditure of money.
Prudential (a.) Exercising prudence; discretionary; advisory; superintending or executive; as, a prudential committee.
Prudential (a.) Proceeding from, or dictated or characterized by, prudence; prudent; discreet; sometimes, selfish or pecuniary as distinguished from higher motives or influences; as, prudential motives.
Prudential (n.) That which relates to or demands the exercise of, discretion or prudence; -- usually in the pl.
Prudery (n.) The quality or state of being prudish; excessive or affected scrupulousness in speech or conduct; stiffness; coyness.
Prudish (a.) Like a prude; very formal, precise, or reserved; affectedly severe in virtue; as, a prudish woman; prudish manners.
Pruinose (a.) Frosty; covered with fine scales, hairs, dust, bloom, or the like, so as to give the appearance of frost.
Prune (n.) A plum; esp., a dried plum, used in cookery; as, French or Turkish prunes; California prunes.
Prune (v. t.) To lop or cut off the superfluous parts, branches, or shoots of; to clear of useless material; to shape or smooth by trimming; to trim: as, to prune trees; to prune an essay.
Prunelle (n.) A kind of small and very acid French plum; -- applied especially to the stoned and dried fruit.
Prunello (n.) A smooth woolen stuff, generally black, used for making shoes; a kind of lasting; -- formerly used also for clergymen's gowns.
Prunus (n.) A genus of trees with perigynous rosaceous flowers, and a single two-ovuled carpel which usually becomes a drupe in ripening.
Prurient (a.) Uneasy with desire; itching; especially, having a lascivious curiosity or propensity; lustful.
Prurigo (n.) A papular disease of the skin, of which intense itching is the chief symptom, the eruption scarcely differing from the healthy cuticle in color.
Prussic (a.) designating the acid now called hydrocyanic acid, but formerly called prussic acid, because Prussian blue is derived from it or its compounds. See Hydrocyanic.
Prutenic (a.) Prussian; -- applied to certain astronomical tables published in the sixteenth century, founded on the principles of Copernicus, a Prussian.
Pry (v. i.) To peep narrowly; to gaze; to inspect closely; to attempt to discover something by a scrutinizing curiosity; -- often implying reproach.
Prytaneum (n.) A public building in certain Greek cities; especially, a public hall in Athens regarded as the home of the community, in which official hospitality was extended to distinguished citizens and strangers.
Prytanis (n.) A member of one of the ten sections into which the Athenian senate of five hundred was divided, and to each of which belonged the presidency of the senate for about one tenth of the year.
Prytany (n.) The period during which the presidency of the senate belonged to the prytanes of the section.
Psalm (n.) Especially, one of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship.
Psalmist (n.) A writer or composer of sacred songs; -- a title particularly applied to David and the other authors of the Scriptural psalms.
Psalmody (n.) The act, practice, or art of singing psalms or sacred songs; also, psalms collectively, or a collection of psalms.
Psalter (n.) A rosary, consisting of a hundred and fifty beads, corresponding to the number of the psalms.
Psalter (n.) Specifically, the Book of Psalms as printed in the Book of Common Prayer; among the Roman Catholics, the part of the Breviary which contains the Psalms arranged for each day of the week.
Psalter (n.) The Book of Psalms; -- often applied to a book containing the Psalms separately printed.
Psephism (n.) A proposition adopted by a majority of votes; especially, one adopted by vote of the Athenian people; a statute.
Pseudaesthesia (n.) False or imaginary feeling or sense perception such as occurs in hypochondriasis, or such as is referred to an organ that has been removed, as an amputated foot.
Pseudo-china (n.) The false china root, a plant of the genus Smilax (S. Pseudo-china), found in America.
Pseudo-cone (n.) One of the soft gelatinous cones found in the compound eyes of certain insects, taking the place of the crystalline cones of others.
Pseudo-cumene (n.) A hydrocarbon of the aromatic series, metameric with mesitylene and cumene, found in coal tar, and obtained as a colorless liquid.
Pseudo-dipteral (a.) Falsely or imperfectly dipteral, as a temple with the inner range of columns surrounding the cella omitted, so that the space between the cella wall and the columns is very great, being equal to two intercolumns and one column.
Pseudo-heart (n.) Any contractile vessel of invertebrates which is not of the nature of a real heart, especially one of those pertaining to the excretory system.
Pseudo-hyperthophic (a.) Falsely hypertrophic; as, pseudo-hypertrophic paralysis, a variety of paralysis in which the muscles are apparently enlarged, but are really degenerated and replaced by fat.
Pseudo-monocotyledonous (a.) Having two coalescent cotyledons, as the live oak and the horse-chestnut.
Pseudo-symmetry (n.) A kind of symmetry characteristic of certain crystals which from twinning, or other causes, come to resemble forms of a system other than that to which they belong, as the apparently hexagonal prisms of aragonite.
Pseudobacteria (n. pl.) Microscopic organic particles, molecular granules, powdered inorganic substances, etc., which in form, size, and grouping resemble bacteria.
Pseudocarp (n.) That portion of an anthocarpous fruit which is not derived from the ovary, as the soft part of a strawberry or of a fig.
Pseudofilaria (n.) One of the two elongated vibratile young formed by fission of the embryo during the development of certain Gregarinae.
Pseudohalter (n.) One of the rudimentary front wings of certain insects (Stylops). They resemble the halteres, or rudimentary hind wings, of Diptera.
Pseudomorph (n.) A pseudomorphous crystal, as a crystal consisting of quartz, but having the cubic form of fluor spar, the fluor crystal having been changed to quartz by a process of substitution.
Pseudomorphism (n.) The state of having, or the property of taking, a crystalline form unlike that which belongs to the species.
Pseudopod (n.) Any protoplasmic filament or irregular process projecting from any unicellular organism, or from any animal or plant call.
Pseudopupa (n.) A stage intermediate between the larva and pupa of bees and certain other hymenopterous insects.
Pseudorhabdite (n.) One of the peculiar rodlike corpuscles found in the integument of certain Turbellaria. They are filled with a soft granular substance.
Pseudoscope (n.) An instrument which exhibits objects with their proper relief reversed; -- an effect opposite to that produced by the stereoscope.
Pseudoscopic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or formed by, a pseudoscope; having its parts appearing with the relief reversed; as, a pseudoscopic image.
Pseudotetramera (n. pl.) A division of beetles having the fifth tarsal joint minute and obscure, so that there appear to be but four joints.
Pseudovum (n.) An egglike germ produced by the agamic females of some insects and other animals, and by the larvae of certain insects. It is capable of development without fertilization. See Illust. of Paedogenesis.
Pseuso-peripteral (a.) Falsely or imperfectly peripteral, as a temple having the columns at the sides attached to the walls, and an ambulatory only at the ends or only at one end.
Pshaw (interj.) Pish! pooch! -- an exclamation used as an expression of contempt, disdain, dislike, etc.
Psilomelane (n.) A hydrous oxide of manganese, occurring in smooth, botryoidal forms, and massive, and having an iron-black or steel-gray color.
Psilopaedes (n. pl.) birds whose young at first have down on the pterylae only; -- called also Gymnopaedes.
Psoas (n.) An internal muscle arising from the lumbar vertebrae and inserted into the femur. In man there are usually two on each side, and the larger one, or great psoas, forms a part of the iliopsoas.
Psoriasis (n.) A cutaneous disease, characterized by imbricated silvery scales, affecting only the superficial layers of the skin.
Psyche (n.) A lovely maiden, daughter of a king and mistress of Eros, or Cupid. She is regarded as the personification of the soul.
Psychian (n.) Any small moth of the genus Psyche and allied genera (family Psychidae). The larvae are called basket worms. See Basket worm, under Basket.
Psychical (a.) Of or pertaining to the mind, or its functions and diseases; mental; -- contrasted with physical.
Psychism (n.) The doctrine of Quesne, that there is a fluid universally diffused, end equally animating all living beings, the difference in their actions being due to the difference of the individual organizations.
Psychology (n.) The science of the human soul; specifically, the systematic or scientific knowledge of the powers and functions of the human soul, so far as they are known by consciousness; a treatise on the human soul.
Psychometry (n.) The art of measuring the duration of mental processes, or of determining the time relations of mental phenomena.
Psychopannychism (n.) The doctrine that the soul falls asleep at death, and does not wake until the resurrection of the body.
Psychophysical (a.) Of or pertaining to psychophysics; involving the action or mutual relations of the psychical and physical in man.
Psychosis (n.) A disease of the mind; especially, a functional mental disorder, that is, one unattended with evident organic changes.
Psychrometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the tension of the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere, being essentially a wet and dry bulb hygrometer.
Ptarmigan (n.) Any grouse of the genus Lagopus, of which numerous species are known. The feet are completely feathered. Most of the species are brown in summer, but turn white, or nearly white, in winter.
Ptenoglossa (n. pl.) A division of gastropod mollusks having the teeth of the radula arranged in long transverse rows, somewhat like the barbs of a feather.
Pteranodon (n.) A genus of American Cretaceous pterodactyls destitute of teeth. Several species are known, some of which had an expanse of wings of twenty feet or more.
Pterichthys (n.) A genus of Devonian fossil fishes with winglike appendages. The head and most of the body were covered with large bony plates. See Placodermi.
Pteridophyta (n. pl.) A class of flowerless plants, embracing ferns, horsetails, club mosses, quillworts, and other like plants. See the Note under Cryptogamia.
Pterobranchia (n. pl.) An order of marine Bryozoa, having a bilobed lophophore and an axial cord. The genus Rhabdopleura is the type. Called also Podostomata. See Rhabdopleura.
Pteroceras (n.) A genus of large marine gastropods having the outer border of the lip divided into lobes; -- called also scorpion shell.
Pterocletes (n. pl.) A division of birds including the sand grouse. They are in some respects intermediate between the pigeons and true grouse. Called also Pteroclomorphae.
Pteroglossal (a.) Having the tongue finely notched along the sides, so as to have a featherlike appearance, as the toucans.
Pteron (n.) The region of the skull, in the temporal fossa back of the orbit, where the great wing of the sphenoid, the temporal, the parietal, and the frontal hones approach each other.
Pterophore (n.) Any moth of the genus Pterophorus and allied genera; a plume moth. See Plume moth, under Plume.
Pteropoda (n. pl.) A class of Mollusca in which the anterior lobes of the foot are developed in the form of broad, thin, winglike organs, with which they swim at near the surface of the sea.
Pterosauria (n. pl.) An extinct order of flying reptiles of the Mesozoic age; the pterodactyls; -- called also Pterodactyli, and Ornithosauria.
Pterotic (a.) Of or pertaining to, or designating, a bone between the prootic and epiotic in the dorsal and outer part of the periotic capsule of many fishes.
Pterygium (n.) A superficial growth of vascular tissue radiating in a fanlike manner from the cornea over the surface of the eye.
Pterygoid (a.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the pterygoid bones, pterygoid processes, or the whole sphenoid bone.
Pterygomaxillary (a.) Of or pertaining to the inner pterygoid plate, or pterygoid bone, and the lower jaw.
Pterygopodium (n.) A specially modified part of the ventral fin in male elasmobranchs, which serves as a copulatory organ, or clasper.
Pterygoquadrate (a.) Of, pertaining to, or representing the pterygoid and quadrate bones or cartilages.
Pteryla (n.) One of the definite areas of the skin of a bird on which feathers grow; -- contrasted with apteria.
Pterylography (n.) The study or description of the arrangement of feathers, or of the pterylae, of birds.
Ptilopaedic (a.) Having nearly the whole surface of the skin covered with down; dasypaedic; -- said of the young of certain birds.
Ptyalin (n.) An unorganized amylolytic ferment, on enzyme, present in human mixed saliva and in the saliva of some animals.
Puberty (n.) The earliest age at which persons are capable of begetting or bearing children, usually considered, in temperate climates, to be about fourteen years in males and twelve in females.
Pubes (n.) Hence (as more commonly used), the lower part of the hypogastric region; the pubic region.
Pubes (n.) The hair which appears upon the lower part of the hypogastric region at the age of puberty.
Pubescence (n.) A covering of soft short hairs, or down, as one some plants and insects; also, the state of being so covered.
Pubescent (a.) Covered with pubescence, or fine short hairs, as certain insects, and the leaves of some plants.
Pubic (a.) Of or pertaining to the pubes; in the region of the pubes; as, the pubic bone; the pubic region, or the lower part of the hypogastric region. See Pubes.
Pubis (n.) The ventral and anterior of the three principal bones composing either half of the pelvis; sharebone; pubic bone.
Public (a.) Of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; -- opposed to private; as, the public treasury.
Public (a.) Open to the knowledge or view of all; general; common; notorious; as, public report; public scandal.
Public (n.) The general body of mankind, or of a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely; as, the American public; also, a particular body or aggregation of people; as, an author's public.
Public-spirited (a.) Having, or exercising, a disposition to advance the interest of the community or public; as, public-spirited men.
Publican (n.) A farmer of the taxes and public revenues; hence, a collector of toll or tribute. The inferior officers of this class were often oppressive in their exactions, and were regarded with great detestation.
Publication (n.) That which is published or made known; especially, any book, pamphlet, etc., offered for sale or to public notice; as, a daily or monthly publication.
Publication (n.) The act of offering a book, pamphlet, engraving, etc., to the public by sale or by gratuitous distribution.
Publicist (n.) A writer on the laws of nature and nations; one who is versed in the science of public right, the principles of government, etc.
Publicity (n.) The quality or state of being public, or open to the knowledge of a community; notoriety; publicness.
Publicly (adv.) With exposure to popular view or notice; without concealment; openly; as, property publicly offered for sale; an opinion publicly avowed; a declaration publicly made.
Publicness (n.) The quality or state of being public, or open to the view or notice of people at large; publicity; notoriety; as, the publicness of a sale.
Publish (v. t.) To make known by posting, or by reading in a church; as, to publish banns of marriage.
Publish (v. t.) To make public; to make known to mankind, or to people in general; to divulge, as a private transaction; to promulgate or proclaim, as a law or an edict.
Publish (v. t.) To send forth, as a book, newspaper, musical piece, or other printed work, either for sale or for general distribution; to print, and issue from the press.
Puccoon (n.) Any one of several plants yielding a red pigment which is used by the North American Indians, as the bloodroot and two species of Lithospermum (L. hirtum, and L. canescens); also, the pigment itself.
Puck (n.) A celebrated fairy, "the merry wanderer of the night;" -- called also Robin Goodfellow, Friar Rush, Pug, etc.
Pucker (v. t. & i.) To gather into small folds or wrinkles; to contract into ridges and furrows; to corrugate; -- often with up; as, to pucker up the mouth.
Pudder (v. i.) To make a tumult or bustle; to splash; to make a pother or fuss; to potter; to meddle.
Pudding (n.) A species of food of a soft or moderately hard consistence, variously made, but often a compound of flour or meal, with milk and eggs, etc.
Puddle (n.) Clay, or a mixture of clay and sand, kneaded or worked, when wet, to render it impervious to water.
Puddle (v. t.) To make dense or close, as clay or loam, by working when wet, so as to render impervious to water.
Puddle (v. t.) To subject to the process of puddling, as iron, so as to convert it from the condition of cast iron to that of wrought iron.
Puddle-ball (n.) The lump of pasty wrought iron as taken from the puddling furnace to be hammered or rolled.
Puddling (n.) The process of working clay, loam, pulverized ore, etc., with water, to render it compact, or impervious to liquids; also, the process of rendering anything impervious to liquids by means of puddled material.
Pudgy (a.) Short and fat or sturdy; dumpy; podgy; as, a short, pudgy little man; a pudgy little hand.
Pudu (n.) A very small deer (Pudua humilis), native of the Chilian Andes. It has simple spikelike antlers, only two or three inches long.
Puerility (n.) That which is puerile or childish; especially, an expression which is flat, insipid, or silly.
Puff (n.) A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff.
Puff (v. t.) To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; -- often with up; as, a bladder puffed with air.
Puff (v. t.) To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.
Puff-leg (n.) Any one of numerous species of beautiful humming birds of the genus Eriocnemis having large tufts of downy feathers on the legs.
Puffball (n.) A kind of ball-shaped fungus (Lycoperdon giganteum, and other species of the same genus) full of dustlike spores when ripe; -- called also bullfist, bullfice, puckfist, puff, and puffin.
Puffer (n.) Any plectognath fish which inflates its body, as the species of Tetrodon and Diodon; -- called also blower, puff-fish, swellfish, and globefish.
Puffer (n.) One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at suction to bid up the price; a by-bidder.
Puffin (n.) An arctic sea bird Fratercula arctica) allied to the auks, and having a short, thick, swollen beak, whence the name; -- called also bottle nose, cockandy, coulterneb, marrot, mormon, pope, and sea parrot.
Puffingly (adv.) In a puffing manner; with vehement breathing or shortness of breath; with exaggerated praise.
Puffy (a.) Swelled with air, or any soft matter; tumid with a soft substance; bloated; fleshy; as, a puffy tumor.
Pug (v. t.) To fill or stop with clay by tamping; to fill in or spread with mortar, as a floor or partition, for the purpose of deadening sound. See Pugging, 2.
Pugging (v. t.) Mortar or the like, laid between the joists under the boards of a floor, or within a partition, to deaden sound; -- in the United States usually called deafening.
Pugging (v. t.) The act or process of working and tempering clay to make it plastic and of uniform consistency, as for bricks, for pottery, etc.
Puisne (a.) Younger or inferior in rank; junior; associate; as, a chief justice and three puisne justices of the Court of Common Pleas; the puisne barons of the Court of Exchequer.
Pulchritude (n.) That quality of appearance which pleases the eye; beauty; comeliness; grace; loveliness.
Pull (n.) A knob, handle, or lever, etc., by which anything is pulled; as, a drawer pull; a bell pull.
Pull (n.) Something in one's favor in a comparison or a contest; an advantage; means of influencing; as, in weights the favorite had the pull.
Pull (n.) The act of pulling or drawing with force; an effort to move something by drawing toward one.
Pull (v. i.) To exert one's self in an act or motion of drawing or hauling; to tug; as, to pull at a rope.
Pull (v. t.) To gather with the hand, or by drawing toward one; to pluck; as, to pull fruit; to pull flax; to pull a finch.
Pull (v. t.) To move or operate by the motion of drawing towards one; as, to pull a bell; to pull an oar.
Pull (v. t.) To take or make, as a proof or impression; -- hand presses being worked by pulling a lever.
Pullback (n.) The iron hook fixed to a casement to pull it shut, or to hold it party open at a fixed point.
Pulley (v. t.) A wheel with a broad rim, or grooved rim, for transmitting power from, or imparting power to, the different parts of machinery, or for changing the direction of motion, by means of a belt, cord, rope, or chain.
Pulmocutaneous (a.) Of or pertaining to the lungs and the akin; as, the pulmocutaneous arteries of the frog.
Pulmograde (a.) Swimming by the expansion and contraction, or lunglike movement, of the body, or of the disk, as do the medusae.
Pulmonarian (n.) Any arachnid that breathes by lunglike organs, as the spiders and scorpions. Also used adjectively.
Pulmonata (n. pl.) An extensive division, or sub-class, of hermaphrodite gastropods, in which the mantle cavity is modified into an air-breathing organ, as in Helix, or land snails, Limax, or garden slugs, and many pond snails, as Limnaea and Planorbis.
Pulp (n.) A moist, slightly cohering mass, consisting of soft, undissolved animal or vegetable matter.
Pulp (n.) A tissue or part resembling pulp; especially, the soft, highly vascular and sensitive tissue which fills the central cavity, called the pulp cavity, of teeth.
Pulpit (n.) An elevated place, or inclosed stage, in a church, in which the clergyman stands while preaching.
Pulpy (n.) Like pulp; consisting of pulp; soft; fleshy; succulent; as, the pulpy covering of a nut; the pulpy substance of a peach or a cherry.
Pulsatile (a.) Capable of being struck or beaten; played by beating or by percussion; as, a tambourine is a pulsatile musical instrument.
Pulsatilla (n.) A genus of ranunculaceous herbs including the pasque flower. This genus is now merged in Anemone. Some species, as Anemone Pulsatilla, Anemone pratensis, and Anemone patens, are used medicinally.
Pulsation (n.) A beating or throbbing, especially of the heart or of an artery, or in an inflamed part; a beat of the pulse.
Pulsation (n.) A stroke or impulse by which some medium is affected, as in the propagation of sounds.
Pulse (n.) Any measured or regular beat; any short, quick motion, regularly repeated, as of a medium in the transmission of light, sound, etc.; oscillation; vibration; pulsation; impulse; beat; movement.
Pulsometer (n.) A device, with valves, for raising water by steam, partly by atmospheric pressure, and partly by the direct action of the steam on the water, without the intervention of a piston; -- also called vacuum pump.
Pulverize (v. t.) To reduce of fine powder or dust, as by beating, grinding, or the like; as, friable substances may be pulverized by grinding or beating, but to pulverize malleable bodies other methods must be pursued.
Pulverulent (a.) Consisting of, or reducible to, fine powder; covered with dust or powder; powdery; dusty.
Pulvillo (n.) A kind of perfume in the form of a powder, formerly much used, -- often in little bags.
Pulvinic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained by the decomposition of vulpinic acid, as a white crystalline substance.
Pumiced (a.) Affected with a kind of chronic laminitis in which there is a growth of soft spongy horn between the coffin bone and the hoof wall. The disease is called pumiced foot, or pumice foot.
Pump (v. t.) Figuratively, to draw out or obtain, as secrets or money, by persistent questioning or plying; to question or ply persistently in order to elicit something, as information, money, etc.
Pump (v. t.) To draw water, or the like, from; to from water by means of a pump; as, they pumped the well dry; to pump a ship.
Pumpernickel (n.) A sort of bread, made of unbolted rye, which forms the chief food of the Westphalian peasants. It is acid but nourishing.
Pumpkin (n.) A well-known trailing plant (Cucurbita pepo) and its fruit, -- used for cooking and for feeding stock; a pompion.
Pun (n.) A play on words which have the same sound but different meanings; an expression in which two different applications of a word present an odd or ludicrous idea; a kind of quibble or equivocation.
Pun (v. i.) To make puns, or a pun; to use a word in a double sense, especially when the contrast of ideas is ludicrous; to play upon words; to quibble.
Punch (n.) A beverage composed of wine or distilled liquor, water (or milk), sugar, and the juice of lemon, with spice or mint; -- specifically named from the kind of spirit used; as rum punch, claret punch, champagne punch, etc.
Punch (n.) To perforate or stamp with an instrument by pressure, or a blow; as, to punch a hole; to punch ticket.
Punchinello (n.) A punch; a buffoon; originally, in a puppet show, a character represented as fat, short, and humpbacked.
Punctator (n.) One who marks with points. specifically, one who writes Hebrew with points; -- applied to a Masorite.
Punctilio (n.) A nice point of exactness in conduct, ceremony, or proceeding; particularity or exactness in forms; as, the punctilios of a public ceremony.
Punctilious (a.) Attentive to punctilio; very nice or exact in the forms of behavior, etiquette, or mutual intercourse; precise; exact in the smallest particulars.
Punctual (a.) Appearing or done at, or adhering exactly to, a regular or an appointed time; precise; prompt; as, a punctual man; a punctual payment.
Punctuality (n.) The quality or state of being punctual; especially, adherence to the exact time of an engagement; exactness.
Punctuate (v. t.) To mark with points; to separate into sentences, clauses, etc., by points or stops which mark the proper pauses in expressing the meaning.
Punctuation (n.) The act or art of punctuating or pointing a writing or discourse; the art or mode of dividing literary composition into sentences, and members of a sentence, by means of points, so as to elucidate the author's meaning.
Puncture (n.) A small hole made by a point; a slight wound, bite, or sting; as, the puncture of a nail, needle, or pin.
Puncture (v. t.) To pierce with a small, pointed instrument, or the like; to prick; to make a puncture in; as, to puncture the skin.
Punctured (a.) Produced by puncture; having the characteristics of a puncture; as, a punctured wound.
Pundit (n.) A learned man; a teacher; esp., a Brahman versed in the Sanskrit language, and in the science, laws, and religion of the Hindoos; in Cashmere, any clerk or native official.
Pungency (n.) The quality or state of being pungent or piercing; keenness; sharpness; piquancy; as, the pungency of ammonia.
Pungent (v. t.) Causing a sharp sensation, as of the taste, smell, or feelings; pricking; biting; acrid; as, a pungent spice.
Pungled (a.) Shriveled or shrunken; -- said especially of grain which has lost its juices from the ravages of insects, such as the wheat midge, or Trips (Thrips cerealium).
Punish (v. t.) To inflict a penalty for (an offense) upon the offender; to repay, as a fault, crime, etc., with pain or loss; as, to punish murder or treason with death.
Punishable (a.) Deserving of, or liable to, punishment; capable of being punished by law or right; -- said of person or offenses.
Punishment (n.) A penalty inflicted by a court of justice on a convicted offender as a just retribution, and incidentally for the purposes of reformation and prevention.
Punitive (a.) Of or pertaining to punishment; involving, awarding, or inflicting punishment; as, punitive law or justice.
Punka (n.) A machine for fanning a room, usually a movable fanlike frame covered with canvas, and suspended from the ceiling. It is kept in motion by pulling a cord.
Punt (v. t.) To propel, as a boat in shallow water, by pushing with a pole against the bottom; to push or propel (anything) with exertion.
Punter (v. t.) One who punts; specifically, one who plays against the banker or dealer, as in baccara and faro.
Pupa (n.) Any insect in that stage of its metamorphosis which usually immediately precedes the adult, or imago, stage.
Pupigerous (a.) Bearing or containing a pupa; -- said of dipterous larvae which do not molt when the pupa is formed within them.
Pupil (n.) A boy or a girl under the age of puberty, that is, under fourteen if a male, and under twelve if a female.
Pupil (n.) The aperture in the iris; the sight, apple, or black of the eye. See the Note under Eye, and Iris.
Pupillarity (n.) The period before puberty, or from birth to fourteen in males, and twelve in females.
Pupipara (n. pl.) A division of Diptera in which the young are born in a stage like the pupa. It includes the sheep tick, horse tick, and other parasites. Called also Homaloptera.
Pupiparous (a.) Bearing, or containing, a pupa; -- said of the matured larvae, or larval skins, of certain Diptera.
Pupivora (n. pl.) A group of parasitic Hymenoptera, including the ichneumon flies, which destroy the larvae and pupae of insects.
Puppet (n.) A similar figure moved by the hand or by a wire in a mock drama; a marionette; a wooden actor in a play.
Puppetry (n.) Action or appearance resembling that of a puppet, or puppet show; hence, mere form or show; affectation.
Purbeck beds () The strata of the Purbeck stone, or Purbeck limestone, belonging to the Oolitic group. See the Chart of Geology.
Purchasable (a.) Capable of being bought, purchased, or obtained for a consideration; hence, venal; corrupt.
Purchase (v. t.) Acquisition of lands or tenements by other means than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.
Purchase (v. t.) Any mechanical hold, or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle, capstan, and the like; also, the apparatus, tackle, or device by which the advantage is gained.
Purchase (v. t.) That which is obtained, got, or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
Purchase (v. t.) The acquisition of title to, or properly in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.
Purchase (v. t.) To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to; as, to purchase a cannon.
Purchase (v. t.) To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.; as, to purchase favor with flattery.
Purchase (v. t.) To obtain by paying money or its equivalent; to buy for a price; as, to purchase land, or a house.
Purchaser (n.) One who acquires an estate in lands by his own act or agreement, or who takes or obtains an estate by any means other than by descent or inheritance.
Purchaser (n.) One who purchases; one who acquires property for a consideration, generally of money; a buyer; a vendee.
Purdah (n.) A curtain or screen; also, a cotton fabric in blue and white stripes, used for curtains.
Pure (superl.) Free from moral defilement or quilt; hence, innocent; guileless; chaste; -- applied to persons.
Pure (superl.) Free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens, or pollutes; genuine; real; perfect; -- applied to things and actions.
Pure (superl.) Of a single, simple sound or tone; -- said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.
Pure (superl.) Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; free from mixture or combination; clean; mere; simple; unmixed; as, pure water; pure clay; pure air; pure compassion.
Puree (n.) A dish made by boiling any article of food to a pulp and rubbing it through a sieve; as, a puree of fish, or of potatoes; especially, a soup the thickening of which is so treated.
Purfile (n.) A sort of ancient trimming of tinsel and thread for women's gowns; -- called also bobbinwork.
Purfle (v. t.) To decorate with a wrought or flowered border; to embroider; to ornament with metallic threads; as, to purfle with blue and white.
Purfle (v. t.) To ornament with a bordure of emines, furs, and the like; also, with gold studs or mountings.
Purfling (n.) Ornamentation on the border of a thing; specifically, the inlaid border of a musical instrument, as a violin.
Purgation (n.) The act of purging; the act of clearing, cleansing, or putifying, by separating and carrying off impurities, or whatever is superfluous; the evacuation of the bowels.
Purge (v. i.) To have or produce frequent evacuations from the intestines, as by means of a cathartic.
Purge (v. t.) To cleanse, clear, or purify by separating and carrying off whatever is impure, heterogeneous, foreign, or superfluous.
Purge (v. t.) To clear from accusation, or the charge of a crime or misdemeanor, as by oath or in ordeal.
Purge (v. t.) To clear from guilt, or from moral or ceremonial defilement; as, to purge one of guilt or crime.
Purge (v. t.) To clear of sediment, as a boiler, or of air, as a steam pipe, by driving off or permitting escape.
Purification (n.) A cleansing from guilt or the pollution of sin; the extinction of sinful desires, appetites, and inclinations.
Purification (n.) The act of purifying; the act or operation of separating and removing from anything that which is impure or noxious, or heterogeneous or foreign to it; as, the purification of liquors, or of metals.
Purification (n.) The act or operation of cleansing ceremonially, by removing any pollution or defilement.
Purify (v. t.) Hence, in figurative uses: (a) To free from guilt or moral defilement; as, to purify the heart.
Purify (v. t.) To make pure or clear from material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from extraneous or noxious matter; as, to purify liquors or metals; to purify the blood; to purify the air.
Purim (n.) A Jewish festival, called also the Feast of Lots, instituted to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from the machinations of Haman.
Purism (n.) Rigid purity; the quality of being affectedly pure or nice, especially in the choice of language; over-solicitude as to purity.
Puritan (n.) One who is scrupulous and strict in his religious life; -- often used reproachfully or in contempt; one who has overstrict notions.
Puritanical (a.) Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements; strict; overscrupulous; rigid; -- often used by way of reproach or contempt.
Puritanize (v. i.) To agree with, or teach, the doctrines of Puritans; to conform to the practice of Puritans.
Purity (n.) freedom from foreign admixture or deleterious matter; as, the purity of water, of wine, of drugs, of metals.
Purity (n.) Freedom from foreign idioms, or from barbarous or improper words or phrases; as, purity of style.
Purity (n.) Freedom from guilt or the defilement of sin; innocence; chastity; as, purity of heart or of life.
Purl (n.) A gentle murmur, as that produced by the running of a liquid among obstructions; as, the purl of a brook.
Purl (n.) An embroidered and puckered border; a hem or fringe, often of gold or silver twist; also, a pleat or fold, as of a band.
Purl (n.) An inversion of stitches in knitting, which gives to the work a ribbed or waved appearance.
Purl (n.) Malt liquor, medicated or spiced; formerly, ale or beer in which wormwood or other bitter herbs had been infused, and which was regarded as tonic; at present, hot beer mixed with gin, sugar, and spices.
Purl (v. i.) To run swiftly round, as a small stream flowing among stones or other obstructions; to eddy; also, to make a murmuring sound, as water does in running over or through obstructions.
Purlieu (n.) Originally, the ground near a royal forest, which, having been unlawfully added to the forest, was afterwards severed from it, and disafforested so as to remit to the former owners their rights.
Purline (n.) In root construction, a horizontal member supported on the principals and supporting the common rafters.
Purling (n.) The motion of a small stream running among obstructions; also, the murmur it makes in so doing.
Purocoll (n.) A yellow crystalline substance allied to pyrrol, obtained by the distillation of gelatin.
Purple (a.) Exhibiting or possessing the color called purple, much esteemed for its richness and beauty; of a deep red, or red and blue color; as, a purple robe.
Purple (a.) Imperial; regal; -- so called from the color having been an emblem of imperial authority.
Purple (n.) A color formed by, or resembling that formed by, a combination of the primary colors red and blue.
Purple (n.) Any species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis) as, the banded purple (B. arthemis). See Illust. under Ursula.
Purple (n.) Hence: Imperial sovereignty; royal rank, dignity, or favor; loosely and colloquially, any exalted station; great wealth.
Purpleheart (n.) A strong, durable, and elastic wood of a purplish color, obtained from several tropical American leguminous trees of the genus Copaifera (C. pubiflora, bracteata, and officinalis). Used for decorative veneering. See Copaiba.
Purport (n.) To intend to show; to intend; to mean; to signify; to import; -- often with an object clause or infinitive.
Purpose (n.) That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan.
Purpose (v. t.) To propose, as an aim, to one's self; to determine upon, as some end or object to be accomplished; to intend; to design; to resolve; -- often followed by an infinitive or dependent clause.
Purpresture (n.) Wrongful encroachment upon another's property; esp., any encroachment upon, or inclosure of, that which should be common or public, as highways, rivers, harbors, forts, etc.
Purpura (n.) A disease characterized by livid spots on the skin from extravasated blood, with loss of muscular strength, pain in the limbs, and mental dejection; the purples.
Purpura (n.) A genus of marine gastropods, usually having a rough and thick shell. Some species yield a purple dye.
Purpure (n.) Purple, -- represented in engraving by diagonal lines declining from the right top to the left base of the escutcheon (or from sinister chief to dexter base).
Purpureo- () A combining form signifying of a purple or purple-red color. Specif. (Chem.), used in designating certain brilliant purple-red compounds of cobaltic chloride and ammonia, similar to the roseocobaltic compounds. See Cobaltic.
Purpuric (a.) Pertaining to or designating, a nitrogenous acid contained in uric acid. It is not known in the pure state, but forms well-known purple-red compounds (as murexide), whence its name.
Purpurin (n.) A dyestuff resembling alizarin, found in madder root, and extracted as an orange or red crystalline substance.
Purpuriparous (a.) Producing, or connected with, a purple-colored secretion; as, the purpuriparous gland of certain gastropods.
Purpurogenous (a.) Having the power to produce a purple color; as, the purpurogenous membrane, or choroidal epithelium, of the eye. See Visual purple, under Visual.
Purse (n.) A small bag or pouch, the opening of which is made to draw together closely, used to carry money in; by extension, any receptacle for money carried on the person; a wallet; a pocketbook; a portemonnaie.
Purse (n.) A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a present; as, to win the purse; to make up a purse.
Purse (v. t.) To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles, like the mouth of a purse; to pucker; to knit.
Purser (n.) A clerk on steam passenger vessels whose duty it is to keep the accounts of the vessels, such as the receipt of freight, tickets, etc.
Purser (n.) A commissioned officer in the navy who had charge of the provisions, clothing, and public moneys on shipboard; -- now called paymaster.
Purslane (n.) An annual plant (Portulaca oleracea), with fleshy, succulent, obovate leaves, sometimes used as a pot herb and for salads, garnishing, and pickling.
Pursuant (a.) Acting in consequence or in prosecution (of anything); hence, agreeable; conformable; following; according; -- with to or of.
Pursue (v. t.) To follow with a view to overtake; to follow eagerly, or with haste; to chase; as, to pursue a hare.
Pursue (v. t.) To proceed along, with a view to some and or object; to follow; to go in; as, Captain Cook pursued a new route; the administration pursued a wise course.
Pursuit (v. t.) A following with a view to reach, accomplish, or obtain; endeavor to attain to or gain; as, the pursuit of knowledge; the pursuit of happiness or pleasure.
Pursuit (v. t.) Course of business or occupation; continued employment with a view to same end; as, mercantile pursuits; a literary pursuit.
Pursuit (v. t.) The act of following or going after; esp., a following with haste, either for sport or in hostility; chase; prosecution; as, the pursuit of game; the pursuit of an enemy.
Pursuivant (n.) A functionary of lower rank than a herald, but discharging similar duties; -- called also pursuivant at arms; an attendant of the heralds. Also used figuratively.
Pursy (a.) Fat and short-breathed; fat, short, and thick; swelled with pampering; as, pursy insolence.
Purtenance (n.) That which pertains or belongs to something; esp., the heard, liver, and lungs of an animal.
Purulent (a.) Consisting of pus, or matter; partaking of the nature of pus; attended with suppuration; as, purulent inflammation.
Purveyance (n.) A providing necessaries for the sovereign by buying them at an appraised value in preference to all others, and oven without the owner's consent. This was formerly a royal prerogative, but has long been abolished.
Purveyance (n.) The act or process of providing or procuring; providence; foresight; preparation; management.
Purveyor (n.) One who provides victuals, or whose business is to make provision for the table; a victualer; a caterer.
Purview (n.) The body of a statute, or that part which begins with " Be it enacted, " as distinguished from the preamble.
Pus (a.) The yellowish white opaque creamy matter produced by the process of suppuration. It consists of innumerable white nucleated cells floating in a clear liquid.
Pusane (n.) A piece of armor for the breast; often, an addition to, or reenforcement of. the breastplate; -- called also pesane.
Puseyism (n.) The principles of Dr. Pusey and others at Oxford, England, as exhibited in various publications, esp. in a series which appeared from 1833 to 1841, designated " Tracts for the Times;" tractarianism. See Tractarianism.
Push (n.) Any thrust. pressure, impulse, or force, or force applied; a shove; as, to give the ball the first push.
Push (n.) The faculty of overcoming obstacles; aggressive energy; as, he has push, or he has no push.
Push (v. i.) To make an advance, attack, or effort; to be energetic; as, a man must push in order to succeed.
Push (v. t.) To press against with force; to drive or impel by pressure; to endeavor to drive by steady pressure, without striking; -- opposed to draw.
Pushing (a.) Pressing forward in business; enterprising; driving; energetic; also, forward; officious, intrusive.
Pusillanimous (a.) Destitute of a manly or courageous strength and firmness of mind; of weak spirit; mean-spirited; spiritless; cowardly; -- said of persons, as, a pussillanimous prince.
Pusillanimous (a.) Evincing, or characterized by, weakness of mind, and want of courage; feeble; as, pusillanimous counsels.
Pustulated (a.) Covered with pustulelike prominences; pustular; pustulous; as, a pustulate leaf; a pustulate shell or coral.
Put (n.) A privilege which one party buys of another to "put" (deliver) to him a certain amount of stock, grain, etc., at a certain price and date.
Put (v. t.) To attach or attribute; to assign; as, to put a wrong construction on an act or expression.
Put (v. t.) To move in any direction; to impel; to thrust; to push; -- nearly obsolete, except with adverbs, as with by (to put by = to thrust aside; to divert); or with forth (to put forth = to thrust out).
Put (v. t.) To throw or cast with a pushing motion "overhand," the hand being raised from the shoulder; a practice in athletics; as, to put the shot or weight.
Putlog (n.) One of the short pieces of timber on which the planks forming the floor of a scaffold are laid, -- one end resting on the ledger of the scaffold, and the other in a hole left in the wall temporarily for the purpose.
Putredinous (a.) Proceeding from putrefaction, or partaking of the putrefactive process; having an offensive smell; stinking; rotten.
Putrefaction (n.) The act or the process of putrefying; the offensive decay of albuminous or other matter.
Putrefy (v. t.) To render putrid; to cause to decay offensively; to cause to be decomposed; to cause to rot.
Putrescible (n.) A substance, usually nitrogenous, which is liable to undergo decomposition when in contact with air and moisture at ordinary temperatures.
Putrescin (n.) A nontoxic diamine, C4H12N2, formed in the putrefaction of the flesh of mammals and some other animals.
Putrid (a.) Indicating or proceeding from a decayed state of animal or vegetable matter; as, a putrid smell.
Putrid (a.) Tending to decomposition or decay; decomposed; rotten; -- said of animal or vegetable matter; as, putrid flesh. See Putrefaction.
Putting (n.) The throwing of a heavy stone, shot, etc., with the hand raised or extended from the shoulder; -- originally, a Scottish game.
Putty (n.) A kind of thick paste or cement compounded of whiting, or soft carbonate of lime, and linseed oil, when applied beaten or kneaded to the consistence of dough, -- used in fastening glass in sashes, stopping crevices, and for similar purposes.
Puzzle (v.) Something which perplexes or embarrasses; especially, a toy or a problem contrived for testing ingenuity; also, something exhibiting marvelous skill in making.
Pycnaspidean (a.) Having the posterior side of the tarsus covered with small irregular scales; -- said of certain birds.
Pycnidium (n.) In certain fungi, a flask-shaped cavity from the surface of the inner walls of which spores are produced.
Pycnodont (n.) Any fossil fish belonging to the Pycnodontini. They have numerous round, flat teeth, adapted for crushing.
Pycnodontini (n. pl.) An extinct order of ganoid fishes. They had a compressed body, covered with dermal ribs (pleurolepida) and with enameled rhomboidal scales.
Pycnogonida (n. pl.) A class of marine arthropods in which the body is small and thin, and the eight legs usually very long; -- called also Pantopoda.
Pycnometer (n.) A specific gravity bottle; a standard flask for measuring and comparing the densities of liquids.
Pygal (a.) Situated in the region of the rump, or posterior end of the backbone; -- applied especially to the posterior median plates in the carapace of chelonians.
Pygidium (n.) The caudal plate of trilobites, crustacean, and certain insects. See Illust. of Limulus and Trilobite.
Pygobranchia (n. pl.) A division of opisthobranchiate mollusks having the branchiae in a wreath or group around the anal opening, as in the genus Doris.
Pygopod (n.) Any species of serpentiform lizards of the family Pygopodidae, which have rudimentary hind legs near the anal cleft, but lack fore legs.
Pygostyle (n.) The plate of bone which forms the posterior end of the vertebral column in most birds; the plowshare bone; the vomer. It is formed by the union of a number of the last caudal vertebrae, and supports the uropigium.
Pygropodes (n. pl.) A division of swimming birds which includes the grebes, divers, auks, etc., in which the legs are placed far back.
Pyin (n.) An albuminoid constituent of pus, related to mucin, possibly a mixture of substances rather than a single body.
Pyjama (n.) In India and Persia, thin loose trowsers or drawers; in Europe and America, drawers worn at night, or a kind of nightdress with legs.
Pylon (n.) A low tower, having a truncated pyramidal form, and flanking an ancient Egyptian gateway.
Pyloric (a.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the pylorus; as, the pyloric end of the stomach.
Pyocyanin (n.) A blue coloring matter found in the pus from old sores, supposed to be formed through the agency of a species of bacterium (Bacillus pyocyaneus).
Pyr- () Combining forms designating fire or heat; specifically (Chem.), used to imply an actual or theoretical derivative by the action of heat; as in pyrophosphoric, pyrosulphuric, pyrotartaric, pyrotungstic, etc.
Pyralid (n.) Any moth of the family Pyralidae. The species are numerous and mostly small, but some of them are very injurious, as the bee moth, meal moth, hop moth, and clover moth.
Pyramid (n.) A solid body standing on a triangular, square, or polygonal base, and terminating in a point at the top; especially, a structure or edifice of this shape.
Pyramid (n.) A solid figure contained by a plane rectilineal figure as base and several triangles which have a common vertex and whose bases are sides of the base.
Pyramidal (a.) Of or pertaining to a pyramid; in the form of a a pyramid; pyramidical; as, pyramidal cleavage.
Pyrargyrite (n.) Ruby silver; dark red silver ore. It is a sulphide of antimony and silver, occurring in rhombohedral crystals or massive, and is of a dark red or black color with a metallic adamantine luster.
Pyre (n.) A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt.
Pyrene (n.) One of the less volatile hydrocarbons of coal tar, obtained as a white crystalline substance, C16H10.
Pyrethrin (n.) A substance resembling, and isomeric with, ordinary camphor, and extracted from the essential oil of feverfew; -- called also Pyrethrum camphor.
Pyrethrine (n.) An alkaloid extracted from the root of the pellitory of Spain (Anacyclus pyrethrum).
Pyridyl (n.) A hypothetical radical, C5H4N, regarded as the essential residue of pyridine, and analogous to phenyl.
Pyrite (n.) A common mineral of a pale brass-yellow color and brilliant metallic luster, crystallizing in the isometric system; iron pyrites; iron disulphide.
Pyrites (n.) A name given to a number of metallic minerals, sulphides of iron, copper, cobalt, nickel, and tin, of a white or yellowish color.
Pyroacetic (a.) Pertaining to, and designating, a substance (acetone) obtained by the distillation of the acetates. It is now called also pyroacetic ether, and formerly was called pyroacetic spirit.
Pyroantimonic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid of antimony analogous to pyrophosphoric acid.
Pyroboric (a.) Pertaining to derived from, or designating, an acid, H2B4O7 (called also tetraboric acid), which is the acid ingredient of ordinary borax, and is obtained by heating boric acid.
Pyrocatechin (n.) A white crystalline substance, C6H4(OH)2, of the phenol series, found in various plants; -- so called because first obtained by distillation of gum catechu. Called also catechol, oxyphenol. etc.
Pyrochlore (n.) A niobate of calcium, cerium, and other bases, occurring usually in octahedrons of a yellowish or brownish color and resinous luster; -- so called from its becoming grass-green on being subjected to heat under the blowpipe.
Pyrocitric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, any one of three acids obtained by the distillation of citric acid, and called respectively citraconic, itaconic, and mesaconic acid.
Pyroelectric (a.) Pertaining to, or dependent on, pyroelectricity; receiving electric polarity when heated.
Pyroelectric (n.) A substance which becomes electrically polar when heated, exhibiting opposite charges of statical electricity at two separate parts, especially the two extremities.
Pyroelectricity (n.) Electricity developed by means of heat; the science which treats of electricity thus developed.
Pyrogallic (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, an acid called pyrogallol. See Pyrogallol.
Pyrogen (n.) A poison separable from decomposed meat infusions, and supposed to be formed from albuminous matter through the agency of bacteria.
Pyrogenic (a.) Producing heat; -- said of substances, as septic poisons, which elevate the temperature of the body and cause fever.
Pyrognostic (a.) Of or pertaining to characters developed by the use of heat; pertaining to the characters of minerals when examined before the blowpipe; as, the pyrognostic characters of galena.
Pyrognostics (n. pl.) The characters of a mineral observed by the use of the blowpipe, as the degree of fusibility, flame coloration, etc.
Pyrolignic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, the acid liquid obtained in the distillation of wood, consisting essentially of impure acetic acid.
Pyrology (n.) That branch of physical science which treats of the properties, phenomena, or effects of heat; also, a treatise on heat.
Pyromagnetic (a.) Acting by the agency of heat and magnetism; as, a pyromagnetic machine for producing electric currents.
Pyrometer (n.) An instrument for measuring degrees of heat above those indicated by the mercurial thermometer.
Pyrometrical (a.) Pertaining to, or obtained by, the pyrometer; as, pyrometrical instruments; pyrometrical measurements.
Pyromorphite (n.) Native lead phosphate with lead chloride, occurring in bright green and brown hexagonal crystals and also massive; -- so called because a fused globule crystallizes in cooling.
Pyromucic (a.) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, an acid obtained as a white crystalline substance by the distillation of mucic acid, or by the oxidation of furfurol.
Pyrope (n.) A variety of garnet, of a poppy or blood-red color, frequently with a tinge of orange. It is used as a gem. See the Note under Garnet.
Pyrophane (n.) A mineral which is opaque in its natural state, but is said to change its color and become transparent by heat.
Pyrophone (n.) A musical instrument in which the tones are produced by flames of hydrogen, or illuminating gas, burning in tubes of different sizes and lengths.
Pyrophorus (n.) Any one of several substances or mixtures which phosphoresce or ignite spontaneously on exposure to air, as a heated mixture of alum, potash, and charcoal, or a mixture of charcoal and finely divided lead.
Pyrophosphoric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid, H4P2O7, which is obtained as a white crystalline substance. Its salts are obtained by heating the phosphates.
Pyrophyllite (n.) A mineral, usually of a white or greenish color and pearly luster, consisting chiefly of the hydrous silicate of alumina.
Pyroscope (n.) An instrument for measuring the intensity of heat radiating from a fire, or the cooling influence of bodies. It is a differential thermometer, having one bulb coated with gold or silver leaf.
Pyrosmalite (n.) A mineral, usually of a pale brown or of a gray or grayish green color, consisting chiefly of the hydrous silicate of iron and manganese; -- so called from the odor given off before the blowpipe.
Pyrosome (n.) Any compound ascidian of the genus Pyrosoma. The pyrosomes form large hollow cylinders, sometimes two or three feet long, which swim at the surface of the sea and are very phosphorescent.
Pyrotartaric (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained as a white crystalline substance by the distillation of tartaric acid.
Pyrothonide (n.) A kind of empyreumatic oil produced by the combustion of textures of hemp, linen, or cotton in a copper vessel, -- formerly used as a remedial agent.
Pyrovanadic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid of vanadium, analogous to pyrophosphoric acid.
Pyroxanthin (n.) A yellow crystalline hydrocardon extracted from crude wood spirit; -- called also eblanin.
Pyroxylic (a.) Derived from wood by distillation; -- formerly used in designating crude wood spirit.
Pyroxylin (n.) A substance resembling gun cotton in composition and properties, but distinct in that it is more highly nitrified and is soluble in alcohol, ether, etc.; -- called also pyroxyle.
Pyrrhic (a.) Of or pertaining to a pyrrhic, or to pyrrhics; containing pyrrhic; as, a pyrrhic verse.
Pyrrhic (n.) An ancient Greek martial dance, to the accompaniment of the flute, its time being very quick.
Pyrrhotite (n.) A bronze-colored mineral, of metallic luster. It is a sulphide of iron, and is remarkable for being attracted by the magnet. Called also magnetic pyrites.
Pyrroline (n.) A nitrogenous base, C4H7N, obtained as a colorless liquid by the reduction of pyrrol.
Pyrula (n.) A genus of large marine gastropods. having a pear-shaped shell. It includes the fig-shells. See Illust. in Appendix.
Pyrus (n.) A genus of rosaceous trees and shrubs having pomes for fruit. It includes the apple, crab apple, pear, chokeberry, sorb, and mountain ash.
Pyruvic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid (called also pyroracemic acid) obtained, as a liquid having a pungent odor, by the distillation of racemic acid.
Pythagorean (a.) Of or pertaining to Pythagoras (a Greek philosopher, born about 582 b. c.), or his philosophy.
Pythian (a.) Of or pertaining to Delphi, to the temple of Apollo, or to the priestess of Apollo, who delivered oracles at Delphi.
Pythocenic (a.) Producing decomposition, as diseases which are supposed to be accompanied or caused by decomposition.
Python (n.) Any species of very large snakes of the genus Python, and allied genera, of the family Pythonidae. They are nearly allied to the boas. Called also rock snake.
Pythonism (n.) The art of predicting events after the manner of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi; equivocal prophesying.
Pyx (n.) A box used in the British mint as a place of deposit for certain sample coins taken for a trial of the weight and fineness of metal before it is sent from the mint.
Pyxidium (n.) A pod which divides circularly into an upper and lower half, of which the former acts as a kind of lid, as in the pimpernel and purslane.
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